The first day of the Budget Session saw a face-off between the Opposition and the government in the Lok Sabha over anomalies in the NEET examination process, with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday asserting that there had been no evidence of paper leak in the last seven years and the government had nothing to hide.
The Opposition charge was led by Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi who said Mr. Pradhan had blamed everyone but himself for the NEET issue and it was obvious to the whole country that there was a very serious problem in our examination system.
The NEET-UG exam conducted by the National Testing Agency had run into trouble over the paper leak and granting of grace marks to some aspirants. The case is being heard in the Supreme Court.
On July 22, Mr. Gandhi told the Lok Sabha: “There are millions of students who are extremely concerned, and they are convinced that the Indian examination system is fraud. They believe that if you are rich and have money you can buy the examination system”. He questioned what the Minister was doing to address the systemic problem in the examination system.
The Education Minister responded to this, saying that it was unfortunate that Mr. Gandhi described the examination system as rubbish. “Why had the UPA government not framed the law to contain unlawful activities in the competitive examination? The NDA government has passed a law for it”, he said.
As the Opposition sought to corner the government, Speaker Om Birla intervened to say that it was not right to raise questions about all exams and that members should discuss the need for developing a better examination system.
‘Systemic issue’
Mr. Gandhi later took to X to say that the Education Minister was far removed from India’s ground reality and claims there had been no paper leaks in the last seven years. “The unfortunate truth is that the Indian examination system is up for sale to the rich, causing millions of students to suffer. The issue is systemic and should be addressed with sincerity, rather than resorting to political spin laden with lies”.
Congress MP from Virudhunagar Manickam Tagore, who raised the issue before Mr. Gandhi during Question Hour, asked whether the Education Minister accepted responsibility and would he resign for the “paper leaks”.
To this, Mr. Pradhan responded that he was “here at the mercy of my leader, the Prime Minister” and that his government was collectively answerable.
The Minister said it was the Supreme Court which had mandated that a centralised system had to be there for conducting the competitive examinations and that the government had nothing to hide. Mr. Pradhan said the previous Congress-led UPA government had supported the centralisation process and that current criticisms were politically motivated.
“The government has nothing to hide. We have put all the facts before the Supreme Court. Right now, the Supreme Court is hearing the case. So, let’s wait and see what instructions the court gives. This House is open for any kind of discussion,” he added.
The Minister claimed that there had been no evidence of paper leaks in the last seven years, except for a “singular incident” in Patna during the recent NEET-UG held on May 5 this year.
“Since the establishment of the NTA, more than 240 exams have been conducted, with over five crore students applying and more than 4.5 crore students successfully participating in the examinations,” he added.
“On the instructions and guidance of the Supreme Court, this nationwide single examination pattern has been successfully implemented. Due to differing views, the Supreme Court instructed that this centralised exam pattern must be maintained.”
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav said the government was sure to make a record in paper leaks if not in other things.
“The NTA should publish list of centres where high number of students have performed well...how is this possible that students from particular centres have done far better than others,” he said.
A united opposition later walked out of the House.
The Congress raised the issue again during the Zero Hour when party MP Hibi Eden termed the irregularities in the NEET-UG exam the “biggest scam” and demanded a high-level committee to probe the incidents.
