'Khokla Body': NTA 'a profit-making business', says Jairam Ramesh, flags vacancies, Rs 590 crore revenue

Senior leader and Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh has flagged alleged “malpractices” in the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the education ministry, citing a parliamentary standing committee report on reforms and strengthening of the agency.

Highlighting that the NTA has only 39 sanctioned posts and relies on private contractors to conduct examinations, the Congress leader said that only 23 of these positions are currently filled, leaving nearly 41% of the posts vacant.

“All the 39 permanent posts that exist in the NTA are filled through a deputation mode, with officers serving only a 2-3 year tenure. This prevents the development of institutional expertise and know-how,” Ramesh said.

According to the findings from the report, titled Reforms and Strengthening of the NTA , released by the parliamentary standing committee on education, chaired by Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Wasnik, the Congress leader alleged that the report exposed “serious shortcomings in the functioning of the NTA and the education ministry .”

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'What hope is there for fair investigation from edu ministry?'

He further stated that the education ministry told the parliamentary committee that there was no paper leak by the NTA since its formation in 2017 till 2025. Ramesh alleged that there have been 9 paper leaks and irregularities in NTA-held exams.

“What hope is there for a fair investigation or accountability when the Ministry even refuses to acknowledge what went wrong in the first place?” Ramesh said.

Stating that the NTA has been designed as a “khokhla body” that hands over all key responsibilities to private contractors, the Congress MP said that the body’s structure and design is not transparent and served to enable the paper leak mafia.

“Despite repeated recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, there is no nation-wide blacklist of firms who have a track record of failure in providing examination-related services such as paper setting, logistics, printing, administration etc. Firms that are blacklisted in one state routinely get government contracts in other states,” he added.

In addition, he also highlights that the NTA does not publish NEET-UG results in a publicly accessible manner.

“The anonymity of the results and the absence of test-center wise data prevents transparency and the detection of anomalous patterns in the performance of candidates and test centers,” he said.

Ramesh has also flagged that the NTA has become a financial profit-making business and a total revenue surplus of Rs 590 crore was earned by the NTA and invested in fixed deposits to earn interest, rather than being used to assist students or build exam infrastructure and capabilities.