On 5 May, 21-year-old Geeta* (name changed) sat for her third attempt at the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET), a nationwide entrance examination conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission in undergraduate medical programmes in India.
"This was probably my last shot at fulfilling my dream of becoming a doctor. If I don't get admission into a medical college this year, my parents will force me enroll in any other three-year bachelor programme...and before I finish the course, I'll be married," she told The Quint.
In the results declared on 30 June, Geeta, a resident of Haryana, scored above 600 marks in the exam which has a maximum score of 720. "Looking at previous years' results, my score should be enough to get into a government college," Geeta said, nervously.
But as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probes irregularities in exam results, including widespread allegations of paper leak, Geeta's future hangs in the balance.
Geeta, however, is not alone.
The Quint has found that since its inception in November 2017, the NTA has conducted around 66 exams, of which irregularities were reported in at least 12, impacting a total of over 75.61 lakh aspirants.
The Fine Print
The agency was first proposed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley in his 2017-18 budget speech as the then finance minister.
"We propose to establish a National Testing Agency as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organisation to conduct all entrance examinations for higher education institutions," Jaitley said on the floor of the house.
Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the proposal to establish a National Testing Agency.
(Screenshot: Lok Sabha Digital Library)
The NTA conducted its first exam in December 2018 – the University Grants Commission–National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET). This exam is for awarding Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), eligibility for appointment as assistant professor, and admission to PhD in Indian universities and colleges.
Among other exams which the NTA conducts are the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains for admission to various technical undergraduate programs in engineering, architecture, and planning; the Common Management Admission Test (CMAT), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Entrance Test, Delhi University Entrance Test, and more.
Before the NTA took over the responsibility of conducting these exams, government bodies such as the Universities Grant Commission (UGC), the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and Central Universities such as DU and JNU were conducting their own exams.
Sukhadeo Thorat, former UGC Chairman and an eminent economist and educationist, told The Quint that the centralisation of these entrance exams had led to the involvement of private players.
"I am not in favour of a centralised test either for UGC NET or medical and engineering entrance exams. Outsourcing (these responsibilities) to autonomous bodies and private parties is not a good idea. The stakes are really high. There is a greater chance of leakage or irregularities when the exam is centralised. And the impact of that leakage will be felt across the country...unlike a decentralised exam where even if any discrepancies take place, a re-exam can be conducted without wasting much time and resources. That is because the impact of such discrepancies will be localised," Thorat said.
The NTA, registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, has 10 members in his governing body. The legislation allows the registration of not-for-profit entities, generally involved in the benefit of society – education, health, and employment.
JNU Professor Ayesha Kidwai, while questioning the motive behind the formation of NTA, said, "The NTA is not a teaching body. It’s an autonomous agency under the Ministry (of Education). You look at how UPSC or CBSE work. They are not set up like this. They are Boards and Commissions within the government. The objective of setting up the NTA was to play with the autonomy of universities."
The Report Card
The first time that allegations of paper leak surfaced in an exam conducted by the NTA was in the JNU Entrance Test 2019. A student, in his letter to the then JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, alleged that the exam paper of Russian, Spanish, French and German were found to be circulating on WhatsApp.
NTA Director General at the time, Vineet Joshi, had denied receiving any complaints from the university in this matter.
A few months before this, in July 2018, while addressing the house during the monsoon session of the Parliament, the then Minister of Human Resource Development, Prakash Javadekar, responded to a question on the role of the NTA. He said that the new system (of conducting exams via NTA) will be "student friendly, fair, transparent, and flexible."
Since then, however, at least 12 examinations conducted by the autonomous body have been marred by allegations of irregularities and misconduct.
These are:
JNU Entrance Exam 2019: After allegations of paper leak surfaced, the JNU student body also claimed that the answer key provided by the NTA had several errors. The body also sent a letter to the university Vice Chancellor describing “large scale discrepancies and flaws” in the exam. While NTA refuted these claims, no probe was ordered. Approximately 1.08 lakh aspirants appeared for this test.
