A samosa seller by day, a medical aspirant by night, and now, a beacon of hope for millions – this is the story of Sunny Kumar, 18, who has scored a whopping 664 marks out of 720 in the medical entrance exam NEET UG.

After attending school in the morning and getting free by 2 pm, Sunny would take an hour to set up his roadside samosa stall in Noida Sector 12, where he would spend another five hours of the day working tirelessly. After a full day of hard work, he would return home only to continue his studies late into the night. This is what took Sunny to achieve his extraordinary feat.

When NDTV went to meet Sunny, he was in the middle of setting up his stall. “I haven’t been admitted to a college yet, but I want to get into a good college in future,” he told NDTV.

Sunny’s achievement came to light after Alakh Pandey, founder of Physics Wallah, visited and shared several videos of him. In one of the videos, Mr Pandey visits Sunny’s rented room, where he stays with his family, and is shocked to see several study notes stuck on his wall.

Sunny prepared for the examination through online classes and cracked it on his first try.

In another video, Sunny tells Mr Pandey that he has to sell samosas since there is no support from his father, however, his mother has always supported his dream.

Mr Pandey has also extended financial help to Sunny and his family and has promised to support his education through college.

While grateful for all the support he is getting, Sunny said that he doesn’t want to go viral. “I worked hard, but I don’t want to go viral like this. I want people to know me after I have achieved something great,” said Sunny.

Sunny’s mother also shared that she has never felt as happy as she does now. “I am truly happy and only wish for my son to be admitted to a good college and achieve great success,” she told NDTV.

With inputs from Prerna Sharma. 

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court has directed the National Testing Agency – the under-fire central body responsible for the conduct of the NEET-UG test – to “rectify deficiencies in the exam system”, including using technology to identify faults in its cybersecurity profile to prevent paper leaks.

The court also told the NTA to avoid “flip-flops” in the context of the NEET exam, which was held on May 5 but ran into trouble a month later, when results were declared. Such “flip-flops” do not serve students’ interests, the court told the agency.

“We have highlighted all deficiencies in the structural processes… this we cannot afford for the betterment of the students,” the court said Friday morning.

The bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has given the centre’s committee – a seven-member panel led by ex-ISRO chief Dr K Radhakrishnan and including former AIIMS (Delhi) Director Dr Randeep Guleria – time till September 30 to present its report. The committee has been tasked with analysing the entire examination process and suggest changes to make it more efficient.

“Report of committee to be submitted by September 30 to the government. Ministry of Education shall report compliance of committee and decision to implement (measures) in two weeks.”

The court offered eight points to guide the committee, including laying out a standard operating procedure, or protocol, for conduct of qualifying exams, a review of process of allotting exam centres and enhanced identity checks of candidates, and CCTV monitoring of exam centres.

Another point was to ensure “secure logistics providers for ensuring non-tampering of question papers”; this is crucial given the 2024 NEET-UG exam papers may have been leaked while they were being transported – in locked boxes – from where they were printed to the exam centres.

On the larger question of leaked exam papers, the court said it was satisfied “there was no systemic breach… the leak was limited to Patna (in Bihar) and Hazaribagh (in Jharkhand)”.

The Hazaribagh leak has been flagged as ‘Ground Zero’ by the CBI, which has been tasked with investigating a nation-wide ‘solver gang’ racket that leaks question papers. The agency has made multiple arrests since, including a man called Rakesh Ranjan, alias Rocky, the alleged kingpin.

READ | CBI Arrests ‘Rocky’, Alleged Mastermind In NEET Paper Leak Case

The central agency has also filed its first chargesheet in this case. It has named 13 people, including four candidates, a junior engineer and two individuals labelled as ‘kingpins’.

READ | Candidates, Parents, ‘Kingpins’ Named In CBI’s 1st NEET Chargesheet

Stating parents of some students had also been named, officials said the agency would file at least one supplementary chargesheet as investigations proceed.

The Chief Justice also observed there is a need to have counselling programmes to ensure mental welfare of students, as well as training for staff and management to handle such concerns.

