WHY RESIDENT DOCTORS ARE PROTESTING OVER NEET PG COUNSELLING?

Several resident doctors have been protesting for the past few days in Delhi outside the Nirman Bhawan building; a group of doctors had also attempted to march to the Supreme Court on Monday. The Delhi Police and protestors faced off in the streets, with both sides claiming injuries in the ensuing melee.

WHY ARE THEY PROTESTING?

The doctors had been protesting against the delay in counseling for the National Eligibility Test (NEET) for postgraduate (PG) courses for the year 2021 for several days. For past years, the NEET Counselling had been conducted in March but was delayed in 2021 due to Covid-19. This year, the entrance examination was held in September, and the counseling has not been started yet. Around 50,000 resident doctors have qualified for their PG courses and are waiting for the counseling process in order to start their admissions. Therefore, they are demanding to conduct the counseling expeditiously.

WHY IS IT BEING DELAYED?

The Top Court heard petitions regarding the 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes and 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) presented by the Central government in All India Quota (AIQ) seats in State government medical institutions. As part of the same, the Top court is scrutinizing the feasibility of having ₹8 lakh as a cap to benefit the EWS quota. During the hearing, the Central government assured the Court that the counseling for medical PG courses would not start till the Court decided on the issue. 

WHAT DOUBTS DID SC EXPRESS?

The three-judge Bench questioned the Centre why it had fixed a limit of ₹8 lakh for availing reservation under the EWS? The income limit of ₹8 lakh for the Economically Weaker Section is the same as the cut-off for excluding the OBCs.

WHY WAS THE CASE ADJOURNED?

The Centre government told the Apex court that it revisit and review the EWS criteria within four weeks, and till then, the counseling process for PG medical courses would be deferred. Therefore, the matter had been listed on January 6, 2022, for further hearing.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal