Amid the growing
clamour for postponement of JEE and NEET exams, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren on
Friday said that he doesn’t understand the argument that the centre is
presenting for the exams to be held. While NEET is scheduled for September 13, JEE-Main
is scheduled between September 1-6. Soren presented his argument at the AICC
video conference.

“They (Centre) said
that lakhs of students have downloaded admit cards. I don’t understand what
kind of argument is this. If this is the case, then if someone has life
insurance, does it mean they’ll die soon”, news agency ANI quoted Soren as
saying.

The National Testing
Agency (NTA) on August 21 said that lakhs of students downloaded the admit
cards, which were issued online.

Jharkhand CM Soren also
urged Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to consider postponing
NEET and JEE examinations in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to
Pokhriyal, the chief minister said there is a risk of spread of infection and
with public transport not operating in the state, many candidates would face
difficulties in reaching examination centres.

This comes a day after six chief ministers of non-BJP ruled states, including Soren, decided to file
a review petition urging the Supreme Court to reconsider its recent order
rejecting the postponement of the two competitive exams.

The decision was taken
during a meeting convened by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on a range of issues
ahead of Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Both these competitive
examinations are extremely critical in the career of a student and their result
would decide the course of one’s future life, Soren said in his letter, a copy
of which he shared on Twitter.

“Every examinee
would thus try to put his best foot forward and, therefore, it is extremely
essential to ensure that he takes these examinations in an environment of
health safety and mental peace,” he said.

“Currently the
people of our country are engaged in combating once in a century disaster of
COVID-19 which has affected millions and left thousands dead. Due to health
scare as well the economic disruption, there is a widespread prevalence of
psychological stress among the people,” he added.

While a total of 15.97
lakh students have registered for NEET, 9.53 lakh candidates have registered
for JEE-Mains.