S Anitha S Anitha

Dalit girl S Anitha, who fought against implementation of NEET in Tamil Nadu, on Friday allegedly committed suicide. This incident happened a week after the Supreme Court asked the state to follow National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) after the Centre said the state cannot be exempted.

Anitha scored 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in Plus Two or class 12. She scored cut-off marks of 199.75 for engineering and 196.75 for medicine. She was offered a seat in aeronautical engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology, but she denied it as she wished to become a doctor.

However, she failed to clear NEET – common entrance exam for admission in medical courses. The entrance exam was made mandatory last year and it is based on CBSE syllabus.

She filed a petition demanding exemption of Tamil Nadu from NEET. The Centre had earlier promised a one-year exemption. However, later it took a U-turn. Her case was represented by Nalini Chidambaram. Her father T Shanmugham is a labourer at the Gandhi Market in Tiruchy.

Tamil Nadu has been against the implementation of NEET as it argued that the test favours CBSE students over other state boards. Also, the political leaders allege that students from rural parts and belonging to weaker sections would lose seats in the medical colleges.

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