The protests against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) question paper leak had spread nationwide. Among cities where they saw steadfast support was Chennai, where young people gathered at Balan Illam, the Tamil Nadu state headquarters of the Communist Party of India. In other cities including Madurai, Coimbatore, Pudukottai, Villupuram, Tiruvallur and Tiruchi too, student organisations such as Students’ Federation of India, Democratic Youth Federation of India, All India Students’ Federation, and All India Youth Federation protested despite severe police crackdowns.Balan Illam, which emerged as the centre of the anti-NEET protest in Chennai is no stranger to protests or gatherings. But most of the young people who turned up at Balan Illam every day are newcomers who had never been there before. Many of the youths who spoke out in condemnation were, for the first time, holding a mic and speaking on a public platform. They said they went there after seeing posts on social media.Just as at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, instead of conventional forms of protest, they had registered their dissent through forms they were familiar with — such as gaana songs, rap songs, stand-up comedy, drama, and painting. However, the slogans raised by student protesters at Balan Illam and across Tamil Nadu differed from those raised in Delhi. In the protests taking place over NEET in Tamil Nadu, there were not many demands — there was only one demand: that NEET be abolished.This demand among youth for the abolition of NEET did not arise out of mere emotion. It is an expression of a widespread awareness, based on data that the NEET examination system itself is inequitable. The parties that previously ruled Tamil Nadu had laid a strong foundation for this. One important instance of this is the report of the High-Level Committee set up during the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government to study the Impact of NEET on medical admissions in Tamil Nadu.Also read: Who Is on the ‘High Powered Task Force on Examinations’?With political parties and organisations in Tamil Nadu strongly opposing the requirement that students must pass the NEET exam to get admission to medical colleges, then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin constituted a nine-member committee headed by retired high court judge Justice A.K. Rajan to examine the impact of the exam. The government defined the committee’s primary objective as determining whether NEET is an equitable method of selection of students.What the committee was asked to do and what it didThe terms of reference set for the committee also included whether the NEET-based admission process has adversely affected the social, economic, and federal polity, and the students of rural and urban poor, those who studied in government schools, those who studied in Tamil medium, or any other section of students in Tamil Nadu.If so, the committee was told to suggest steps to remove the impediments and protect the rights of the state, to advance the principles of social justice, and to fulfil the constitutional mandate of providing equal and equitable “access to health” to all sections of the people of Tamil Nadu.The committee subjected several matters to intensive study, including the history of NEET, the practices and flaws of the common entrance examination, the academic merits and validity of NEET, and the impact of NEET on admissions from the perspectives of academic, socio-economic, and other demographic status, as well as on healthcare services in Tamil Nadu. Through a public notice, it also collected opinions from a total of 86,342 people by post and email. Of these, 65,007 people opposed the NEET exam, while 18,966 supported it. Based on these findings, the committee submitted a 165-page detailed report to then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in July 2021.The report listed the impact NEET has had on various aspects such as state education and medical admissions since its introduction.The role of moneyIn 2010–2011, 2,332 students who studied under the state education board obtained places in medical education, while only 14 CBSE students got into MBBS. But after the introduction of NEET, this changed drastically. In 2020–2021, 1,604 students who studied under CBSE secured MBBS seats. This statistic indicates that the NEET exam has significantly benefited those who studied under CBSE.Before NEET was introduced, students from rural areas obtained a larger share of MBBS seats. In 2016–17, rural students secured 65.17% of the seats available in government colleges. But by 2020–2021, this had dropped to 49.91%.In the pre-NEET era, the repeaters average admission rate was 8.12%, which eventually rose to 71.42% by 2020–21 after NEET was introduced, whereas first-timers dropped to 28.58% in 2020–21 from an average pre-NEET rate of 91.87%. This shows that success in the NEET exam is possible mainly only for those who join coaching centres, spend large sums of money, and repeatedly attempt the exam.Based on such data, the committee concluded that NEET clearly undermined the diverse societal representation in MBBS and higher medical studies, favouring mainly the affordable and affluent segment of society while equally thwarting the dream of pursuing medical education for underprivileged social groups.Overall, the committee’s report exposed that NEET is biased against students who studied in the state education system, students from government schools, Tamil medium students, students who are not from FGG (First Generation Graduate) backgrounds, students from low-income families, and students who cannot afford coaching centres.The committee further warned that if NEET continues for a few more years, the healthcare system of Tamil Nadu will be very badly affected — there may not be enough doctors to be posted at the various Primary Health Centres, and there may not be enough expert doctors to be employed in government hospitals.What the committee advisedTaking all this into account, the A.K. Rajan Committee put forward seven recommendations:The state government undertake immediate steps to eliminate NEET from being used in admission to medical programmes at all levels by following the required legal and/or legislative procedures.The government take the position that “University education” under Entry 25 of List III is a “general” provision while “Regulation of Universities” under Entry 32 is a “special” provision, and that Entry 32 is an exclusive state subject that cannot be ignored. Therefore, Article 254 cannot be invoked to override Act 3/2007 insofar as it relates to Entry 32. Hence, admission to affiliated colleges under the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University is governed by Act 3 of 2007, and admission to those seats will be filled as per the provisions of that Act (Section 14 of the NMC Act has no application to those seats). In this regard, the state may follow the required procedures to satisfy the legal and constitutional provisions.Alternatively, the state government pass an Act, similar to Act 3/2007, indicating the need to eliminate NEET at all levels of medical education, and obtain the President’s assent for the same. This will ensure social justice and protect all vulnerable student communities from discrimination in admission to medical education programmes.The HSc (Higher Secondary) scores shall become the sole admission criteria for admission to first-degree medical programmes, and to ensure equal opportunity for students from different Boards of Education, normalisation of scores may be followed.The socio-economic and other demographic “adversities” that cause poor performance among relevant students — mainly the disadvantaged and underprivileged — in their HSc examinations shall be identified, and depending on the degree of such adversities, re-profiling of scores can be done using a pre-developed framework of “Adversity Score.”School education, up to the HSc level, shall be reformed so that “learning” – as opposed to “coaching” – is fostered, and so that everything from curriculum through teaching, learning, and learning assessment (Board examinations) is oriented toward enabling and empowering students with subject knowledge and higher-order skills including reasoning, decision-making, and social disposition. In particular, rote-based learning assessment that leads to coaching shall be eliminated, and the focus shall be on acquired knowledge and skills.As for “Deemed Universities,” an Act must be passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly to bring all Deemed Universities in Tamil Nadu under its purview, as under Act 3/2007, and the President’s assent must be obtained.As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, even though Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan has resigned from his post, the abolition of NEET remains the sole, permanent demand of this protest. Students protesting at Balan Illam and in other cities are making this clear and firm.NEET is not a problem that can be solved merely by fixing the leak of question papers within an unequal and biased examination system. Bearing this in mind, the Tamil Nadu government has unanimously passed resolutions and bills in the Legislative Assembly as well. Granting assent to these would be an example of the BJP government respecting the principles of federalism and the constitution.