As introduced in the Rajya Sabha on the ….. day of ….. 2021 Bill No.                   of 2021     THE MEDICAL EDUCATION LAWS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2021       Bill No.                   of 2021 THE MEDICAL EDUCATION LAWS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2021 A BILL to further amend certain enactments pertaining to Medical Education in India BE it enacted by Parliament in the Seventieth Year of the Republic of India as follows:— 1          (1)This Act shall be called the Medical Education Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 — Therefore, it is necessary to amend Section10-D of The Dentists Act, 1948 to grant exemption from NEET examination. The National Medical Council Act, 2019 which provides for a National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test under Section 14 and a National Exit Test under Section 15 of the Act.  Needless to say that exemption from these provisions is also the need of the hour for the State which does not opt NEET and EXT Exam. The Bill seeks to achieve these objectives. WILSON

As introduced in the Rajya Sabha on the ….. day of ….. 2021

 

 

 

 

 

Bill No.                   of 2021

 

 

THE MEDICAL EDUCATION LAWS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2021

 

 

 

 

Bill No.                   of 2021

THE MEDICAL EDUCATION LAWS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2021

A

BILL

to further amend certain enactments pertaining to Medical Education in India

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Seventieth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

1          (1)This Act shall be called the Medical Education Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021

(2) This Act shall extend to the whole of the territory of India.

(3) This Act shall come into force with immediate effect.

PART I

AMENDMENT TO THE DENTIST ACT, 1948

  • After the proviso to section 10-D of the Dentist Act, 1948 the following shall be inserted: –

“Provided further that notwithstanding any judgment or order of any Court, the provisions of this section shall not apply, in relation to the uniform entrance examination at the undergraduate or postgraduate level conducted in accordance with any regulations made under this Act, in respect of the State Government seats (whether in Government Medical College or in a private Medical College) in the States which do not opt for the Uniform Entrance Examination.”

                                                              PART II

AMENDMENT TO THE NATIONAL MEDICAL COMMISSION ACT, 2019

  1. (1) Aftersection 2(t) of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019following sub- section shall be inserted:

(tt) “State Government seats” shall mean and include all seats in the State Government Colleges, Universities, constituent colleges and medical institutions and include seats surrendered by private medical institutions, under any arrangement, to the State Government.

 

(2)    After section 2(q) of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, the following sub-section shall be inserted:

 

(qq) ‘Qualifying Examination’ means the examination conducted by the State Board at the 12th standard level or any equivalent examination conducted by the CBSE or any other authority at the said level.

 

  1. After proviso to section 14 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019the following shall be inserted:

 

“Provided further that notwithstanding anything contained in any provisions of this Act, the provisions of this section shall not apply, in relation to the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, at the undergraduate level or postgraduate or super-speciality level in respect of State Government seats unless such state has opted for such National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test.

 

  1. After section 15 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019the followingsection shall be inserted:

 

“15-A (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any provisions of this Act, section 15 of this Act shall not apply in relation to persons studying in undergraduate courses in all colleges, universities and medical institutions other than Central Government institutions in a State which has not opted for National Exit Test.

 

(2) The Commission shall specify, by Regulations, the manner of conducting common counselling by the designated authority for admission to the postgraduate seats in the medical institutions referred to in sub-section (1) of Section 15A.”

 

  1. After section 33(1) of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 the followingsection shall be inserted :-

 

“33 (1A).Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, all persons who have completed their undergraduate medical courses from colleges, universities and medical institutions other than Central Government institutions in States which have opted out of the National Exit Test, shall, after the completion of their undergraduate medical course, be entitled to a license to practice medicine and shall have his name and qualifications be registered on the rolls of the State or National Register, as the case may be.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. WILSON

 

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

  1. Section 10-D of the Dentists Act, 1948 introduced Uniform Entrance Examination to all dental educational institutions at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels.
  2. Section 14 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 introduced a National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for entry into undergraduate and post graduate medical courses. Section 15 of the Act also introduced a National Exist Test to be taken after completion of the undergraduate medical courses, which will serve as qualification for a licence to practice medicine and registration on the National or State Register as the case maybe.
  3. Thus, auniform common medical entrance test called “National Eligibility cum Entrance Test” (NEET) at Under-Graduate Level and Post-Graduate level in medical and dental courses was brought in by amending The Dentist Act, 1948. Under The National Medical Commission Act, 2019 a similar test is provided for under section 14 and an exit examination at the under graduate level called National Exit Test is contemplated under section 15 of the Act.
  4. It has been felt across the country that NEET not only gives students studying in CBSE schools an upper hand, but also greatly disadvantages the economically weaker sections of the society. There are three basic grounds on which NEET is opposed by the people of various States- (i) The examination completely decimates the right of the State to regulate medical education. (ii) The test is largely based on CBSE syllabus thereby placing students from other streams of education in an obvious disadvantage. (iii) It requires extra coaching at considerable cost apart from ordinary school education and not everybody is able to afford the same. In so far as the first objection, education is a matter placed in Entry 25 of List III of Schedule 7 of the Constitution, meaning thereby the State Legislature also has legislative competence over the field and by extension, the Executive of that State. By unilaterally assimilating to the Central Government the power to conduct such entrance examinations, the basic feature of the Constitution, particularly the federal structure is violated.
  5. In so far as the second objection, the NEET examination is conducted by the CBSE as the nodal agency on the CBSE syllabus up to 12th standard. This means that the students who have studied in CBSC schools are at an obvious advantage when compared to the students studying in other streams of education, particularly students studying in various State Boards, that too in regional language. The common medical entrance tests cause grave hardships and untold miseries to the students who are graduating from the State Board schools. There are different State Boards across India following different syllabus and textbooks, thus leading to different standards of education among students. Further, the students, after completing rigorous examination at the 10+2 level through various examinations, either conducted at the State level by the respective State Boards or by the ICSE or by the central board of secondary education are asked to face a common medical entrance examinations immediately after school. This places an enormous strain on them. Thus, common uniform entrance examinations for the Undergraduate Level does not create a level playing field for all the students as they graduate from different boards with different syllabus.
  6. In so far as the third objection, the experience of the past 4 years shows that in order to pass or score well in the NEET examination, students have to opt for private coaching which is extra-ordinarily expensive and cannot be afforded by a common man.
  7. These objections are borne out by the statistics from the last years’ NEET examinations. There is a decrease of students from State Board who have applied for NEET 2020 when compared to NEET 2019.  In fact, there has been a steady dip of candidates from State Board since 2016, which shows that students passed out from State Board are not able to afford the requisite coaching to be able to sit for NEET examination.  In fact, a number of candidates who have applied are older and repeat candidates who have already taken the examination in the previous years.
  8. Further, though the curriculum for medical education is prescribed by the National Medical Commission, however, the medical colleges located in various States affiliated to various Universities follow their own syllabus, and text books at the under graduate level. The syllabus, subjects and textbooks prescribed by the Universities varies from State to State. Therefore, the education of students is not uniform. Consequently,there is no possibility of conducting a uniform test for graduates of undergraduate courses across the country.
  9. Therefore, it is necessary to amend Section10-D of The Dentists Act, 1948 to grant exemption from NEET examination. The National Medical Council Act, 2019 which provides for a National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test under Section 14 and a National Exit Test under Section 15 of the Act.  Needless to say that exemption from these provisions is also the need of the hour for the State which does not opt NEET and EXT Exam.

The Bill seeks to achieve these objectives.

  1. WILSON

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