UGC NET 2024 cancelled: ’Paper leak government, cancel NEET too’, Congress criticises PM Modi over ’grace marks’ row

UGC NET 2024 Cancelled: Hours after the Education Ministry cancelled the June UGC-NET, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up responsibility for the paper leak issue and the  NEET UG 2024 exam row.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, Kharge wrote, "You "discuss exams" a lot, when will you "discuss NEET exam"? Cancellation of UGC-NET exam is a victory of the spirit of millions of students. This is the defeat of the arrogance of the Modi government due to which they made a despicable attempt to trample the future of our youth."

Kharge pointed out that the Union Education Minister had earlier claimed no paper was leaked in NEET. "When arrests are made of education mafia in Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana, the Education Minister accepts that some scam has taken place,” he said.

The Congress chief also wanted to know when the NEET exam will be cancelled. “When will the NEET exam be cancelled? Modi Ji, please take the responsibility of stopping your government's rigging and paper leak in NEET exam too!” Kharge added.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of a lackadaisical attitude and urged the central government to take responsibility for the “lax system” in India's education sector.

“The laxity and corruption of the BJP government is fatal for the youth. After the news of scam in NEET exam, now the NET exam held on 18th June has also been cancelled due to the fear of irregularities,” Priyanka Gandhi wrote on the microblogging site.

“Will accountability be fixed now? Will the education minister take responsibility for this lax system?” she asked.

On Wednesday, the UGC-National Eligibility Test was cancelled after reports emerged that the integrity of the examination may have been compromised.

In a statement issued late on Wednesday night, the Ministry of Education said that a fresh examination will be conducted, and details will be shared separately. Simultaneously, the matter is being handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a thorough investigation.

The Ministry of Education has also sought a detailed report from the Economic Offences Unit of the Bihar Police over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the NEET(UG) examination 2024 in Patna.

Several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court seeking direction to recall NEET-UG 2024 results and to conduct the examination afresh, alleging paper leakage and malpractices in the test held on May 5. Aspirants have raised the issue of leakage of the question paper, awarding compensatory marks and anomalies in the question of NEET-UG 2024.

(With inputs from agencies)