This paper delves into the controversy surrounding the NEET 2024 exam which was held on 5 May, 2024, discussing the major issues like stakeholders’ concerns, and potential implications for students and the education system in India. This year about 24 lakh students appeared for this exam, but when the results came on June 4, it shook everyone. This paper gives an overview of the specific issues that have sparked controversy, such as alleged question paper leaks, unexpected number of full scores and very high cutoffs, concentration of perfect scores in one center, the mathematical anomalies in score, awarding grace marks to the students who have lost their time in the exam centers, center hijacking, exam irregularities, inconsistencies between OMR sheets and final results, or change in the exam pattern and syllabus. I have covered the protests, petitions, and statements from education authorities and the actions taken by the government, judiciary, and educational bodies to address the controversy and ensure fairness and transparency in the examination process. How the controversy is affecting students’ preparation, mental health, and future academics plan. This paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the NEET 2024 exam controversy, effects, and possible resolutions.
Keywords:
National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2024, National Testing Agency (NTA), High Cutoffs, Question Paper leaks, Center Hijacking, Grace Marks
Every year different types of exams are conducted in our country, out of which one of the very important and crucial exam is medical exam which is NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test). The National Testing Agency has been conducting the NEET (UG) since 2019 with the approval of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Education, in pursuance of the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. As per Section 14 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, the NEET (UG) has to be conducted as a common and uniform National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to undergraduate medical education in all medical institutions. Similarly, as per Section 14 of the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act, 2020, there shall be a uniform NEET (UG) for admission to undergraduate courses in each of the disciplines i.e. BAMS, BUMS, and BSMS courses of the Indian System of Medicine in all Medical Institutions governed under this Act. NEET (UG) shall also be applicable to admission to the BHMS course under the National Commission for Homeopathy.[1] Before this, there was the AIPMT (All India Pre-Medical Test) used to take place. But in the AIPMT era, there were many other pre medical exams conducted by various medical colleges and states. To replace all those exams with one exam NEET was introduced in 2013. In the beginning, many states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat strongly protested against this.[2] In 2016, the first NEET exam was conducted. The NEET exams during the first three years were overseen by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). But after 2019, the responsibility of conducting these exams was given to NTA.
The National Testing Agency conducted the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (UG) for more than 24 lakh candidates at 4750 different Centers located in 571 Cities throughout the country including 14 Cities outside India on 05 May 2024 (Sunday) from 02:00 P.M. to 05:20 P.M. (IST).
The Examination was conducted in 13 languages.
Students give NEET (UG) examination so that they can take admissions in or secure seats in medical colleges at lower fees which starts from around 6,000 rupees for government medical colleges and goes up to crores in private colleges for the complete course .Number of Registrations for the exam are increasing every year but the seats for the medical courses are not. Last year the total number of registrations were 20, 87,462 and this year 24, 06,079 registrations took place, NEET UG 2024 registrations saw an increase of 16.85 percent this year.[3] Whereas there are currently 695 medical colleges in India, offering a total of 1,06,333 seats for medical courses. Out of these, Approx. 55,648 MBBS seats are in government medical colleges, and 50,685 seats are in private MBBS Colleges. In 2024, the government increased this number by adding 5150 more seats for MBBS courses.[4] From this we can understand how difficult it is to score a good rank in such a competitive exam.
Controversies regarding NEET 2024 Exam
1. Application form for NEET was released online on February 9, 2024 with March 9, 2024 as the deadline for registrations but NTA extended the last day of NEET UG 2024 application to March 16 which normally happens every year. On April 9, NTA reopened the NEET 2024 registration application window for two days by giving reason that the window was reopened on the request of stakeholders, which was unusual because it has never happened that the registration application window reopened after a gap of 24 days, hence this thing seems a bit strange and controversial to the students and teachers.
