New Delhi : Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women and Youth Affairs, stated on June 1 that all panel members held a unanimous position regarding issues related to the NEET-UG and CBSE exams. He expressed confidence that the re-examination of NEET-UG would be successfully conducted since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “taken charge of the matter.”
Speaking after chairing the committee meeting, Singh asserted that Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan should offer his resignation or be dismissed, attributing the Prime Minister’s direct involvement to Pradhan’s “incompetence.”
“The fact is, on this issue, regardless of which party they belong to, all the members are unanimous in their stance, whether the matter concerns NEET or CBSE. We are not engaging in this discussion along party lines. We are focusing on how we can bring about improvements to this entire system,” Singh told ANI. He added, “Due to Dharmendra Pradhan’s incompetence, the Prime Minister himself has been compelled to take matters into his own hands. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan should either tender his resignation or he should be dismissed…We are confident that since the Prime Minister himself has taken charge of this matter, it will be brought to a successful conclusion in every respect.”
The committee meeting examined the ‘use of pen-and-paper testing versus computer-based testing’ and related issues concerning NEET and the National Testing Agency (NTA). Officials present included Abhishek Singh, Director General of the NTA, and Vineet Joshi, Secretary of the Department of Higher Education. The Secretary of Health and Family Welfare was also in attendance. Although representatives of the United Doctors Front were invited, they did not provide input at the meeting; Digvijaya Singh met them beforehand.
Following media reports about the panel meeting, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh clarified that the Standing Committee on Education had “given no clean chit to the Prime Minister” or his “system” and that Singh did not express confidence in them. On X, Ramesh wrote, “Mr. Digvijaya Singh noted that we have been informed by the Solicitor General that the Prime Minister is monitoring the NEET re-exam personally. For the sake of our students, we must believe that the exam will be held successfully.”
He added, “It is impossible for any reasonable mind to have any faith in the Pradhan Mantri and his ‘system.’ This ‘system’ botched up the investigation in the 2024 NEET-UG paper leak. This ‘system’ continues to deny that the NEET-UG 2026 paper was leaked, when the truth is evident to all. This ‘system’ has not only wrecked administration of exams in higher education, but has done so in CBSE as well.”
The Parliamentary Panel on Education has a scheduled meeting on Tuesday to discuss the use of On-Screen Marking (OSM) in Grade 12 CBSE exams and related student issues, as well as the application of the three-language formula in Classes 9 and 10.
On June 27, members of the parliamentary panel stressed the importance of maintaining the integrity of the NEET-UG exam conducted by the National Testing Agency, following updates on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) probe into the paper leak case. The 2026 NEET-UG exam, which was cancelled earlier, has been rescheduled for June 21. The CBI has made multiple arrests related to the leak. Both CBI Director Praveen Sood and NTA Director General Abhishek Singh attended the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Government Assurances meeting on June 27 to update members on the investigation.
Meanwhile, amidst controversy surrounding the CBSE’s On-Screen Marking evaluation process, the board has stated that it has closely monitored vulnerabilities identified in the OnMark portal of its service provider and has engaged cybersecurity experts to enhance the system’s security.
