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  • Abhijeet Dipke of CJP gave a call for 'jaqil bharo andolan' from Mumbai's Shivaji Park to protest electoral irregularities
  • The BJP government in Bengal is likely to remove the Urban Land Ceiling Act to facilitate development
  • Supreme Court ruled ferrying cattle is not a crime and cannot be equated with slaughter
  • CJP held a well-attended protest rally at Shivaji Park, Mumbai. Celebrities like Shabana Azami and Naseeruddin Shah were also present
  • More than 500 protesters, including former Delhi chief minister Atishi, were detained in Delhi as police moved to prevent a demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission's handling of electoral-roll revision. Police had denied permission for the Jantar Mantar protest and imposed restrictions in central Delhi
  • US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said an India-US trade agreement is not imminent, despite negotiations having entered their final phase, citing a range of unresolved sticking points. His remarks came after talks with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal during the G20 Trade Ministers' meeting in Milwaukee
  • The Education Ministry reviewed preparations for upcoming national examinations with the NTA, focusing on exam security, candidate convenience and computer-based testing infrastructure amid discussions over a possible shift of NEET-UG from pen-and-paper to online examination
  • Delhi Police said it had busted an alleged India-Dubai extortion network linked to the Goldy Brar gang and arrested three operatives, who allegedly demanded ₹1 crore from a Delhi businessman and planned to open fire at his residence. Police said the threats were made through UAE-based communications infrastructure
  • Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing arrested actor Dino Morea in connection with the alleged ₹65.54-crore Mithi River desilting scam after questioning him for several hours at his Bandra residence. The investigation concerns alleged financial irregularities in contracts linked to the river's desilting and rejuvenation
  • Bengaluru police busted an interstate counterfeit-currency network and arrested seven people after recovering 4,337 fake ₹500 notes with a face value of about ₹21.7 lakh, along with printing equipment, computers, phones and other material allegedly used in the operation
  • India produced a record six-gold haul at the Asian Games, winning titles in women's hockey, boxing, wrestling and archery and adding two silver and two bronze medals. The day's results lifted India's overall tally to 76 medals, including 16 golds, putting the country fifth in the standings
  • Lovlina Borgohain won her first Asian Games gold, defeating China's Bao Ziyi by unanimous decision in the women's 75kg boxing final on her 29th birthday. Parveen Hooda and Ankush Panghal also won boxing golds, completing India's first Asian Games boxing gold sweep in 12 years
  • India's women's hockey team defeated China 1-0 in the Asian Games final to win the country's first women's hockey gold at the Games since 1982. Lalremsiami scored the decisive goal and goalkeeper Savita Punia saved a penalty stroke, while the victory also secured India's qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
  • Worldwide praise continued to pour in for Captain Smit Machchhar, the flydubai pilot who fought an assailant in the cockpit and saved the lives of 180 passengers
  • Supreme Court judges decline to meet ONOP parliamentary panel due to reasons of propriety as they said that the matter might later be a subject of court review
Asian Games: October 3 gold medallists: Kumkum Mohod (Archery), Pranavi Urs (Golf), Aman Sehrawat (Wrestling), India men’s cricket team (Cricket), and India men’s hockey team (Hockey) /////// India finishes its campaign in 4th position in the Asian Games medal table: 21 gold, 27 silver, 37 bronze; 85 medals.
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NEET Again: A System That Learns Nothing

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2026-05-13 11:55:31

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

The cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 is a national embarrassment that should have been, and could have been, prevented. The paper leaked. The state failed. And the 22.7 lakh students who sat for the examination on May 3 now have nothing to show for years of preparation except an indefinite wait for a re-exam date.

The facts are not in dispute. A guess paper carrying 150 questions, matching a reported 600 of 720 marks in the actual examination, was circulating on WhatsApp 42 hours before the exam. A PG hostel owner noticed the resemblance, took it to the police, and was turned away. He then went to the NTA. The IB and the SOG were activated. Eventually, 13 suspects were detained across Dehradun, Sikar, and Jhunjhunu, with the SOG finding that close to 120 Biology and Chemistry questions in the actual paper matched those in the circulating document.

The police's initial refusal to act on the whistleblower's complaint is the detail that must not be allowed to pass without consequence. This was not bureaucratic delay. This was a dereliction of duty at a moment when timely action could have saved the examination. Someone, somewhere, made the decision to send that man away. That person must answer for it.

Into this climate of institutional failure stepped Madan Dilawar, Rajasthan's Education Minister, to declare that the cancellation of NEET was not a matter of great concern. One can only wonder which planet's students Mr. Dilawar has in mind, because for the 22.7 lakh young Indians on this one — and for the families who bankrolled years of coaching, sacrificed and scrimp and saved for that one shot at a medical seat — it is the only thing that matters. A minister who oversees education in the state at the very centre of this scandal, and whose police turned away the whistleblower, calling this "not a big deal" is not just tone-deaf. It is a measure of how completely the political class has decoupled itself from the consequences it inflicts on ordinary citizens.

As for the NTA, it received whistleblower information on May 7, four days after the exam, and still took five more days to act. The CBI has now been handed the investigation, which is precisely what was done in 2024 after an identical scandal. The 2024 probe did not prevent 2026. There is no reason to believe the 2026 probe will prevent 2028, unless the government does something it has conspicuously avoided doing: structural reform of how national examinations are designed, secured, and administered.

India cannot build a world-class healthcare system on a broken meritocracy. NEET is the gate. If the gate is for sale, everything behind it is compromised. The government must stop treating each leak as an isolated incident and start treating NTA's systemic vulnerability for what it is, a crisis of institutional integrity. Mr. Dilawar's casual dismissal of that crisis tells us exactly why it keeps recurring.

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