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Sagar Watch: OPINION
Sachin Jyotishi / Education Consultant-Column Writer
India has always believed in innovation. Sometimes in technology, sometimes in policy—and now, gloriously, in cut-off scores. The latest notice from the National Board of Examinations has pushed the boundaries of imagination by officially welcoming students with –40 marks into NEET-PG counselling. Yes, minus forty. Not low, not poor—negative. A feat even mathematics teachers would hesitate to justify.
According to the revised notification dated 13 January 2026, the government has generously lowered the qualifying percentile for NEET-PG 2025. What was once a 50th percentile (276/800) for General/EWS has been compassionately reduced to the 7th percentile (103/800). For SC/ST/OBC candidates, the bar has been heroically buried underground—0 percentile, translating to a revised cut-off score of –40 out of 800. This is not policy correction; this is policy comedy.
This decision answers a long-pending question: Why should medicine be difficult at all? If diagnosing disease requires years of rigorous training, perhaps the real disease was merit itself. After all, why discriminate against those who couldn’t even score zero? Equality, after all, means everyone gets a stethoscope—regardless of whether they understand anatomy or not.
One must admire the efficiency. Years of sleepless nights, toxic schedules, burnout, and competitive exams for sincere aspirants—now rendered optional. Hard work has finally been declared overrated. The message is loud and clear: don’t stress, don’t study too hard, the system will adjust.
The irony is painful. At a time when patients demand world-class doctors, the system ensures world-class dilution. We proudly debate brain drain while actively discouraging brains from staying. Tomorrow, when hospitals struggle with competence, we’ll blame infrastructure, workload, or fate—never policy.
So yes, start counselling immediately. Let the –40 scorers join. And if tomorrow the cut-off drops to –1000, don’t worry—there will still be a press release calling it a *“historic, inclusive reform.”*
Medicine saves lives. Policies like this gamble with them.
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