Chennai: 18-year-old Anitha, who vociferously fought against imposition of NEET on rural students but finally ended her own life knowing very well she would never wear the white coat despite scoring an impressive 1176 out of 1200, has given a new lease of life for her family even after her death.
The now departed medical aspirant’s brother Sathish Kumar has been appointed as junior assistant in the state-run Tamil Nadu Medical Plant Farms and Herbal Medicine Corporation Limited (TAMPCOL).
The family of Anitha, which initially refused to meet any representative from the state government immediately after her suicide, on Thursday came to the Secretariat to collect Rs 7 lakh solatium from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
Palaniswami handed over a cheque for Rs 7 lakh to Anitha's father Shanmugam and presented the appointment order to Kumar acting on the promise made earlier that job would be given to a family member.
Anitha’s suicide in September sent shock waves across Tamil Nadu since it came just a week after the medical aspirant lost a case in the Supreme Court, which refused to exempt students from the state from appearing before NEET. Anitha’s family and opposition had blamed the state government’s silence on the issue for her suicide.
The state government had in January this year passed a state-specific bill exempting students from Tamil Nadu from appearing before NEET but it was turned down by the Union Government.
However, at the last minute, the state government revived hopes by trying to bring an ordinance allowing exemption for one year. However, even that attempt failed which eventually dashed the hopes of many state board students from pursing medicine.
