Amid the opposition’s protest over NEET-UG and UGC-NET examination “paper leaks,” the Centre on Saturday removed National Testing Agency (NTA) chief Subodh Kumar Singh and put him on “compulsory wait.” Both these examinations were conducted by the NTA.
Singh was replaced by P.K. Kharola, the current chairman and managing director of India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO). He has been given the additional charge of NTA DG until a permanent replacement is found or further order.
The decision comes amid huge protests by Congress and other opposition parties over the alleged NEET-UG paper leak and the cancellation of the UGC-NET examination.
Moreover, two examinations – CSIR UGC-NET and NEET PG – have been postponed over similar concerns.
The NEET-PG examination, which was scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 23, was the second exam the Centre postponed ever since the NEET-UG controversy broke out.
The government said that the exam was postponed as a “precautionary measure” to check the robustness of the system and ensure the integrity of NEET-PG is not compromised.
The Narendra Modi government, which returned to power with a narrower victory earlier this month, is on the back foot over the issue of paper leaks in some of the country’s premier entrance exams like NEET-UG and UGC-NET.
While the government has promised to take strictest action against those involved in the paper leaks, the opposition has alleged a larger scam.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that shuffling the bureaucrats is not a solution to the “endemic problem” in the education system “rotted by the BJP.”
Kharge claimed that in the alleged NEET scam, the buck stops at the doorstep of top-level officials of the Modi government.
“In the NEET scam, the buck stops at the doorstep of the top echelons of the Modi government. Shuffling the bureaucrats is no solution to the endemic problem in the education system rotted by the BJP,” he wrote in a post on ‘X’.
Kharge alleged that NTA, which was projected to be an autonomous body, was “made to serve the devious interests of the BJP/RSS.”
The Congress chief said that four examinations have been either cancelled or postponed in the last 10 days and the Modi government must be held accountable.
“For students to get justice, the Modi government must be held accountable. Now, the NEET-PG exam has been postponed. Four examinations have been either cancelled or postponed in the past 10 days. Paper leaks, corruption, irregularities, and the education mafia have infiltrated our education system,” Kharge said.
“This belated whitewashing exercise is of no consequence as countless youths continue to suffer!” he added.