''We take moral responsibility for it', says Union Education Minister over NEET paper leak row, announces high-level committee to improve NTA operations

New Delhi: Following the backlash from lakhs of medical aspirants from the country over the alleged irregularities in NEET 2024 exam conduct including paper leak, the Central government recently took ''moral responsibility'' for the irregularities and announced a high-level panel would be formed on the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA).

"Recommendations will be expected from that high-level committee to further improve NTA, its structure, functioning, examination process, transparency and data security protocol," the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan stated in a press conference, as per UNI report.

On the issue of the alleged NEET paper leak in Bihar, Pardhan said, "We are in touch with the Bihar government about the NEET UG paper leak case. A full report will be made available soon. All offenders will be punished."

The Minister assured everybody that the government was committed to protecting the students' interests.

Pradhan's remark came hours after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked the government and the Prime Minister over the issue.

He emphasised, "Don't let isolated incidents affect the careers of students."

The Education Minister announced that the government is going to form a high level committee on the functioning of NTA.

On Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's statement regarding NEET issue & UGC-NET exam cancellation, Pradhan said, "I will again appeal to my opposition friends to have faith in our system."

He further added, "Our government is 100 percent committed to transparency, to the betterment of the future of our students. And I assure you again, no malpractice, no irregularity will be tolerated by our government."

The Minister said some irregularities have come to the notice of the government. "We take moral responsibility for it....By taking responsibility, we have to rectify the system", quotes UNI.

On the issue of UGC NET exam cancellation, Pradhan revealed that the UGC-NET examination paper was leaked on Darknet, leading to its cancellation.

“Soon after it was clear that the UGC-NET question paper on Dark Net matches the original question paper of UGC-NET, we decided to cancel the examination,” he said.

The students are demanding a ban on the exam conducting body National Testing Agency (NTA) and a probe into the alleged paper leak.

This year's National Eligibility-and-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 Examination was mired in controversies after the allegations of paper leak came to light. Around 13 people, including four examinees and their family members, were arrested in Bihar for their alleged involvement in the paper leak of the NEET-UG exam. Patna police sources had previously claimed that the NEET-UG question papers along with their answers were provided to around 20 aspirants a day before the date of the exam i.e. May 5, 2024.

Meanwhile, NEET aspirants across the country have been protesting against the alleged paper leak issue in NEET UG 2024 and the National Testing Agency's policy of awarding grace marks to 1563 candidates. While finally the NTA decided to scrap the grace marks, the issue of alleged paper leak is still unsolved.

Although earlier, the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had denied such allegations of paper leak, recently he assured action against NTA officials if they were found guilty of the "irregularities" in the conduct of the MBBS entrance exam.

Speaking to ANI on the matter, the Minister said, "On the recommendations of the Supreme Court, the order has been given for re-test of 1,563 candidates. Some irregularities have come to light in two places. I assure students and parents that the government has taken this seriously." Improvement in NTA, which conducts NEET exam, is needed, he added.

The NEET 2024 issue has now taken a political turn as opposition parties are accusing the government over the allegations of rigging, paper leaks, and corruption. Recently Congress leader Rahul Gandhi argued that the BJP-ruled states were the "epicentre of paper leak".

While hearing pleas concerning the NEET examination, the apex court had on June 18 said that even if there was "0.001 per cent negligence" on the part of anyone in the conduct of the examination, it should be thoroughly dealt with.