Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh on Sunday slammed the Centre for jeopardizing the "future of millions of India's youths" and making the National Testing Agency "a mere revenue-raising exercise."
Citing an answer to the Rajya Sabha by the Union MoS for Education Sukanta Majumdar during the ongoing Budget session of Parliament, the Congress leader claimed the government testing agency has not used fee income to build the agency's capabilities to conduct tests itself or to strengthen regulatory and monitoring capabilities for its vendors.
NTA's profit in conducting exam
The Union Minister, in his reply to a question on revenue generated by the agency, said that the NTA collected an estimated Rs 3,512.98 crore while it spent Rs 3,064.77 crore on the conduct of examinations; it, therefore, netted a surplus of Rs 448 crore in the last six years.
"The future of millions of India's youths has ultimately become a mere revenue-raising exercise for the non-biological PM's government," Jairam Ramesh said, targeting the Narendra Modi-led central government in an X post.
"The National Testing Agency (NTA) is at the very heart of the NEET scandal. It is a body of the Education Ministry whose only purpose is to function via outsourcing to private vendors. Not only do these vendors very often have dubious credentials, but the NTA itself is headed by a person who presided over the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission, which has seen mega-scams," Jairam Ramesh added in his X post.
The NEET UG 2024 examination, held on May 5, has been embroiled in controversy following allegations of paper leaks, irregularities, and time losses during the exam.
The National Eligibility and Entrance Test (UG) was held for more than 24 lakh candidates at 4750 different centers located in 571 cities throughout the country, including 14 cities outside India, on May 5, 2024 (Sunday). The re-examination of the NEET (UG) 2024 was conducted on June 23, 2024, for 1563 candidates who had experienced time loss during the originally scheduled examination on May 5, 2024.
Supreme Court ordered to restructure
Pronouncing a detailed judgement on pleas seeking cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 over allegations of paper leaks and malpractices, the Supreme Court earlier this week asked the Central government to completely restructure the exam process.
Aspirants had approached the top court and raised the issue of leakage of the question paper, awarding compensatory marks and anomalies in the question of NEET-UG.
The NEET-UG examination, conducted by the NTA, is the pathway for admissions into MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.
NTA (National testing agency)
NTA was established in 2018. Since its inception, NTA has conducted over 240 examinations involving over 5.4 crore candidates. NTA is self-supporting through the examination fee collected.
The minister, in his written reply to the Parliament, said, considering the sensitivity involved in competitive examinations, various operational and security measures are undertaken for their smooth and fair conduct.
Such measures involve the engagement of specialized or experienced agencies for providing services like capturing biometrics, frisking, CCTV surveillance, AI analytics with a view to identifying any potential impersonation, and exam delivery.
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