High-powered attempt to fix Prime Minister's compromised image: Congress on NTA's exam reform panel

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday derided the Modi government's committee on exam reforms as a "high-powered attempt to fix the Pradhan Mantri's irretrievably compromised image." Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced the constitution of a high-powered task force, headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, on forging reforms for the examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency.

The task force will give suggestions on maximum use of technology for setting up a robust and transparent examination system, Modi said in a video message posted on Instagram.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "Friends, in June 2024, after it bungled multiple examinations including NEET-UG, the Modi Government constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts headed by Dr. K Radhakrishnan to 'ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations.'" In July 2026, the Modi government bungled the NEET-UG and other exams and has now constituted another "High Powered Task Force", he said on X.

Ramesh said the new committee comes even as the Modi government has still not finished implementing the K Radhakrishnan Committee's 101 recommendations. For most of the two years between the 2024 and 2026 paper leaks, it didn't even appoint a full-time director general for the National Testing Agency, he said.

Also read NEET protest 2026 exposes an education system grooming students for ‘one rat race after another’

NTA: High-powered task force

"This is ultimately only a High-Powered attempt to fix the Pradhan Mantri's irretrievably compromised image," the Congress leader said. According to the government, a multidisciplinary group of domain experts will be a part of the task force.

Besides Nilekani, its other members are former chairman of ISRO S Somanath, former director of Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka, director of IIT Chennai V Kamakoti, former education secretary Anita Karwal and logistics expert Amrit Lal Meena. The prime minister's announcement came a day after the 36-day agitation, led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), ended with the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as the Education Minister.

The prime minister said the government will work on suggestions of the task force to establish a foolproof examination system. It will help revamp the NTA exams, especially technology perspective and for structural reforms in the system, he said.