National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test Controversy

The National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) Controversy was caused by multiple discrepancies that occurred in the conduction of the NEET-UG 2024 examination. The examination is one of India's biggest entrance examination in terms of applicant numbers and is the sole nationwide examination conducted for admission in all Indian government and private MBBS undergraduate programs.

This Result declaration sparked nationwide concern due to various discrepancies and multiple top scorers being awarded 'impossible' scores and an unprecedented rise in the number of candidates scoring full marks. The pre-medical test received a plethora of allegations citing use of unfair means and a suspected paper leak, with many candidates asking for re-examination.

Background

See also: National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate)

In 2024, there were around around 2.4 million candidates who sat the examination on the May 5, 2024 across various states in India. This number of candidates saw an increase which came in line with the general trend of the increase in applicant numbers.

Paper Leak Incident

A paper scam in Gujarat, featured Vadodara based international education consultant owners and educators, and at least 16 students who paid Rs 10 lakh apiece to pass the exam. The prosecution informed a Godhra court that at least 16 students from Odisha, Jharkhand, and Karnataka had agreed to pay Rs 10 lakh apiece to clear the NEET. The pupils' identities were discovered on the list retrieved from primary accused Tushar Bhatt. On the allegations in the FIR, the accused instructed them to submit blank papers with answers to be filled after the exam.

Fresh accusations arose when news reports of a paper leak group emerged only days after conduction of the competitive exam. Buyers reportedly charged prices ranging from 20 to 25 lakhs Indian Rupees, (around 2-2.5 million USD) for the examination papers at Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan Mehta Vidyalaya. Also, at one centre in Rajasthan, named Girls Higher Secondary Adarsh Vidya Mandir, Mantown, Sawai Madhopur, the Hindi medium students claimed that they were handed English medium question papers, instead of Hindi ones.

Result Scrutiny

The suspicions regarding a paper leak only increased with the NEET results declared 10 days prior to its' initial release date published on the NTA's information bulletin, which coincided with the date of the Indian Lok Sabha Election Results. The NEET-UG scores were also released by the NTA only hours after the release of its official Answer Key.

In a merit list released by the NTA, 67 candidates had obtained the same top mark, with the previous highest total being 3 candidates in 2021. Despite concerns being raised, no explanation has been given for this. Eight of the candidates who obtained a perfect score came from a single exam center located in Jhajjar, Haryana. A number of candidates also received marks that were theoretically impossible under the answer grid due to receiving grace marks.

One case of this happened due to an error in older versions of the NCERT (National Council of Education Training and Research) textbooks. Following 10,000 candidates challenging the answer sheet, the NTA decided to award grace marks to those following the textbook. 44 of the top candidates were assisted by this decision.

Public reactions

Following the announcement of the exam results, hashtags protesting the results began trending on social media channels and media platform X, as well as students calling for an investigation into the examination process and urging re-examination.

Several public educators and educational technology companies raised media debates and questioned the authenticity of the exam. Indian political party leaders alleged rigging and corruption and demanded probes into the exam process, one involving Congress Party Leader Priyanka Gandhi questioning the government for ignoring student complaints.

Madhya Pradesh Congress Media Department President Mukesh Nayak alleged in a press conference that the National Testing Agency (NTA) has committed a bigger scam than Vyapam and made demands for a CBI probe.

NTA's response

The NTA investigated allegations of a paper leak prior to the exam, and issued a public notice citing them to be "completely baseless and without any ground"

The NTA issued an official clarification notice dated 6 June 2024, refuting suspicions of a paper leak and justified the early results declaration, claiming it was not timed to coincide with the Lok Sabha elections

The NTA's veiled responses and opaque proceedings only resulted in further anger and questioning from students and media outlets, hailing the entire procedure a scam.

Legal proceedings and investigation

Multiple applications have been filed with the Supreme Court of India asking a re-examination in light of the allegations.. The Supreme Court denied the petition to suspend the publishing of NEET UG test results.

A seperate petition was filed at the Delhi High Court, which challenged the changes to the answers key.

Additionally, a public interest litigation questioning the reason behind the odd marks of 718/720 and 719/720, has been raised at the Calcutta High Court. With reference to a paper leak case in Bihar, a PIL filed demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the matter.

On June 8, 2024, at a press conference, the NTA declared the decision from the Education Ministry to set up a four-member panel to reanalyze the supposedly awarded grace marks to 1563 candidates.