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The reports claiming question paper leak in the medical entrance exam NEET-UG are "completely baseless and without any ground", the National Testing Agency clarified on Monday.
Stressing that every question paper has been "accounted for", the NTA said that purported images of the question paper circulating on social media have no relation with the actual paper.
"It has been ascertained from NTA's security protocols and Standard Operating Procedures that the social media posts pointing towards any paper leak are completely baseless and without any ground.
"To put rumours to rest, it is also stated that every single question paper has been accounted for," said Sadhana Parashar, Senior Director, NTA.
Parashar said that no external person or agency can access the centres once the examination starts.
She said that after the gates of the examination centres are closed, no one from outside is permitted access inside the halls, which are under CCTV surveillance.
"All other photographs of question papers circulating in social media have no relation to the actual examination question paper which has been administered," she added.
The entrance exam was conducted on Sunday at 4,750 centres in 571 cities including 14 cities abroad.
While the reports suggesting question paper leak have been doing rounds on social media since Sunday, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has also raised the issue.
"Once again, there are reports of NEET paper leak. The future of 24 lakh youth of the country has been messed up again. This trend that has been going on with crores of promising youth for the last ten years is not stopping.
"Will the prime minister of the country say anything about this? To pacify the youth, a law was passed in the Parliament against paper leak. Where is that law? Why is it not implemented?" she wrote on X.
The NTA had on Sunday claimed that the distribution of wrong question papers at an exam centre in Rajasthan led to some candidates walking out with the papers. The agency had denied any leak of the question paper.
"The integrity of the examination process was not compromised. The exam was later reconducted for the 120 affected candidates at the centre," Parashar had said on Sunday.
The NTA, however, admitted that there have been cases of malpractice and impersonation and strict action has been taken against the involved candidates.
"NTA also conducts post-exam data analysis to detect cases of unfair means, action on which is taken as per rules including cancellation of candidature and debarment from future examinations," the official said.
This year, a record over 24 lakh candidates registered for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test - Undergraduate, of which over 10 lakh were male students, over 13 lakh were girls and 24 students registered under the third gender category.
Region-wise, Uttar Pradesh had registered the highest number of candidates at 3,39,125, followed by Maharashtra at 2,79,904 and Rajasthan at 1,96,139. Tamil Nadu saw 1,55,216 registrations and Karnataka 1,54,210.
In 2023, a total of 20,87,449 candidates had registered for NEET-UG and the exam was held on May 7. The NTA had recorded 97.7 per cent attendance in the exam.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the news of NEET exam paper leak is a "betrayal" of the dreams of more than 23 lakh students and their families.
In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, "Be it the students who dream of getting admission in college after passing 12th or the promising youth who are struggling for government jobs, the Modi government has become a curse for everyone."
"The youth and their family, who have been paying the price of the BJP government's incompetence for the last 10 years with the destruction of their future, have now understood that there is a difference between speaking and running the government," he said.
The Congress has resolved to free the youth from paper leaks by making strict laws, Gandhi said and added that a healthy and transparent environment for students is the party's guarantee.
Congress general secretary, in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh, said news of NEET paper leak has come to light in Bihar.
"Apart from this, there have also been complaints from Rajasthan about wrong sets of question papers of NEET exam being distributed at the examination centres," he said.
"In the last 7 years, more than 70 papers have been leaked. Due to this, the future of more than 2 crore candidates has been ruined. Despite there being laws regarding paper leaks in many states, papers are being leaked," he said.
Citing some examples, Ramesh said 3.75 lakh candidates had participated in the teacher recruitment examination in Bihar on March 15 but within a few days, the exam had to be cancelled due to paper leak.
"60 lakh candidates took part in the UP Police examination on February 17 and 18 February. On February 24, the Yogi government had to cancel the examination due to paper leak," he said.
Ramesh pointed out that one of the five 'Yuva Nyay' guarantees are 'Paper Leak Se Mukti'.
"Merely punishing the culprits involved in the paper leak is not enough. Our aim is to prevent any paper from being leaked," he said.
"Our laws will ensure the highest standards of honesty and fairness at every stage of the examination process -- from paper setting, printing, transportation, administration and inspection -- for paper-based and computer-based examinations," he said.
"For the youth who spend years preparing for these exams, and spend time and money hoping for a better future, it is important to ensure that the papers are not leaked. Freedom from paper leaks is our commitment to every hard working candidate," Ramesh asserted.