- 2 days ago
A massive protest was organised by the NSUI outside the Shastri Bhawan in Delhi on Tuesday, against the paper leak in NEET-UG this year.
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00:00Big questions though have to be raised. Let's widen the debate. Neat paper leak. Who is to blame here? Will
00:06heads roll over the neat chaos? How does one avoid a repeat of these year-by-year leaks of major
00:14papers? Should neat be computer-based tests? Is that a solution? Joining me now, Sujata Rao joins me, former Health
00:21Secretary, Government of India, Yashavarda Nazad, former IPS officer is with us, Nitin Kukreja, CEO, Allen Career Institute, and two
00:29students.
00:30Divya Mishra, Neat Aspirant 2026 patch. Shailaja Verma, Neat Aspirant 2026 patch. And I want to come to the students
00:37first. Diyah, you tell us, you heard what the DG said. He said, please have faith in the system. Do
00:44you have faith in the system or are you losing faith, Diyah, when you heard that the exam had been
00:48cancelled?
00:49I have already lost the faith in the system. He talked about correcting and making the examination error-free. But
00:59what about prevention? Once done, mistake. Once done is a mistake. Twice done is a choice. Choice of carelessness. Choice
01:11of leniency. Choice of not preventing the paper leak.
01:20But Diyah, the government is saying they will give you a retest in a few days' time. It will be
01:25free of charge. You don't have to reapply. You can just go and do a retest. You will presumably, you
01:30want to become a doctor, so you will do the retest, no?
01:33Of course I will. But what about the mental exhaustion they are putting us in? Repeating the cycle of mental
01:41pressure again. What about regaining the momentum that we have lost in this margin of 10 days?
01:47It is a lot for us who have been preparing an entire year with diligence and honesty. We have been
01:56betrayed again and again. This is the second time it is happening.
02:04I take your point. Shailaja Verma, you are also a NEET Aspirant 2026 badge. Your thoughts? Do you believe that
02:10you still have faith in the system? That these campsters are an isolated group? Or are you losing faith in
02:16the system when you do a major exam like NEET and find that the exam is cancelled because of a
02:21paper leak?
02:26So, after seeing the decision that NTA took to cancel the NEET, I have started gaining, sorry sir, I believe
02:45in this system now.
02:46Tell me in Hindi, whatever language you are comfortable. No, sir, I am getting a bit nervous.
02:54You know, we first need to change your super. But yeah, no, do you feel angry or disappointed?
03:03Tell me your feelings.
03:06I am from 2024 BAS so I have seen paper leak at that time also but sir at that time
03:16results
03:17were published very earlier so there was no scope of reneed but this time NTA took a very good
03:23response they took this very they took this forward they they listened to students and yes I believe in this
03:36system now so I guess the mal practices will be eradicated so you are saying you are saying Shaleja okay
03:47so you are saying you are happy that the paper has at least been cancelled that the marks have not
03:51been given and therefore
03:53you have some relief I'll come back to both of you in a moment Sujata Rao former health secretary government
03:58of India something is rotten in our medical examination system where is the rot where is the rot according to
04:06you Sujata Rao
04:08I think it's a systemic failure totally and 2024 was a very major waking wake-up call there were 70
04:16leaks before that they didn't learn 2024 it went up even to the Supreme Court
04:22the CGI himself heard the case and he then said that even if there's one case of cheating I will
04:28ensure to cancel I'll ensure that the exam is cancelled 155 he himself admitted in his order had benefited due
04:36to cheating but he didn't cancel the order
04:38then a Radha Krishna committee is appointed and they gave 101 recommendations the first one was to say please do
04:45online testing even that has not been implemented and I don't I mean maybe you know I've retired so I
04:52have no access to inside information but I don't think anybody was really held accountable
04:59post 24 scandal and I take serious objection now again 26 it has happened and I'm positive it will happen
05:07again after one or two years more there's no doubt in my mind because nobody's inquiring you just heard the
05:13DG
05:13no but where is the flaw in the system look where is the flaw in the system when I asked
05:19the DG they say they are the implementing authority the rules have to be set by the ministry who sets
05:25the rules for these exams who decides that we shouldn't have computer testing we shouldn't go online for example
05:31no there are two issues one is computer testing that of course the ministry has to set but once a
05:36paper examination is held there's a whole process after all the leaking must have taken place from the person who
05:42set the exam from the printers from the people who are carrying it to the exam center there are so
05:48many points and it's your duty to ensure each one of those points are covered adequately and ensure the the
05:55sanctity of the examination
05:56so one can't really absorb oneself of that responsibility of implementation so what I am trying to say is that
06:04no but who where does the buck stop where does the buck stop where does the buck stop the buck
06:10stops with the NTA the buck stops with the NTA they are conducting the exam and they have to take
06:16the responsibility for it
06:17and and I feel sorry for the DG because I mean he's a young colleague of mine and I certainly
06:23understand his predicament
06:25he's just coming to the job two months ago he's just coming to the job two months ago he has
