Kerala: CPI-M youth wing DYFI holds protest over NEET issue in Ernakulam

Protesters broke through the barricades and police had to use water cannon to disperse the crowd. Later, the protesters were allowed to conduct a peaceful march.

Alleging that the central government had betrayed the students, the CPIM's youth wing, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), held a protest over the NEET issue in Ernakulam on Tuesday. Protesters broke through the barricades and police had to use water cannon to disperse the crowd. Later, the protesters were allowed to conduct a peaceful march.

The march was organized by the DYFI Ernakulam district committee against row over the NEET paper leak. State committee members Advocate Nikhil Babu, Adv. Bibin Varghese, KV Kiranraj, Manisha Radhakrishnan, etc., led the march.

National Testing Agency (NTA) is grappling with controversy over alleged irregularities in the entrance exams, including the NEET and UGC NET. NEET-UG examination, conducted by NTA, is the pathway for admissions into MBBS, BDS and AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

The NEET-UG 2024 was held across 4,750 centres on May 5 and around 24 lakh candidates appeared in it. After irregularities resurfaced in the NEET and UGC NET exams, the central government postponed several exams, including the NEET PG.

The opposition parties and several student organisations have been holding protests regularly, demanding action. The National Testing Agency (NTA) announced new dates for UGC-NET June 2024 exams, Joint CSIR UGC NET exams and NCET (National Common Entrance Test) 2024 Exams.

As per the issued notice, the UGC NET June 2024 exams will be conducted between August 21 and September 4, the Joint CSIR UGC NET will be conducted from July 25 to July 27 and the NCET exams will be conducted on July 10. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on July 8 a batch of pleas alleging paper leak and irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET-UG) 2024 examination held on May 5.

According to the cause list for July 8 uploaded on the top court's website, the pleas are listed before a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. The apex court had earlier sought response from NTA on pleas seeking fresh NEET-UG, 2024 examination amid allegations of paper leak and said the "sanctity" of the exam has been affected and it needs answer from the testing agency.

The apex court had told the National Testing Agency (NTA) that if there is any negligence in conducting NEET-UG, 2024 exam, it should be dealt thoroughly with. The Centre and the NTA had, on June 13, told the apex court that they had cancelled the grace marks awarded to 1,563 candidates and candidates were given the option to either take a re-test on June 23 or forgo the compensatory marks awarded for loss of time. A total of 813 students appeared for the retest held on June 23 across seven centres.

Aspirants had approached the top court and raised the issue of leakage of the question paper, awarding compensatory marks and anomaly in the question paper of NEET-UG. A number of petitions were filed in the apex court seeking direction to recall NEET-UG 2024 results and to conduct the examination afresh, alleging paper leak and malpractices in the test held on May 5.

The apex court had refused to stay the counselling of NEET-UG, 2024. (ANI)

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