“Can’t Conclude Sanctity Breached”

Last week the court ruled out a full re-test. Hearing a clutch of petitions asking for the exam to be held again, the court said it was not satisfied there was a large-scale breach of its “sanctity”.

READ | No NEET Re-Exam, Court Says “Can’t Conclude Sanctity Breached”

The court admitted the paper had been leaked but said there was no material on record to conclude “the result of the exam was vitiated”. “Data on record is not indicative of a systemic leak of the question paper, which would lead to the destruction of the sanctity of the exam…” the court said.

“The court is (also) mindful of the fact directing a fresh exam would have serious consequences on students, including destruction of admission schedule, effects on education, and availability of medical professionals in the future.”

The controversy over the exam, held May 5, broke after red flags were raised over the number – 67 – of perfect scores, including a coaching centre in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh that produced six on its own.

There were also questions over the award of ‘grace marks’ for 1,563 students.

A retest for those 1,563 was held, but hundreds did not appear and many of those who did scored significantly fewer marks. This included the six from the Haryana centre; they got only 682 this time.

There was also a separate row over two ‘correct’ answers for one question in the Physics section.

READ | The NEET Question Court Asked IIT To Solve, And What They Answered

The Supreme Court referred the question to experts from IIT (Delhi). Subsequently, students who had picked what the experts said was the incorrect answer lost four marks. At least 44 students, who chose the alternative answer, received “grace marks” and achieved a perfect score of 720/720.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

The cauldron rises by the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, on July 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony | Paris unveils ultimate spectacle with pomp, fervour and splendour

The magnificent City of Light, dotted with the spectacular Eiffel Tower and scores of majestic buildings featuring admirable architecture, welcomed the 33rd Olympic Games in a unique way, with the much-awaited Opening Ceremony on the Seine involving a stretch of Paris’ rich heritage, here on Friday. The riot of colours and lights turned the Seine and the pastel city into a surreal place, amalgamating history and contemporariness in a spellbinding show.

Mosques, mazar covered on Haridwar kanwar route; removed after flak

Facades of two mosques and a mazar along the kanwar yatra route in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar city were on Friday covered with large sheets of white cloth to “prevent trouble” but were removed by the evening after objections from various quarters. The sheets were hung on bamboo scaffoldings in front of the mosques and the mazar, all in the Jwalapur area.

17 share top rank as NTA declares final results of NEET-UG

The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday released re-revised results, the fourth iteration, of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate exam that pave way for medical and para-medical course admissions. The latest results were published after the Supreme Court asked the NTA to deduct marks for a Physics question that NTA had said had two ‘correct’ answers.

NEET paper leak case: CBI arrests one more accused

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested one more accused, Pawan Kumar, from Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district on July 26 in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case. This is the 37th arrest in the case in Jharkhand and Bihar.

ED attaches assets of Tamil Nadu Minister Ponmudy’s kin, associates

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Friday provisionally attached movable and immovable properties, worth ₹14.21 crore, belonging to the family members and associates of Tamil Nadu Minister for Higher Education K. Ponmudy and his son and former Kallakurichi MP P. Gautham Sigamani in the illegal red earth quarrying case.The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has issued a safety advisory expressing concern over the recent increase in fire accidents at airport buildings. The safety advisory laid emphasis on following the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to prevent and respond to fires, which could cause chaos, loss of life and flight disruptions.

NITI Aayog needs to be scrapped: Mamata Banerjee

A day before the meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called for “scrapping” the body claiming that it had little use other than organising annual meetings. Six Opposition Chief Ministers are skipping the meeting protesting the alleged bias in the Union Budget which they claim, only catered for the NDA-ruled States. Ms. Banerjee and her Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren are the only Opposition Chief Ministers who are expected to attend the meeting.

India, U.S. sign agreement to protect cultural heritage

India and the U.S. on July 26 signed a cultural property agreement aimed at enhancing cooperation to protect cultural heritage of the two countries. Cultural property agreements prevent the illegal trade of cultural property and simplify the process by which looted and stolen antiquities may be returned to their country of origin.

