Rajasthan's Mahesh Kumar tops NEET-UG, MP's Utkarsh Awadhiya bags second rank
New Delhi (PTI): Rajasthan's Mahesh Kumar has topped the medical entrance exam NEET-UG, while Madhya Pradhesh's Utkarsh Awadhiya has bagged the second rank, the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Saturday.
More than 12.36 lakh candidates out of 22.09 lakh test takers qualified the exam. The number is down from last year's 13.15 lakh qualifying candidates. However, the number of test takers was also higher last year at over 23.33 lakh.
Maharashtra's Krishang Joshi and Delhi's Mrinal Kishore Jha bagged the third and fourth ranks, respectively.
Among females, Delhi's Avika Aggarwal emerged topper, bagging the fifth rank nationally.
The maximum qualifying candidates are from Uttar Pradesh (over 1.70 lakh), followed by Maharashtra (over 1.25 lakh) and Rajasthan (over 1.19 lakh).
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is the largest entrance exam in the country in terms of the number of candidates appearing for the test.
The NTA conducts the NEET every year for admission into medical colleges. A total of 1,08,000 seats are available for the MBSS course -- approximately 56,000 in government hospitals, and about 52,000 in private colleges.
Admissions to undergraduate courses in dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha also utilise NEET results for admission.
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First in Malayalam movie artists association history, women elected to its top leadership
Kochi, Aug 15 (PTI): In a first in the history of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), women were elected to its top leadership positions.
Women actors Shwetha Menon and Kukku Parameswaran were elected as president and general secretary of the organisation respectively. Besides them, Ansiba Hasan was elected as joint secretary and Lakshmi Priya as the vice president.
State Cultural Affairs Minister Saji Cherian welcomed the development, saying it was his personal view that women should come to the leadership posts of AMMA.
"I say this because it is necessary to create more opportunities for women in the film industry. It is for the first time that women are being elected to the leadership positions of AMMA," he said.
The minister congratulated Menon, Parameswaran and Hasan, saying that they were all competent and strong women.
"Let them all work together. I see it as evidence of the continuation of the changes brought about in the film industry following the recently held cinema conclave," Cherian said.
He also said that it was an indication of the good times that will come for the Malayalam film industry.
"I am not saying men are bad. For so long men were heading it. Let women rule come now," he added.
