India, Feb. 13 -- The NEET examination was established as a standard entrance ex amination nationwide for MBBS admissions after a very turbulent gestation period and SC intervention. The main purpose was to set up a lev el playing field and a uniform admission process. As on date, there are 816 medical colleges in India. Of these, roughly half are private; and a significant portion of these are owned or controlled by political fami lies and trusts. Though there are no official statistics, at the time of NEET introduction, there were about 80 parlia mentarians across party lines who had a significant direct or indirect stake in private medi cal colleges. Political interest revolves around numerous factors. Medical education is a highly luc...