Urging the students not to take the extreme step for failing in exams, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on June 6 announced a solatium of Rs 7 lakhs to the family of a young medical aspirant who committed suicide for failing to clear the NEET exams.

Making a statement in the State Assembly, he said the government, which was functioning on the path shown by late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, would always strive for the welfare of the students and urged them to avoid taking extreme steps for failing in exams. Expressing deep anguish over her death, Mr Palaniswami announced the solatium from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund and also expressed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family members.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader and DMK Working President M K Stalin welcomed the Chief Minister's announcement and said the  government should provide a job to one of the family members of the student. The student who had scored an impressive 1125 marks out of 1200 in the twelfth standard board exams, was upset for failing to clear the NEET exam.

She committed suicide by consuming rat poison at her house at Ginjee in Villuppuram district on June 6. This was the second suicide of a promising medical aspirant in Tamil Nadu after a student ended her life last year for failing to clear the NEET, despite securing 1175 out of 1200 in twelfth standard exams. Mr Stalin also raised the suicide issue in the Assembly and urged the State government to take steps to get the Presidential assent for the resolution adopted in the House, permanently exempting Tamil Nadu from the purview
of NEET.

Pained over the deaths, Mr Stalin appealed to the Chief Ministers of non-BJP ruled states to oppose NEET as it puts rural and  economically weaker students at a fundamental disadvantage. He said the discrepancies in the translated NEET question papers have
discriminated against non-Hindi speaking students.