06:28never worked in education sector before he's an IT expert and I'm sure once online comes he's going to be
06:34a great asset to the system but to understand this whole ecosystem of conducting such a big exam you need
06:41to be on the job for a minimum of eight months
06:43how could you appoint a DG two months before and expect him to deliver results so somewhere the whole governance
06:51structure is I'm afraid failing you know because I tell you as an IIS officer the best of me to
06:59it would take me three to six months to understand the whole subject even though I'm familiar with it
07:04so somewhere I think this is so I would let only yeah sorry
07:12yeah Rajiv no you make a good point you make a good point of governance why is why is someone
07:18appointed to a key post
07:19Abhishek Singh is a fine officer but to bring him just before the examination you're saying it takes time to
07:24understand the system
07:25these are all questions governance questions yeah governance questions yashubardan azad there's governance on the one side you heard the
07:33DG saying scamsters are a step ahead of us we still don't know where the leak happened some say it
07:41came through whatsapp messages and there was a telegram
07:44uh which uh on the app telegram the paper was leaked we still don't know that but it seems a
07:50nationwide racket can the police actually crack it do you believe these or or is it or are the scamsters
07:57a step ahead of everyone
08:00Rajdi let us put the whole thing in perspective it's not a police case or anything and it's unfortunate
08:05first of all let me say that NTA is a third rate organization if not fourth rate because since
08:142017 that it has been created out of the 15 major exams it conducts there have been leaks in at
08:21least
08:21six major exams which barely just shows that it should be thrown out if you can throw out the planning
08:27commission
08:28and bring NITI Ayo throw out the NTA that is number one number two there are huge areas
08:35where lapses may occur there is a last milestone what they call the last mile connectivity the
08:41last inch connectivity if you look at the hyper uh the the high powered committee report of 2024
08:48it clearly laid down certain rules now look at what happened in 2024 when a civil engineer from from
08:56jharkhand uh brought out the paper from the from the bank or or wherever it was so the question is
09:03is it's
09:03not the cctv gps enabled trackers it is where the leaks can occur another thing for example uh
09:12uh yeah rajdi seeker is a center where out of 50 exam centers out of 40 the people got the
09:22maximum exams
09:23maximum marks for example was this looked into i'll be very much interested as the if the new centers were
09:30again located in seeker number four the issue is that if you have an nta it's not a question of
09:37you
09:37don't need an experience of the education ministry you need a guy on the ball and what you actually need
09:45is when these papers are going in china for example they get the security which is even higher scale than
09:52when you when you take the cash for banks if a situation is that important and critical for 24 lakh
10:00students then you should aggregate to it the same importance and use your capf or if capf you can use
10:08two and half lakhs for the elections then you can certainly use capf for these exam centers another thing
10:15which i want to tell you is that the coaching institutes are bringing out but it's a very
10:21important point the coaching institutes because there is a terrible gap here the coaching institutes
10:29are under tremendous pressure to get their guys elected for that they will use some dumb debate
10:36then there are senior is ips and ministers who want their kids into the medical and that's why they
10:43use the facility of these campsters and that is why some of those people named by the eow in the
10:49you're making very serious allegations when you say you're making very serious allegations when you
10:55say senior is officers want their children to go through neat and therefore could be hand in glove
11:00with the scamsters we don't have proof of that what we do and i want to therefore bring in my
11:04guest
11:05who's joining me from one of india's leading coaching center nitin kukreja ceo allen career institute
11:10is there a coaching center angle are the stakes just very high in an exam like neat to get as
11:16many
11:16students passed do you know where is there pressure to try and get the paper out somehow or the other
11:23look i have not faced any such situation or any such pressure the reality of the situation is that
11:29there is a certain number of finite seats whether in the engineering side or on the medical side and
11:35the number of applicants are going to be higher and higher than the number of seats and therefore
11:39there will always be people who are looking for training guidance some sort of uh an edge to go out
11:46and and be able to qualify for these seats that's the role that the coaching institutes play people who
11:53who have deprived backgrounds who have who don't have the geographic advantages that the metro cities offer
12:00have resolve go to the coaching institutes to get that equalization in place that's the reality of
12:06the situation now let's come to the situation at hand this is unfortunately repeated from 2024 and the
12:13only lesson that we seem to have learned is that we've taken and the nta must commend the nta for
12:19actually acting quickly to take a decision and saying the exam will be reconducted
12:25unfortunately in 2024 that decision just there were just all sorts of rumors and and things flying
12:32around and causing all sorts of uncertainty the fact is that the structural piece needs to be fixed
