COVID-19 lockdown: JEE-Mains to be held from July 18-23, NEET on July 26, says HRD minister
New Delhi: Engineering entrance examination JEE will be held from July 18-23, while medical entrance exam NEET will be conducted on July 26, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' announced on Tuesday.
The two crucial exams were postponed due to the lockdown imposed in the country to combat COVID-19.
"JEE-Mains will be held from July 18-23, while JEE-Advanced will be held in August. NEET will be conducted on July 26," Nishank said.
"A decision will soon be taken on the pending CBSE Class 10, 12 board exams," he added.
While the Joint Entrance Exam-Mains (JEE-MAINS) is conducted for admission to engineering colleges across the country, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is for admission to medical colleges.
More than 15 lakh students across the country have registered for NEET this year, whereas more than nine lakh have registered for JEE Mains, the entrance exam for all engineering colleges except the IITs.
The JEE-Mains is considered as a qualifying exam for JEE-Advanced.
The HRD Ministry's National Testing Agency (NTA) had also given students an option to change their opted centres for the two tests as many of them have moved to different places since the lockdown.
Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16, when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Later, a nationwide lockdown was announced from March 25 which will last till May 17.
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At least 16 dead in strikes as Chernobyl anniversary highlights nuclear risks of Russia-Ukraine war
Kyiv (AP): At least 16 people have been killed in strikes over the weekend across Ukraine, Russian-occupied territory and Russia, local authorities said, as the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster prompted fresh warnings about the risks posed by attacks near the plant during Russia's more than four-year invasion of its neighbour.
The death toll from Russian drone and missile strikes on the city of Dnipro rose to nine, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said Sunday.
One man was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on the port city of Sevastopol, in Russian-occupied Crimea, Moscow-installed authorities said Sunday. Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal, and has used it as a staging and supply point during the war.
Leonid Pasechnik, the Russia-installed governor in Ukraine's Luhansk region — of which Russia earlier this month said it had taken full control, a claim denied by Ukraine — said three people were killed in an overnight Ukrainian drone strike on a village, after reporting two people were killed in the early hours of Saturday.
Ukraine did not comment on either attack, which could not be independently verified by The Associated Press.
The latest strikes came after a woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Belgorod border region, according to local authorities.
Ukrainian forces also struck an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, deep inside Russian territory, Ukraine's General Staff said Sunday. The strikes sparked fires at the facility, which processes 15 million tons of oil a year and produces gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for the Russian military. Russia did not immediately comment.
Ukraine has developed its own long-range drones, which can reach targets some 1,500 kilometres inside Russia. It has used them recently against Russian oil facilities as Moscow looks to boost its exports after the Trump administration gave it a temporary waiver from sanctions to ease supply constraints.
Kyiv officials complain that Russia will use the additional revenue on new weapons to hit Ukraine harder.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to warn that Russian attacks risk repeating history.
“Through its war, Russia is once again bringing the world to the brink of a man-made disaster — Russian-Iranian Shaheds regularly fly over the plant, and one of them struck the confinement last year,” he wrote on Facebook.
“The world must not allow this nuclear terrorism to continue, and the best way is to force Russia to stop its reckless attacks,” he said.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, echoed those concerns during a visit to Kyiv, saying repairs to the plant's damaged outer protective shell must begin immediately. IAEA assessments show the damage sustained after a strike last year has already compromised a key safety function of the structure, he said, warning that years of inaction could heighten danger to the original sarcophagus beneath it.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said repairs would require at least 500 million euros (USD 586 million).
Ukrainian officials say a Russian drone struck the outer shell of the plant's New Safe Confinement structure — a USD 2.1 billion archlike enclosure completed in 2019 over the remains of Reactor No 4 — in February 2025. Moscow denied targeting the plant, alleging Kyiv staged the attack.
