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Explained: All about NEET-PG ‘zero’ percentile and why it’s embroiled in political discussion

The MCC made a surprising decision in the third round of NEET-PG exam counselling by reducing the qualifying percentile to zero.

Sumit Jha

Published Sep 22, 2023 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 22, 2023 | 8:00 AM

The MCC reduced the cut-off percentile to zero for the third round of NEET-PG counselling. (Creative Commons)

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) made a surprising decision before the third round of NEET-PG exam counselling by reducing the qualifying percentile to zero. This unexpected move has created a lot of confusion, sparking heated discussions on social media, and even political involvement.

Following the MCC’s announcement on Thursday, 21 September, the Directorate of Medical Education across states has now released dates for the third round of counselling, adding to the confusion.

The reason for the heightened social media discussion and political interest in this matter is the unexpected nature of the decision. It has raised questions and concerns among the public and various stakeholders, leading to several debates and speculations on the implications of this decision and the motivation behind it.

We explain what all the fuss is about.

Related: New cut-off percentile for NEET-PG aspirants 

About the NEET-PG exam

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Post Graduates (NEET-PG) is a crucial medical entrance examination in India, overseen by the National Board of Examinations (NBE).

It serves as a prerequisite for medical graduates, who have completed their MBBS degrees, seeking admission to postgraduate medical programmes like MD, MS, and DNB. NEET-PG is a computer-based test, comprising multiple-choice questions and covering various medical subjects.

This exam yields rankings, including percentiles, determining candidates’ eligibility and preferences for postgraduate courses and institutions. It plays a vital role in standardising the selection process for postgraduate medical programmes, ensuring candidates meet the educational prerequisites for advanced medical studies.

Following this, the MCC conducts counselling sessions in a phased manner, nationwide, to allocate available seats in medical colleges and hospitals. These sessions allocate limited seats for each specialisation.

Tamil Nadu: Will returning education to State List end NEET-linked suicides?

Three PG degrees for med students

MD, MS, and DNB are all postgraduate medical courses in India, each offering specialised training and expertise in various medical fields. Here’s what each of these courses entails:

MD (Doctor of Medicine): MD is a postgraduate medical degree that provides in-depth knowledge and specialisation in various clinical disciplines, with a focus on diagnosing, treating, and managing various medical conditions and diseases in patients.

After completing their MBBS, medical graduates can pursue an MD in areas such as Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Radiology, Dermatology, Psychiatry, and many others.

MD programmes typically involve a combination of theoretical coursework and clinical training. After completing an MD programme, a doctor can become a specialist in their chosen field.

MS (Master of Surgery): MS is another postgraduate medical degree that focuses on surgical specialties —specialised areas of medicine that focus on performing surgical procedures to diagnose, treat, or manage medical conditions and injuries.

Like MD, an MS is pursued after completing MBBS. MS programmes offer specialisation in surgical fields such as General Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery, Ophthalmology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and more.

MS programmes involve both theoretical and practical training in surgical techniques and procedures. After obtaining an MS degree, a medical professional can become a surgical specialist.

DNB (Diplomate of National Board): DNB is a postgraduate medical qualification offered by the NBE in India. It is considered an equivalent to the MD and MS degrees, and provides specialisation in various medical and surgical specialties.

DNB programmes are typically conducted in accredited hospitals and institutions. Medical graduates can choose to pursue a DNB in their desired specialisation, and the training and examination process is similar to that of MD and MS programmes.

Doctors choose these postgraduate courses based on their interests and career goals to become specialists in their chosen medical fields.

Also read: NEET is zero, say Stalin, son Udhayanidhi

So, what is percentile in exams?

A percentile is a statistical measure used to describe the relative rank of a particular value within a dataset. It helps to understand how a specific data point compares to the rest of the data.

Confused? Let us simplify it for you.

Percentile is way to see how well you did compared to others in a test or competition.

Imagine that you and your friends all took a big Math test. Your percentile will tell you the percentage of people who scored lower than you or higher than you.

Sorting Scores: First, we gather all the test scores and put them in order, from lowest to highest. Let’s say there are 100 scores in total.

Understanding Scores: If you got a score of 80, for instance, it means 80 percent of your friends who took the test scored lower than you. That’s because you did better than 80 out of 100 people. Likewise:

  • If you are in the 90th percentile, you did better than 90 out of 100 people.
  • If you’re in the 50th percentile, you did just as well as half of the people (50 out of 100).

What It Means: So, if someone tells you that you’re in the 75th percentile in Math, it means you’re doing better than most of the students who took the same test. You’re in the top 25 percent!

The higher your percentile, the better you did compared to your peers. It’s a way to see how you’re faring in a fair and easy-to-understand manner.

Also read: NEET aspirant from Salem ends life while preparing for 3rd attempt

Putting it into context

In the initial NEET-PG counselling session held in July, the MCC set a cut-off percentile of 50.

This meant that, based on a total score of 800 marks, the highest score of 582 represented the 100th percentile, and candidates scoring 291 or higher in the open category, 257 or higher in the reserved category, and 274 or higher in the persons with disabilities (PWD) category were eligible for counselling.

Despite most medical colleges filling up seats, including sought-after courses like General Medicine, a significant number of postgraduate seats (approximately 13,245) remained vacant even after the second round of counselling.

The highest number of vacant seats were in the All-India quota across these medical colleges, and there were also around 3,000 unfilled seats for DNB doctors practising in hospitals.

To address this issue, medical associations, including the Indian Medical Association, appealed to the Health Ministry to lower the percentile cut-off to 20. In response, the MCC not only reduced the percentile requirement, but set it at zero.

