Students from various organisation protest over the NEET-UG and UGC-NET examinations issue outside Ministry of Education in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

NEET-PG postponed, CBI to probe NEET-UG allegations, NTA chief removed, as panel set up for agency overhaul

With questions being raised about the “integrity of certain competitive examinations”, the Health Ministry announced the postponement of the NEET-PG entrance examination “as a precautionary measure”, just hours before it was due to be held on June 23 morning. This followed on the heels of decision to remove Subodh Kumar Singh from his position as Director-General of the National Testing Agency, which has come under fire for an alleged paper leak and irregularities in the NEET-UG examination, and other examinations which it conducts.

1,563 candidates to retake NEET-UG on June 23

The retest is being conducted after the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the scorecards of 1,563 students who were granted compensatory marks for loss of time due to a delay in six centres in Meghalaya, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Chandigarh.

Six arrested in Jharkhand in NEET case; Sanjeev Mukhiya kingpin, says Economic Offences Unit

Investigation into the NEET paper leak case led the Bihar Police to neighbouring Jharkhand where police arrested six people from Deoghar on Friday night. A team led by officials of the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) brought the six to Patna for questioning. Deoghar Police said five Nalanda residents Paramjit Singh, Baldev Kumar, Prashant Kumar, Ajit Kumar, Rajiv Kumar, and one Panku Kumar, were arrested from a house near AIIMS-Deoghar.

Erred in not crediting ICMR as co-inventor of Covaxin, says Bharat Biotech

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) and manufacturer of Covaxin, India’s first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine, said it had made an “inadvertent mistake” in not including scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) as ‘co-inventors’ in patent applications filed in India and abroad to protect the intellectual property rights around the vaccine. It would include their names in fresh filings for patent purposes, it said in a statement late on Saturday.

BSF to recalibrate deployment along Pakistan border in Jammu in the wake of terror strikes

The Border Security Force (BSF) is likely to “recalibrate deployment” along the Pakistan border in Jammu, in the wake of at least four terror strikes in the past few weeks .In just four days, between June 9 and June 12, ten people — including a jawan from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) — were killed in militant attacks in the Reasi, Doda, and Kathua districts.

PM Modi likely to skip SCO summit in Kazakhstan in July; Putin, Xi, Sharif may attend

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to skip the Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to be held in Kazakhstan next month, and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is expected to officiate in his place. According to sources aware of the decision, Mr. Modi has decided not to travel to Astana for the summit to be held on July 3-4, although he had earlier confirmed his presence, and an advance security team had conducted its reconnaissance survey there. 

Hinduja family ‘appalled’ by jail term order; files appeal in higher court

Britain’s wealthiest family, the Hindujas, have said they were “appalled” by a Swiss court’s ruling of jail terms for some members and have filed an appeal in a higher court challenging the verdict finding them guilty of exploiting vulnerable domestic workers from India at their villa in Geneva. In a statement issued on behalf of the family on Friday, lawyers from Switzerland stressed their clients – Prakash and Kamal Hinduja, both in their 70s and their son Ajay and his wife Namrata – had been acquitted of all human trafficking charges.

ICC T20 World Cup 2024: Hardik, Kuldeep sparkle as India outclass Bangladesh by 50 runs, move closer to semis

Hardik Pandya produced an all-round show while Kuldeep Yadav foxed Bangladesh batters with his guile as India all but assured themselves of a semifinals berth through a dominant 50-run victory in their second Super 8 game of the T20 World Cup here on Saturday.

Euro 2024: Schick saves Czech Republic in draw against gutsy Georgia

Patrik Schick chested home to earn the Czech Republic a 1-1 draw against debutants Georgia on June 22 in an entertaining match, but it leaves both teams in a tricky spot in Euro 2024 Group F. 

Archery World Cup Stage 3 | Indian women trio claim gold

The Indian trio of V. Jyothi Surekha, Parneet Kaur and Aditi Swami claimed its third consecutive compound women’s team gold medal of the season in the Archery World Cup Stage-3 in Antalya, Turkey, on Saturday.

