India government removes National Testing Agency head amid medical entrance test scandal News
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India government removes National Testing Agency head amid medical entrance test scandal

The Indian government removed on Saturday the director general of the National Testing Agency (NTA), Subodh Kumar Singh, amid the ongoing National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) scandal. The NEET-UG exam has been under heightened scrutiny since NTA released the results on June 14 and was accused of corruption and unfair practices.

Shri Pradeep Singh Kharola was appointed as the director general of NTA until further orders or appointment of the incumbent director general, whichever is earlier, as per the order released on Saturday. Moreover, the order by the Ministry of Personnel put the services of Subodh Kumar Singh in the Department of Training on “compulsory wait.”

Amid the allegations of corruption and unfair practices, the NTA announced the cancellation of the UGC NET exam and the postponement of CSIR UGC NET 2024, which impacts the future of hundreds of thousands of young students in India.

NTA is an independent testing organization of the country established in 2017 by the Ministry of Education, previously known as the Ministry of Human Resource Development. NTA is responsible for conducting the premier national-level examinations for fields like engineering, medicine and management. This includes NEET for the admission of students to medical colleges at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. 

This year, NEET-UG was conducted on May 5 across 4,750 centers and witnessed around 2.4 million participants. The result, previously scheduled to be released on June 14, was released early on June 4 amid the national election results. The timing, along with fluctuations in the ranks of the candidates and allegations of paper leaks in testing centers, raised suspicions about the integrity of the testing agency. Critics pointed to the fact that 67 students scored a perfect 720 (out of 720) for the first time in history in one of the most competitive and toughest exams in the country.

Facing backlash from the opposition and public, the Indian government constituted a seven-member panel committee to investigate and recommend possible regulations and steps to ensure “transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations.” Dr. K Radhakrishnan, former chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), has been appointed to head the committee as chairman.

Recently, the Ministry of Law and Justice enacted the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 amid the public uproar in the NEET-UG scandal. 

The Indian Supreme Court has asked the government and NTA to submit responses to allegations of a paper leak by July 8. The court remarked, “If there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone it should be thoroughly dealt with” when listening to the petition against the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG exam 2024. However, the Supreme Court has refused to put a stay on the NEET counseling, which was one of the demands in the petition. 

Since the release of NEET scores and the subsequent fallout, many students have expressed a lack of hope in the examination and education system, with some committing suicide.

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