Nine years ago, S Anitha became the first victim of NEET in Tamil Nadu, and one of the most prominent faces of Tamil Nadu’s fight against NEET.
In 2017, the 17-year-old from Ariyalur had scored 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in her Class 12 Tamil Nadu State Board exams. Her medical cut-off score was 196.75 out of 200 — marks that would have placed her among medical aspirants under Tamil Nadu’s earlier admission system.
But that year, NEET became mandatory for medical admissions. Anitha, who had prepared through the state-board syllabus, could not secure a medical seat through the national entrance exam. She became one of the earliest voices opposing NEET in Tamil Nadu, arguing that a common entrance test would disadvantage students from rural areas, government schools and marginalised communities.
Anitha’s brother S. Manirathnam, who has now joined the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protest in Delhi, says her fight was deeply personal.
He says Anitha was raised by their father, a daily wage labourer, after their mother died when she was seven. He recalls that Anitha wanted to become a doctor because their mother’s death due to an illness had shaped her dream of entering medicine.
“She wanted to become a doctor because she had seen the suffering caused by the lack of medical care,” Manirathnam said, recalling his sister’s journey.
Anitha joined the legal battle against NEET and became one of the petitioners before the Supreme Court, seeking relief for Tamil Nadu students. The Court did not grant the exemption sought by the state, and days later, on 1 September 2017, Anitha died by suicide at her home in Ariyalur.
Speaking about the impact of NEET on his family, Manirathnam said, “NEET has destroyed my family.”
Years later, he has joined the CJP protest, saying Tamil Nadu’s opposition to NEET began with students like Anitha, who questioned whether a single national entrance exam could account for the inequalities faced by students across the country.
@hey_eshwar reports.