It’s that time of year again when young aspiring doctors wake up to some ground realities: the doors of medical and dental colleges open not on account of merit but on considerations like domicile, reflecting the classic ‘son of the soil’ syndrome. NEET or the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test was supposed to set right some of these biases by getting students allotted to different government and private medical and dental colleges based on rank. Hence the optimism this year, the first time NEET is being comprehensively implemented.

Sadly, that is not the entire picture. Only 15 per cent of the allotment based on NEET ranks is open to anyone from anywhere in the country. The remaining 85 per cent are for those from the particular State. And in the 15 per cent general allotment there are sub-quotas for Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes and Other Backward Castes. So if you have a good rank in a State, but don’t hail from there, have not lived there long enough or don’t belong to a caste that is eligible for reservation, you have less than a sliver of a chance of getting admission.

Tamil Nadu takes it a step further, seeking an 85 per cent sub-reservation for students from a State board background. This could open the floodgates with other States making a similar request. With so many layers of reservation coming into play, disillusioned deserving students could opt for other countries where merit is better recognised. Little seems to have changed since the protests against the Mandal Commission that batted for reservations in the 1990s. It still whittles down to caste, regionalism and money taking precedence over merit. Economically backward students needing government support should get it, and from early stages in their education. But to create good doctors and hospitals, policymakers need to invest in education for all, rather than seek grace time and quotas. That is just not neat.

Deputy Editor

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