AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday, 24 May 2026 appealed to the Gujarat government to waive bus fares for students appearing in the NEET medical entrance examination, citing a similar initiative already in place under the AAP-led Punjab government. He made the appeal during a media interaction at Gujarat airport.

Context

Speaking to journalists at the airport, Kejriwal said — 'Punjab sarkar ki tarah Gujarat mein bhi NEET pariksha ke liye bachchon ka bus kiraya maaf karna chahiye' — urging that, just as the Punjab government had waived bus fares for NEET examinees, Gujarat should extend the same relief to its students. The appeal was posted on his official X account and accompanied by a video of the media interaction.

NEET, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, is India's sole national-level entrance examination for admission to MBBS and BDS programmes. It draws lakhs of aspirants annually, many of whom travel long distances to reach examination centres, making transport costs a tangible burden for low-income and rural families.

Policy Backdrop

The AAP government in Punjab, which came to power in 2022, has pursued a series of student welfare measures aimed at reducing financial barriers to education. A bus fare waiver for NEET aspirants is among the steps cited by the party as part of its broader education and transport welfare agenda.

AAP's governance record in Delhi, dating to 2015, established the party's identity around education reforms — free textbooks, school infrastructure upgrades, and subsidised transport. Extending such a model to other states through public appeals has become a recurring political and policy strategy for the party.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of such a waiver would be NEET aspirants in Gujarat, particularly students from rural districts and economically weaker sections who rely on state transport corporations to reach exam centres. For many families, the cost of travel to a distant examination city adds meaningfully to the overall financial stress of exam preparation.

State transport corporations would bear the direct cost of any such waiver, requiring either a budgetary allocation or a government order directing subsidised fares on exam days. Similar schemes in other states have been implemented as one-day or exam-period concessions rather than standing subsidies.

What's Next

The Gujarat government has not yet issued a formal response to Kejriwal's appeal. Attention will now turn to whether the state's transport department issues any notification ahead of the next NEET examination cycle. The appeal may also prompt questions in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly or generate pressure from student organisations in the state.

Broader momentum around exam-related student subsidies has been building across Indian states, reflecting a growing recognition that access to competitive examinations is as much a logistical challenge as an academic one. Kejriwal's intervention adds a national political voice to what has largely been a state-level policy conversation.