Trump meets Netanyahu, mends relationship with key political ally

A beaming former U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to their first face-to-face meeting in nearly four years on Friday, patching up a political alliance important to both men that had broken down when the Israeli leader offended Mr. Trump by being one of the first to congratulate Joe Biden on his 2020 presidential victory.

BJP chief attacks Congress for politicising Agnipath scheme, PM’s Drass visit

Union Minister and BJP chief J.P. Nadda on Friday hit out at the Congress for politicising the Agnipath military recruitment scheme and the Drass visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pay tributes to the soldiers on the 25th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas.

Delhi HC seeks the police’s reply to MP Mahua Moitra’s plea to quash FIR over derogatory remarks to NCW chief

The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Delhi police to respond to Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra’s plea seeking the quashing of an FIR against her over an alleged “derogatory” social media remark on National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma. The court listed the matter for arguments on November 6.

Congress accuses Modi government of ‘unprecedented fiscal mismanagement’ in J&K

The Congress on July 26 accused the Narendra Modi government of “unprecedented fiscal mismanagement” in Jammu and Kashmir. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a statement, asked why Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was “benevolent” towards Andhra Pradesh and Bihar but not to the Union Territory.

Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar with Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi during a meeting on the sidelines of ASEAN meetings, in Vientiane, on July 25, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Jaishankar meets Chinese FM Wang in Laos, pushes for urgency in resolving LAC standoff

For the second time this month, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, with the two leaders highlighting the need to resolve the four-year-old military stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with “purpose and urgency”. The meeting was among the first few bilateral meetings the External Affairs Minister had after landing in Vientiane, Laos for a number of ASEAN-related meetings (July 25-27).

‘I will not be silent’: Kamala Harris presses Netanyahu over humanitarian situation in Gaza

Kamala Harris sharply pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday about the humanitarian situation in Gaza in “frank” talks that were watched for signs of how she might shift American policy about Israel if she becomes president. Hours earlier, President Joe Biden pressed for a ceasefire to the 9-month-old war in Gaza.

Income Tax portal ramped up; July 31 I-T returns deadline may stay

The July 31 deadline for filing Income Tax (I-T) returns is unlikely to be extended. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has intervened to fix recent glitches and downtimes reported on the I-T portal by ramping up its back-end capacity to cope with a higher workload experienced this year.

Manipur CM Biren Singh to meet PM Modi for first time after ethnic violence

Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time since the ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities broke out in the State on May 3, 2023. The Chief Minister, who left the State’s capital Imphal for New Delhi on July 25, said some time with the Prime Minister could be carved out during two major events he is scheduled to attend.

2 arrested for supporting terrorists in Kathua attack

The J&K Police on Thursday claimed a breakthrough in the Kathua attack, which left five soldiers dead on July 8, with the arrest of two locals who allegedly provided support to these attackers. A police spokesman said the names of two locals emerged during “a meticulous investigation”. The police described these locals as “overground workers” of the militants. 

NEET-UG 2024 revised results yet to be declared: Education Ministry

The Education Ministry on Thursday said an official announcement would be made when the NEET-UG 2024 final revised results were shared. “The revised results for NEET-UG 2024 have not been declared yet. Kindly wait for official information,” an official spokesperson from the Ministry said. 

Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu compares Jagan Mohan Reddy to drug lord Pablo Escobar

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said the government would review all the criminal cases registered during the YSR Congress regime as part of its vindictive politics, and punish the police officers who foisted false cases on thousands of persons. He asserted that the lawlessness which prevailed in 2019-24 was due to the police-criminal-nexus that was exacerbated by the connivance of some YSRCP leaders who were out to settle political scores. 

Centre to create data bank on employment trends

Amid complaints that the country does not have a comprehensive data bank on the trends in employment, unemployment, wage loss and job loss, the Union government has decided to create an Employment Data Collection Mechanism (EDCM) in collaboration with departments of all Ministries. Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will chair the first meeting in this regard here on Friday.