2. Paper Leak Incident – A month before the exam, a video goes viral on the social media platforms in which a man, while blowing the whistle, claims that the papers will be leaked a day before the exam. This is none other than the infamous “Vishal Chaurasia”, who is already in jail for leaking papers of many government examinations. The NEET UG paper leak controversy has escalated, reaching the Patna High Court. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed by lawyer Vishal Saurav on behalf of advocate Sujit Kumar Sinha, demanding the cancellation of the examination and a thorough investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The plea emphasizes that the integrity of the exam and the future of millions of students are at stake due to the alleged leak. Shortly after the exam, reports of a paper leak surfaced, leading to the arrest of 13 individuals by the Patna police. An FIR was registered at the Shastrinagar police station, confirming the leak, and police recovered a scanned copy of the leaked paper sent to a young man in Danapur. Further arrests included four fake candidates in Purnia and one in Hajipur, attempting to sit the exam on behalf of others.[5]
The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police revealed that brokers charged aspirants between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for the leaked papers. The brokers allegedly provided the question papers to around 35 candidates the day before the exam. In response, an eight-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by EOU SP Madan Kumar Anand has been formed to investigate the scandal. The investigation has uncovered the involvement of organized gangs with a history of such activities, operating from various locations, including Learn Boys Hostel and Learn Play School in Khemnichak, Patna. Despite the NTA’s assurances that the exam, conducted across 4,750 centers in 571 cities, proceeded smoothly apart from isolated incidents, the allegations of widespread malpractice have cast a shadow over the examination’s fairness.[6]
3. Center Hijacking – 16 students who belonged to far off states like Odisha, Jharkhand and Karnataka are suspected of having agreed to pay Rs 10 lakh each to clear NEET and chose the Jai Jalaram School in Parvadi village of Panchmahal’s Godhra taluka as their centre, despite hailing from outside Gujarat, the prosecution informed a Godhra court on Saturday while seeking a 14-day remand of the accused Parshuram Roy. The court remanded Roy, one of the three arrested in the case, to police remand until May 20 after considering the 22-point remand application filed by the Godhra taluka police station. Roy, the owner of Vadodara-based immigration agency Roy Overseas, also “expressed willingness to become a witness” to help. The names of the 26 students had been found in two lists recovered from prime accused Tushar Bhatt- a geography teacher at the school and a superintendent of the NEET center during the raid by the district education department at the centre on May 5. “Some of these 16 students travelled over 1,000 km from Odisha and Jharkhand to appear for the exam at this centre and their name features on a list of suspected malpractice”, Panchmahal District Government Pleader Rakesh Thakur said.[7]
4. Unexpected number of full scores and very high cut – off: 67 students scored a perfect 720 out of 720, which is highly questionable and raising doubts. Eight of these toppers are from same center in Haryana. Since 2019, there haven’t been more than three toppers in any year of NEET UG. For the general category, the cutoff is 720-164, for SC/ST/OBC it is 163-129, for general – PH it is 163-146, and for ST-PH, it is 145-129.
5. Students scored 718,719 marks which is not possible according to the NEET marking scheme. There are total 180 questions in NEET exam which a student has to attempt. As per the marking scheme, a candidate gets 4 mark for each correct answer and losses one mark for a wrong answer. However, two NEET students scored 719 and 718 marks with AIR 68 and 69 respectively.
6. Awarding Grace Marks – To counter this mega blunder, NTA gave the reason that due to the center’s mistake, the paper was distributed late and students suffered loss of time, that’s why grace marks were given to compensate the students. Grace marks were awarded to over 1,500 students.
7. Score Discrepancies – Many students received different marks on their scorecards compared to their OMR sheets.18 year old Arshita Dev’s OMR sheet reflected that she received a score of 384, while her final results reflected that she has received 308, a difference of 80 marks.
“21 year old Sheikh Mohammad Shoaib said that there is a ten mark discrepancy between his score reflecting in the OMR sheet, which is 615 but he received 605 as a final score in the result.[8]
NTA has denied the allegation made by a NEET 2024 candidate, Ayusi Patel from Lucknow, in a viral video posted on social media platform. NTA stated that no torn OMR answer sheet was sent via an official NTA ID.OMR answer sheet is intact and scores are accurate as per official records.
8. The results of the exam were scheduled to be released on June 14, but were instead released on 10 days earlier on June 4, same day when Lok Sabha poll results were announced.
NTA’s response to these controversies are:
NTA released FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) on its website related to controversies of the NEET(UG) – 2024 result.[9]
1. Regarding Grace marks – The students who loss time at the centers were compensated with marks based on their answering efficiency and time lost, as per the mechanism/ formula established by the Hon’ble Apex Court, vide its judgment dated 13.06.2018 in W.P. 551 of 2018. 1563 candidates were compensated for the loss of time and the revised marks of such candidates vary from -20 to 720 marks.
