Shanmugam Anitha (5 March 2000 – 1 September 2017) was a student from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, India. She scored 1176/1200 in the 12th standard exams in the Tamil Nadu State Board. This would have secured her a medical seat, if only the State Board marks had been considered for admission. In NEET-UG 2017, Anitha secured 12.33 percentage of marks while she scored 86 out of 720 marks. The minimum eligibility cut-off for making it into the merit list was 40 percentage for students in the reserved category. The minimum eligibility cut-off for making it into the merit list was 40 percentile ( 07 to 130out of 720 marks ) for students in the reserved category, while it was 50 percentile for general category ( 31 to 697out of 720 marks ). Anitha scored 12.33 percentage while admission was 14.9 for reserved and 18.2 for general categories for 2018 admission. Admission to medical colleges is based on NEET rank calculated via percentile rather than marks. On 1 September 2017, she died via

suicide by hanging Suicide by hanging is the intentional killing of oneself (suicide) via suspension from an anchor-point such as an overhead beam or hook, by a rope or cord or by jumping from a height with a noose around the neck. Hanging is often considered to ...

. Her death created a major controversy in

where the

National Eligibility and Entrance Test The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET (UG), formerly known as the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT), is an Indian nationwide entrance examination conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission i ...

for medical admissions was strongly opposed. She has become a

cause célèbre A ( , ; pl. ''causes célèbres'', pronounced like the singular) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning, and heated public debate. The term is sometimes used positively for celebrated legal cases for th ...

as a victim of the system.

Background

Anitha belonged to a poor

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

family in Kuzhumur village, Ariyalur district in rural

. Anitha was the daughter of a daily wage labourer and her mother had died when she was young. She was brought up by her grandmother and lived in a house without even a toilet. She studied in a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Medium school and was amongst the toppers in her district and she was the only student in Ariyalur district to score 100% marks in Physics and Mathematics in the 12th standard examination. Anitha always wanted to become a doctor. She saw that it was not possible for poor rural students to afford expensive coaching needed to prepare for NEET exams and only if medical admission selections were done based on the 12th standard marks alone would rural students be able to get seats. Anitha was unable to meet the cutoff and secure a seat through NEET. Anitha was offered an aeronautical engineering course seat at the

Madras Institute of Technology Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) is an engineering institute located in Chromepet, Chennai, India. It is one of the four autonomous constituent colleges of Anna University. It was established in 1949 by Chinnaswami Rajam as the first sel ...

but as she only wanted to be a doctor she did not take up the offer. She would have been the first from her community in her village to become a doctor.

NEET court case

The Tamil Nadu government originally considered reserving 85% of the seats to Tamil Nadu State Board students. The

Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...

dismissed it after an appeal. Later Tamil Nadu government had also promised exemption from

for one year. However the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

dismissed Tamil Nadu government's plea after the central government refused to support Tamil Nadu's ordinance seeking exemption from

NEET A NEET, an acronym for "Not in Education, Employment, or Training", is a person who is Unemployment, unemployed and not receiving an education or Vocational education, vocational training. The classification originated in the United Kingdom in ...

for one year. Anitha implead herself in the petition in the Supreme Court against NEET claiming it was against the interests of rural students after a case was filed by

Central Board of Secondary Education The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national-level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...

students represented by senior advocate Nalini Chidambaram, wife of

P. Chidambaram Palaniappan Chidambaram (born 16 September 1945), better known as P. Chidambaram, is an Indian politician and lawyer who currently serves as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee o ...

, who argued that admissions should be made only on basis of

. After the

verdict which stated that admissions should be made only based on NEET, Nalini Chidambaram stated, "Any further appeal against NEET can only be done to God," and that the Tamil Nadu government could no longer do anything for State Board students after the Supreme Court verdict. Anitha died by suicide nine days after the verdict.

Protest

Her suicide led to protests all over

against

after her death. Anitha's family refused Tamil Nadu government's compensation offer. The large scale protests led to the

to ask the Tamil Nadu Government to control the protests. The BJP claimed that her suicide is a political conspiracy against the BJP. BJP President Tamilisai Soundarajan has warned protesters across the state against testing the BJP's tolerance.

Reaction to her death

Director Pa. Ranjith who attended her funeral stated M.K.Stalin stated T.T.V. Dhinakaran stated that Bharatiya Janata Party's L. Murugan said that there was some external force behind her suicide and further said that Neet is required and urged the state government to prepare students to compete at national and international level.

References

External links

Ariyalur Anitha’s Last video against NEET exam.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anitha, S. 2017 deaths 2017 suicides Dalit women Indian children People from Ariyalur district Suicides by hanging in India Controversies in India Suicides in India