Archers overcome wobbly start, enter the last eight

The first world record of the 2024 Paris Olympics fell in the archery range set up against Paris’ iconic 17th century Invalides complex. South Korea’s Lim Si-hyeon raced away to a mammoth score of 694 out of a possible 720. The Indian trio of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur – the first athletes from the country in action at the Paris Games – wore smiles at the end of the archery line-up. Their individual scores weren’t nearly as impressive as the South Korean’s but there was a lot to celebrate as a team.

Putin vows ‘retribution’ against those trying to ‘divide’ Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Thursday to crush anybody who tries to divide Russian society as he hailed the effectiveness and unwavering loyalty of his country’s powerful law enforcement agencies. “Those who try to intimidate people, to split our society, to play on religious or national feelings will never succeed,” Putin said in a video message posted by the Kremlin. “Inevitable and just retribution awaits them,” he added.

New Delhi:

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday accused the opposition of trying to create “anarchy” and “civil unrest” using the NEET-UG issue and said with the Supreme Court verdict related to the controversy-ridden exam, “truth has prevailed”.

The opposition should apologise to students and their parents for “misleading” them, Mr Pradhan said as he announced that the final results for the medical entrance 2024 NEET-UG exam will be declared within two days according to the observations made by the Supreme Court.

The court on Tuesday dismissed the pleas seeking cancellation and re-test of the 2024 NEET-UG, holding that there was no evidence on record to conclude that it was “vitiated” on account of “systemic breach” of its sanctity.

The interim verdict, to be followed by a detailed and reasoned order, came as a shot in the arm for the embattled BJP-led NDA government and the National Testing Agency (NTA), which were facing strong criticism and protests, on streets and in Parliament, over alleged large-scale malpractices like question paper leak, fraud and impersonation in the prestigious test held on May 5.

The revised final results of the exam will be announced taking into account marks of a physics question, which the NTA said had two correct answers. The revised result likely to reduce the number of toppers as 44 out of 61 toppers had shared the top rank because of this.

“The apex court dismissed the pleas seeking cancellation and re-test of the 2024 NEET-UG, holding that there was no evidence on record to conclude that the sanctity of the exam has been violated. Today’s verdict on NEET-UG will put speculation to rest and provide relief to lakhs of hardworking and honest students,” Pradhan told a press conference here.

“The judgement will open the eyes of those who rubbished the Indian examination system and grabbed this opportunity for vested interests, scoring political brownies and stoking ‘civil unrest and anarchy’. They should apologise for playing with the sentiments of lakhs of students and their parents as well as for trying to gain political mileage out of it,” he said.

Hailing the Supreme Court decision, the education minister said “Satyamav Jayate, truth has prevailed”.

“We have been saying this from the beginning that our priority is the students of this country. The government’s priority has always been to see that there should be no tampering with the future of students. For the last 2-2.5 months, the government’s stand has been that there has not been any large-scale breach. Today, the Supreme Court has upheld that in its final judgment,” he said.

The education minister also slammed Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for calling the country’s examination system “rubbish”, and said he and the opposition should apologise to students and their parents.

“When the NEET matter came to light, the opposition’s role became clear after the Supreme Court’s judgement today. The attitude that the Lok Sabha LoP had adopted until yesterday, invalidating the examination system of the country and calling it ‘rubbish’ proves his mental status…Criticising this, Rahul Gandhi ji has criticised India,” he said.

“Misleading the students of the country, creating confusion and provoking them for social tensions were all planned as part of his politics. By rejecting the electoral results in the country, anarchy and civil unrest have become a part of his strategy,” the minister said.

Pradhan said he appeals to Gandhi and all the people of the opposition “who were involved in such irresponsible actions that they should apologise to students, the youth and parents of the country”.

“You have hurt the country, attempted to create anarchy in the country, conspired to have civil unrest in the country. The country will not forgive you. Political rivalry can be different but students belong to everyone,” he said.

The minister said the government’s major concern was students from weaker sections of society and scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and rural students. The apex court also took that into account while pronouncing its decision, he said.

