NEET 2024 – The entire sequence explained in 18 points –
1. Online registrations for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2024 started on 9th Feb 2024 and were extended till 16th March.
2. All of a sudden, on April 9, NTA decided to re-open the online registrations for 2 days from April 9 to 10 due to ‘Stake Holder’s Requests’. Students now ask – Why were the registration open a whole month later?
3. Finally, the NEET-UG exam was held on 5 May 2024. Over 24 lakh aspirants dreaming to become doctors appeared for NEET exam at 4,750 centres across 571 cities, including 14 international locations.
4. The same day (May 5) there were allegations about the question paper being leaked. As per media reports, in a centre in Rajasthan, students reported that the centre gave them the question paper with pre-marked answers then took it back. Hindi medium students received English paper.
5. The result was declared on June 4. Soon after, it caused a hue and cry with students raising multiple questions. The main issue was the award of grace marks to over 1,500 students. Grace marks led to an unusually high number of students achieving perfect scores. Students also alleged leak of question paper.
6. The NEET 2024 results showed that 67 students achieved a total score of 720, which is a higher percentage compared to the previous years’ results. In 2023, only two students scored full marks. Previously, in 2022 three students got perfect score; two students in 2021, and one in 2020. This year in 2024, it is alleged that six of the toppers had appeared for the exam at the same centre in Haryana.
7. This year, sixty seven students got the top rank with 100 per cent marks. This is more than the number of seats in AIIMS, New Delhi. Additionally, about 22,000 candidates got above 90 per cent and 80,000 students above 83 per cent: This is equal to the seats in government medical colleges in India.
8. Students highlighted the unusual fact that 67 students in a row on the list secured a perfect 720 score, but after that, two candidates scored 719 and 718 marks with AIR 68 and 69 respectively, which is not mathematically possible according to the marking scheme of the medical exam.
9. According to the marking scheme, a candidate gets 4 marks for a correct answer and loses one mark for a wrong one. If a question is not attempted by the candidate, then no mark is rewarded for it.
The scam got exposed and how parents paid Rs 66 lakhs and more
10. The Haryana confusion –
Eight students from the same examination centre in Haryana who secured AIR 62 to 69, had largely similar roll numbers.
On 5 May 2024 at two NEET centers in Haryana, students received wrong question-paper set, which was taken back after 25 minutes. The correct question paper was given, so the students had to start over. Some students from this center got grace marks due to time lapse. But others didn’t get grace marks, which led to the loss of extra credits for many students.
Reports from various media sources state that the NTA stored the primary question paper set with SBI and a backup set with Canara Bank. Both sets were issued at two Haryana centers, causing confusion. After 25 minutes, the SBI set was withdrawn, leaving a harder Canara Bank set for students.
11. The Gujrat scam
At Jay Jalaram School, an exam centre at Parvadi village in Godhra, Gujrat, as per the police complaint lodged in Godhra, around a dozen students, their parents and a Vadodara-based coaching centre run by a group of teachers are involved in the alleged scam.
The police have said that four students had allegedly paid ₹66 lakh each while three others gave blank cheques to the coaching centre, Roy Overseas, which was operated by Mr. Roy. He is in judicial custody now. Panchmahal district police is investigating the case of alleged irregularity in NEET exam held on May 5, 2024.
The investigation at Godhra has revealed that parents had paid Mr. Roy and others including Mr. Bhatt and one Godhra-based Arif Vora, who all together made ₹2.82 crore from students/parents.
Gujarat Police have arrested five persons, including the head of a coaching centre, in connection with alleged cheating in the medical examination in a centre in Godhra.
12. The Rajasthan story
The NTA says that there was one incident at a centre in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur where some students forcibly took away the question papers before the exams ended, and a picture of this paper is being linked to the alleged incident of paper leak. The body termed it “mischievous and preposterous”.
Students’ demand at Supreme Court
13. As reported by PTI, a petition has been submitted to Supreme Court by 20 students, requesting the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam. The petition calls for an investigation, supervised by the highest court, to be conducted by the CBI or another independent agency. The students who filed the petition had appeared for the medical entrance exam on May 5. They are also seeking for a direction to the NTA and others to conduct the test afresh.
A bench of Judges Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta heard the petitions.
14. Three petitions filed –
Three petitions were filed seeking the cancellation of the NEET UG 2024 test and the conduct of a retest. A bench of Judges Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta heard the petitions.
Petition 1
Alakh Pandey, CEO of Physics Wallah, one of the petitioners argued that the NTA’s decision to award grace marks was “arbitrary.” He is reported to have collected feedback from approximately 20,000 students, indicating that around 70-80 marks were arbitrarily awarded as grace marks to at least 1,500 students.
Petition 2
The second petition was filed by Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) members Abdullah Mohammed Faiz and Dr. Shaik Roshan Mohiddin, requesting the re-examination of NEET. They, too, alleged that the grant of grace marks was arbitrary, noting that marks as high as 718 and 719 out of 720 (achieved by several students) were “statistically impossible”
Petition 3
The third petition was filed by NEET candidate Jaripiti Kartheek, challenging the award of grace marks as compensation for alleged lost time during the exam. He argued that the “normalisation formula” to award grace marks was at best unfair.
What the government says –
15. The government has informed the Supreme Court about its decision to cancel the scorecards of 1563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates who received grace marks. The government has further disclosed that these 1563 students will have the opportunity to take a re-test.
The affected students will soon be notified of their revised scores, which will exclude any grace marks awarded previously. They will then have the choice to opt for a re-examination. For those students who opt not to take the re-test, their results will be based on the original exam conducted on May 5.
16. The National Testing Agency (NTA) has indicated that the re-test will occur on June 23, with the results expected to be released before June 30. Furthermore, counselling sessions are to commence on July 6 following the outcome of the re-test.
Latest updates on NEET Scam-
Only 52% of a total of 1563 candidates gave retest on 23 June
17. Re-test was conducted for 1563 candidates who were awarded grace marks. As per NTA, out of the total number of 1563 students, only 813 appeared for retest held on Sunday, 23 June. A total of 63 candidates were debarred from sitting for the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET- UG 2024) re-test all over the country over malpractices. The retest was conducted at seven centers following an order from the Supreme Court.
18. A high-level 7-member committee, led by ISRO former chairman Dr K. Radhakrishnan has been constituted to make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvements in data security protocols and the functioning of the NTA. The committee will submit its report to the Ministry of Education in the next two months.
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