2. Due to the compensatory marks, two candidates happened to secure 718 and 719.
3.Out of the 67 candidates who got 720/720 marks,44 are on account of the revision in one Answer Key
of Physics and 06 are on account of compensatory marks for loss of time.
4. The date of the result was pre-poned so that the students could get the benefit of prompt counseling and admissions. This had no significance with the general elections result.
5. NTA mentioned in its FAQs that none of the reports are backed with evidence that may indicate a paper leak. These cases seem to be related to cheating/impersonation and not to paper leaks.
6. To prevent cheating and other malpractices , CCTV cameras were installed in all examination halls. Biometric verification was done for the candidates. Conducted thorough frisking at entry points. Used the latest jammers to block electronic communication devices.
Petitioners asked:
Three petitions were filed seeking the cancellation of the NEET UG 2024 test and the conduct of a re-test due to alleged anomalies in the grant of grace marks. A bench of Judges Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta heard the petitions.
- Alakh Pandey, CEO of Physics Wallah, one of the petitioners argued that the NTA’s decision to award grace marks was “arbitrary.” He is reported to have collected feedback from approximately 20,000 students, indicating that around 70-80 marks were arbitrarily awarded as grace marks to at least 1,500 students.
- The second petition was filed by Students Islamic Organization (SIO) members Abdullah Mohammed Faiz and Dr. Shaik Roshan Mohiddin, requesting the re- examination of NEET. They, too, alleged that the grant of grace marks was arbitrary, noting that marks as high as 718 and 719 out of 720 (achieved by several students) were “statistically impossible”
- The third petition was filed by NEET candidate Jaripiti Kartheek, challenging the award of grace marks as compensation for alleged lost time during the exam. He argued that the “normalization formula” to award grace marks was at best unfair.[10]
Research Methodology:
This research paper employs a multifaceted methodology matter. The methodology encompasses both qualitative and quantitative approaches, leveraging various research tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret relevant data information. Both Primary and Secondary Data collection methods were used in forming this research, like interviews, government website reports, newspapers, internet and social media platforms. This research gives an overview of the specific issues that have sparked controversy, such as alleged question paper leaks, exam irregularities, or change in the exam pattern and syllabus.
- Literature Review:
A thorough review of existing literature, including academic articles, blogs, legal journals, and government publications, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the historical development practical implications of medical examination.
– The literature review serves as the foundation for identifying key concepts, theoretical frameworks, and research gaps that inform the subsequent stages of the research process.
- Legal and Policy Analysis:
A detailed examination of applicable statutes, regulations, case law, and administrative rulings is conducted to elucidate the legal framework governing the medical examination in India.
Actions taken by the government, judiciary, and educational bodies to address the controversy and ensure fairness and transparency in the examination.
- Case Studies:
Many such cases have happened before in India. This case is currently going on in the Supreme Court. The next hearing is on 8th July,2024. Supreme Court says the “sanctity of exam affected, need answers”.
- Stakeholder Interviews and Reactions:
Interviews with key stakeholders, including legal practitioners, government officials, and academic experts, are conducted to gather insights, perspectives, and firsthand experiences related to the subject matter.
Reaction of students, parents, educators, and policymakers are taken from the secondary data.
I have covered the protests, petitions, and statements from educational authorities.
Thematic analysis is used to identify recurring themes, patterns, and divergent viewpoints emerging from stakeholder interviews.
- Expert Opinions:
-Insights from educational experts on the potential long term effects of the controversy on the NEET exam and medical admissions in India.
- Ethical Considerations:
Ethical considerations, including confidentiality, informed consent, and the protection of human subjects, are rigorously adhered to throughout the research process, particularly in the conduct of stakeholder interviews and case studies.
– Transparent and ethical research practices are upheld to ensure the integrity, reliability, and validity of research findings and to uphold professional standards of scholarly inquiry.
7. Quantitative Method:
– Quantitative research is applied in this research for marks and ranks which NTA has released on its website .
– Through quantitative research we can understand how 718,719 marks which were given to some students are not mathematical possible according to the marking scheme of NEET examination.
By employing a multidimensional research methodology encompassing literature review, legal analysis, case studies, stakeholder interviews, and quantitative analysis where applicable, this research paper endeavors to provide a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the NEET 2024 exam controversies, offering insights into its causes, effects, and possible resolutions.
