India to retake the medical entrance exam due to a fraud

Due to concerns over a potential “scam,” the Supreme Court of India ordered the National Testing Agency (NTA) to retake the undergraduate medical entrance exam for up to 1,563 students on Thursday.

On June 23, the reexamination would take place, and a week later, the outcome would be announced.

On May 5, more than 2.3 million students took the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG), also known as the medical entrance examination for undergraduates.

The order was issued in response to a petition that was submitted to the supreme court, claiming that certain students had received “grace marks” in an improper manner.

NEET-UG result was declared on June 4.

A total of 67 students had scored 100 per cent marks, out of whom as many as seven students had attempted the test at the same examination centre in the northern state of Haryana.

Students raised doubts immediately after the result was announced, particularly when it was discovered that some students had scored 719 and 718 marks out of 720.

According to the protesting students, such scores were not practically possible, as four marks are given for every correct answer and one mark is deducted for every wrong answer.

Protests by students were witnessed across the country after the result.

Following the protests, the NTA had stated that “grace marks” were given to some students whose time was wasted because of some technical errors while distributing the question paper.

On the other hand, the main opposition party the Indian National Congress demanded a probe in the matter.

INC President Mallikarjun Kharge posted on X that “Grace-marks was not the only problem in NEET exam. There was rigging, question paper was leaked, corruption took place.”

Alleging a “nexus” between the examination centers and coaching centers, he said, “The Congress party demands a Supreme Court-led independent probe in the NEET scam, and those guilty should be punished.”