There have been allegations of inflation of marks in NEET-UG which has led to a record 67 candidates sharing top rank with perfect score.
The CJP's rapid rise on social media reflects growing digital dissent and youth frustration with issues like unemployment and exam-paper leaks.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday rejected allegations of paper leak in medical entrance exam National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), saying there is no evidence of it.
An analysis of data indicated that while the candidates who allegedly benefitted from the paper leak and other irregularities have not done well, some centres have a high concentration of well-performing students.
'22 students are fighting over 35,000 seats. In that situation, when someone tells a desperate parent there is a shortcut, and the shortcut costs Rs 3 to Rs 5 lakh versus Rs 1.5 crore -- the maths is seductive.'
"The re-revised score cards are live now," a senior NTA official said.
The National Testing Agency, under fire over the lapses in the conduct of NEET and UGC-NET, is gearing up to conduct on Sunday a retest for the medical entrance exam for 1,563 candidates who were earlier awarded grace marks to make up for the loss of time at six centres.
They said the agency is also taking steps to bring under its ambit cases registered in various states by the police.
The petition, filed by 20 students who had appeared for the medical entrance exam, has also sought a direction to the National Testing Agency (NTA) and others to conduct the test afresh.
The NTA had treated the two options as correct answers to the Physics question and had granted four marks to those examinees who had marked these options.
It added that in any examination, there are competing rights that are created whereby the interests of a large number of students who have taken the examination without adopting any unfair means must not also be jeopardised.
The top court took note of the submissions of some aspirants that a question related to an "atom" and its characteristics had two correct answers and a set of examinees, who gave one particular answer out of the two correct ones, were awarded four marks.
Telangana's Mrinal Kutteri, Delhi's Tanmay Gupta and Maharashtra's Karthika G Nair shared the top rank, scoring 720 out of 720. Eight transgender candidates have also cleared the examination.
The National Testing Agency, however, denied any irregularities and said the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres are some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks.
The agency seized documents like answer sheets, OMR codes, hand-written notes related to IDs and names of candidates apart from their education certificates, the sources said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a fresh case in connection with alleged impersonation by four National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), 2024 candidates in Bihar's Purnea, officials said on Wednesday.
The National Testing Agency is facing criticism on social media for alleged errors in the answer keys for the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) Main Session 2, 2025.
Observing that a re-test has to be ordered if sanctity of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 is 'lost', the Supreme Court on Monday sought information from the National Testing Agency and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about timing of question paper leak and duration between leak and actual test.
Congress leader Ajoy Kumar alleged the Centre gambled with these competitive examinations by asking the NTA to conduct those.
'Aspiring doctors have put in years of their lives to study in preparation for NEET exams as they start studies from Class 9 to get good marks.' 'And today, after the NEET paper leak, these students even after getting good marks are unable to get admission in any good medical college (because of inflated merit marks due to the paper leak).' 'They are thinking, was it worthwhile to study so hard for the examinations to become a doctor?'
National Testing Agency (NTA) officials reported that 813 of the 1,563 candidates appeared for the retest while the others opted for the marks without the grace.
There were strong indications that the minister may announce the cancellation of the exam and action against NTA DG Subodh Kumar Singh, who was summoned by the ministry earlier in the day.
The Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) had on Thursday told the Supreme Court they had cancelled the grace marks given to 1,563 candidates who took the examination for admission to MBBS and other such courses.
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'They made so many toppers in NEET that automatically the paper leak issue got exposed.' 'The first mistake they did was announcing 67 toppers in NEET. No way this figure was possible.' 'The maximum numbers of toppers that you can have are two or three at best every year.'
The credibility of the examination system has also come under question, they said.
Observing that students have to labour hard while preparing for these examinations, the apex court said the litigation pertaining to the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate)-2024 examination ought not be treated as adversarial.
Pradhan further said the opposition had a chance to raise this issue during the motion of thanks to the President's address and asserted the government was ready for any type of discussion.
The Congress's student and youth wings took to the streets in the national capital on Thursday over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the NEET-UG and UGC-NET exams, with NSUI members forcefully entering the NTA headquarters and locking its office, and the IYC staging a huge protest at Jantar Mantar.
Here is an explainer on the functioning of the seven-year-old body.
The NTA denied any irregularities and said the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres were some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks.
The Centre on Saturday night announced that the probe into alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam NEET will be handed over to the CBI for a comprehensive investigation.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday night announced the new dates of cancelled and postponed examinations, including the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test, amid a raging row over alleged irregularities in their conduct.
'I do not think the scam is limited to 1,563 students. The number is too low to have caused such an inflation in the marks'
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a Zilla Parishad school teacher from Latur in Maharashtra and registered a case against four persons after it emerged that a racket was being operated to help NEET students willing to pay money to crack the exam, police said on Monday.
The Bihar Police's Economic Offences Unit, which is probing the alleged National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) paper leak case, on Saturday claimed to have obtained reference question papers of the test conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) and planned to compare these with documents recovered from a flat in Patna during a search operation last month.
Stressing that every question paper has been "accounted for", the NTA said that purported images of the question paper circulating on social media have no relation with the actual paper.
'The NEET-PG is the only exam for admission to MD, MS and PG Diploma courses.' 'Many doctors take time off from work to prepare for it, while others study during their long hospital shifts.'
The Centre on Monday made public the rules under the recently-notified anti-paper leak law, mandating the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) to prepare norms, standards and guidelines for the computer-based tests among others.
Murmu's address to the joint sitting of Parliament will also be the first after the constitution of the 18th Lok Sabha.