“For us, zero tolerance to any kind of breach is priority when it comes to exams for students. Be it for higher education or jobs. Therefore, the Modi government has brought into effect a strict law like the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act,” he said.

Pradhan said the government has promised the Supreme Court that it will be committed to have a transparent, tamper-free and zero-error examination system.

“Taking this commitment forward, we announced a high-level committee for a complete revamp of the NTA. That committee is working dedicatedly. The committee has collected expert opinions and studied various models…They will submit a report soon,” he said.

On the issue of a controversial physics question that was asked in the examination, the Supreme Court bench accepted the report of the experts of IIT-Delhi that there was only one right answer and not two as alleged by some lawyers.

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

New Delhi:

The presence of IIT Madras director on the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) governing body as an ex-officio member does not amount to conflict of interest, the exam body has told the Supreme Court. This comes against the backdrop of the Centre citing a report by IIT Madras director, Professor V Kamakoti, to stress that there was no malpractice in the conduct of the all-India exam for admission to MBBS courses.

Narendra Hooda, the counsel for the petitioner in the NEET UG case, had said the data analytics report was not reliable and alleged a conflict of interest because the IIT Madras director was a member of the NTA governing body.

Refuting this, NTA has said in a supplementary chargesheet that the director of an IIT that conducts the JEE (Advanced) exam for engineering aspirants is an ex-officio member of the NTA governing body and this year, IIT Madras conducted the exam. However, the core work of NTA is handled by its managing committee. The governing body, it said, only looks at policy matters.

The IIT Madras director, the NTA said, had nominated another professor to attend the governing body’s meetings. And this professor, too, had not attended any meeting since December last year. The IIT Madras director, it said, had not attended any meeting of NTA governing body since December 2022.

During a hearing into the case of alleged irregularities in NEET, which has sparked nationwide protests, the Centre told the Supreme Court that data analytics of results shows that the marks distribution follows the bell-shaped curve that is witnessed in any large-scale examination and there is no indication of an abnormality.

The Centre then said that according to the findings in the IIT Madras report, there is an overall increase in the marks students have got.

“This increase is seen across the cities and centres. This is attributed to 25 per cent reduction in syllabus. In addition, candidates obtaining such high marks are spread across multiple cities and multiple centres, indicating very less likelihood of malpractice,” it said.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Thursday heard a clutch of petitions seeking re-test or cancellation of the 2024 NEET-UG – for entrance to undergraduate medical courses – and raised concerns over the stand of the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) — the body that conducts the nationwide exam — that the paper leak happened only about 45 minutes before the start of the exam in certain centres.

The results of the 2024 NEET-UG exam, which was held on May 5 and attended by nearly 24 lakh aspiring medical professionals, have been plagued by allegations of leaked question papers and incorrectly awarded ‘grace marks’.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the NTA, submitted that as per the CBI investigation, at a particular centre in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh, a person unauthorizedly took photographs of the question papers between 8 AM and 9.20 AM on the day of the exam. The CBI has been tasked with investigating the case.

A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud wondered if all the 180 questions could have been solved within 45 minutes, given that the examination started at 10.15 AM, to which Mr Mehta replied that there were seven persons in the gang who divided the questions among themselves.

“Whole hypothesis that within 45 minutes there was a breach and the entire paper was solved and given to students seems very far-fetched,” Chief Justice Chandrachud said.

These question papers were then solved and the students, who allegedly paid the gang, were given the answers to memorize.

At the outset, the bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said it has prioritised the hearing on the petitions over other cases as these have “social ramifications” and lakhs of students are waiting for the outcome.

After the day-long arguments concluded, the next date was set as July 22.

Exam Body’s Defence In Supreme Court NEET Case

Senior advocate Narender Hooda, appearing for some of the petitioners, vehemently sought cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 claiming “systemic failure” in holding it.

He alleged that the transportation of question papers was compromised and that they were in the custody of a private courier company for six days in Hazaribagh. Shockingly, he claimed, they were transported in an e-rickshaw to an exam centre whose principal later got arrested for alleged involvement in the racket.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, however, refused any suggestion of the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak and pointed out the CBI had investigated the chain “from printer to centre”.

