INDIA: President Droupadi Murmu said on Thursday the Centre had made efforts to solve the paper leak crisis and was committed to an impartial probe, addressing a burning issue that has drawn fierce criticism from the Opposition and has prompted a series of steps by the Centre aimed at exam reforms.
“It is the Centre’s priority to give equal opportunity to all aspiring candidates. My government is committed to a fair investigation and to punish those behind paper leak incidents,” Murmu said in Parliament, remarks that came in the backdrop of the cancellation of UGC-NET as well as a massive row over the NEET-UG 2024 examination.
Her speech invited a sharp response from the members of the Opposition, who shouted slogans and showed disagreement.
“Paper leak cases are coming up at all levels and the Centre has already formed new laws to tackle the issue,” the President said.
A CBI team, after taking over the probe into the NEET paper leak case, visited a school in Jharkhand’s Hazaribag and quizzed its principal in connection with the alleged irregularities in medical entrance test NEET, an official said.
Earlier, a three-member probe team of the economic offences unit (EOU) of Bihar Police on June 23 visited the school and inquired about the conduct of the test and the mechanism to open digital locks of question paper boxes.
On June 21, the Bihar Police detained six people from Jharkhand’s Deoghar district in connection with the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam.
NEET-UG was conducted by the NTA on May 5 with around 24 lakh candidates taking part in it. The results were announced on June 4, but they were followed by allegations of question paper leaks in states such as Bihar, besides other irregularities.
