Srinagar: The National Conference on Thursday cautioned the J&K government against participating in all India quota for admission to PG courses under NEET, saying the measure will expose J&K students to a disadvantage as compared to their counterparts from other states.
In a joint statement issued here, NC Parliamentarian Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Muhammad Akbar Lone and Hassnain Masoodi, took note of the perceived hardship to the J& students due to the pooling of 15 percent of its MBBS seats in AIQ (All India Quota) and 50 percent seat sharing for PG medical courses after NEET.
The MPs noted with concern that the decisions to participate in the AIQ will impact aspirants in J&K more gravely compared to its consequences for other states.
“The proposition exposes J&K aspirants to greater disadvantage as compared to their counterparts from other states. J&K is socially and educationally backward. A large number of students do not have access to schools equipped with modern tools of education,” they said.
This apart, they added, more than 90 percent of the students pass higher secondary examinations through J&K Board of School Education and only a few thousand students pass the eligibility examination through CBSE.
“NEET, as stated, is CBSE syllabus based and the bulk of aspirants from the state therefore do not stand much chance to get selected for MBBS and BDS graduate and post-graduate courses,” the MPs stated.
They underscored that a more serious reason to oppose NEET is on account of it being incongruous with the J&K Constitution, as the decisions of the August 05, 2019 are still pending required constitutional validation from the constitutional bench in the Supreme Court.
“Any such decision will undermine the constitutional propriety and anticipate the outcome of the final verdict of the constitutional bench,” they added.
The MPs held that the importance of J&K people as a stakeholder in taking such decisions through popularly elected governments cannot be undermined or replaced by an un-elected incumbent administration at the helm of affairs in J&K.
“Earlier J&K has been retaining all its seats for local students and opting out of AIQ. But the incumbent un-elected administration has chosen to open up for the students from outside. This, we believe, will further choke the already scant avenues for the J&K youth. It will prove detrimental to the interests of our youth and jeopardize their future. The decision will also have a cascading effect in terms of depleting employment avenues of our educated and skilled youth and lead to brain drain,” they said.
Opting for AIQ, it goes without saying, “will escalate the brimming alienation in J&K youth, who are already facing onslaught on their job avenues,” the NC MPs rued.
