Jammu for India condemns BJP for ordinance on NEET

Tribune News Service 

Jammu, May 21

Terming the ordinance on the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) as a direct attack on judiciary and yet another anti-Jammu move of the BJP to barter legitimate interests of people of Jammu province, said Jammu for India (JFI) convener Prof Hari Om while addressing mediapersons here today.

He said that the ordinance, if given an effect to, would deprive about 5,000 Jammu youth of their due share in the medical and dental colleges located in the state.

“The ordinance is a conspiracy hatched by the Narendra Modi government and the PDP-BJP coalition government in the state against the apex court and talented youth of the country, including Jammu,” said the JFI convener.

President Pranab Mukharjee must reject the ordinance as it was designed to kill talent, promote mediocrity and further jeopardised the interests of the already ignored Jammu youth, said Hari Om.

“By bringing the ordinance on NEET, the Modi government has not only upturned the April 28 historic judgment of the Supreme Court on one common entrance test across the country for admission to MBBS and BDS courses, but also stabbed youth of Jammu in the back,” he said, adding that the verdict of the apex court had been welcomed by people of the Jammu province. 

The Jammu youth, who never got their due share in the professional and technical institutions in the state, especially in MBBS and BDS colleges, would have got a fair opportunity to prove their worth and academic excellence if J&K was brought under the ambit of the NEET, he said. But the separatist-friendly Modi government dashed all their hopes, said the JFI convener.

He said the BJP government brought the ordinance only to appease separatists and communalists in Kashmir.

Prof Hari Om demanded implementation of January 13, 1999, Singhal Committee report. The Singhal Committee, he said, had candidly acknowledged that while share of Kashmir in medical colleges had consistently increased and that of Jammu had consistently declined. He said the three-member committee had recommended that all seats available in the Jammu-based technical and professional colleges should be made the sole preserve of the Jammu youth and those available in the Kashmir-based such institutions be made the sole preserve of the Kashmiri youth. It was the only alternative available to dispense justice to the Jammu youth, he added.