
National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) will be held in eight languages across the country - Hindi, English, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.
Union Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on 9 December, said that Section 10 D of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, prescribes conducting a uniform entrance exam in Hindi and English and other languages. However, the exam will not disturb the reservation policy of the respective state governments, she further said. As of now, no criteria has been fixed for candidates from rural areas under the All India Quota seats. The respective state governments will decide on the state quota seats at both UG and PG level.
Catch had earlier reported that the test will be conducted in six more languages apart from English and Hindi.
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The decision to hold NEET exam in eight languages has come as a relief to several medical examination aspirants. However, reports of Karnataka government being offended for not including Kannada as one of the test-taking languages have emerged.
In 2016, NEET became the solo exam for admission to all medical and dental courses across the country. No state or private entity can conduct a separate medical entrance.
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is expected to release the NEET 2017 notification in the third week of December.
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