NEET deferred for a year

New Delhi: The government on Friday cleared an ordinance to defer the implementation of NEET, following strong objections from some states over the efficacy of the common entrance test for under-graduate medical courses in India.   The ordinance, which puts on hold a Supreme Court May 9 ruling ordering the implementation of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) from this year, was cleared in a cabinet meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, official sources said.   The ordinance would now go to President Pranab Mukherjee for a presidential approval to stall the Supreme Court's ruling.   States, including Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and Gujarat, were aggrieved by the apex court's order that admission to under-graduate medical courses will be done only through NEET.   They raised strong objections against NEET, to be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in English and Hindi.   They argued the common entrance exam would adversely affect students of southern and non-northern states where such entrance exams are written in English or their respective vernacular languages.   The states also pointed out their syllabus for medical entrance exams was completely different and it would be difficult for their students to follow the central board this year since they have already studied syllabus prescribed by state boards.   Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda met with representatives of the state governments last week and assured them that the woes of students appearing in the state medical entrance examinations would be solved.