New Delhi, Mar 30 (IANS): Amidst the Covid-19 shutdown, HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on Monday advised the National Testing Agency to postpone the last date of application for entrance in leading institutes like JNU and others.

The Minister, in a tweet, said he has asked the NTA to postpone the last date of application forms for the ICAR Exam, JNU Entrance Exam, UGC NET, CSIR NET, NCHM JEE, IGNOU PhD and Management Entrance Exams.

"To enable students to fill up their application forms during these testing times, I have advised the Director General of National Testing Agency (NTA) to postpone the last date of acceptance of applications of ICAR Exam, JNU Entrance Exam, UGC NET, CSIR NET, NCHM JEE, IGNOU PhD and Management Entrance Exams by 1 month," he said.

Meanwhile, the JNU Vice Chancellor informed that the varsity has decided to postpone the application dates for the entrance exam.

"The application deadline for JNUEE will be extended and students can make use of this extended time to fill up the application form and prepare for JNUEE. Wish all the JNU aspirants good luck," VC Jagadesh Kumar Mamidala said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced nationwide three weeks lockdown starting from March 24th midnight, terming it an essential step to fight coronavirus decisively."