NEET and UGC Scam | NTA is Destroying Students

Introduction

This month, there have been several incidents involving our country's students that could shake governments, but you probably didn't get detailed news about it. NEET exam was conducted on May 5th for over 24 lakh students across more than 4500 centers in nearly 600 cities. in this blog having complete detailed case study of NEET scam 2024, how they happened,

paper leaks on national level.

what is neet history?

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET (UG), previously the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT), is an Indian national entrance examination hosted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission in undergraduate medical programs. Being a necessary exam for admission in medical programs, it is the biggest exam in India in terms of number of applicants.

Until 2012, the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) was hosted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). In 2013, NEET-UG was introduced, hosted by CBSE, replacing AIPMT. However, due to lawful challenges, NEET was temporarily replaced by AIPMT in 2014 as well as 2015. In 2016, NEET was reintroduced and hosted by CBSE. From 2019 onward, the National Testing Agency (NTA) took responsible for hosting the NEET exam.

After the ratification of NMC Act 2019 in September 2019, NEET-UG became the alone entrance test for admissions to government medical colleges in India including the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) which until then hosted separate exams.

Paper Leak

Jay Jalaram School, Godhra, Gujarat ... On 5th May, the day when 24 lakh students gave NEET exam. Exam was going to be conducted in Jay Jalaram School, Godhra On 5th May, local administration and police got the news that there is some problem in the exam centre. Police reached Jay Jalaram School and found a car inside the premises.

This car belonged to Tushar Bhatt, who was the geography teacher of that school and was also the deputy superintendent of this NEET centre. This car has 7 lakh rupees cash and a big scam is unearthed The mastermind of the scam was Parshuram Roy. Roy is a Vadodara based educational consultant who gives seminars on colleges and careers.

But their main business is to crack NEET exams. Not through coaching, but through cash. This time, he took 10 lakhs from 27 students and guaranteed that they will crack the exam. Parshuram Roy made 27 students choose the same centre. Some students were from Maharashtra, some from Karnataka, some from Odisha. But all took the centre of Jay Jalaram School, Godhra.

Because the principal of this school, Parshottam Sharma, was also the official coordinator of the exam center and was involved in the scam The plan was very simple. The students were told to come to this exam center and when they attempt the paper they should answer only those questions in the OMR sheet about which they are 100% sure.

Because the rest of the work was of the geography teacher of the school, Tushar Bhatt. Actually, after the exam time is over, after the paper is submitted, the paper is sealed and in the middle of the transport, about 1-2 hours are given to do all these formalities, sealing, etc In this time period, the geography teacher, Tushar Bhatt, who was also the deputy superintendent of the centre his job was to fill the OMR sheet of the students with the correct answers.

Rs. 2.3 crore was collected from Parshuram Roy's office 8 blank cheques were also received in this raid. Remember, this is just one such NEET scam that has been caught. A scam in which the official NTA approved exam center is involved. In which the officials, deputy superintendent of NTA approved exam are involved. The paper is not leaked.

The entire system is leaked in Godhra. The question is, what was the NTA doing? What was the system doing? And what would have happened if the police had not received the information? Be it the Godhra case or the Patna case, the aspects of such different scams and negligence have now reached the Supreme Court.

And a big blow to NTA. In this video, we will quickly see what is being heard in Supreme Court, what is being recommended about the NTA's grace marks, how the Education Minister was sleeping, how not only NEET, but also JEE and all other entrance exams have the same problem and will a system ever come into the country which does not play with aspirants life? Can we expect a fair and transparent examination system from the government? Are those demanding this be called urban naxal or tukde tukde gang?

3 petitions have been heard by supreme court, one of Alakh Pandey challenging the grace marks one more petition was also about grace marks, third petition was about paper leak and demanded to recall the exam results. On the first day of Supreme Court hearing, NTA made a u-turn NTA was defending grace marks with such loud voice that that there is no rank inflation, there is no problem, the system is fair and legal.

Now, the situation is that Prof. Pradeep Kumar Joshi, who is the chairperson of NTA, is himself a part of the committee that is investigating this entire scam. So, the one who is being questioned is himself doing the investigation. Another issue is about the NTA's steps for NEET 2025 to not repeat the mistakes This question is for the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He was in denial mode for a few days.

