The NEET paper leak that first brought Abhijeet Dipke’s Cockroach Janta Party to Jantar Mantar is now being examined at the highest levels of Parliament. The protest against Dharmendra Pradhan and, more recently, PM continues outside. A Parliamentary Standing Committee review of the NEET re-exam controversy has pushed the National Testing Agency toward a set of digital and structural reforms. Its go beyond the immediate controversy.
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How the NEET re-exam controversy Crisis Unfolded
The original NEET-UG exam, held on May 3 for more than 2.27 million aspirants seeking undergraduate medical and dental seats, was cancelled on May 12. The investigators found a pre-circulated guess paper matching the actual questions. The fallout included arrests of NTA insiders and triggered nationwide protests, of which CJP’s Jantar Mantar sit-in became the most visible.
A NEET re-examination was held on June 21 with markedly tighter security, including restrictions on Telegram access. They also monitored WhatsApp channels used to circulate leaked material.
What the Parliamentary Panel Recommended
On July 1, the Standing Committee on Education, chaired by Congress MP Mukul Wasnik, reviewed how the re-exam was conducted. They also heard from senior officials including Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi and NTA Director General Abhishek Singh. The committee praised the security measures used during the re-test and recommended conducting NEET across multiple phases in different states.
The panel floated separate entrance tests for MBBS, AYUSH, and Nursing courses. The NTA said this was not currently feasible since admissions to all three currently run on NEET scores.
Former ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan heads the high-powered steering committee overseeing NTA’s broader restructuring. They also briefed the progress panel made so far. The CBI’s investigation into the original paper leak remains active in parallel.