“How the sealing happened… how GPS tracking happened… There is a seven-layer security system,” he told the court.

The court then asked Mr Mehta, “Mr Solicitor… did you engage a private courier company to dispatch the NEET papers?”. The Solicitor General deferred his reply to a later stage.

Questions over transportation were flagged after the CBI suggested a leak – either while the papers were being taken to centres or after they arrived at one – a school in Hazaribagh.

NEET-UG Re-Test Only If “Sanctity” Lost

During the hearing, the Supreme Court stressed it would only order a NEET-UG 2024 re-test if the “sanctity” of the May 5 exam was “lost on a large scale” as a result of leaked questions.

The remark was an echo of observations made last week, when the court said the “sanctity” of the exam had been affected and demanded answers. The top court then, however, had advised against a re-test, saying certain circumstances would argue against it.

“You have to show us that the leak was systematic… that it affected the entire examination… so as to warrant cancellation of the entire exam…” Chief Justice Chandrachud told senior advocate Narender Hooda, who appeared for the petitioners.

When Mr Hooda informed the court that around 23.33 lakh students appeared for the exam for about 1.08 lakh seats in government and private medical colleges, the bench said, “Merely because out of 23.33 lakh only 1.08 lakh students will get admission, we cannot order a re-test. Re-examination has to be on a concrete footing that the entire exam is affected.”

NEET-UG 24 Controversy

Controversy over the NEET-UG 2024 broke last month after allegations the question paper had been leaked – subsequent inquiries indicated the leak was orchestrated by a national ‘solver gang’ network – on social media.

The first red flags were the unusually high number of perfect scores. A record 67 students, including six from one coaching centre, scored a maximum of 720.

Questions were also asked over the award of ‘grace marks’ – not exam protocol, according to the authorities – to 1,563 students.

In an affidavit filed last week, the government, referring to the analysis by IIT Madras insisted there is no indication of “mass malpractice” nor evidence that some candidates had benefitted from cheating.

New Delhi:

The 2024 NEET-UG – for entrance to undergraduate medical courses – can only be conducted again if the “sanctity” of the test held on May 5 was “lost on a large scale” as a result of leaked questions the Supreme Court said Thursday morning as it heard over 40 petitions asking for a re-test.

The remark was an echo of observations made last week, when the court said the “sanctity” of the examination had been affected and it demanded answers from the authorities. The court then advised petitioners against a re-test and said certain circumstances would argue against that measure.

The court also heard petitions from the under-fire NTA – the National Testing Agency, the central body responsible for the conduct of competitive exams – seeking transfer of cases filed by various state police forces to the respective High Courts to avoid potential duplication and confusion.

“You have to show us that the leak was systematic… that it affected the entire examination… so as to warrant cancellation of the entire exam…” a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said, “Merely because, of 23 lakh (students) only one lakh will get admission… we cannot order a re-examination.”

“Second, tell us what should be the direction of the investigation in this matter.”

“If we accept your wider submission (that leaked question papers compromised the exam results) we would also like your assistance on the lines on which the investigation must happen.”

The court also pointed out it may be unfeasible to identify and “segregate” the hundreds, or thousands, of students who may have conspired to access questions beforehand.

‘1.08 Lakh vs 24 Lakh’ Question

On the numbers of petitioners – seen as crucial to establish the strength of petitions seeking cancellation – the NTA responded, “There are 131 not within the 1.08 lakh (students selected for admission to private colleges) who want a re-test and there are 254 who are opposing the re-test.”

The question of data and how to analyse this data was an early bone of contention, with senior advocate Narender Hooda, for the petitioners, complaining of a “handicap”.

“I am starting with a handicap. I do not have the results… because of that I cannot have the data analytics,” he told the court, as he also pointed out a possible conflict of interest. He said, “One of the Directors of IIT Madras is a member of the governing body of the NTA…”

Appearing for the agency, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta countered quickly. “This is factually wrong. Somebody else was…” he said, and explained, “Governing body has no role in conduct of exam.”

