neet paper leak row – Artifex.News

Students’ demands raised in Hyderabad during protest against NEET paper leak, Jauhar University demolition

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:57:00 +0000

People participate in a march led by Students Islamic Organisation of India’s (SIO) at Charminar in Hyderabad on Friday (July 24, 2026)
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

Dozens of demonstrators took to the streets near Charminar in Hyderabad on Friday (July 24, 2026) to protest against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak and express solidarity with students demonstrating in the national capital. They also condemned the proposed demolition of buildings at the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Uttar Pradesh.

Slogans on students’ needs

The protest was led by the Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) and saw participants carrying placards with slogans such as “Students Need Classrooms, Not Chaos” and “Justice for Students, Justice for Jauhar”. Soon after Friday prayers concluded at the Mecca Masjid, many other young men joined the peaceful demonstration, raising slogans against what they described as the government’s anti-student policies. They also sought the resignation of the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Demands

The protesters demanded strict action against those responsible for irregularities and question paper leaks. They further demanded an establishment of a transparent, accountable, corruption free and student friendly exam system, and protection of the democratic right to peacefully protest.

People participate in a march led by Students Islamic Organisation of India’s (SIO) at Charminar in Hyderabad on Friday (July 24, 2026)
| Photo Credit:
NAGARA GOPAL

Speaking to the media, SIO Telangana president Mohammed Faraz Ahmed alleged said that conduct of national level examinations were failing. He added that question paper leaks were a result of corruption and administrative negligence which had severely taken a toll on the confidence of students and parents across the country. The future of lakhs of students, he said, could not be jeopardised on account of a flawed examination system.

He alleged that the National Testing Agency (NTA) had failed to discharge its duty of conducting examinations in a fair, transparent, and credible manner. Protesters demanded the immediate resignation of Mr. Pradhan and called for the abolition of the agency.

People participate in a march led by Students Islamic Organisation of India’s (SIO) at Charminar in Hyderabad on Friday (July 24, 2026)
| Photo Credit:
NAGARA GOPAL

The paper leaks had caused a great deal of anxiety and mental stress within the student community. He said that students spend a great deal of time to prepare for such tests. Condemning the police action against peaceful protesters in the national capital, he said that in a democracy, voices of dissent must be heard rather than suppressed.

People participate in a march led by Students Islamic Organisation of India’s (SIO) at Charminar in Hyderabad on Friday (July 24, 2026)
| Video Credit:
NAGARA GOPAL

Published – July 24, 2026 06:20 pm IST

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Parliamentary panel looking into NEET, OSM issues; seeks answers from NTA, CBSE

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 12:26:00 +0000

A Parliamentary panel has asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) to define what constitutes a “paper leak” in its definition and whether any paper leaks have occurred in exams it conducted since 2018, sources said.

The panel’s questionnairefollows NTA officials’ appearance before it last week, where they contended that there was no paper leak from their system, claiming that some questions from a guess paper were in circulation, the sources said.

The unfinished promise of transparency in CBSE’s digital evaluation system

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, headed by Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh, is investigating the NEET paper leak and the CBSE’s on-screen marking (OSM) fiasco, and has summoned top government officials, including those from the NTA and CBSE.

The committee has sought written answers from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the NTA on the issues of OSM system and the NEET exam respectively.

June 8 deadline for CBSE

The panel has asked the NTA whether it conducted any inquiry into the allegations of irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 (outside of the CBI investigations).

The panel has also asked the NTA about its staff strength for the last three years and fresh recruitments made since 2022. It has also demanded the annual report the NTA submitted to the Higher Education Department for the last three years.

It has sought a detailed report on each of the Radhakrishnan Committee Report’s 101 recommendations and the action taken by the NTA on each of them, the sources said.

The high-level committee of experts, led by former ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan, was set up in June 2024 by the Centre to give recommendations for transparent, smooth, and fair conduct of examinations through the NTA, including on its structure and functioning, reforms in the examination process, and improvement in data security protocols.

While the CBSE must answer the panel’s questions by June 8, the NTA has been asked to submit written answers by June 10. Both agencies are yet to respond, the sources add.

‘Weakening’ of RFP provisos

The parliamentary panel has also asked the CBSE about reported “changes” between the various Requests for Proposals (RFPs) issued for the OSM contract and whether any background checks on the company COEMPT were conducted before awarding it the contract, the sources added.

