JEE-NEET row: Surjewala demands 'solution acceptable to all', flags situation in Bihar

On Wednesday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala castigated the Centre for refusing to listen to the grievances of students on the JEE and NEET exams. Alleging that the safety of 25 lakh students is being jeopardised, he questioned whether the Union government would guarantee that no candidate gets infected with COVID-19. According to him, there was a possibility that the COVID-related protocols would remain a mere formality.

Claiming that there were no special arrangements for flood-affected Bihar and Assam, Surjewala opined that the candidates in these states would be denied a fair opportunity. Mentioning that transportation across India had not been normalised owing to COVID-19, the Congress spokesperson contended that the students might find it difficult to reach the exam centre. He stressed that the Modi government had left the students in the lurch.

Read: Northeast Crucial For India's Post-COVID Economy: Union Minister Jitendra Singh

JEE & NEET exams on schedule

Earlier on Tuesday, the National Testing Agency reiterated that the JEE and NEET exams would be held as scheduled. Assuring all the students of a safe environment in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, it has written to the state governments to extend support for ensuring that the candidates are able to reach their exam centres on time. Additionally, the NTA has undertaken measures such as increasing the number of exam centres, reducing the candidates per room and giving a majority of the candidates their first choice of centre cities. While the JEE Main examination will be held between September 1 to 6, the NEET examination is scheduled for September 13. 

COVID-19 crisis in India

Currently, there are 32,34,474 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 24,67,758 patients have recovered while 59,449 fatalities have been reported. At present, there are 7,07,267 active cases. With 63,173 COVID-19 patients getting cured in the last 24 hours, the country's recovery rate stands at 76.30%.

Moreover, the difference between the recovered and active cases has soared to 17,60,489. Meanwhile, the case fatality rate has dipped to 1.84%. After 8,23,992 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the number of tests done in India has increased to 3,76,51,512. The number of COVID-19 testing labs rose to 1540 including 992 labs in the government sector and 548 private labs. 

Read: MPSC Exams Put Off Due To COVID-19 Situation: Maharashtra Govt