Zero percentile means that every NEET-PG student who took the exam, including those with scores of zero or even negative marks, will become eligible for counselling.

This decision has resulted in 14 students with ‘zero’ scores, 13 students with negative scores, and even one student with a score of -40 qualifying for NEET-PG.

Also read: TN intensifies anti-NEET push as hunger strike follows legislation

So what’s the problem?

The goal isn’t to ensure that everyone passes, but rather to organise and categorise students effectively. Strong, diligent students who perform well in their studies and excel in entrance exams gain admission to esteemed medical colleges.

Importantly, a low score or even a score of zero in an entrance exam doesn’t necessarily reflect on a doctor’s competence.

However, to maintain structured categorisation and facilitate the selection of students from diverse backgrounds— such as state quotas, All-India quota, various categories (General, OBC, SC, ST), and specific medical specialties like MD General Medicine or MD Microbiology — entrance exams serve as a filter.

“Mere NEET PG exam cannot be a factor for eligibility as MBBS itself is a required eligibility criteria for post graduation. Moreover, we need faculty for newly-opened medical colleges and some government medical colleges do not have Anatomy faculty and its now running into the third year. Now, there will be no seats left vacant, especially for non-clinical PG posts,” Dr Lakshya Mittal of United Doctors Front Association, told South First.

He added, “A wonderful transparency is being maintained during the entire counselling procedure this academic year. Everything will be online, even the stray vacancy round (for the very first time) this academic year is going to be conducted online by the MCC government portal. There will be no chances for any discrepancies or incidents like seat-selling.”

But now, many doctors argue that the zero percentile move is being done to fill the seats of private medical colleges.

FAIMA Chairman, Dr Rohan Krishnan, told South First, “I believe that this decision undermines the principles of meritocracy and disproportionately benefits students who may need more academic support. The inception of a standardised examination like NEET in India was primarily aimed at ensuring that merit takes precedence, without any external interference. However, reducing the qualifying percentile to ‘zero’ could potentially have detrimental effects on our nation’s healthcare system.”

He added that the call for a reduction in the NEET-PG cut-off by certain medical associations is concerning.

“While a lower cut-off may address some issues, completely abolishing it with a ‘zero’ cut-off is an ill-advised proposition. This could inadvertently discourage aspiring medical graduates, who are unable to afford private colleges and did not secure seats in government medical colleges. It sends a discouraging message to them, which is far from ideal,” he said.

Also read: Gov has nothing to do with anti-NEET bill: Ma Subramanian

Any alternate to seats going vacant?

Opposing the zero percentile decision and offering an alternate solution to the problem of “seats going vacant”, Chennai-based endocrinologist Dr Karthik said that it’s not that hard to avoid the problem.

“Simply announce that if a college has no takers after two rounds of counselling, the seats will be returned to the govt quota and will be charged the same as a govt quota seat in a private college,” he suggested in a post on X.

He continued, “Only the most sought-after private colleges will be able to sell the management seats at higher price initially. This will go on for a few batches after which the smart ones will realise that the former ‘sought after’ private colleges is a place for the lowest quality students. Then, they will lose their prestige and to attract the moneyed students, they will have to reduce management quota fee, eventually reaching an equilibrium.”

He added that this final number will be close to the government quota fees in private colleges fixed by the government. “So basically, only two fee slabs will be there, govt college fee and private college fee,” he said.

“The colleges who can’t fill the seats at a price they want, will have two options, close the college or reduce the fees. The mushrooming of private medical colleges will also stop as it will not be possible to admit bottom-of-the-barrel students by taking huge sums of money,” he stated in his post.

Also read: TN Governor Ravi: I will never give clearance to anti-NEET Bill

So, why are politicians squabbling?

The first principle suggests that politics is intertwined with various aspects of human life, whether it’s dining at a restaurant or enjoying a movie — there’s always an underlying political element.

That aside, for long, the situation with NEET in Tamil Nadu has been a prolonged and contentious struggle.

The state’s concerns regarding the NEET examinations have been a matter of significant controversy and debate. These concerns arise from several key factors.

  1. Urban-rural divide: Many students from rural areas in Tamil Nadu face difficulties in accessing quality coaching and resources to prepare for NEET. This urban-rural divide can put rural students at a significant disadvantage.
  2. Syllabus alignment: The NEET syllabus may not fully correspond with the state board syllabus in Tamil Nadu, creating challenges for students who must adapt to a different curriculum for the national-level exam.
  3. Language issue: While the issue of “language barrier” was fixed when Tamil was included as one of the 13 languages in which an aspirant can attempt the exam from 2017, the larger issue remains the fact that the syllabus of Tamil-medium schools, which are primary government schools, do not align much with the CBSE syllabus. Thus, the chances of these students seeking coaching, which is likely to be too expensive for them, is low — further reducing their chances of faring well in the exam.
  4. Mental load: The pressure and stress associated with NEET, coupled with intense competition, have raised concerns about the mental health of students in the state.

Also read: 2 students secure top spot with perfect scores in NEET-UG exam

What top leaders in TN had to say

The state government and political parties in Tamil Nadu have expressed concerns about NEET’s impact on medical admissions and the state’s autonomy in education. There have been debates on whether NEET infringes upon the state’s rights to conduct its own.

Following the decision to reduce the percentile cut-off to zero for NEET-PG, several political leaders from Tamil Nadu — including the state’s Chief Minister MK Stalin — have not shied away from calling out the lack of meritocracy this new decision will create.

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