🗞️ Why in News On 9 October 2026, the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, headed by Mukul Wasnik, M.P., Rajya Sabha, presented its 382nd report, “Reforms and Strengthening of the National Testing Agency (NTA)”, to the Chairman, Rajya Sabha. Its headline recommendation: move NEET-UG from pen and paper to computer-based testing (CBT), but only after building government-owned CBT centres. It also asks for a public National Registry of Blacklisted Examination Vendors, a permanent cadre of NTA staff and a “duty of care” towards candidates. These are a committee’s recommendations, not decisions of the Government or the NTA.
The Report at a Glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Report | 382nd report, “Reforms and Strengthening of the National Testing Agency (NTA)” |
| Committee | Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports |
| Chair | Mukul Wasnik, M.P., Rajya Sabha |
| Department examined | Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education |
| Adopted by the Committee | 25 August 2026 |
| Presented | To the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, on 9 October 2026 |
| Witnesses heard | Secretaries of Higher Education and of Health and Family Welfare; the NTA’s Chairperson and Director General; Dr K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of the High-Level Committee of Experts |
| Linked earlier report | The Committee’s 371st report, on the Autonomous Bodies of the Higher Education Department, made the same vendor-registry recommendation |
What the NTA Is
The NTA conducts “all of India’s most significant public examinations such as JEE-Mains, NEET-UG, UGC-NET, and CUET, among others and therefore acts as the gateway for the higher education system.” About 1.2 crore students sit its examinations every year (report, para 10.1).
| Feature | As approved by the Union Cabinet (release of 10 November 2017) |
|---|---|
| Legal form | “a Society registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860” |
| Status | “an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organization” for entrance examinations to higher educational institutions |
| Head | “The CEO will be the Director General to be appointed by the Government.” |
| Money | A one-time grant of Rs 25 crore for the first year; “Thereafter, it will be financially self-sustainable.” |
| Mode planned | Online, “at least twice a year” |
| Expected reach | About 40 lakh students; to relieve CBSE, AICTE and other agencies of entrance examinations |
| Origin | Announced in the Budget speech of 2017-18 |
So the NTA’s creation was approved by the Union Cabinet, as a registered society. The Committee now asks the Department to introduce an “appropriate Parliamentary framework that ensures NTA’s accountability to Parliament” (para 10.1).
Why the Report Matters Now
The trigger. The Committee welcomed the measures the NTA has taken since 2024 (SLCCs, DLCCs, biometric authentication, mobile jammers and AI-based CCTV analysis), but wrote: “the cancellation of NEET (UG) 2026 despite all these measures shows the need for greater procedural and institutional reforms” (para 10.4).
The expert committee before it. In June 2024 the Department of Higher Education constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts (HLCE) chaired by Dr K. Radhakrishnan, “Former Chairman, ISRO and Chairman BoG, IIT Kanpur”. Its three terms of reference:
- Reform in mechanism of examination process
- Improvement in Data Security protocols
- Structure & Functioning of National Testing Agency
The Standing Committee records that implementation of that committee’s 101 recommendations “is ongoing”, and that 60 of them pertained to 2025 and 2026. It wants the pending ones implemented faster (para 10.32).
Background: the law on paper leaks. The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 was enacted on 12 February 2024 and brought into force from 21 June 2024. It applies to examinations conducted by the UPSC, SSC, RRBs, IBPS, the NTA and Central Government ministries and departments, among others, and “All offences under the Act are cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable”. Parliament has since raised the penalties. The 2024 Act was amended in 2026 by the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Act, 2026 (Act No. 10 of 2026), which received the President’s assent on 31 July 2026.
| Penalty | 2024 Act, original provision | After the 2026 Amendment Act |
|---|---|---|
| Persons resorting to unfair means | 3 to 5 years in prison; maximum fine Rs 10 lakh | 5 to 10 years; maximum fine Rs 50 lakh |
| Service providers | Maximum fine Rs 1 crore; debarment for 4 years | Maximum fine Rs 5 crore; debarment for 8 years |
A disputed record. The Department told the Committee that “no paper leak has occurred in an exam conducted by the NTA since its formation in 2017 till 2025”. The Committee noted that “the Ministry’s assertion is at variance with the opinion of some Members of the Committee”, and that there is “presently no official public record of paper leaks”. It asked for a publicly available report on the NTA’s examinations and the investigations into them.
