Even as the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Monday dismissed reports of a question paper leak in the NEET-UG medical entrance exam as “completely baseless and without any ground” on Monday, the main Opposition Congress party criticised the BJP-led Centre over the incident, denouncing it as a betrayal of students’ aspirations and an indication of the government’s incompetence.
Taking the Government to task on the issue, the Congress on Monday said this trend has been going on for the last 10 years and that is why unemployment and corruption in jobs are the biggest issues of this election.
This criticism came in response to the NTA’s assurance that every question paper had been properly managed and that images circulating on social media were unrelated to the actual exam paper.
“It has been ascertained from NTA’s security protocols and Standard Operating Procedures that the social media posts pointing towards any paper leak are completely baseless and without any ground.
“To put rumours to rest, it is also stated that every single question paper has been accounted for,” said Sadhana Parashar, Senior Director, NTA. She added that no external person or agency can access the centres once the examination starts. “After the gates of the examination centres are closed, no one from outside is permitted access inside the halls, which are under CCTV surveillance.”
However, taking the NTA clarification with a pinch of salt, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the news of the NEET exam paper leak is a “betrayal” of the dreams of more than 23 lakh students and their families.
In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, “Be it the students who dream of getting admission in college after passing 12th or the promising youth who are struggling for government jobs, the Modi government has become a curse for everyone.”
“The youth and their family, who have been paying the price of the BJP government’s incompetence for the last 10 years with the destruction of their future, have now understood that there is a difference between speaking and running the government,” he said.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too took the X platform to criticize the government. “Once again there are reports of a NEET paper leak. The future of 24 lakh youth of the country was again at stake. This trend, which has been going on with crores of promising youth for the last 10 years, is showing no sign of stopping. Will the Prime Minister of the country say anything about this?” she said.
Noting that a law against paper leaks was passed in Parliament, the Congress general secretary asked where that law is and why it is not applicable.
Congress general secretary, in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh, said news of NEET paper leak has come to light in Bihar. “Apart from this, there have also been complaints from Rajasthan about wrong sets of question papers of NEET exam being distributed at the examination centres,” he said.
“In the last 7 years, more than 70 papers have been leaked. Due to this, the future of more than 2 crore candidates has been ruined. Despite there being laws regarding paper leaks in many states, papers are being leaked,” he said.
Citing some examples, Ramesh said 3.75 lakh candidates had participated in the teacher recruitment examination in Bihar on March 15 but within a few days, the exam had to be cancelled due to paper leak.
“60 lakh candidates took part in the UP Police examination on February 17 and 18 February. On February 24, the Yogi government had to cancel the examination due to paper leak,” he said.
Ramesh pointed out that one of the five ‘Yuva Nyay’ guarantees is ‘Paper Leak Se Mukti’.
“Our laws will ensure the highest standards of honesty and fairness at every stage of the examination process -- from paper setting, printing, transportation, administration and inspection -- for paper-based and computer-based examinations,” he said.
The entrance exam was conducted on Sunday at 4,750 centres in 571 cities including 14 cities abroad.
The NTA had on Sunday claimed that the distribution of wrong question papers at an exam centre in Rajasthan led to some candidates walking out with the papers. The agency had denied any leak of the question paper.