Discrepancies in NEET 2020: In 2020, 14 candidates approached the Delhi High Court alleging discrepancies in their OMR sheet. After two years of hearing, the court dismissed these petitions in 2022. In the same year (2020), a student from Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara district, Vidhi Suryavanshi, died by suicide after the NTA incorrectly declared that she had scored only six marks in the exam. Vidhi's response sheet proved that she had actually scored 590 marks.
JEE Mains 2020 Scam in Assam: In 2020, Neel Nakshatra Das, a JEE aspirant from Assam used a substitute to appear for his exam. He scored 99.8 percentile and topped the state of Assam. After the incident came to light, seven people were arrested, including Neel, his father, the invigilator, and owner of a local coaching centre.
JEE Mains 2021 Paper Leak: In 2021, 9.39 lakh aspirants appeared for the JEE. Soon after the exam was conducted, allegations of paper leak surfaced and a CBI-led probe was ordered. As of March 2023, the CBI had arrested a Russian hacker Mikhail Shargin, and Gurugram-based Vinay Dahiya in connection with the case. The probe agency had also registered the case against Affinity Education Private Limited (an education consultancy firm),and its directors and employees. They were accused of helping the candidates secure admission to top National Institutes of Technology by solving the question paper via remote access from an examination centre in Haryana’s Sonepat.
UGC NET 2021 Paper Leak: The Hindi exam paper of the UGC NET 2021, taken by approximately 12.67 lakh aspirants, was allegedly leaked. In December that year, a CRPF constable was arrested by the Haryana Police in connection with the case. Later nine other people were also arrested and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe the matter.
NEET 2021 Paper Leak and Other Irregularities: In 2021, the Rajasthan police arrested eight people in Jaipur allegedly in connection with NEET paper leak. In Uttar Pradesh, a student of the King George's Medical University (KGMU), Varanasi, and another person were arrested for taking contracts to appear as impersonators in the exam. Approximately 13.66 lakh students wrote the NEET exam that year. Some students even approached the Supreme Court to demand a re-exam after these discrepancies surfaced — a plea which was later dismissed by the top court.
GPAT 2022 Irregularities: In 2022, the Gujarat Pharmacist Students' Community wrote to NTA alleging irregularities, including cheating, in how the exam was conducted at a centre in Ahmedabad. In the letter, the student body, claimed that there were technical snags and mismanagement at the exam centre, as a result of which students who appeared for the exam in Gujarat could not submit their answers.
NEET 2022 Cheating Scam: In 2022, the CBI busted a racket of 'exam solvers' who impersonated students and wrote exams on their behalf. Eight people were arrested by the probe agency from Delhi and Haryana in connection with the case. Later that year, the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi granted bail to three of these eight accused, citing delay in investigation by the CBI concerning actual candidates who were impersonated.
UGC NET 2022 Paper Leak Allegations: In 2022, fresh allegations around the leak of UGC NET History paper surfaced online but NTA issued a notice denying the claims. No probe was ordered.
JEE Mains 2024 Irregularities: After NTA declared the results for the 2024 JEE Mains test, several students raised concerns over discrepancies in percentile. They claimed that people with same marks had received different percentiles. In once instance, a student with 120 marks got 90 percentile while another student with 120 marks got 99 percentile. Several such discrepancies were reported.
NEET UG Paper Leak 2024: One of NTA's biggest paper leak so far, the the 2024 NEET UG exam was taken by over 13 lakh aspirants. As per the investigation, the paper was leaked in Bihar's Patna where the accused allegedly charged Rs 30-50 lakhs from candidates. The number of candidates scoring full marks also went up from 2 in 2023 to 69 in 2024. The merit list also revealed that of these 69 students, six took the exam from the same or nearby centres in the Jhajjar city of Haryana. Additionally, the NTA noted that around 1,563 candidates were given grace marks, and the revised marks of such candidates vary from 20 to 720 marks. The case is currently being probed by CBI.
UGC NET 2024: The NTA conducted UGC NET 2024 on 18 June but the exam was cancelled the next day. This was after the UGC received inputs that the integrity of the examination may have been compromised. Over 9 lakh aspirants took the exam this year.
(The Quint has reached out to the NTA for their response. This story will be updated when we hear from them.)
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