No paper leak ... He said that NTA should not be questioned even said that the students protesting against NEET are motivated Very soon, students would be called JNU students and also called Tukde Tukde gang and Khalistani But after so much pressure, when students have kept their demands, he also had to accept that improvement needed in NTA have accepted that some irregularities have been found.

Even after 40 days of exams, at least one small thing has been accepted that yes, there is a problem. And this is only due to student pressure. No one else gets credit And anyway, it is becoming a little difficult to keep our eyes closed Bihar Economic Offences Unit has also started releasing details in the Patna case that 30 lakhs were taken for the paper leak 9 students have been summoned for questioning Accused have accepted and the details are quite shocking On 5th May, Patna police got to know that there is a case of a paper leak

and that a Renault Duster is suspiciously exam center is going around. When police stopped the car, three people inside tried to escape. Police caught all three and checked the car. Four photo copies of the admit card were found. Inspector Aman Kumar has also filed this FIR in Shastrinagar Police Station, Patna.

According to this, when police interrogated Sikandar Kumar, the whole game was revealed Sikandar Kumar told that he works with setters, it is a matter of paper leak. Then after the exam was over, police caught a boy named Ayush Rai who was involved in this matter When he was interrogated, it was found that one day before the exam, on the night of 4th May, he was taken to a hostel nearby.

He was made to see and remember the paper There were 20-25 other students and the paper that was found on 5th May all the questions were matching the paper given by the setter. And now it is also being revealed that after getting the paper , the children were charged Rs. 30 lakhs Now this is an FIR, it has not been proved in the court. All the cases have yet to be heard.

But this is an example of how the exam system can be undermined through paper leak and setter And this is not just about NEET. This is happening in many other exams as well This has happened in online exams as well. The story of JEE mains 2021 is that there was an entire organized gang demanding 12-15 lakh from aspirant... Then you were told which centre and time slot you have to book for exam.

Hall ticket credentials were shared. And then, in the exam, a software called UltraViewer was used to gain access to the candidate's computer. And a solver was used to supply the correct answer to the candidate. CBI had also raided this case, and had sent an undercover agent. ACP Raman Lamba himself, like a candidate, posed and got the hackers to set up, gave an exam, and his JEE main final score was 780 out of 800.

CBI raided 19 locations in Delhi, Pune, Jamshedpur, Indore, Bengaluru 25 laptops, 7 computers, 30 post-dated cheques and many other documents found 500 students, JEE mains and 20 students were for GMAT exam scam And this gang was successful in this. This is one example of how paper setting, exam centre compromise can be done. How it can be done on a big level, that too up to JEE mains level.

Because the code that was made to hack JEE mains software was made by Mikhail Shargan, a Russian national and his team. And using this software, Navy and Forest Guard exams were also hacked. And in India, this is the truth of every exam. Whether it is high level hacking or low level hacking by teacher or hacker.

In the last 5 years, there have been more than 40 cases of paper leaks we know 1.4 crore people have been affected. Now we will think that these are small exams but this has an impact on the youth all over the country. For the constable's enrolment, for the teacher's eligibility. When this happens in premier exam like NEET, then think about the state of small exams.

Paper setter, OMR, etc. Many times, question papers are circulated on WhatsApp before exams. The poor people of villages prepare for this exam. The government does not care about their outrage. Think about how many of them can go to the High Court. If they protest, the police beat them up. Godi media will not cover it. If they protest, they are silenced.

On 4th January, 2023, students protested in Patna after paper leak... Police beat them up. In case of NEET, students are from well connected, middle class, upper middle class family, the court is there to listen They are called motivated, maybe anti-national in few days Now, what can you do? First of all, avoid misinformation. It is a sensitive time. The case is ongoing in the Supreme Court.

There are many wrong forwards coming through WhatsApp. So, think before you accuse. Keep hope. The case has been brought to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is looking at this issue carefully. But if you don't put social pressure, no one will listen to you. As far as our exam system is concerned, there are two fundamental problems.

