COMING CLEAN ON NEET

As the Supreme Court begins to hear petitions on NEET-UG, here is a look at the ecosystem it has spawned, and the controversy

- ASHISH TIWARI

For a year, Tathagat Awatar woke up at dawn and spent the next six hours confined to his room looking at his would get back to his screen for laptop screen. After a quick lunch, he another six to seven hours. The day ended with a brief chat with his parents, dinner, and bed.

This routine did not do much for his social life, but it got him 720 out of 720 in the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET-UG of 2024.

Awatar attributes his success to an edtech company in the country's burgeoning test-prep market. "I don't think I would have achieved this without them," he tells Business Standard.

On Monday, the Supreme Court started to hear petitions about alleged irregularities and paper leaks in this year's NEET-UG test, conducted on May 5. This concerns no less than 38 petitions. Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the new Lok Sabha, has been raising the issue and expressing concern for the aspirants.

Conducted by the National Testing Agency, an autonomous government body, NEET-UG is now the sole test for admissions to medical colleges in the country, marking a shift from a two-tier selection process to a common examination. Until NEET came into the picture, aspirants appeared in the All India Pre-Medical Test and multiple state-level exams.

In 2013, the apex court suspended NEET's implementation, reacting to petitions filed by private colleges which feared a loss of institutional autonomy. Later in 2016, it was restored after a five-judge Constitution Bench recalled the earlier verdict and allowed the government to implement the common test. From the endless lists of exam applications to running from one teacher to another for selective tutoring, medical preparations were an adventure until this centralised test came along.