The government has had enough of taking risks. NEET-UG medical exam on May 3rd was a complete mess. More than 23 lakh students’ test was marred by a huge paper leak. The National Testing Agency had to call off the entire exercise on May 12. So now it’s time to start measuring down to the next re-test on June 21. The air is cut off in New Delhi.
They’re calling in the troops.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hosted a discreet, but serious meeting at his residence on Thursday. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was there. The Indian Air Force officers were seated with Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia at the table. They talked about a complete paradigm change in logistics. The proposed plan is to transfer the new NEET-UG question papers to the transport planes of the Indian Air Force. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is personally keeping a check on preparations. The decision on whether to deploy troops is his to make. This move is so enormous, it’s a testament to the failure of the first system.
Rush to the New Network
Transitions of exam papers is a civil affairs subject, normally. The boxes are delivered to the postal department by the printing press. They are driven all over the country by the mail trucks. They are kept in local banks until morning of the test. Each individual handover is a hole. Each stop can be a leak.
The government no longer has its full confidence in that chain. This is the beginning of the monsoon period making road transport even more difficult and slow. Using the Air Force cuts out the middlemen. The proposed method is to have the papers sent directly from classified printing presses to highly secure paper drop off points. Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, Agra, Gorakhpur and Varanasi are among the towns. The central hubs in Bihar would be Patna and Darbhanga while in Bengal it would be Kolkata and Bagdogra. The final stage of the delivery would be handled by state or central security agencies.
It was a “whole of government approach” said Dharmendra Pradhan. Their goal is to have as much redundancy as possible. They would like all weak spots guarded by armed personnel. District Administrations are becoming an integral part of the custody chain. They are aware that if the test for 21st June leaks, the entire medical education system will be totally down.
The CBI Crackdown
The military is preparing for the next step, while detectives are tidying up the area from the previous step. CBI is on a rampage. The Department of Higher Education had lodged a formal complaint with them and straight away they were on the job.
The agency launched special teams across multiple cities at once. They stormed homes in Gurugram, Jaipur and Delhi. They attacked places in Pune, Nashik, Latur and Ahilyanagar. Till now, the CBI have booked 13 people. Two of those suspects were just sent to 14 days of judicial custody by a Delhi court.
Investigators say it’s not a coincidence. It wasn’t carelessness on the part of a careless clerk. The detectives discovered a very well structured syndicate. They hunted down a great amount of money. Parents and students were paying exorbitant prices for advance copies of the test.Parents and students were paying exorbitant prices for advance copies of the test. The leak probe agency now says it has pinpointed the exact source of the leak. As the CBI delves deeper, the underground network seems to be a professional mafia that is solely engaged in stealing government exams.
Article 21 and the Courts
The tumult has flowed directly into the Supreme Court. The judges are gazing at a pile of petitions. Desperate students and angry medical associations are calling for massive changes! This is a legal battle that’s putting fundamental rights on the spotlight.
A debate is raging among lawyers concerning Indian Constitution Article 21. The rule is the guarantee of the right to life and personal liberty. It has been interpreted over the years to mean the right to a fair education, equal opportunity and a secure future. Leaking of a national exam is like robbing honest students in their hard work. It exposes them to a denial of their fundamental right to a fair opportunity to pursue a medical career.
The petitioners are also angry. The NTA is being actively demanded for complete overhaul by the groups. Some see the need to get rid of the agency altogether. They say the NTA has lost the trust of the public ever since the May 3 test leaked. The Supreme Court will have to determine whether the agency is able to conduct the June 21 re-examination. It’s a very close call at the bench. The government will have to demonstrate that they can conduct a clean test when it is being challenged in court by opponents who are trying to take their power.
The re-test is a retesting of an already done test.
This is a storm the students find themselves in the middle of. For years they studied, and for a day they did not. The test was taken in 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad. Now they have to somehow reset their brains and do it all again. The NTA has recently extended the deadline for the fee refund to 22nd June just to overcome the administrative chaos created due to cancellation.
Abhishek Singh, director general of NTA attended that high-level meeting on defence. The testing agency is under extreme fire. They said they got information about alleged malpractices on May 7, four days after the exam. It was days before they confirmed the amounts before finally canceling the test on 12 May. This delay was a serious blow to their credibility. It will be a huge strain now on the Home Ministry and State police networks to bring papers to the desks safely.
The political implications are huge. The opposition is paying close attention to all of his movements. The deadline is fast approaching for June 21. Test centres are preparing for the test. State agencies are still in the process of determining the security transfers from military personnel.Security transfers from military people are still being worked out by state agencies. The planes are awaiting the last signal. All eyes are waiting to see if the Air Force will be sufficient to put a stop to a formidable cheating syndicate.