On IIT Madras’ Data Analysis

Returning to the question of analytics, Mr Hooda argued it would be difficult to establish variances given a data set as large as all students who took the exam, i.e., nearly 24 lakh. The NTA, in a written submission to the court last night, said data analysed by IIT Madras showed mark distribution followed a bell-shaped curve normal to any large-scale examination, and indicated no abnormality.

READ | Why So Many NEET-UG Toppers? Exam Body’s Reply In Court

The report also acknowledged the “overall increase in marks obtained… specifically in the range of 550 to 720… across cities and centres” and attributed it to a “25 per cent reduction in syllabus”.

Mr Hooda, however, said that report was based on the figure of nearly 24 lakh and that the analysis should have been carried out on the 1.08 lakh students who passed the examination.

“Data analytics was run for 23 lakh students… but at what stage, if 10,000 or 20,000 (cheated) can you detect abnormality? The correct procedure was to apply this to 1.08 lakh…”

“The (bell-shape) curve is no indication there is no abnormality because the data is too large… which cannot be caught. Granular variations can’t be seen with this large data…” he insisted.

100 Toppers

Mr Hooda also demanded the NTA release data for the top 100 ranks and not just the top 17; the IIT Madras report showed a city-wise list, which showed the maximum (five) came from Bengaluru, with four from Lucknow and three each from Kota in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu’s Namakkal.

The Chief Justice subsequently read out the list of top 100 students, which showed there were nine toppers from Rajasthan alone and six from Bahadurgarh in Haryana.

Mr Hooda pointed out what he said was an anomaly, but the NTA said the list’s purpose “is to show toppers are spread over… that there is no abnormal spike in any particular centre.”

NEET-UG Controversy

Controversy over the 2024 NEET-UG exam – attended by nearly 24 lakh aspiring medical professionals – broke last month after allegations the question paper had been leaked – subsequent inquiries indicated the leak was orchestrated by a national ‘solver gang’ network – on social media.

The first red flags were the unusually high number of perfect scores; a record 67 students, including six from one coaching centre, scored a maximum 720. Questions were also asked over the award of ‘grace marks’ – not exam protocol, according to the authorities – to 1,563 students.

In an affidavit filed last week, the government, referring to the analysis by IIT Madras insisted there is no indication of “mass malpractice” nor evidence that some candidates had benefitted from cheating.

READ | CBI Arrests ‘Rocky’, Alleged Mastermind In NEET-UG Paper Leak Case

The CBI has been tasked with investigating this case and has filed six cases and arrested nine people so far. Last week Rakesh Ranjan, alias Rocky, who is seen as one of the ringleaders, was arrested.

The incident also triggered a political row, with the Congress-led opposition attacking the ruling BJP in Parliament, forcing ruckus and chaos as MPs debated the Motion of Thanks to President Droupadi Murmu’s joint address.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

New Delhi:

A day before the Supreme Court hears a clutch of petitions on the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG, the Centre on Wednesday submitted an affidavit in the court stating that a comprehensive analysis of the results has revealed that there was no large-scale malpractice or evidence of a local set of candidates benefiting. 

The Union government also reiterated its stance that it does not intend to hold a retest of the medical entrance exam. Doing so on the basis of “unsubstantiated suspicions”, it said, would burden nearly 24 lakh students, who had appeared for the exam on May 5.

Importantly, the Centre has said that it intends to start the counselling process for NEET-UG, which is the final stage for admissions, from the third week of July in four phases. If any candidate is found to have benefited from any irregularity, their counselling will be cancelled in any of the phases or even after, it said. 

While some petitioners in the Supreme Court have demanded that the medical entrance exam be held again in view of the irregularities and the alleged paper leak, others have petitioned against a retest. 

Bell Curve

In its affidavit, the Centre said experts from IIT Madras have carried out a technical analysis of data from NEET-UG 2024 and found no indication of mass malpractice or a localised set of candidates being benefited, leading to abnormal scores.

The data revealed that there is an overall increase in the marks obtained by students, specifically in the range of 550 to 720, and this rise has been seen across cities and centres. 

