Taking a sharp jibe at the centre, P Chidambaram, Congress' Rajya Sabha mp, criticised the government for conducting faulty examinations over the past two months. Highlighting the discrepancies in NEET-UG 2024 initially, he brought to light the discussions around the latest cancellation of UGC-NET exam, as to why no one is being held accountable for such big errors.
In a post on X, Chidambaram wrote, "First, the alleged leaks and the scam about grace marks surrounding NEET. Now, the UGC-NET exam held on Tuesday is canceled Both exams were conducted by NTA. Should not someone be held accountable and asked to step down or be replaced? Who will compensate the students and parents who have lost precious year(s) and huge money?"
Pushing the idea of letting states conduct these examinations at the state level, Chidambaram said that the centre should leave the subject of entrance/eligibility tests to the state governments.
"A state may opt for an NTA-conducted exam, but it should have the liberty to conduct its own exam for the colleges under its control This choice will put the NTA on test," he said.
These comments came to light after the NTA on June 19 announced the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam, a day after it was conducted. The exam was cancelled amid an ongoing row on discrepancies in the conduct of NEET-UG examination on May 5 this year.
Among other allegations, in the latest, a person from Bihar has confessed leaking the NEET question paper on the eve of the examination. Revealing the details of the scam, mastermind Amit Anand disclosed that candidates were provided with the leaked question paper and answers on the eve of the exam and were made to memorise the solutions overnight.
In a related incident, Anurag Yadav, a National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) candidate, has been arrested in connection with result irregularities after confessing that the leaked question paper he had been provided matched the actual exam paper.
Yadav admitted to receiving the leaked NEET question paper and its answers beforehand. Surprisingly, the question paper he encountered during the actual exam matched the leaked one provided by his uncle, as per his confession letter signed by him.