The panel has also sought to know from the CBSE whether it was aware that COEMPT EduTeck and/or its directors were previously associated with Globarena Technologies, whose evaluation software was faulted in the inquiry into the 2019 Telangana Intermediate results and how this was factored in the award decision, the sources claimed.

Seeking detailed answers from the CBSE, the Parliamentary committee has asked why the proviso disqualifying bidders with a past record of poor performance was removed in the third RFP for the OSM contract, the sources claimed.

It has also asked why the proviso prohibiting bidders who were previously blacklisted was “weakened” to exclude only currently blacklisted bidders in the third RFP and why the minimum company turnover for the bidder was specifically set at ₹50 crore, they said.

The committee has sought to know why the RFP provisions “changed” from favouring contractors with their own data centres to those using MeitY-empaneled data centres, the sources said.

It has asked why the provision for a robotic scanner was “dropped and replaced with a generic provision (’sufficient scanners’)”, and why the stipulation for contractors to scan answer papers without cutting the spine of the paper was removed.

Reduction in image quality requirement

It has also sought to know why the minimum scanning resolution desired by the CBSE in its RFP was reduced from 300 DPI (dots per inch, which describes the resolution of an image) to 200 DPI, according to sources.

The panel has also asked why the criteria requiring experience in handling large projects (involving at least five lakh students per project) was “dropped” in favour of a criterion allowing cumulative answer-book volume across multiple projects, the sources said.

The sources said the panel had earlier asked the CBSE to share documents about February 2025, May 2025, and August 2025 RFPs issued for the OSM system, which the CBSE has not complied with.

The panel had also asked the CBSE to share the action taken on the report of the observers of the OSM dry run and whether the Board shared and/or discussed the observers’ report with the Ministry of Education.

Published – June 07, 2026 08:09 pm IST

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M Kharge As Exam Body Chief Sacked Amid NEET NET Row

admin — Sat, 22 Jun 2024 19:47:33 +0000

“For students to get Justice, the Modi government must be held accountable,” he said (File)

New Delhi:

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that shuffling the bureaucrats is not a solution to the “endemic problem” in the education system “rotted by the Bharatiya Janata Party” and claimed that in the NEET scam, the buck stops at the doorstep of top-level officials of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government.

Amid the opposition’s protest over NEET-UG and UGC-NET examination paper leaks, National Testing Agency (NTA) chief Subodh Kumar was replaced by PK Kharola, the current chairman and managing director of India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO).

“In the NEET Scam, the buck stops at the doorstep of the top echelons of the Modi Government. Shuffling the bureaucrats is no solution to the endemic problem in the Education system rotted by the BJP. NTA was projected to be an autonomous body, but in reality, was made to serve the devious interests of the BJP/RSS,” Mr Kharge posted on X.

Mr Kharge further said, “Paper Leaks, Corruption, Irregularities and the Education Mafia have infiltrated our Education system”.

“For students to get Justice, the Modi government must be held accountable. Now, the NEET-PG Exam has been postponed. 4 examinations have been either cancelled/postponed in the past 10 days. This belated whitewashing exercise is of NO consequence as countless youth continue to suffer!” he added.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare postponed the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET PG) Examination on Saturday, which was scheduled to be held on Sunday and said that a fresh date will be announced at the earliest.

The NEET-PG exams were scheduled to be held on June 23.

“Taking into consideration, the recent incidents of allegations regarding the integrity of certain competitive examinations, the Ministry of Health has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of the processes of the NEET-PG Entrance Examination, conducted by the National Board of Examination for medical students,” the ministry statement read.

“It has accordingly been decided, as a precautionary measure, to postpone the NEET-PG Entrance Examination, scheduled to be held on 23rd June 2024. The fresh date of this examination will be notified at the earliest,” the ministry added.

“The Ministry of Health sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to the students. This decision has been taken in the best interests of the students and to maintain the sanctity of the examination process,” the health ministry said.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducted the NEET-UG exams, is facing criticism over alleged irregularities in the exams. This resulted in several protests across the country, with protestors and political parties demanding to disband the NTA.

An unprecedented 67 candidates achieved a perfect score of 720 marks out of 720, which added to the concerns.

The Ministry of Education said it has constituted a high-level committee of experts to make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvements in data security protocols and the functioning of the NTA.

The 7-member committee, led by ISRO former chairman Dr K. Radhakrishnan, will submit its report to the ministry in the next two months.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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