The Tamil Nadu government is up in arms against HRD Minister Kapil Sibal's proposal for a common entrance examination. This is because the state has abolished the entrance examination system and it doesn't want that to haunt students yet again.

The state says it abolished these entrance exams two years ago to save students from stress and to give rural students a fair chance, as they can't afford tuitions to prepare for entrance tests.

''It was so difficult for us to legally abolish entrance exams. We see this as an infringement of the authority of the state government,'' says Dr Ponmudi, Minister of Higher Education, Tamil Nadu.

But the Centre's task force says it's a national issue. Thousands of colleges in different states conducting their own tests is a nightmare for students.

''There are thousands of entrance exams. Every college and every university conducts its own entrance examination. Students are tortured,'' says Dr Ananthakrishnan, a member of the National Higher Education and Research Commission.
 
It's vote bank politics that often determines government policies in Tamil Nadu. With Assembly polls just a year away, the ruling DMK doesn't want to take any chances.

And for Tamil Nadu, making admissions easy to professional colleges is a political brownie point.