NEET: Eligibility for What and Entrance for Whom?

Yazhini P M and Sylvia Karpagam writes:

The complete disconnect between the justifiable aspirations of the majority and the privileged educated elite of the country was perfectly captured in May 2019 by Rajendra Pal Gautam, the then social welfare minister of the Delhi government. At a public meeting demanding justice for the institutional murder of Payal Tadvi—a MBBS doctor from a socially marginalised background—who was subjected to extreme caste-based harassment and discrimination, the minister said it was a matter of great sadness that there are continuous issues leading to agitation and protest. He felt that instead of the entire community focusing on vikas (development), the goal is “diverted.” Specifically referring to the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi, the minister’s solution to the “conspiracy” is predictably that reservations should be done away with and that communities who are eligible for reservation should reject it, as the larger society is questioning the “ability” and “merit” of the beneficiaries.