Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Legislative Assembly on Wednesday stopped short of calling for the restoration of the state-level conduct of the medical entrance examination. In a Substantive Motion passed unanimously in the Assembly, the House reminded the Centre that the state had conducted complaint-free pre-medical tests earlier but, however, did not urge the NDA government to give back the states their former right to conduct the medical entrance test.

Through the motion, the House expressed its general sense that the National Testing Agency (NTA) has once again demonstrated that it is incapable of conducting in an impeccable and trustworthy manner examinations that decide the future of lakhs of students in the country.

"It was after ending the medical entrance exams that were conducted in an unimpeachable manner by states that the centre introduced NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test)," the motion said.

"The House strongly disapproves of the Union government's decision to stand by the NTA that has by its negligence and incompetence thrown lakhs of students who had taken the exam in Kerala, and their parents, into the depths of uncertainty and endangered their future," it said. The motion urged the Union government to take immediate steps to remove the fears and concerns of students and their parents. The motion criticised the Centre for taking the stand that there was no proof of question paper leak. "But after this, the NET also had to be cancelled following the detection of irregularities. In addition to this, NEET-PG and CSIR-NET exams were also cancelled," the motion said.

The motion was read out by Minister for Higher Education R Bindu. Right after the motion was read out Congress MLA P Vishnunath pointed out that the motion should also ask the Centre to give back the right to conduct the medical entrance exam to Kerala. "States like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have stated their positions. We too should make our stand clear or else this motion will look very plain, devoid of value," he said.

Vishnunath said that the higher education minister and also senior members like M K Muneer had spoken about the effective conduct of the exam when it was under Kerala's control. "Shouldn't we demand that the right be handed back to us," he said. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs M B Rajesh said that for the moment the resolution would be passed in this form.

The Substantive Motion was passed after a two-hour discussion on a motion moved by CPM MLA M Vijin to discuss the situation that had arisen as a result of the scandalous conduct of NEET this year.
While taking part in the discussion, Muslim League MLA M K Muneer said that the Opposition should fight till Union Higher Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned. He also wanted Kerala to reclaim its right to conduct the medical entrance examination. "When admissions are done from the central pool, our children have been found to lose out," Muneer said. "We should do a comparative study of the chances of our children under NEET and under our system," he added.

Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan used his time to ask the LDF government to turn its gaze inward, too. Kuzhalnadan mentioned the two exam-related irregularities that took place under the LDF government. One, the controversy related to Kerala University Assistant appointments in 2008. "Then, it was found even those who had not sat for the exam were appointed," Kuzhalnadan said. Two, the 2018 Public Service Commission (PSC) exam scam in which question papers were leaked to Students' Federation of India (SFI) leaders. "Cases were registered against only five people who found their names in the rank list and the others were left off the hook," Kuzhalnadan said.

When Kuzhalnadan deviated from NEET and branched out to refer to irregularities under the LDF rule, Speaker A N Shamseer not just objected but also attempted to ridicule him. "It has become a habit with you to play to the gallery. You always touch upon subjects outside the syllabus," the Speaker said. Unmindful, Kuzhalnadan persisted with his LDF bashing. "We also should be willing to introspect whether our own examination systems are in order," he said to loud shouts of protest from the ruling side.