As education minister Dharmendra Pradhan admits that there have been some irregularities, Medibulletin takes you through the scam and its aftermath
If there is one thing that has practically overshadowed an unexpected Lok Sabha elections results it is the NEET examination and its unprecedented decision to award grace marks to over 1500 students – since scrapped by the Supreme Court. From a brave defence of the examination system to now accepting that there have been “some irregularities”, the government of India’s take on the issue has changes rapidly within the space of a few days.
Medibulletin takes you through the scam and its aftermath.
What exactly happened?
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) for admission to undergraduate medical courses was held on May 5. More than 24 lakh candidates at 4750 different Centres located in 571 Cities throughout the country including 14 Cities outside India appeared for it. The Examination was conducted in 13 languages – Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. When the results came out on June 5, it transpired that an unprecedented 67 students had secured the top position scoring full marks – 720. Concerns were raised about this and then it was revealed that 1563 students had been given grace marks as they had not had adequate time to complete the paper. The examination is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
In addition the answer key of a physics question was changed from a single correct answer to two correct answers after the NTA received multiple challenges to the question and experts found that there were discrepancies between the old and new NCERT text books.
How was the decision taken to award grace marks?
Since the matter came to light and the outrage it caused, the NTA has released a set of FAQs laying down the process and its own defence of having followed a completely transparent method while reaching the decisions that have now been established as controversial. The NTA has said: “Few Writ Petitions were filed by the candidates of NEET (UG) – 2024 before the Hon’ble High Courts for loss of exam time in the NEET (UG) – 2024 exam at few Centres. Accordingly, a Grievance Redressal Committee was formed which considered the grievances/representations based on factual reports of the functionaries and CCTV footage from concerned exam Centres. To compensate for the loss of time, such candidates were compensated with compensatory marks. The loss of examination time was ascertained and such candidates were compensated with marks based on their answering efficiency and time lost, as per the mechanism/ formula established by the Hon’ble Apex Court, vide its judgment dated 13.06.2018 in W.P. 551 of 2018. 1563 candidates were compensated for the loss of time.”
Why is there now a retest on June 23?
On June 13, responding to a bunch of petitions on the alleged “irregularities” in the examination the Supreme Court cancelled the grace marks awarded. The NTA has said that marks of all the 1563 candidates will now reflect their original scores minus the grace marks. If they are satisfied they can skip the retest but if they are not they can appear for it on June 23. However the retest option is only for these candidates and not for the others who appeared for NEET-UG 2024.
Why is there now talk of a police case?
Soon after he had taken charge of the ministry. Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan had categorically stated that there have been no irregularities in the examination. NTA has admitted that there were some cases of impersonation and cheating and actions were taken against several candidates debarring them from appearing in future examinations. However he has now changed that stance and admitted that some rules had been violated and no person, no matter how senior they are and even if they are in the NTA, would be spared. However it now turns out that the paper had been leaked in at least some centres and police action is on to find the culprits.
What was the modus operandi of the paper leak?
Bihar Police has alleged that candidates paid upto Rs 30 lakh each to get their hands on the paper before the examination.The Economic Offences Unit of the state is carrying out the probe and nine students have already been arrested. They have found post dated cheques for payment to the people responsible for the leak. Deputy Inspector General (EOU) Manavjit Singh Dhillon told news agency PTI: “”During the course of the investigation, EOU sleuths recovered six post-dated cheques that were issued in favour of criminals who reportedly facilitated question papers to the aspirants ahead of the examination.”
The matter is still unfolding.