12:38and when you conduct a one-time pen and paper exam for 24 lakh or 23 lakh children
12:46there are always going to be risks of leaks because rewind back to 2024 the nta said that there are
12:53more
12:53than two lakh people are involved in the conduct of the exam when you have more than two lakh people
12:59involved in the conduct of the exam a leak can happen from anywhere unfortunately the the solution is
13:07staring us in the face it has been it has been recommended by the the committee from 2024 and the
13:15committee said very specifically that please implement all of these in totality don't implement it in bits
13:19and pieces the the solution that is before us is that just the way the je exams are conducted please
13:27conduct the neat exam also coincidentally it's the nta that conducts the je exam also all you need to do
13:34is break it into parts stage one and stage two stage one is held in multiple sessions it's a computer
13:43-based
13:43exam the risk of a leak therefore gets contained to if someone hacks a server or a computer
13:51i'm i'm sure if someone does that they'll leave a foot behind but what you've done is you've reduced
13:57student stress it's not a one-time shot they have they have multiple attempts to get better to to to
14:03uh
14:03improve the it's a computer-based exam the risk of leak is minimized and when you chop it into various
14:11parts like the main exam is done even if in the odd chance that there is a leak it's contained
14:16and
14:17it's not spread over all the students it's contained only to a specific number of students for which you
14:22can reconduct the exam so the solution to up to me is staring us in the face we just need
14:28to implement
14:28it i agree right you you made your point uh yashwarta nazar the quick response you you don't you
14:37are shaking your head you don't believe this there is a need there is there are reforms there's a
14:41committee report and the government has sat on it by all indication they've not acted on that report
14:46the the the radhakrishnan committee report you know it's not a question of committees it's not a question
14:52of recommendation it's a question of how you act when you are the nth chief you should realize that
14:58the leaks today are occurring at the last inch connectivity that's where you have to get into you see
15:04analyze the leaks from before where have they happened they've happened from the bank walls
15:09they've happened from the the places of the exam centers it's because of the instituted mafia over
15:15there what i said was not is officer i said ministers is ips and all the influential people
15:21who put pressure and that's why the coaching institute mafia is still functioning the eow had cracked some
15:28cases what has happened in 2024 the charge sheet has even uh just now been filed you see unfortunately
15:35we are today talking about cvi co the case de diya gaya ab to exam cancel karda gaya as if
15:42it's a great
15:42achievement we should talk about the prevention who is to be who's to be blamed for all this these are
15:49the hard questions you know i i never got a reply i think mr kukreja no no mr kukreja no
15:55mr kukreja
15:56has at least offered a constructive solution you need solutions to crack this i just want to bring
16:01in diya mishra again because at the end of the day the students the more exams you have that's your
16:07view you don't believe but at least someone either way either way it is okay either way we need solutions
16:16i need dia at the end to tell me dia as a young student what will you tell those who
16:21want to become
16:22doctors you want a different kind of exam or you're okay with the need no i want a different kind
16:29of
16:30examination like je is held in cvt platform in chunks i would want it like that given chance twice
16:38in a year to improve as sir said i want it like that because uh the chances of uh paper
16:46getting leaked
16:47is very less when it comes to computer-based examination and i would prefer it like it used
16:53to happen earlier aip aip pmts and cpmts separately done for the uh students who are not prepared well
17:03to be separated uh in the first round itself even upscs are the examination of upsc are done uh using
17:12paper and pen but there's no uh leak in that gao kao done in china there's no leak in that
17:20why is
17:21meat always getting leaked i think i take your point i think you've said it very strongly i hope someone
17:30out there is listening i hope dharmenter pradhan hrd minister is listening he's a master when it comes
17:36to elections but he needs to now focus on what is his core which is as the education minister
17:41of the country and get this right i thank my guests for joining us on the show i want to
17:47give you my
17:47take at the moment because i say this today both as a father of a doctor and a proud indian
17:53citizen
17:53no nation listen carefully no nation can become fully vixit when its students are trapped in a cycle
18:00of paper leaks exam scams and cancellations year after year need cancelled again is not just a system
18:08failure it is the theft of millions of young dreams of indians a country that cannot protect its exams
18:16cannot claim to be building its future for lacks of middle class families these exams are not just
18:23tests they are years of sacrifice coaching fees anxiety and hope when corruption repeatedly defeats
18:31merit and the system refuses to change the message to young indians is chilling honesty works less than
18:38manipulation the government has done well to cancel the exam but it needs to tell us what is it doing
18:45to fix the problem we cannot afford to have any more leaks like this again and again this my friends
18:52is the real national crisis it's a crisis of governance and yes of ethics think about it
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