The Centre said the increase can be attributed to a 25% reduction in syllabus, and the fact that high scorers were spread out points to a very low likelihood of mass malpractice. 

The analysis also showed that the distribution of marks follows a bell-shaped curve, which is seen in any large-scale examination, and was further evidence of there not being an abnormality, the affidavit stated.

Counselling Plan

The Centre “respectfully submitted” that it intends to start the counselling process in the third week of July and conduct it in four rounds. The government said that IIT Madras has been requested to investigate the people involved in irregularities through data analysis and if evidence from that, or other sources, reveals that any candidate is found to have benefited, their counselling will be cancelled at any stage during or after the process.

On the re-examination issue, the Centre said it is not in support of that because it does not want nearly 24 lakh candidates burdened on the basis of “unsubstantiated suspicions”.

In an earlier affidavit too, the government had said scrapping the 2024 exam in its entirety would “seriously jeopardise” the future of lakhs of honest candidates who had appeared for it. In the absence of proof of any large-scale breach of confidentiality in the examination, it had said, taking such a step would not be rational.

The Centre has also proposed a seven-member expert panel to consider all the issues raised, so that no such leaks or irregularities happen in future exams.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Monday advised caution to a clutch of petitioners demanding a re-test of the May 5 NEET-UG exam, the results of which were released last month and have been affected by leaked question papers and the award of ‘grace marks’, or preferential marking, for 1,563 students.

The court said certain circumstances – specifically “(if) the time lag between the leak and actual exam is limited” – would argue against a re-test. “If students were asked to memorise (the leaked questions) on the morning of the exam then the leak might not have been so widespread…”

The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said it therefore was loathe to order a re-test for nearly 24 lakh students – many of whom come from poor families and could ill-afford to spend money travelling to exam centres – unless necessary. A re-test is the “last option”, it said.

“One thing is clear… questions were leaked. The sanctity of the exam has been compromised… this is beyond doubt. Now we have to establish the extent of the leak,” the Chief Justice said, “We have to be careful while ordering a re-test. We are dealing with the careers of lakhs of students.”

“You don’t cancel an exam only because two students cheated. We must be careful…”

The Supreme Court said a re-test could only be ordered if there was sufficient time (the court did not specify how much this should be) between the leak of the questions and conduct of the exam.

“If time lag was too long then there needs to be a re-test… or, if we can’t identify candidates who are guilty of wrongdoing, then a retest has to be ordered,” the Supreme Court said.

On the subject of the time lag, the court also sought details about the printing of the question papers. And, in a humorous aside, also reminded the NTA to not reveal details about the process.

Therefore, instead of ordering an immediate re-test the court advised the constitution of a multi-disciplinary panel to probe this issue, which is already being investigated by the CBI and the police.

The court also rapped the government for being in “denial” and said it should be “ruthless” in dealing with candidates who paid for the leaked exam and those who supplied the question paper.

“Let us not be in self-denial about what happened…” the bench, also including Justice JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said, adding, “Assuming we do not cancel, what will the government do to identify the beneficiaries? You have to be ruthless… bring some sense of confidence to the process.”

Earlier the court had been told question papers were available on social media, including popular messaging apps like Telegram, at least 24 hours before the exam was to begin. It acknowledged this point and said that if questions had been so leaked, it could have “spread like wildfire”.

Controversy over the NEET-UG exam broke last month after results were declared.

The first red flags were the unusually high number of perfect scores; a record 67 students, including six from one coaching centre, scored a maximum 720. Questions were also asked over the award of ‘grace marks’ – not exam protocol, the NTA said – to 1,563 students.

The NEET exam – held annually for admission to undergraduate medical courses – were conducted on May 5. Controversy over the exam – which nearly 24 lakh students took – broke last month after results were announced. The first red flags were the unusually high number of perfect scores; a record 67 students, including six from one coaching centre, scored a maximum 720. Questions were also asked over the award of ‘grace marks’ – not exam protocol, the NTA said – to 1,563 students.