Recommendation 1: NEET-UG to CBT, With Conditions
Why. JEE-Mains, UGC-NET and CUET are already computer-based. In the Committee’s words, “the NEET-UG is an outlier in its reliance on pen-and-paper testing. The Committee therefore recommends that NEET should also be moved to a CBT approach.” In CBT, papers are not printed and transported, so they can be set “very close to the examination”, drawn from a large question bank (para 10.2).
But not overnight. The Committee has “concerns about the accessibility of CBT to students from remote regions and from marginalized backgrounds”. So it tied the shift to these conditions (para 10.7):
| Condition | What the Committee asked for |
|---|---|
| Infrastructure first | “significant investment in government-owned CBT infrastructure”, particularly in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and rural areas |
| 1,000 centres | The HLCE’s recommendation of 1,000 secure government CBT centres, with “a clear and phased timeline” |
| IT labs | The NTA to fund mid-sized IT labs (100-200 nodes) in schools and colleges, which it can use for examinations |
| One per district | “at least 1 test center in each district” |
| Public ownership | “all centers must be owned and operated by the Union and/or State Governments” |
| Practice | CBT mock examinations; the Ministry may consider CBT-based exams at school level |
| Interim step | Where computers or connectivity are lacking, the NTA should consider a hybrid model: encrypted questions delivered to the centre and printed there, until full CBT readiness |
| Normalisation | Multi-session NEET needs a “robust, transparent, and independently audited normalisation methodology”, explained to the public before any transition |
| Consultation | Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, medical education regulators, students and their families |
The longer horizon. Once the NTA’s digital infrastructure has matured, the Committee wants a Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) model, where questions adjust to the candidate. Its reasoning: “There will be no standard question paper that can be leaked.”
The new risk. The NTA told the Committee that a CBT system is vulnerable to hacking, and the Committee was informed that such an attempt during the IIT JEE-Mains Examination of 2021 was investigated by the CBI. The Committee recommended an in-house cybersecurity team and AI-based tools to flag anomalous response patterns. Any printing still needed after the shift should be done “only in NTA-owned and operated printing presses” (para 10.34).
Recommendation 2: Rebuild the Agency
| What the Committee found | What it recommended |
|---|---|
| Of 39 sanctioned positions, only 23 filled, all on deputation: a vacancy of 41% (para 10.5) | Hire the NTA’s own officers on a permanent basis, with specialists in psychometrics, examination security, digital infrastructure, data analytics and examination logistics |
| The Director General’s post was held as an additional charge from 23 June 2024 to 1 April 2026 by officers with other main jobs | It “discourages the practice of appointing officers to key positions in the NTA as an additional charge” |
| Even at full strength, the NTA will rely on private contractors | Grow to run the logistics of all examinations itself |
| No research wing | A research wing of academics; the NTA as a think-tank on examinations |
| States are critical to conducting examinations | “adequate representation from State Governments on its Governing Body” (para 10.17) |
| A revenue surplus of Rs 590 crore (FY 2018-19 to FY 2024-25), kept in fixed deposits | Use it for government CBT centres and mock examinations |
| The NTA still runs recruitment examinations | Refocus on “the conduct of admission tests to higher education institutions alone”, as the Radhakrishnan committee had recommended |
Recommendation 3: Close the Leaks Outside the Exam Hall
- Vendor blacklist. Firms blacklisted by one State or organisation “have continued to secure contracts with other States and organisations”. The Committee wants a National Registry of Blacklisted Examination Vendors, “publicly accessible online”, naming firms, associated individuals, the disqualification and the authority that imposed it. Contracting with a listed entity should be “considered under” the 2024 Act (para 10.12).
