A Parliamentary Standing Committee has called for sweeping reforms to the National Testing Agency (NTA) after what it describes as a loss of public trust following repeated exam controversies, The Indian Express and The Hindu reported on 12 October 2026.
Quick Facts
| Report | 382nd report, “Reforms and Strengthening of the National Testing Agency” |
| Committee head | Mukul Wasnik |
| Submitted to | Rajya Sabha |
| Court cases involving NTA | 474, of which 69 are in the Supreme Court |
| NEET-UG 2024 cases | 356 |
The Background
The report follows the July protest at Jantar Mantar against the alleged NEET-UG paper leak, which led to a CBI probe and the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The committee noted that NEET-UG 2026 was cancelled despite safeguards introduced since 2024, such as biometric authentication, mobile jammers and AI-based CCTV analysis.
Main Recommendations
- **Attempt and age limits:** the Education Ministry should examine reasonable limits for major exams, including NEET-UG, which currently has no attempt limit and no effective upper age limit, with cases of candidates above 70; UGC-NET may be an exception
- **Computer adaptive testing:** once digital infrastructure matures, move to computer-based tests that use AI tools to select questions from a large bank, so there is no single paper to leak and no two candidates at a centre receive identical sets
- **Cybersecurity:** an in-house team, and software that prevents remote access, screen recording and virtual machines
- **Research wing:** staffed by academics, so the NTA can study whether its exams meet their purpose
- **Equity audit:** a yearly analysis of participation and pass rates by state, gender, school board type, language of instruction and social category
- **Compensation:** define a duty of care to candidates, including compensation when exams are cancelled for administrative reasons, and fixed timelines for grievances
- **Coaching:** a regulatory framework for coaching centres covering fees, safety and student mental health
Transparency and Capacity
The panel said the Department of Higher Education’s claim that no paper leak occurred in any NTA exam between 2017 and 2025 was “at variance with the opinion of some Members of the Committee”. It asked for a public report on exams and related investigations.
It also said that even with 39 officers at full strength, the NTA depends on private contractors, and recommended building capacity to run exam logistics itself. State governments should be represented on its Governing Body.
Featured image: Candidates at an entrance examination centre in Howrah, West Bengal, 2011 (file photo). Photo by Biswarup Ganguly, licensed under CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.