Amid the rising campaign demanding postponement of JEE Main, NEET 2020, four state governments have now written to the central government asking for deferring the entrances. 

JEE Main 2020 is scheduled to be conducted from September 01 to September 06, 2020, while NEET 2020 will be conducted on September 13, 2020. 

So far the state government of Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Delhi had shown their support to postpone JEE, NEET 2020. They were joined in by Odisha on Tuesday when Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha also wrote to Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’- Union Education Minister asking him to postpone the two major entrance exams in India. 

In a press release on August 21, 2020 NTA published a notice confirming that JEE Main, NEET 2020 would be held as scheduled and every safety precaution & SOPs would be strictly followed. 

Read  COVID-19 Advisory for JEE Main 2020.
Also Read  COVID-19 Advisory for NEET 2020.

Showing their discontentedness, 4,000 students observed a day-long hunger strike demanding postponement of exams due to rising cases of COVID-19 on Sunday. Check Details Here.

Several party leaders include big names such as Subramaniam Swamy, Mamta Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi, Manish Sisodia, etc. have also shown their support to either conduct the exams later or cancel them.  

Several students have been demanding postponement citing issues such as the massive increase in COVID-19 cases, floods, lack of public transport, etc. Demands for postponement have increased after SC dismissed the plea to postpone JEE Main, NEET 2020 on August 17, 2020.

Odisha

Naveen Patnaik stated, “Odisha has got vast tribal pockets having geographically inaccessible areas...the students of these areas may be deprived of appearing in these tests, as they will have to travel long distances to come to the examination centers.”

He said that conducting the exams as scheduled would be “unsafe and perilous” for the students. According to details, there are 50,000 students appearing for NEET 2020 and nearly 40,000 appearing for JEE Main 2020. 

Patnaik has also demanded providing exam centers in 30 districts of Odisha to minimize the travel for the students.

West Bengal

On Monday, Mamta Banerjee appealed the central government to reassess the situation and postpone JEE Main, NEET 2020. She said that she had also voiced her opinion in a meeting of Chief Minister with the PM regarding the same concern.

The CM also showed her discontent with the UGC guidelines mandating final year exams. “Now with the directive of [the education minister of India] to conduct NEET, JEE 2020 in [September], I would again appeal to the Centre to assess the risk and postpone these examinations until the situation is conducive again. It is our duty to ensure a safe environment for all our students,"

Maharashtra

Maharashtra cabinet minister, Aaditya Thackeray notified PM Narendra Modi about the current situation in the state stating, “It is not a practical and feasible option to hold examinations in such a situation. Most of the states are facing increasing numbers of COVID-19 (cases) along with red zones (which have reported positive cases),". 

In a letter to Modi, he further requested postponing all academic activities (online and offline examination) as students live with their parents and grandparents risking their lives as well. He also demanded postponement of exams for professional courses. 

Delhi

Manish Sisodia, education minister of Delhi suggested an alternative arrangement for admission to engineering and medical courses. He took on to twitter and said, “To think that the only exam is a way out for admission is an impractical and conservative thought. When other countries can have admission through different methods other than exams why can't it be done in India,".

He appealed the central government to ‘immediately’ cancel both the entrances exams and alternate exams in view of increasing COVID-19 cases. 

Apart from the state governments, and several political leaders have also come in support of the students demanding postponement. MK Stalin, president of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rahul Gandhi from the Indian National Congress and Subramanian Swamy from the Bharatiya Janata Party also appealed for the postponement. 

Students have taken up on social networking trending hashtags such as #PostponeNEET_JEESept, #JEENEETpostponekaro, #NEETJEEpostponekaro, etc. To reassure students, NTA on Tuesday again stated that the exam would be conducted as scheduled. The agency stated that it has taken all the necessary steps to conduct the exams safely. Read More

Today the interim president of the Indian National Congress, Sonia Gandhi held an online meeting with Chief Ministers of seven states in light of issues concerning JEE, NEET 2020. During the meeting, West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee suggested approaching the Supreme Court for postponing the exams. 

She said, “This will be my request to all the state governments, let us do it together, let us go to the Supreme Court and postpone the exam for the time being until and unless the situation allows students to appear for the exams,”.

Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, Puducherry CM V Narayanaswamy, West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren attended the virtual meeting.