NEW DELHI — In a major step toward restoring integrity to national competitive examinations, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports has unanimously adopted its draft report on comprehensive reforms for the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The adoption of the panel's 382nd report came after intense deliberations between members of the ruling NDA coalition and opposition parties, who finally reached a consensus over the specific phrasing regarding the agency’s future governance and proposed statutory status.
According to sources close to the committee, opposition members had pushed for granting full statutory status to the NTA to enforce strict legislative accountability. While opposition members initially met pushback from ruling alliance MPs, a middle ground was achieved after repeated reviews of the re-circulated draft.
Chaired by senior Congress MP Mukul Wasnik, the panel met for its sixth session on Tuesday to finalize the draft report, which had been translated into both Hindi and English and initially distributed on August 19. The legislative review process was initiated under the former head of the committee, MP Digvijaya Singh, who presided over the earlier stages of the inquiry.
The committee’s extensive investigation was prompted by intense public outrage following paper leaks during the NEET-UG examination earlier this year. The leak led to the cancellation of the initial test held on May 12, forcing the NTA to conduct a re-examination on June 21 for affected candidates. The security lapses ignited nationwide student protests, culminating in a massive march toward Parliament on July 20 during the opening of the Monsoon session.
Over the course of its proceedings, the parliamentary panel summoned top officials from the Ministry of Higher Education, the National Medical Commission (NMC), and the NTA itself. Committee members closely evaluated systemic vulnerabilities and reviewed recommendations from a separate high-level government panel formed to prevent exam leaks and strengthen administrative procedures.
The finalized report outlines key measures designed to fortify exam infrastructure, tighten question paper security protocols, and establish clear operational accountability to safeguard the future of millions of entrance exam candidates across India.
