NEET-PG aspirants: Allow us changes in registrations as per new quota rules

MUMBAI: Days after the Union government introduced the other backward class (OBC) and economically weaker section (EWS) quotas in all-India medical and dental seats, National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test postgraduate (NEET-PG) aspirants are a worried lot. Many have approached the National Board of Education (NBE) seeking help in re-opening of the NEET-PG registration website in order to accommodate the latest changes in reservation system.

“Registrations for NEET-PG were completed last December itself because NEET-PG was originally scheduled to take place in January 2021. Increasing Covid-19 cases forced the exam to be postponed and now we want to make changes to the registration form to be eligible for the new quotas,” said Harshit Sahai, a NEET-PG aspirant.

Several students have approached the NEET-PG exam conducting authority, demanding that the registration window be made active once again for the benefit of students.

Earlier this week, the Centre announced 27% reservation for OBC students and 10% for EWS students in the all-India quota (AIQ) seats for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses.

Government medical seats in India are assigned under two streams – AIQ (15% of undergraduate seats and 50% of PG) and state quota. AIQ, originally set up under the Supreme Court’s orders in 1986, is for candidates from across the country and the state quota largely caters to domiciled students.

“Unlike the NEET-UG candidates who are still in the process of registering their forms, NEET-PG students competed this process last year itself and it will be unfair to not give them a chance to redo their application forms. Everyone who is entitled to the quota seat should be given a chance to update their forms and only the NBE has the power to do so,” said Muzaffar Khan, a Thane-based medical education counsellor.

While many have lauded the move, a large number of students from the open/general category have called it “unfair”.