Congress says parliamentary panel report exposes ‘grave incompetence, malpractice’ in NTA, Education Ministry

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday accused the National Testing Agency NTA and the Union Education Ministry of serious failures saying a parliamentary panels report had highlighted what he described as ldquograve incompetence and malpracticerdquo in the examination systemThe 382nd report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education titled Reforms and Strengthening of the National Testing Agency NTA was chaired by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Wasnik and presented on October 9The report comes amid concerns over examination integrity following the cancellation of the NEETUG 2026 examination after alleged question paper leaksPanel recommends changes to entrance examinationsAmong the key recommendations made by the Wasnikled panel are shifting medical entrance examinations entirely to the computerbased test CBT mode introducing limits on the maximum age and number of attempts for NEETUG and using the NTAs financial surplus to establish governmentowned examination centres in every districtThe committee also called for stringent ldquoquarantinerdquo measures for questionsetters to reduce the risk of question paper leaksRamesh questions ministrys claim on paper leaksIn a statement Ramesh alleged that the ministry had made a misleading claim before the parliamentary committee by stating that no examination conducted by the NTA had suffered a paper leak between the agencys formation in 2017 and 2025ldquoThe Ministry of Education made the blatantly false and audacious claim to the Parliamentary Committee lsquothat no paper leak has occurred in an exam conducted by the NTA since its formation in 2017 till 2025rsquo There have been 9 paper leaks and irregularities in NTA conducted exams that we know of What hope is there for a fair investigation or accountability when the Ministry even refuses to acknowledge what went wrong in the first placerdquo he questionedThe Congress leader also questioned the NTAs institutional status noting that it is registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act 1860 rather than being established as a statutory body through an Act of Parliament He argued that this structure limited accountability and parliamentary oversightldquoThe NTA has been designed as a lsquokhokhla bodyrsquo that hands over all key responsibilities to private contractorsrdquo Ramesh allegedCongress flags staff shortage and dependence on contractorsRamesh said the NTAs limited workforce had made it heavily dependent on private contractors for examinationrelated operationsldquoThe NTA only has 39 sanctioned positions which means that it must rely on private contractors to conduct examinationsrdquo he saidHe added that only 23 of the 39 sanctioned positions were occupied leaving a vacancy rate of 41 per cent He also raised concerns that all permanent posts were filled through deputation with officers typically serving two to threeyear tenures limiting the development of institutional expertiseConcerns over transparency and blacklisted firmsRamesh also questioned the absence of a nationwide blacklist of firms that had failed to provide reliable examinationrelated services including questionpaper setting printing logistics and administrationldquoDespite repeated recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education there is no nationwide blacklist of firms who have a track record of failure in providing examinationrelated services such as paper setting logistics printing administration etc Firms that are blacklisted in one state routinely get government contracts in other statesrdquo he saidHe further criticised the NTAs resultpublication system arguing that the absence of publicly accessible NEETUG results and testcentrewise data made it difficult to identify unusual patterns in candidate performanceLeadership and financial surplus questionedRamesh alleged that the government had failed to ensure stable leadership at the NTA during a period marked by repeated examination controversies He claimed that between the 2024 and 2026 NEET paper leaks the agencys Director General position was held as an additional charge rather than by a fulltime incumbentldquoAt a time when the NTA was already tackling multiple paper leaks and was supposed to implement the reforms proposed by the K Radhakrishnan Committee the Modi Government failed to even appoint a fulltime officer to lead the agencyrdquo he saidThe Congress leader also questioned the NTAs use of its reported revenue surplus of Rs 590 crore alleging that the funds had been invested in fixed deposits instead of being used to improve examination infrastructure and support studentsRamesh criticises governments response to earlier recommendationsTaking aim at the government and former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Ramesh recalled the governments response to the committees earlier recommendations on NTA reformsldquoThe former Mantri Pradhan had dismissed this Standing Committees previous recommendations on reforming the NTA because the Committee lsquohad members of the Opposition in itrsquo We can only hope that the Modi Government sheds its arrogance for the limited time it has remaining and takes this report seriouslyrdquo he saidWith inputs from IANS