 Early Times Report
Jammu, May 14: Dr. Varinder Sharma, Co-Convener of the Health Cell, J&K BJP, has condemned the recurring irregularities in the NEET-UG as deeply unfortunate and wholly unacceptable. He noted that in 2024, a paper leak of national scale prompted Supreme Court intervention, yet the examination was not cancelled — and that history has now repeated itself. “This is no longer an isolated failure,” he said. “It is a systemic breakdown, and it is happening on the watch of an authority that appears disturbingly lax.”
Dr. Sharma demanded that the National Testing Agency should issue an unconditional public apology to the approximately 22.79 lakh candidates who appeared across 5,432 centres in 551 cities, all of whom prepared in good faith and deserve better than a system that repeatedly lets them down. He further stressed that hundreds of crores of public money are spent administering NEET each year, and that re-examinations compound this burden enormously — making the cost of institutional failure unacceptably high for both students and the exchequer.
He called upon the Government to explore, as a matter of urgency, the transition of NEET to a computer-based format — introduced in a phased manner, as has been done successfully with JEE (Main), CAT, and CLAT. Randomised question banks and AI-assisted proctoring, he argued, would render centralised paper leaks structurally impossible. He also urged multi-session testing with score normalisation, biometric authentication of candidates, independent third-party audits of examination centres, and formal whistleblower protections for staff.
Finally, Dr. Sharma demanded lifetime debarment and criminal prosecution for all those found guilty of facilitating examination fraud. “Mild penalties have proved wholly ineffective as deterrents,” he said. “The dreams of 23 lakh young Indians cannot be held hostage to administrative apathy and criminal networks. An unconditional apology, genuine accountability, and bold reform — that is what the students of this country are owed.” |