New Delhi:

A group of NEET aspirants along with their parents on Thursday met senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi amid the ongoing row over alleged irregularities in NEET-UG 2024.

The students met Mr Gandhi at his residence here at 10, Janpath to seek his support in demanding re-examination of the MBBS qualifying paper.

Mr Gandhi met about 15-20 NEET-UG aspirants, minutes after addressing a press conference over the issue.

“We had a satisfying meeting with Rahul ji. He understood the pain of our children,” parent of a student said after the interaction with the Congress MP.

“We are demanding re-examination of the NEET-UG paper. Rahul Sir heard our request and assured that he will make all possible efforts to get the re-examination conducted in our interest,” a student who met Mr Gandhi said.

The aspirants were accompanied by Congress’ student wing National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) president Varun Choudhary who orchestrated the meeting.

The NEET-UG aspirants have been demanding re-examination of the test after reports of irregularities and paper leak cropped up at many test centres in Bihar and Gujarat.

The students have demanded that a fresh examination be conducted by an agency other than the National Testing Agency (NTA), raising questions over its ability to conduct such examinations after another examination UGC-NET was cancelled.

The Ministry of Education on Wednesday cancelled UGC-NET conducted by the NTA following inputs that the integrity of the examination may have been compromised.

Launching a scathing attack on the Centre over the irregularities, Mr Gandhi during the press meet had said that the main reason for paper leaks is that educational institutions have been captured by the BJP and its parent organisation RSS and paper leaks will not stop unless that is reversed.

He also said that the Opposition will raise the exam paper leaks issue in Parliament, asserting it will pressure the government to take action and bring the guilty to book.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education on Thursday said it is awaiting a report of Bihar Police’s Economic Offences Unit on the irregularities in conduct of NEET in Patna and will take further action on basis of that. The ministry also summoned NTA DG Subodh Kumar Singh to discuss the issue further.

Lucknow:

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday said that a NEET aspirant who had alleged in her petition that the National Testing Agency failed to declare her result and that her OMR answersheet was found torn had submitted forged documents and the NTA can take legal action in the matter.

This came after the National Testing Agency, on the direction of the high court’s Lucknow bench, produced before it the original OMR answer sheet of the student which was found to be intact.

The student, Ayushi Patel, in her petition, claimed that NTA sent her a communication saying her result would not be declared as her OMR sheet was found torn. She had also posted a video on social media repeating the allegations that caused a stir amid the ongoing row over claims of irregularities in the conduct of the undergraduate medical entrance exam NEET.

The petitioner had demanded that her OMR sheet be evaluated manually. She had also called for an inquiry against NTA and demanded that the counselling for admission be stopped.

A vacation bench of Justice Rajesh Singh had, on June 12, asked the NTA to produce the original records of the student.

In compliance with the order, NTA’s Deputy Director Sandeep Sharma presented the original documents of the student along with an affidavit.

After seeing the documents, the court found that the student had filed the petition on the basis of forged documents. The court termed it regrettable and said that the NTA is free to take legal action in the matter.

At the same time, the advocate of the petitioner requested permission to withdraw the petition, which the court accepted.

The NTA told the court that the decision to take legal action against the petitioner student had already been taken by it.

The court said that the petitioner has submitted forged documents, and in such a situation it cannot stop NTA from taking legal action against the student.

Reacting to Ms Patel’s video, which was shared by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi among others, the NTA had said on June 12 that her paper is still intact and it is a case of forgery on the part of the candidate, whose actual score is lower than claimed.

“No torn OMR answer sheet was sent from any official NTA email, and the actual OMR is available and not torn. Moreover, all results are available online,” said an official.

The NTA had countered the claims of the incorrect result on social media stating, “Regarding the viral video featuring Ms Ayushi Patel, claiming discrepancies in NEET (UG) 2024 scoring and receiving of torn OMR answer sheet, NTA clarifies that no torn answer sheet was sent via an official NTA ID. OMR answer sheet is intact and scores are accurate as per official records…”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)