NEET in Hindi, English, 6 other languages now

Tribune News Service 

New Delhi, December 21

The Ministry of Health today decided to hold the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) from academic year 2017-18 in eight languages — Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Telugu and Tamil. The test won’t be held in Punjabi. 

The ministry added the candidate qualifying NEET will be eligible for all-India quota and other quotas under the state governments/institutes irrespective of the medium in which exam is taken by the candidate, subject to other eligibility criteria. Joint Secretary Medical Education AK Singhal stated the collaborative efforts of the Union Health Ministry with the state health ministries had led to this decision to bring parity for students who had taken the state board exams.

In May, Union Health Minister JP Nadda met with Health Ministers and Health Secretaries of 18 states/Union Territories towards implementation of NEET across states.

NEET has replaced AIPMT and is mandatory for admissions in all-India medical/dental colleges, which means no other state can conduct its separate medical entrance.