Tamil Nadu girl Anitha who spearheaded fight against NEET commits suicide

17-year-old firebrand Anitha, who led the battle against NEET and dragged it to the Supreme Court, has committed suicide. Daughter of a daily wage labourer and a Dalit, Anitha believed that unlike PMT and other medical tests, the NEET exams were more advantageous for the CBSE and the ICSE boards. State and regional boards had to sacrifice with their marks unneccessarily. 

She had taken up the fight to the Supreme Court, demanding an exemption in the state. However, she lost the battle both ways. As the Supreme Court stuck to its ground, Anitha ended her life. She missed getting a medical seat because of her scores. A brilliant student and an aspiring doctor, she had scored a whopping 1176 out of 1200 in her 12th boards. If that was being considered, she could have easily made the cut as she had 196.75 out of 200 for medical.

However, she failed to make a similar impact with NEET. What is more tragic is that she had secured a seat to study Aeronautical Engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu health minister Vijayabhaskar said that he was saddened by the incident, telling students not to lose hope. On August 22, the SC rejected a plea by the Tamil Nadu students to exempt them from NEET for medical colleges this year. However, the apex court refused to do so, saying that NEET will be the only basis for admission.

#anitha look at those scores. We let that student die? Shame on us TN. Lets stop talkin abt our thamizhan perumais and start acting. pic.twitter.com/wWSKOjCm5L

— kaudy (@KauMetalhead) September 1, 2017

• tamil nadu
• south
• neet
• anitha
• supreme court
• medical examination
• pmt