Anitha suicide: Tamil Nadu gives Rs 7 lakh financial assistance to family; provides govt job to brother

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday gave a financial assistance of Rs 7 lakh to the family of a Dalit girl who allegedly committed suicide over the NEET issue in September last triggering widespread outrage across the state. The brother of the girl S Anitha was provided a state government job, as per an assurance made earlier. Chief Minister K Palaniswamy handed over a cheque for Rs 7 lakh to Anitha’s father Shanmugam at the Secretariat, an official release said. He also presented the appointment order to the victim’s brother Sathish Kumar as a junior assistant in state-run Tamil Nadu Medical Plant Farms and Herbal Medicine Corporation Limited (TAMPCOL). [caption id=“attachment_4000857” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Anitha who allegedly committed suicide over NEET issue. CNN-News18[/caption] The government had earlier announced the compensation besides assuring job to a family member of the deceased girl based on their educational qualification. 17-year-old Anita, who moved the Supreme Court against the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) based medical admissions, allegedly committed suicide at her native village in Ariyalur district on 1 September. She was reportedly upset after it became known that the state would not be exempted from the ambit of NEET. The apex court had asked the government to start counselling for admissions to MBBS and BDS courses in the state based on NEET merit list. Daughter of a daily wage earner, Anitha wanted to become a doctor. She had scored an impressive 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in class XII board examinations. But, in NEET she did not fair well and missed out on getting a medical seat. Her death had sparked an outrage in the state and protests by students and others were held for more than a week opposing NEET and demanding justice for Anitha. Critics of NEET have claimed it would be disadvantageous to state board students.