The National Testing Agency and CBI owe an assurance to the traumatised aspirants and their families, as well as future aspirants, that paper leaks will not recur | Photo Credit: KAMAL KISHORE

We’ve been through this before — the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical aspirants, held on May 3, has been annulled, following a widely circulated “guess paper” leak. The paper was remarkably similar to the actual exam. Even as the CBI has swung into action, this comes as a shock for 23 lakh aspirants who doubtless invested their physical, mental and emotional energies into cracking an exam that opens doors to the top medical colleges. So far, a ‘paper trail’ that appears to circulate around Kerala, Jaipur, Sikar, Gurugram and Nashik has come to light.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) and CBI owe an assurance to these traumatised aspirants and their families, as well as future aspirants, that such leaks will not recur, and that the individuals or groups involved will be punished as per the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. The NTA has not covered itself in glory, as such leaks occur rather too often. The UGC-NET, conducted by the NTA, was cancelled in 2024 after the Home Ministry noted that the integrity of the examinations had been compromised. In 2024, NEET-UG exam paper leaks were identified in Jharkhand and Bihar, but the Supreme Court had rejected calls to cancel the entire exam, noting that there was no systemic leak of the question paper. This time around, the leak has gone far and wide, and it seems to have happened through the printing press, or with the involvement of those privy to the preparation of the paper. If there is a pattern to the modus operandi of these leaks, it needs to be addressed.

The NTA’s abysmal record when it comes to NEET exams is baffling because the same agency has been conducting the Joint Entrance Examinations for admissions to IITs without a blemish since it took over the mandate in 2019. The CBSE, which was administering JEE until then, had also acquitted itself well save for the one incident of paper leak in 1997. Similarly, the Union Public Service Commission, which manages the civil services exams has also had a spotless record in the last three decades. Perhaps the NTA should consider moving NEET into an online testing system, like the JEE. The technology deployed in JEE, which involves encrypted question papers that are decrypted at the last minute, can be adapted to NEET as well.

The working of the NTA must be subject to more scrutiny and accountability. In the case of SAT and GRE exams, the US government does not conduct them. Private, non-profit agencies are responsible — such as the College Board for the SAT and the Educational Testing Service for the GRE. These are yet early days to consider a similar model; bodies such as the UPSC and CBSE have not fared badly, after all. Finally, the insane scramble for medical seats points to a bizarre demand-supply mismatch. A higher supply of medical seats through NEET can curb corruption and commercialisation in medical education and practice.

Published on May 13, 2026