The Opposition parties have intensified their demand for a debate on question paper leaks and other irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the National Eligibility Test (NET) in both Houses of Parliament.

The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a debate on the issue and several members of the Opposition sought the scrapping of the National Testing Agency (NTA), the body which conducts the entrance examinations.

In his letter, Rahul wrote that the Opposition’s request for a debate on the NEET, which has been marred by irregularities and alleged paper leaks, was denied in both Houses on June 28.

“Our aim is to engage constructively to find a way forward. At this moment, our only concern is the welfare of 24 lakh NEET aspirants across India. Lakhs of families have made tremendous personal sacrifices to support their children. For many, the paper leak is a betrayal of a lifetime dream. Today, these students and their families are looking up to us, their public representatives, to take bold and decisive steps to resolve the issue,” Rahul wrote.

The LoP also wrote that in the past seven years, there have been over 70 paper leaks, affecting over 2 crore students. The government has postponed the CSIR-NET and NEET-PG exams and has removed NTA director-general Subodh K. Singh.

Rahul called the actions “a move to cover up the systemic breakdown of our centralised testing system”.

“Our students deserve answers. A parliamentary debate is the first step towards rebuilding and restoring their faith. Given the urgency of the matter, I request the government to facilitate a debate in the house tomorrow (Wednesday),” he wrote.

In the Rajya Sabha, DMK leader P. Wilson urged the government to either scrap the NTA or grant approval to a bill passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly seeking exemption from centralised NEET-based admission to MBBS courses in the institutions in the state.

Before the NEET was made the sole nationwide test after a Supreme Court judgment in 2016, the states admitted students either by conducting their own entrance tests or based on Class XII marks. Tamil Nadu used to admit students based on Class XII marks. In 2021, the Assembly passed a bill to allow admissions based on the Class XII marks. The governor of the state has referred the bill to the President.

Raghav Chadha of the Aam Admi Party said paper leaks were not confined to the NTA alone. He cited examples of paper leaks in over a dozen exams, including the Teacher Eligibility Test in Rajasthan and Odisha and the constable recruitment test in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

Chadha said usually three to four candidates share the first rank in the NEET every year. He asked the reasons for 67 candidates sharing the first rank this year and why the results were declared on the day of the Lok Sabha election results, 10 days before the scheduled announcement date.

CPM leader V. Sivadasan and CPI leader Sandosh Kumar P. demanded that the NTA be dissolved.

Protest detention

Delhi police on Tuesday detained over 20 students when they were trying to march towards Parliament in protest against the alleged paper leaks and irregularities in several competitive examinations, including the NEET-UG.

The students belonging to different outfits under the banner “India Against NTA” gathered at Patel Chowk metro station and started marching towards Parliament.

Several students’ unions under the banner India Against NTA have been staging an indefinite sit-in at Jantar Mantar in Delhi against the alleged rigging in NEET-UG, PG and UGC NET conducted by the NTA.