NEET: President nod for uniform admission test to medical, dental courses

There will be single test - National Eligibility cum Entrance Exam (NEET)- for admissions to medical and dental courses across the country, as President Pranab Mukherjee has given nod to two bills recently passed by Parliament in this regard.

Mukherjee has given assent to Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 2016 and Dentists (Amendment) Act, 2016, officials said.

These laws were passed by Rajya Sabha on August 1 to pave way for the NEET, which is designed to curb corruption by bringing in transparency, checking multiplicity of exams and to stop exploitation of students in counselling. They had got Lok Sabha nod last month.

Read more: Pranab signs ordinance circumventing SC order on medical exam NEET

The two Acts mandates uniform entrance examination for admission to all medical and dental educational institutions run postgraduate and undergraduate courses.

“There shall be conducted a uniform entrance examination to all medical educational institutions at the undergraduate level and post-graduate level through such designated authority in Hindi, English and such other languages...,” reads the law. The same provision is for admissions to dental educational institutes.

The NEET is intended to be introduced from the academic year 2017-18. These legislations have amended the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and the Dentists Act, 1948 and replaced the Ordinances that were promulgated by the government to circumvent the Supreme Court order for implementation of NEET examination from this session itself.