NEET row: “This is a crime committed against students,” says Farooq Abdullah

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], June 24 (ANI): National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah termed the alleged irregularities in the NEET examination 2024 a crime committed against students and said that those who qualified for the exams by studying and not buying papers have been subjugated to trouble.

“This is a crime committed against students…Many qualified for the exams by studying, not buying papers. Now they are put through trouble again,” said Farooq Abdullah.

He said that wherever they feel something wrong has happened, they can conduct the retest, Adding to that, he said, “Conducting an exam all over India is not an easy job, and repeating it is an unfortunate thing.”

The National Conference President congratulated all the members of Parliament for becoming a part of the 18th Lok Sabha. “I hope that this parliament works to make the country stronger, keeping the democracy and constitution alive. I hope that this parliament will create love among different sections and communities of society by curbing the hatred that was created during the general elections in the country.”

Notably, the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducted the NEET-UG exams, is facing criticism over alleged irregularities in the exams. This resulted in several protests across the country, with protestors and political parties demanding to disband the NTA.

An unprecedented 67 candidates achieved a perfect score of 720 out of 720, which added to the concerns.

The Ministry of Education said it has constituted a high-level committee of experts to make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvements in data security protocols, and the functioning of the NTA.

The 7-member committee, led by ISRO former chairman Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, will submit its report to the ministry in the next two months.

“In order to ensure transparent, smooth, and fair conduct of examinations through the National Testing Agency (NTA), the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts to make recommendations on reform in the mechanism of examination process improvement in data security protocols and the structure and functioning of the National Testing Agency,” the ministry said.