Reporter’s diary: Minister prefers a ‘neat record’ when it comes to NEET

With the State government recently approaching the Supreme Court against NEET, a large number of scribes wanted to know what has transpired between the Centre and the State Health Department on the same. While the State Health Minister is the prime authority of medical education in the State, he refused to comment when asked about the response from Central authorities on NEET exemption, stating he is not the right person to answer the question. This took the journos present during the media interaction by surprise because he had only then spoken about the new medical colleges in the State. Reporters could be seen asking among themselves that if the minister was not the appropriate authority to comment on NEET in Tamil Nadu, then who else would be. They also wondered why the minister, who is usually vocal about the state policies concerning his department, preferred to remain silent on a critical topic related to medical education in the State.