In the Constitution, everyone should get equal opportunity be it poor, be it rich, everyone should get a chance. This is what our Constitution says The first and perhaps the most important thing in this is to have educational infrastructure And along with that, the amount of education we spend, we should remove paper leaks Now, let's look at the example of China. One nation, one election, one party, the government is dreaming about that.

That authoritarian regime is being copied . But also copy some good things. It is very important in NTA to bring reforms ... To make it foolproof. In China, after school, almost all the students take a university entrance exam called Gaokao This is a very prestigious and important exam.

In a year, 130 lakh students take this exam So think about it, 4-5 times more than NTA - 130 lakh students the teachers who make and set exam paper are sent to isolated locations like military facilities They are trained to maintain their secrecy They are not given internet and mobile phone access for security reason You can talk to your family on monitored phone lines And test designers stay in monitored facilities till exam ends National administration and state secrets protection are also involved in the printing of papers.

Test papers are transported under the supervision of armed guards. The security teams that provide exam papers through money vans, bank level security, military level security, not only exam centers, but the entire chain of custody, strict surveillance on the entire transportation route. What is the situation in India? As we saw in Godhra, the entire administration is involved, teachers themselves are complicit And private agencies transport OMR sheets, so there can be some play with them in between.

Dr. Ajay Kumar has been the president of the Indian Medical Association. He is a member of the National Medical Council. And he has been a member of the National Board of Examination. In the case of NEET, he told India Today in an interview that 7 years ago, he found out that a person from National Testing Board was involved in the case of paper leak.

And now, NTA chairperson is himself sitting in the committee to conduct NEET investigation Now, in such a situation, one feels pity on the condition of the students of the country. Especially, on the condition of poor students. You have been working hard for years, but what is the use? The paper gets leaked, the rich kids will pay 30-30 lakhs to access the paper or they will go to a private college and become doctors.

So, those who actually should get the benefits, those who are working hard, are facing injustice every day It is important that whether you are coming from a village, from an urban center, you have money or a lot of money you should understand that if the system is corrupt and you are using it, you can also be impacted tomorrow.

it is important to protest because this is happening wrong with the youth of the country. Just because you have money or your father has money, it does not mean that you can cheat the system. Please share this, discuss this, debate this. If you cannot protest on the streets, then protest on social media.

Never think that the government is not afraid of the youth. The government will listen to the youth. If you raise your voice against something wrong, the government will have to listen to you. And this is a good start. But it is clear that our entire examination system is corrupted and leaking badly

Suspicious Results

They predicted that the average score would go down, and no one would get full marks. Secondly, NTA said that this year the number of candidates was very high. 300,000 more candidates appeared for this exam when compared to the 2023 exam. And because there were more candidates, "naturally," higher scores were seen.

But the third reason is the most interesting. NTA said that there are so many AIR 1 because 50 out of the 67 toppers, were given grace marks. Out of these 50, 44 students were given grace marks because there was some discrepancy in the answer keys. And the remaining 6 students were given grace marks due to time-related issues.

There was a physics question in this exam which had two correct answers. Because this question is in both the old and new edition of the NCERT textbook, but the two had different answers. So subject experts said that both options should be marked as correct. Now, first of all, is this how a national exam should be conducted? Students study for 12-13 hours a day for an entire year, while NTA can't even get the questions right.

And secondly, what kind of an exam is this where 75% toppers could get full marks only because they got grace marks? Let's look at this in more depth. Look at this question. In this question, you had to identify which statement is correct. The first statement is: Atoms are electrically neutral as they contain equal number of positive and negative charges.

That NTA, on the first day of hearing, said that they will cancel the grace mark. No problem. And the 1,563 students who have received grace marks, can take re-test or accept score without grace marks Some called it students victory but as Alakh Pandey pointed out that this is violation of right to equality There are many problems with Grace Marks. NTA was not transparent. No one knew the formula of Grace Marks.

How the time loss was calculated, no one was told properly. But, the biggest problem with Grace Marks is that only those 1,563 students got the grace marks who could take their time loss problem to the High Court through writ petition. There are many such centres where we got to know that there was a time loss there too.

And the students had complained to the local exam coordinator or some official. But none of them were heard. If a child who is a first generation student, has come from a village, is not from a rich family, is not connected, cannot hire a lawyer, then they can get lost They will not get the grace marks.