The objective of this research is to spread awareness about this obscured but very concerning issue in the hope of attaining justice. NEET is one of the most prestigious exam in India and creates future doctors, but the system examining the true potential of the students is totally rigged.
This matter has now come under the supervision of Supreme Court. The Supreme Court on Friday (June 14) issued notice on a transfer petition filed by the National Testing Agency seeking to transfer to the Top Court a petition filed before the Delhi High Court alleging paper leak and irregularities in the conduct of NEET-UG exam on May 5, 2024.
The vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta tagged the NTA’s transfer petition along with other petitions regarding paper leak in NEET-UG 2024, which are posted on July 8.The Supreme Court has issued notice on certain petitions seeking cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 exam over allegations of paper leak and listed them for hearing on July 8. The National Testing Agency has told Supreme Court that it will conduct retest for 1,563 students, who were given grace marks in the NEET-UG 2024. The re-exam is to be held on June 23. The Supreme Court has decided not to stop the admissions counselling process. If any of the 1,563 candidates opt out of the retest, their previous marks without the grace marks will be used for the results. The results of the re-test will be announced on June 30, and the Centre announced that counselling for admission to MBBS, BDS, and other courses will commence on July 6.
I feel that NEET examination should be conducted again because how do we know how many students have been given grace marks? Do we know whether the number given to us by the NTA is correct or not? There should be an investigation into all these things under Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). After having so many things in past few days can the students trust National Testing Agency.
At last but not the least, number of medical seats in India should be increased. As every year around 20 lakh to 24 lakh student appears for this NEET (UG) examination and the number of medical seats are very less in comparison to the registrations.
Jasleen Kaur
College – Asian Law College
[1] NATIONAL ELIGIBILITY CUM ENTRANCE TEST- NTA EXAM, https://exams.nta.ac.in/NEET/ (last visited June 19, 2024) .
[2] National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), WIKIPEDIA (Jun.19, 2024, 13:18 PM), https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Eligibility_cum_Entrance_Test_(Undergraduate).
[3] Sonia Vats, How many students registered for NEET 2024?-Over 24 Lakh Registrations, CAREERS360 (Jun. 19, 2024, 13:46 PM), https://medicine.careers360.com/articles/how-many-students-registered-for-neet-ug-2024.
[4] Total MBBS Seats in India 2024, VEDANTU (Jun.19, 2024, 14:32 PM), https://www.vedantu.com/neet/mbbs-seats-in-india .
[5] NEET UG Exam Paper Leak Case Reaches Patna High Court, Calls for Cancellation and CBI Investigation, LAW TREND ( Jun. 19, 2024, 20:32 PM), https://lawtrend.in/neet-ug-exam-paper-leak-case-reaches-patna-high-court-calls-for-cancellation-and-cbi-investigation/#:~:text=The%20PIL%2C%20filed%20by%20lawyer,leak%20of%20the%20examination%20paper .
[6] Abhay Anand , NEET UG Paper Leak Reaches Patna High Court: Calls for Exam Cancellation and CBI Investigation, SHIKSHA (Jun. 19, 2024, 20:45 PM), https://www.shiksha.com/news/medicine-health-sciences-neet-ug-paper-leak-reaches-patna-high-court-calls-for-exam-cancellation-and-cbi-investigation-blogId-165631 .
[7] Aditi Raja, NEET fraud: 16 students from Odisha, Jharkhand, Karnataka, MP chose Godhra exam centre, court told, THE INDIAN EXPRESS (Jun. 19, 2024, 21:08 PM), https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/neet-fraud-16-students-travelled-more-than-1000-km-to-godhra-exam-centre-court-told-9322905/ .
[8] Maitri Porecha, Aspirants seek NEET re- examination citing flaws in the process, THE HINDU (Jun. 19, 2024, 21:47 PM), https://www.thehindu.com/education/neet-exam-results-67-students-share-top-rank-demand-re-exam/article68259144.ece .
[9] NATIONAL ELIGIBILITY CUM ENTRANCE TEST- NTA EXAM, https://exams.nta.ac.in/NEET/ (last visited June 19, 2024).
[10] Explained: What is NEET UG result 2024 controversy? Why are students protesting?, HINDUSTAN TIMES ( Jun. 19, 2024, 22:16 PM), https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/explained-what-is-neet-ug-result-2024-controversy-why-are-students-protesting-101718259700450-amp.html .