On Thursday, June 13 the Central government informed the Supreme Court that the score cards of 1563 candidates who were granted grace marks, due to less time allotted for completion of the paper, in NEET UG 2024 examinations will be terminated. These candidates are permitted to sit for a retest likely scheduled to be held on June 23.
These candidates would now be informed of their actual scores without the compensatory marks and can decide based on this score if they wish to sit for the re-test. If they do not sit for the re-test, their original scores would be retained.
NEET-UG Controversy aka #neetscams
June 4 was a day filled with disappointment among the medical aspirants as NEET results were declared out of the blue. Students were flabbergasted over the sudden inflation in ranks even with such decent scores around 650. With ranks exceeding 50,000 and a small number of seats in government colleges, the dreams of all these aspirants were shattered. These candidates took to social media to raise their voice against the alleged scam of scores by NTA, creating a storm.
The issue became intense when 64 students scored a hundred percent score, 720 out of 720, for the first time in the history of NEET exams. NEET is believed to be one of the toughest exams across the country. Scores such as 718 and 719 created a buzz over social media as these scores are technically not possible; NEET gives +4 for each correct answer and a -1 for each incorrect answer. NTA justified it saying that grace marks were given to those students who were allotted less time to complete the paper, due to delay in their exam centers.
Ultimately, the matter reached the Supreme Court as petitions were filed against NTA for such inflation in ranks and absurd scores.
The anger spread among the students doesn’t seem to be put off either, students express their disheartment over the alleged scam and many accuse NTA of playing with the career of these students. Users are trolling NTA over the burning issue and demand actions against the testing body. A user called the “NEET mess”, grace marks given to students, a “disgrace.”’
NEET mess ‘blamed’ on grace marks! #NeetScams #NTA pic.twitter.com/67qlwKbs2C
— Satish Acharya (@satishacharya) June 14, 2024
Education Minister under fire
Youtuber Dhruv Rathee has launched an attack on the newly appointed Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan over the scandal in NEET scores. He infamously called the Education Minister as PM Modi’s PR Minister, citing Pradhan’s twitter page filled with “Modi” centric tweets and not a single post over the NEET scam. His “chaplusi” has been exposed in a 45 seconds video by Dhruv.
The #shikshamantri is currently trending on X with 28.9K users backlashing the education minister for the lack of taking actions against NTA over the alleged scam.
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Congress demands removal of NTA chief
The scandal triggered soon after the Lok Sabha elections ended, gained a response from the Opposition party as well. Congress President Mallickarjun Kharge accused the Modi government of ruining of future of crores of youth thorugh paper leaks and rigging in the past 10 years. “Grace Marks was not the only problem in NEET exam. There has been rigging, papers have been leaked, corruption has taken place. The future of 24 lakh students appearing in the NEET examination is at stake due to the actions of the Modi Government,” the Congress president said.
A nexus of exam centre and coaching centre has been formed, where the game of “pay money, get paper” is being played, he further alleged the presence of an exam racket.
Congress had demanded the removal of NTA chief heading the investigation since it is skeptical of “just, fair and comprehensive” probe taking place in his presence. It asked the PM to not forget the mental anxiety these students are going through due to such a scandalous exam.
They have warned that the anger in the country over the matter will “reverberate inside Parliament as well.”
