The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate students will be held on September 12, 2021, said Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday. The application process for appearing for the exam will begin from 5 pm on Tuesday, July 13 through the National Testing Agency (NTA) website. Once the registration process begins, the candidates can apply through ntaneet.nic.in for NEET UGC 2021.
The Minister further said, “In order to ensure social distancing norms, the number of cities where examinations will be conducted has been increased from 155 to 198. The number of examination centres will also be increased from the 3,862 centres used in 2020.”
“To ensure adherence to COVID-19 protocols, face masks will be provided to all candidates at the centre. Staggered time slots during entry and exit, contactless registration, proper sanitisation, seating with social distancing, etc. will also be ensured,” he added.
The NEET UG 2021 examination will be conducted for MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BUMS and BHMS courses at institutes spread across the country. The NTA is responsible for conducting the examination, declaration of results and providing an All India Rank Merit List. Later, the Government of India will conduct the counseling process for 15% of All India Quota seats and for providing results to states and other counseling authorities.
In 2018, NEET-UG became the common all India entrance exam for medical admissions into colleges including All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER).
In August 2020, six opposition ruled states approached the Supreme Court to review the order permitting the Union government to hold NEET for medical entrance and JEE for IIT admissions amid the pandemic. The six states that moved the Supreme Court were West Bengal, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Maharashtra. Even the Tamil Nadu government formed a committee to study the impact of NEET. However, the Madras HC ruled that the decision to start a committee is in violation of Supreme Court guidelines. The Court said that the government could have received the nod of SC before constituting the panel.