NEET qualifiers with physical disability in J&K face a dark future as the state continues to ignore Medical Council of India guidelines on their reservation in MBBS/BDS courses.
In February 2018, Central Board of School Education issued informationbulletin for undergraduate National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET UG)2018 for admission to MBBS/BDS courses confirming reservation of 5 per centseats for disabled candidates, along with schedule on specified disability asper Rights of Persons with Disability Act (RPwD Act). However, in J&K, nosuch reservation has yet been notified, leaving aspirants, who despite oddshave qualified NEET, in lurch.
One such candidate, Safiya Nazir has been running frompillar to post to persuade the authorities to facilitate admission ofcandidates like her for MBBS course in the state medical colleges.
Nazir, who suffers vision impairment and had appeared inNEET under physically disabled category has obtained 315 marks in NEET andscored 339th All-India rank in the category. However, due to unavailability ofa specific ‘physical handicap category’ in the state’s admission policy, Nazirmay not avail for herself any benefit.
Chairman Board of Professional Entrance Examinations(BOPEE), Ashraf Bukhari said there is no reservation for physically handicapcandidates in admission, although in recruitments, such rules do exist.
He said the Board had kept a provision of extendingreservation to aspirants in case government approves it. “We have compilationof all such details in our database,” he said.
He added that the Board had written several times toGovernment but the Board was not in a position to reserve any category. “It isthe State government that would need to act on this,” he said.
Commissioner Secretary, Health and Medical EducationDepartment, Atal Dulloo said that although there was no horizontal reservationfor physically disabled candidates, the state did have vertical reservation fordisabled persons. “They can be accommodated in any category but no specialcut-out of seats for them,” he said.
In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court had recently ruledthat a person with disability cannot be refused admission if he or she hasqualified as per his or her merit in the category of persons with disability.
Last year, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfareincreased reservation for persons with disabilities for admission to postgraduate medical courses from 3 percent to 5 percent. “The percentage of seatsto be filled up by persons with disabilities has been increased from 3% to 5%in accordance with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. Aftertwenty years the government has taken a historic decision for welfare ofDivyang sisters and brothers, ensuring that they are equal contributors to theprogress of the nation,” J.P. Nadda, Union Minister for Health and FamilyWelfare had announced.
“Now all 21 benchmark disabilities as per the Rights ofPersons with Disabilities Act, 2016 can register for admission to medicalcourses,” he had said.
The 21 disabilities are: blindness, low-vision, leprosycured persons, hearing impairment (deaf and hard of hearing), locomotordisability, dwarfism, intellectual disability, mental illness, autism spectrumdisorder, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, chronic neurological conditions,specific learning disabilities, multiple sclerosis, speech and languagedisability, thalassemia, hemophilia, sickle cell disease, multiple disabilities(including deaf-blindness), acid attack victim and Parkinson’s disease.