NEW DELHI: Medical entrance exam NEET-UG scheduled on May 7 has been postponed in Manipur in view of the law-and-order situation there, the National Testing Agency announced on Saturday.
The exam date for candidates whose test centre was in Manipur will be announced soon.
"On the request of the state government of Manipur and in the wake of the law and order situation, NEET (UG)-2023 has been postponed only for candidates who have exam centre in Manipur until further notice," said Sadhna Parashar, Senior Director (Exams), NTA.
"The fresh dates for these candidates will be announced soon," she added.
Earlier in the day, Union Minister of State for Education Rajkumar Ranjan Singh wrote to the NTA to take into account the current situation in Manipur and postpone the exam.
Singh, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Manipur, said, more than 8,700 candidates were scheduled to appear for the crucial exam at the centers in Manipur.
Manipur is witnessing violent clashes over a move to grant scheduled tribe status to the majority Metei community in the state.
Naga and Kuki tribals who are opposing this plan organised a 'Tribal Solidarity March' on Wednesday after which the clashes broke out.
The death toll in the ethnic violence stands at 54, officials said, even as life returned to wary normalcy in Imphal Valley on Saturday with shops and markets reopening and cars plying on the roads.
However, unofficial sources placed the death toll at over a hundred and the number of injured at nearly 200.
Union minister Kiren Rijuju added his voice to the appeals for calm in the northeastern state as well as a dialogue between the ethnic communities.
A record 20.87 lakh registrations have been received for NEET-UG this year, including nearly 12 lakh female candidates.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is the largest entrance exam in the country, followed by CUET-UG. According to registration statistics, 20.87 lakh candidates have applied for the crucial exam, over 2.57 lakh more than last year.