What will replace NEET for MBBS & BDS courses 2014 onwards?

In a recent development, the Supreme Court has decided to scrap the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for lack of proper direction. In 2012, the NEET was welcomed by students as a single transparent solution for admission to medical colleges in India instead of multiple exams to get admission for 31,000 seats in MBBS & BDS and 11,000 seats in MD courses. Online counseling process for MBBS admissions on the basis of NEET exam is underway. The counseling process for the state quotas is scheduled to be completed by August 2, 2013.

The NEET was conceptualized to being a single centralized test, through which the CBSE drew the merit list of students across India by combining their Class XII and NEET scores. The ranks would be valid for all institutes across the country - if owned by states, central government, private management and others. This was done to bring uniformity in medical admissions for MBBS & BDS. Another reason was to prevent students the trouble of answering state and national tests separately to see where they stand in the admission process of different institutes through one test.

However, due to lack of proper planning & management, students had to face problems right from the beginning. The allocation of test centres for city students was not in Karnataka and students had to travel to other states like Maharashtra. Some students were allotted test centres in Jammu and Kashmir which was distressing as NEET was mandatory then, before the interim order. Additionally, some states had objected to the exam being held in only one language and demanded conducting of tests in regional languages.

With the Medical Council of India (MCI) being powerless in this situation (it cannot go above the Supreme Court), chances are that MCI will ask individual institutes to conduct their own entrance exam. Also, state medical entrance tests like Goa Common Entrance Test (GCET) etc, which was on their way to extinction, will be revived yet again.

Even though students interested in medical courses will now have to sit for separate examinations for private universities and colleges and shell out a big amount before taking admissions, they seem to be happy about the new development. What is your take on it?