Mokokchung, 20 August (MTNews): Nagaland stands among the states with the lowest number of applications for the medical entrance exam NEET-UG conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Among the state boards, Maharashtra has consistently topped the charts in terms of NEET-UG applications over the past five years, followed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.
This year, the number of candidates appearing for NEET-UG surpassed 20.38 lakh, a significant increase from 2019’s 14.10 lakh candidates. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had the highest number of applicants for the national-level Class 12 exams from 2019 to 2023. More than 5.51 lakh candidates applied for NEET-UG from CBSE this year.
In the context of state boards, Maharashtra continued its dominance with over 2.57 lakh candidates applying for NEET-UG this year, followed by Karnataka with more than 1.22 lakh applications. The Tamil Nadu state board had over 1.13 lakh applicants, and Uttar Pradesh followed closely with more than 1.11 lakh applicants.
Nagaland, however, displayed relatively lower numbers, with around 2,422 applicants this year. Similarly, other states with fewer than 5,000 NEET-UG applicants included Goa (3,834), Uttarakhand (4,423), Tripura (1,683), Mizoram (1,844), and Meghalaya (2,300).
This trend has been consistent over the past five years, as indicated by data from the agency. The NEET-UG serves as the qualifying entrance exam for various medical courses, including MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BSMS, BUMS, BHMS, and BSc (H) Nursing. Despite the variance in applications, NEET-UG remains the standardized evaluation for over 80,000 MBBS seats across more than 540 medical colleges in India.
The NTA has taken over NEET-UG administration since May 2019, succeeding the CBSE. Out of the 20.38 lakh candidates who took the exam this year, 11.45 lakh qualified, marking a 48 percent increase from the previous year. Uttar Pradesh led the list of qualifying candidates with 1.39 lakh, followed by Maharashtra with 1.31 lakh and Rajasthan with over a lakh qualifiers.
While Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan have the highest numbers of qualifying candidates, Kerala and Karnataka also feature prominently in the top five states, each with over 75,000 successful candidates. Tamil Nadu, known for opposing centralized medical entrance tests, accounted for the highest number of candidates in the top 10. In the top 50, eight candidates were from Delhi, seven from Rajasthan and six from Tamil Nadu.
The NTA conducted the exam in 4,097 centers across 499 cities in India and abroad, and in 13 languages. The examination was held on 7 May and included cities such as Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Colombo, Doha, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, Manama, Muscat, Riyadh, Sharjah, Singapore, Dubai, and Kuwait City.