In September 2017, S Anitha, a Dalit girl from Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu (TN), died by suicide after she was unable to secure admission in a medical college. The Supreme Court (SC) in the same year had ruled that admissions to medical colleges in TN will be based on marks obtained in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), conducted by the National Testing Agency for admission to undergraduate medical courses in India. Anitha, who had scored 1,176 marks out of 2,000 in her 12th board exam and 12.33 percentage in NEET while the minimum cut-off for reserved category students was 40 percent, moved the Supreme Court challenging NEET and was known to have spearheaded the movement against the all India medical entrance exam.

Since 2017, such reports of students’ suicides caused by NEET, especially in TN, have repeatedly led to protests calling for a NEET ban. According to a study published in the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 32 cases of suicides of NEET aspirants were reported between 2018 and 2020. This year, five NEET aspirants died by suicide until October 31. The death of Anitha and many other SC, ST students have triggered discussions about the system of medical education in India being unfair towards students from marginalised communities such as the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes, in terms of lack of access to resources including hefty fees for coaching classes for NEET and to study in a medical college.