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'They made so many toppers in NEET that automatically the paper leak issue got exposed.'
'The first mistake they did was announcing 67 toppers in NEET. No way this figure was possible.'
'The maximum numbers of toppers that you can have are two or three at best every year.'
The controversy over the question paper leak during the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET-UG) refuses to die down.
The matter echoed in Parliament when it convened on Monday, June 24, 2024, with Opposition raising 'NEET' slogans when Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took the oath in the Lok Sabha, even as the Central Bureau of Investigation, entrusted with a probe into the leak, spread its dragnet across states.
Meanwhile, the students are limbo, not sure what the future holds for them, in the light of demands to cancel the exam.
Dr Dhruv Chauhan, health activist and National Council Coordinator of Indian Medical Association: Junior Doctors Network (IMA-JDN), has been vocal about the ills plaguing medical admissions in the country.
In the first part of his interview to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com, Dr Chauhan said, "To become a doctor is becoming toxic in this country."
"NEET is not easy to crack. The second mistake is they gave grace marks due to which they got caught," Dr Chauhan says in the concluding part of the interview.
National Testing Agency director general Subodh Kumar was removed from his post. Was that a correct decision?
They removed him after the entire controversy came out in the open and there was outrage.
This was done only after allegations came out as proof.
The government knew this and they were denying the allegations.
The government did not accept the paper leak because it was an ego issue for them.
What happens to the medical profession?
I personally believe if NEET-UG 2024 is not cancelled and conducted again in a fair manner, the general perception among people will be that these doctors of 2024 are grace mark doctors.
This tag of grace marks doctor they will have to carry all their lives even though they must have worked hard to make it and that too without indulging in any wrongdoing.
Have you come across any NEET aspirants with traumatic experiences?
Yes, one from Dubai. Now this person came from Dubai to India to appear for NEET-PG only to find out the exams were cancelled.
Rs 1 lakh went down the drain for plane tickets and stay in hotel for this NEET-PG aspirant.
Some travelled 500 km from small towns and villages to centres where NEET-PG conducting facilities were good but unfortunately they too could not appear for the exam as it was cancelled.
In some cases, parents too travelled with NEET aspirants to give them hope and they too got stranded due to the cancellation of exams.
States like Tamil Nadu say NEET has to be disbanded and states should conduct exams for aspirant doctors.
No, I don't believe in this.
On the national level the government conducts UPSC exams too but you never hear that there has been a leak in this exam.
So the point is when UPSC exams can be conducted free and fair nationwide, why can't NEET be conducted the same way?
The problem will not get solved by moving the exams to states but the problem will be solved by conducting exams in a disciplined, free and fair means.
There should be no moderator in NEET.
Wherever paper leak incidents have been reported, there have been too many moderators like an engineer by profession or some other professionals (moderating exams).
The question papers must reach directly to centres where exams are being conducted and not via moderators.
In every centre there are government officials and CCTV cameras installed but moderators in between created the problem.
There are moderators for UPSC exams too.
There are but the difference here is that the NEET is conducted by the NTA (the National Testing Agency). They are themselves running schools and agencies which is purely moderation. In UPSC exams we do not depend on schools where exams are conducted or any agency to conduct a fair trial of exams.
NEET is being conducted from 2016 so why has this happened now?
This time they made a mistake. Yeh log hawa mein zyada udney lagey(they lost touch with reality). They made so many toppers in NEET that automatically the paper leak issue got exposed.
The first mistake they did was announcing 67 toppers in NEET. No way this figure was possible. The maximum numbers of toppers that you can have are two or three at best every year.
Imagine getting 720 out of 720; and 67 people getting such marks!
NEET is not easy to crack.
The second mistake is they gave grace marks due to which they got caught.
What do you mean by hawa mein udney lagey?
There is a saying in Hindi, nakal ke liye bhi akal ki zaroorat hoti hai (you need brains even to copy). If they had done their scam with two to three students no way this crime would have got exposed.
They did paper leak on such a massive scale that everything was revealed to the public automatically.
Do you think there was corruption among NTA staff?
Even if I don't say these words every single common man of this country is stating that there was corruption in NEET-UG where question paper got leaked.
The government too knows that there is (a scam) but they cannot admit it because their own image will get damaged.
Should Dharmendra Pradhan resign owning up responsibility as education minister?
Till the investigation is done I cannot comment on resignations.
This resignation business is all about politics and Opposition parties will obviously demand his resignation.
When you meet medical students what are they telling you?
They want clarity on when NEET-PG will be conducted.
They are unable to prepare because they don't know the date of exams.
The government must announce the date soon and if they do not do, there will be suspicion and politics will go on.