“Government Tried To Wriggle Its Way Out…”: Congress On NEET Controversy
Congress general secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh has accused the government of attempting to evade accountability amid the ongoing NEET controversy. Ramesh criticised the Centre’s decision to cancel the scorecards of 1563 candidates who were granted grace marks, questioning the rationale behind the initial awarding of these marks. NEET or National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test is being held for admissions to undergraduate medical admissions.
“… the government has tried to wriggle its way out of the simmering NEET controversy and scam. It has assured the Supreme Court that grace marks given to 1563 students will be cancelled. But why were the grace marks given in the first place?,” he asked.
Ramesh explained that the grace marks were primarily due to a disputed physics question that had two correct options based on different NCERT textbooks. He also noted that delays in paper distribution contributed to the decision. Ramesh stated, “It is a pathetic state of affairs, reflecting on both the National Testing Agency and the NCERT.”
Ramesh raised further concerns, questioning if the NEET question paper was leaked, why the results were released earlier than anticipated, the unprecedented number of perfect scores, and the clustering of top scorers from the same state with similar roll numbers. He demanded answers from education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and health minister JP Nadda, emphasising the uncertainty faced by 24 lakh students.
“But going beyond grace marks, 4 questions raised in the context of the scam remain to be answered by Dharmendra Pradhan and JP Nadda:
- Was the NEET question paper leaked, as indicated by several media and social media reports and a FIR filed by a student in Patna?
- Were the results of the NEET-UG paper released ten days earlier than anticipation, on June 4th instead of June 14th so that they would coincide with the Lok Sabha Election results and attract less media attention?
- Since 2019, there haven’t been more than three toppers in any year of NEET UG, which is the single gateway for admission to all MBBS programs in the country. In 2019 and 2020, there was one topper each. There were three toppers in 2021, one in 2022, and two last year. How did not one or two, but 67 students achieve a perfect score of 720 in 2024? 44 of them benefitted from the grace marks – but that still leaves us with 23 toppers, eleven times higher than last year. What changed this year?
- How do multiple NEET-UG 2024 toppers, all belonging to the same state, have similar roll numbers? Were they from the same examination center?,” he wrote.
The Centre, in its defense, informed the Supreme Court today of its decision to offer the affected candidates a re-test, scheduled for June 23, with results expected before June 30. This move, aimed at maintaining fairness and integrity in the examination process, was discussed in a committee meeting on June 10-12.
The Supreme Court, while affirming that the ongoing NEET-UG 2024 counselling process will not be halted, accepted the NTA’s proposal to cancel the scorecards. The court has instructed the NTA to release revised marksheets and results post-re-examination to ensure the admission process remains unaffected.
