New Delhi, July 16: In the NEET entrance exam, at least 400 students who scored single-digit marks in Physics and Chemistry and 110 students who got zero or negative marks were admitted in private colleges for MBBS course in 2017. The admission of students regardless of the marks they secured raises questions over the purpose of the exam.
A report states that out of the 1990 students who got admission into MBBS course with NEET scores of less than 720 in 2017, 530 students secured single-digit marks, zero or negative scores in Physics and Chemistry or both. Out of the 530, 507 candidates were admitted in private medical colleges.
NEET does not have a cut-off for individual subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The entrance exam does not specify the minimum marks in each paper. Thus the report concludes that students who can afford Rs 17 lakh per annum find their way into medical colleges despite securing negligible marks in NEET.
Originally the common entrance exam stipulated that only those candidates who secured above 50 per cent (or 40 per cent in the case of reserved categories) in individual subjects were eligible for admission to medical or dental colleges. Later, a Medical Council of India (MCI) notification in February 2012 indicated that the eligibility criteria for NEET entrance exam have been changed from 50% and 40% to 50th and 40th percentile.
courtesy : india.com
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Jerusalem, Nov 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the Hamas group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the October 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralising his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.