NEET 2020 to be held on May 3 (Express Photo by Sahil Walia/ Representational image(
A total of 15,93,452 lakh candidates have applied for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2020. In 2019, for the first time, over 15 lakh candidates had registered for the exam which was a steep rise of 14.52 per cent from NEET 2018. This hike was cited to the new rule mandating NEET for Indian students aspiring to study medicine abroad.
This year, the number was expected to rise further as the medical entrance exam — NEET has been made mandatory for admission to AIIMS and JIPMER. The institutes used to enrol students based on their individual entrance exams, which will not be conducted any more. There has been a minor rise of 4.87 per cent or 74,083 candidates from last year.
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Rise in application from Jammu, Kashmir
In a surprising trend, the number of applications from the Jammu and Kashmir region has also gone up as compared to last year, despite the internet restrictions in the region. In wake of the issues faced by students, the NTA had allowed offline applications for NEET 2020 only for students applying from the Jammu and Kashmir region.
For NEET 2020, a total of 33,357 candidates applied from J&K — a rise from 26,595 applications for NEET 2019.
NEET 2020: State-wise applications
Graphic By Rajan Sharma
This year, the maximum applications have been received from Maharashtra with 2.28 lakh candidates — a huge leap from Uttar Pradesh which came second with 1.54 lakh candidates. Other states with most registrations were Karnataka with 1.19 lakh applications followed by Tamil Nadu and Kerala with 1.17 and 1.16 lakh candidates, respectively.
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The least number of applications this year, following NEET 2019 trend was from Lakshadweep with 183 registrations followed by Daman and Diu and Andaman and Nicobar islands with 707 and 800 applications, respectively. The reason behind these sections is because of low population density in these states.
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