'NEET counselling process soon': Dharmendra Pradhan amidst opposition's questions, new demands

NEW DELHI: The process of NEET counselling 2024 will commence soon, said union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan even as the demands for investigation into NEET paper leak allegations intensified. The Supreme Court today sought responses from the union government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) on a plea seeking a CBI probe into allegations of question paper leak and other irregularities in the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) 2024 held on May 5.

Recently, NTA announced a NEET re-exam for 1,563 candidates who got grace marks after the Supreme Court cancelled NEET results 2024 of these students following the widespread protests from aspirants. Students who do not wish to retake the exam have been given the choice to accept their actual scores before the addition of grace marks.

Taking to X, Pradhan said, “Central govt is committed to protect the interests of NEET examinees. I want to assure the students that all their concerns will be addressed with fairness and equity. No student will be at a disadvantage and no child’s career will be at jeopardy.”

“Facts related to NEET examination are in cognisance of Hon’ble Supreme Court. Central govt will take all necessary actions for the well-being of students as per the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Counselling process of NEET will be underway soon and it is of utmost importance to move ahead in this direction without any confusion,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Congress questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on the NEET 2024 row and asserted that only a forensic probe monitored by the top court can safeguard the future of lakhs of students.

NEET 2024 Row: Bihar paper leak case, cheating

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the Modi government has started "covering up the NEET scam" through the education minister and NTA. "If the paper was not leaked in NEET then -- why were 13 accused arrested in Bihar due to paper leak? Did the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Patna police not expose the payment of Rs 30 lakh-Rs 50 lakh to the education mafia and organised gangs involved in the racket in exchange for papers?" he asked in a post in Hindi.

"Has NEET-UG cheating racket not been busted in Godhra, Gujarat? In which three people are involved including a person running a coaching centre, a teacher and another person and according to Gujarat Police, transactions of more than Rs 12 crore have come to light between the accused?" Kharge said.

If according to the Modi government, no paper was leaked in NEET, then why were these arrests made, he asked. "What conclusion is drawn from this? Was the Modi government trying to fool the people of the country earlier or now? The Modi government has crushed the aspirations of 24 lakh youth," he added.

“Twenty four lakh youth appear in NEET exam to become doctors, and work hard day and night for one lakh medical seats. Out of these 1 lakh seats, around 55,000 are in government colleges where seats are reserved for SC, ST, OBC, EWS categories. This time the Modi government has misused the NTA and has massively rigged the marks and ranks, due to which the cut-off for reserved seats has also increased," the Congress chief alleged.

It appears that a game of grace marks, paper leaks and rigging was played to deprive meritorious students from getting government admission at concessional rates, Kharge said.

NEET Result Controversy: Toppers, marks inflation

Addressing a press conference on the NEET controversy, Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera claimed that the "NEET scam is Vyapam 2.0" and the Modi government wants to whitewash it. “Pradhan's brazen statement of calling widespread protests, multiple court cases and tremendous outrage by students as "motivated" on the NEET scam is like rubbing salt on the wounds of 24 lakh aspirants, whose future is being destroyed by the BJP,” he said.

Posing questions to PM Modi and Pradhan, Khera asked if it is not a fact that this year, in 2024, there were 67 toppers who were given a perfect score of 720, while in 2023, the number was just two, Khera said. Is it not true that this year saw an abnormal increase in the students getting scores above 690, he asked.

Is it not true that multiple NEET UG 2024 toppers belong to the same state and have similar roll numbers? Were they from the same examination centres?” Is it not true that the results of the NEET examination were declared 10 days earlier, he further asked.

"PM Modi cannot always remain a mute spectator. Why is he silent when the future of 24 lakh youngsters is at stake?" he said and asked why did the Modi government and the NTA "inflate" marks versus ranks this year.

NEET Results 2024: Demands of opposition

Presenting new demands of the opposition, Khera said, "The complete result of last year and this year of students scoring 580 plus should be made public by NTA if the Modi government claims that the entire examination process is transparent. The centres of students scoring 580 plus should also be made public to see how many students travelled far off from their place to take NEET exam.”

Khera demanded the board marks should also be correlated with NEET marks for last year and this year to see how much the data correlates. "The videos of centres where there are major high scorers must be released so that this scam can be identified as OMR was filled after exam or at NTA office or some impersonation happened so that the truth comes out," he added.

The minister also demanded clarification whether the paper given at Sawai Madhopur center was same or different as the students walked out with paper and then a re-exam was held at 6.30 PM. If the paper was the same with a change of medium, then the paper is definitely leaked, he alleged.

“NEET Exam is supposed to create lakhs of doctors in the country. Does the BJP want to have sub-par, non-meritorious, mediocre doctors, dangerously engaged in medical practice, playing with the lives of millions of our citizens? After all, these so-called future doctors would be made on a system where paper leaks, grace marks, irregularities, coaching-organised gang corruption, is rampant!,” Pawan Khera said lastly.