Children who can only go to court will get the grace marks. And that is why it is demanded that the NTA Grievance Portal be opened, so all students can file their time loss complaint there for fair opportunity The next demand is to make a high-level independent committee which will be chaired by an ex-Supreme Court or High Court judge To do impartial investigation.

Because the way NTA tried to hide the grace marks and then said that there is no wrongdoing and now in front of the Supreme Court they are saying that they will remove grace marks In this, a big question is raised on NTA's integrity and competence. Because, remember, this question is also about rank inflation.

How did such a high cut-off, which is statistically unlikely, happen? I hope that an independent committee will look at the NTA database and will find out what has been done. Or is there any honest mistake in this? Is anyone hiding anything? If all this investigation is done, then maybe the trust of the students and the country on NTA will be rebuilt. At least an independent committee will investigate.

Impact on student

The scandal has had a profound impact on students:

• Psychological Distress: Many students have reported immense stress and anxiety, fearing the impact of these irregularities on their future prospects.

• Protests and Demands: Students across the country have staged protests demanding a re-examination and a transparent investigation into the allegations.

Government and Agency Responses

NTA have issued a notice between 3:00 to 4:00 in the morning stating that since they had released the final answer key yesterday, and the challenges to it have been addressed for re-NEET, they have now released the results for 1563 candidates, out of which only 813 had taken the exam. Along with this, they are saying that they have revised the scorecards for all students, and everyone’s rank has changed. So, whether you fall into the re-NEET category or not, you are all requested to check your results at the link I will pin in the comments below. You have to enter your mobile number and alternate mobile number. These are the three things you provided when you filled out the form. So, if you don’t remember your email ID, you will remember your phone number or alternate number, something you will remember, right? You have to enter at least one of these three things. When you enter these, your revised scorecard will be published. So, please check it and tell me in the comments what your old rank was and what your new rank is and how much it has changed. According to the data coming in right now, there is no change in the qualifying marks, neither for the general category nor for SC, ST, or OBC. The general category qualifying marks are still 164, the highest marks are still 720, and the percentile is still at 50. There is a little change in the ranks, for example, in the general category, 84 ranks have been reduced, and in SC/ST categories, one or two ranks have gone up a bit. So, there is a little bit of change, but if I have to be honest with you, will it affect our cut-off? Will those who were scoring 620 or 630 suddenly start getting colleges or government seats? So far, there hasn’t been such a big change. But still, I would request you to tell me in the comments what your previous rank was in your scorecard and what your current rank is because that will bring clarity. There isn't much change because there were very few students. Even today, out of the 67 students who had 720 marks, now there are 61 after removing the grace marks, and it hasn’t made any difference. That is it. So, check your scorecard and tell me. Some students are asking if there will be a re-NEET. See, whether there will be a re-NEET or not, everything depends on the Supreme Court’s judgment. The Supreme Court will release its judgment on July 8th on whether re-NEET will happen and if it will happen in isolated areas or the whole of India or just in Bihar, or how it will happen, we cannot say anything right now. So, my suggestion is that the re-publishing of results has already been done for everyone, so there is no question left for the Supreme Court to say that re-publishing will be done. They will just ask them to follow this result or it might happen in some isolated area, we can't say anything.

Conclusion

The NEET exam controversy has a fired situation because the recent arrest of Anurag Yadav by Bihar Police for his involvement in the paper leak. This incident has exposed significant flaws in the examination system, prompting widespread outrage and calls for accountability. Social media platforms have been buzzing with the voices of thousands of students, who have joined forces to demand justice and transparency. Notably, educational influencers like Alakh Sir from Physics Wallah have played a pivotal role in amplifying these concerns, highlighting issues like the unjustified grace marks awarded to some students and the integrity of the exam process itself.

The outcry has compelled NTA to revise and re-publish the results, affecting the ranks of many candidates. However, the larger question remains: Will these changes restore faith in the examination system? The Supreme Court's upcoming decision on the potential re-NEET will be crucial in determining the future course of action. In the meantime, the unwavering efforts of students and educators alike underscore the necessity for a fair and transparent evaluation process, ensuring that merit, not manipulation, prevails in the pursuit of academic excellence.