 "Integrity? Paper leak? It's 'unavoidable': NTA postpones CSIR-UGC-NET exam now")
In the latest case of an exam being tainted with irregularities, the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday postponed the CSIR-UGC-NET exam.
The exam was scheduled to be held on June 25-27. The NTA said the new date for the exam will be announced in due course of time.
In a press release, the NTA said that the CSIR-UGC-NET exam was being postponed because of “unavoidable circumstances as well as logistic issues”. It did not elaborate. There were no separate statements from the Ministry of Education (MoE) or Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
NTA postponed the Joint CSIR-UGC-NET Examination June 2024 which was scheduled to be held between June 25 to 27. It is being postponed due to unavoidable circumstances as well as logistic issues. The revised schedule for the conduct of this examination will be announced later… pic.twitter.com/cJknD7OHBb
— ANI (@ANI) June 21, 2024
The CSIR-UGC-NET is the latest exam to be impacted after allegations of paper leaks and other irregularities affected NEET and UGC-NET exams.
In a swipe at the government, the Congress party dubbed the NTA as “Narendra’s Trauma Agency”.
Yet another NTA exam postponed. This time it is the CSIR-UGC-NET. Clearly, NTA has become Narendra's Trauma Agency for youth
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 21, 2024
Impact Shorts
More ShortsPreviously, the MoE on Wednesday cancelled the UGC-NET exam on the basis of inputs from Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) that indicated that the “integrity of the examination may have been compromised”. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the MoE said the matter had been referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a probe.
In a press conference on Thursday, Pradhan said the Narendra Modi government will appoint a high-level committee to look into the functioning of the NTA for lapses in holding the examinations under the scanner.
As for the UGC-NET exam, Pradhan said it was not a knee-jerk reaction and that there were inputs that the paper had been leaked on the darknet.
“The cancellation of UGC-NET was not a knee-jerk reaction. We got proofs that the paper had leaked on darknet and was circulating on (messaging app) Telegram and decided to cancel the exam,” said Pradhan, as per PTI.
Live: Press briefing https://t.co/OkuPyC9MVC
— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) June 20, 2024
Pradhan, however, did not comment on the demand to cancel the medical entrance exam NEET that’s under the scanner for a host of irregularities, including allegations of paper-leak.
“It is unfair to hold hostage the career of those candidates who have rightfully cleared the exam because of some isolated incidents of malpractice. We are in constant touch with the Bihar Police. We have sought a report from them. Once we have it, we will decide the future course of action. I take full responsibility and anomalies in the system will be rectified,” said Pradhan.
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