The leaders of the INDIA group want to push for adjournment motions in both chambers of Parliament today in order to start a discussion over the purported anomalies in the National Eligibility Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) for 2024. This agreement was made by the INDIA bloc parties during a meeting on Thursday at Congressman Mallikarjun Kharge’s home.
The choice was made the day after President Droupadi Murmu brought up the subject of paper leaks in her speech to the joint session of legislators.
In her address to the joint session of Parliament, President Droupadi Murmu emphasised the commitment of the administration to carrying out an impartial inquiry. “Even before this, we have seen paper leaks in different states. Rising above partisan politics, a nationwide concrete solution is needed for this. Parliament has formed a strict law against irregularities in examinations.”
In response, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge remarked, “The Modi government cannot shirk its responsibility by merely suggesting that ‘we should rise above partisan politics’…The youth are demanding justice.”
Opposition leaders have threatened to stage a demonstration within the House if the NEET issue is not taken up in Parliament today.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested two people in Patna on Thursday, marking the agency’s first arrest in the NEET UG paper leak case. According to reports, the two suspects who were detained, Manish Kumar and Ashutosh Kumar, allegedly helped students for the medical entrance exam find accommodations before the test and gave them access to question papers and answer keys that had been leaked.
On Friday, June 28, the CBI team looking into the NEET UG irregularities case will visit Beur Jail in Patna to examine the 13 suspects who were previously taken into custody by the Bihar EoU.
Eight members of the CBI team had earlier visited the State Bank of India’s main branch in the Hazaribagh area of Jharkhand. There, they were informed that the bank manager had the NEET-UG 2024 test question papers in his possession.
In response to the recent scandal surrounding paper leaks, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposing the elimination of the national-level medical entrance test, NEET, which was inaugurated in 2013. Instead, the system would allow states to run their own exams.
PTI claims that three aspirants in Gujarat who were allegedly looking for help to pass the exam also provided statements to the CBI.
Two days before the exams, on May 3, reports state that the NEET question papers were leaked. Employees of the transport firm or the courier agency assisted in moving the papers from the Ranchi airport to the Patna office of Blue Dart, a courier company, and finally to the State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Hazaribagh.
Members of the Congress party’s National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) have been charged by the Delhi police for breaking into the NTA building during a demonstration over the NEET issue.
