AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday (June 23) launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led Centre over the paper leak incidents in recent examinations and alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who he described as “exam warrior” in a potshot, has “waged a war on our youth’s future”. He asked PM Modi and his ministers to take responsibility for the alleged irregularities that have taken place in NEET-UG and UGC-NET exams, leading to the cancellation of the latter.
Owaisi said that the youth of the country “deserve an apology” from the Prime Minister.
““Exam warrior” @narendramodi has waged a war on our youth’s future. First it was NEET UG (~23 lakh students), then UGC-NET (~9 lakh students). Then CSIR-NET was cancelled (~2 lakh students). NEET-PG (~2 lakh) was cancelled a night before the exam. The responsibility lies with Modi & his ministers. Our youth deserve an apology from the PM & justice from his govt,” Owaisi posted on X.
Owaisi's "Exam warrior" reference was in context of PM Modi's book for students titled 'Exam Warriors', aimed at helping them deal with the stress of exams.
Paper leaks
The students were marred by back-to-back paper leak incidents in the recent past, starting from NEET-UG, following UGC-NET whose question paper was leaked on darknet. On Saturday night, the government postponed the NEET-PG exam, which was scheduled to be held on Sunday (June 23), as a precautionary measure in the wake of recent allegations on the integrity of certain competitive exams.
UGC-NET had to be cancelled just a day after its conduct. The government ordered CBI investigations into the irregularities in the NEET-UG and UGC-NET exams. The central probe agency has registered separate FIRs in both the cases.
NTA under criticism over alleged irregularities in exams
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducted the NEET-UG exams, is facing criticism over alleged irregularities in the exams. This resulted in several protests across the country with protestors and political parties demanding to disband the NTA. An unprecedented 67 candidates achieved a perfect score of 720 marks out of 720, which added to the concerns.
The Ministry of Education said it has constituted a high-level committee of experts to make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvements in data security protocols and the functioning of the NTA. The 7-member committee, led by ISRO former chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan, will submit its report to the ministry in the next two months.
"In order to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through National Testing Agency (NTA), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts to make recommendations on Reform in mechanism of examination process improvement in data security protocols and structure and functioning of National Testing Agency," the ministry said.
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