PATNA, April 6 -- Former bureaucrat and ex-Union minister RK Singh, who was suspended by the Bharatiya Janata Party for six years in November 2025 over alleged "anti-party activities", on Saturday criticised the Centre's decision to sharply reduce the qualifying threshold for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) postgraduate examination. The steep reduction in percentile for the 2025-26 admission cycle in some categories made the cut-off "almost negligible" in practice. Taking to X, Singh questioned the opposition's silence and asked the Union health minister under what pressure such a decision had been taken. The controversy follows a January 2026 directive by the Union health ministry, which significantly lowered the qualifying percentile for NEET-PG 2025. The cut-off for general and EWS categories was reduced from the 50th percentile to the 7th percentile (around 103 marks), while for general PwBD candidates it fell from the 45th to the 5th percentile (approximately 90 marks). For SC, ST and OBC candidates, the qualifying percentile was reduced to zero, effectively allowing candidates with extremely low or even negative scores to participate in counselling. Citing the revised criteria, Singh claimed that candidates scoring as low as 4 out of 800 - or even those with negative marks - qualified for postgraduate medical entrance. He warned that the move could adversely affect the quality of medical education and healthcare delivery, arguing that inadequately trained graduates could eventually become faculty or practitioners, posing risks to patient safety, particularly among poorer sections dependent on public healthcare systems. Singh also raised concerns over the non-enforcement of exit examinations, stating that the absence of such checks allows doctors to begin practice after completing MBBS without adequate quality assurance. Highlighting his administrative background, Singh recalled that as Patna district magistrate in 1985, he ordered the arrest of a Congress minister over alleged malpractices during assembly bypolls, following which he was transferred. He also cited a subsequent posting as Bihar home secretary, where a disagreement with then chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav over the transfer and posting of officials led to his removal. Former president of the erstwhile Indian Medical Association (IMA), Dr. Sahajanand Prasad Singh, said, "Heavy investments are made in opening medical colleges across the country. Seats used to remain vacant in postgraduate medical courses, which led to significant financial loss. Therefore, the government's decision to lower the qualifying marks for admission to PG courses is a welcome and much-needed step for aspiring medical students nationwide."...