The National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET) online registrations are coming to an end in two days. However, candidates with disabilities who are seeking to appear in the test have not received a clarity on their quota yet.
The revised guidelines have to be given by the Medical Council of India (MCI). As there is no clarity on the same, the doctors with disabilities, a pan-India body of doctors with disabilities has termed the guidelines unfair, discriminatory and unlawful.
As per the Indian Express report, doctors have written to MCI to extend the last date to fill the NEET-UG 2019-20 form and have also asked to allow candidates with disabilities to reconsider their application if they have already registered.
MCI guidelines for disabled candidates
Here's what the MCI guidelines issued on November 16, 2016, says:
Persons with more than 80 per cent locomotor disabilities cured leprosy, cerebral palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy, acid attack victims and others may be allowed to take the test, but after their selection, their functional competency will be determined with the aid of assistive devices.
To this, the activists had replied that fixing an upper limit to a disability is violative of the Rights of People with Disabilities Act as well as the Constitution.
What does the act say?
Rights of People with Disabilities Act came in 2016 and replaced the PwD Act, 1995, which was enacted 21 years back.
According to PIB, the types of disabilities, under the act was increased from existing 7 to 21 and the Central Government now has the power to add more types of disabilities. The disabilities are given below:
- Blindness
- Low-vision
- Leprosy Cured persons
- Hearing Impairment (deaf and hard of hearing)
- Locomotor Disability
- Dwarfism
- Intellectual Disability
- Mental Illness
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Cerebral Palsy
- Muscular Dystrophy
- Chronic Neurological conditions
- Specific Learning Disabilities
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Speech and Language disability
- Thalassemia
- Hemophilia
- Sickle Cell disease
- Multiple Disabilities including deafblindness
- Acid Attack victim
- Parkinson's disease
Issue for disability guidelines
According to Satendra Singh, a member of Doctors with Disabilities, the doctors have brought it to the notice of MCI Board of Governors, NTA, Ministry of Health and Welfare that the MCI guidelines were not updated and that candidates with disabilities are still unclear about it.
What is the issue?
If candidates apply under the disability quota and it turns out later that they are ineligible, they will miss a chance to sit for the entrance test
If they apply through the general quota, they then lose out the entitlement provided to them by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016
NEET UG 2019
National Eligibility cum Entrance Test NEET (UG) - 2019 will be conducted on May 5, 2019 (Sunday) from 02:00 pm to 05:00 pm. The duration of the test will be of three hours.
To know how to register for the test, click on the link below. The last date is November 30, 2018.
National Testing Agency
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG will be conducted by the NTA from 2019 onwards. This test was being conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) till 2018.
The responsibility of the NTA is limited to the conduct of the entrance examination, declaration of result and for providing an All India Rank merit list
The list is given to the Directorate General Health Service, Government of India for the conduct of counselling for 15 per cent All India Quota Seats and for supplying the result to States/other Counselling Authorities.
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