- Question banks. “investment in question banks is the most viable defense against paper leaks in the long-run”. Experts are to come from institutions such as IITs, AIIMSs and IIMs, with checks to “rule out any conflict of interest”, such as links to coaching centres (para 10.2).
- Results transparency. The NTA should follow “the practices adopted by the UPSC of transparency in results”, which can help spot anomalous patterns across candidates and centres.
- An outside watchdog. “an independent mechanism for Educational Examinations, functioning independently of the NTA”, able to audit security protocols and investigate grievances, reporting to the Ministry.
- Exam-day disruption. Amend the 2024 Act so that District Administrations withhold permission for rallies and processions on examination days (para 10.9).
Recommendation 4: Fairer to Candidates
| Problem | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Invigilators’ signing and checking during the exam | A separate 15-minute window, before or after the test (para 10.8) |
| Late arrival means a lost year | Entry after signing an undertaking, for the remaining time only, “with no extra time granted under any circumstances” (para 10.8) |
| NEET-UG qualifies far more candidates than there are seats | A data-based, year-wise review of the qualifying percentile and cut-off, with the Health Ministry (para 10.10) |
| One single-stage test for more than 22 lakh students | Examine a two-stage format: a common prelims for all medical streams, then specialised mains (para 10.11) |
| No limit on attempts and “no real upper age limit”; candidates above 70 have sat NEET | Explore reasonable age and attempt limits, with an exception only for UGC-NET (para 10.16) |
| Coaching has become “a parallel curriculum” | Papers that test the official school curriculum; a regulatory framework for coaching on fees, safety and mental health (para 10.13) |
| The NTA has data on registrations by State but none on who succeeded | An annual Equity Audit by State, gender, board type, medium of instruction and social category (para 10.14) |
| Exam stress | Free counselling helplines and stress-management material (para 10.15) |
| Candidates with disabilities | A protocol covering accessible centres, scribes, compensatory time and a grievance mechanism (para 10.33) |
| Cancellations hurt candidates | A “duty of care”, which may include financial compensation for administrative cancellations and timelines for grievance redressal |
Weighing the Package
The case for it. A paper that is never printed cannot leak in transit, and an adaptive test leaves no single paper to leak. Permanent specialists, State representation and a research wing would give the NTA the capacity its workload demands. The vendor registry targets a gap the Committee itself identified: “There is currently no preventive mechanism to counter this malpractice.”
The cautions.
- The digital divide. CBT shifts the risk from leaks to access. The Committee’s own conditions (centres in every district, public ownership, mock tests) show how much must be built first.
- Normalisation. Multi-session tests are fair only if scores across sessions are equated in a way candidates can trust; hence the call for an independently audited method.
- Cyber risk. CBT replaces a printing-press threat with a hacking threat, as the 2021 attempt shows.
- Limits on age and attempts would cut anomalies but also narrow second chances; that trade-off is for the Government to weigh.
- Recommendations are not law. A Standing Committee advises. The Ministry of Education and the NTA decide what is accepted. The Committee says it “resolves to stay apprised of the matter” (para 10.35).
The link to State recruitment. Leaks are not only a problem for central tests. Read today’s ground report from Pune on the MPSC paper-leak protest, and our explainer on the UPSC centenary and Articles 315 to 323.
UPSC Relevance
GS Paper 2: statutory, regulatory and other bodies; parliamentary committees and their role in accountability; issues relating to education and human resources; government policies and their design.
Prelims: the NTA (a registered society, 2017); Department-related Standing Committees; the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024; the Radhakrishnan committee; CBT versus Computer Adaptive Testing.
Mains: examination integrity as a governance problem; technology versus equity; autonomy versus accountability of agencies set up by executive decision; the role of parliamentary committees.
Probable question: “Securing national entrance examinations depends as much on institutions as on technology.” Examine with reference to the proposed shift of NEET-UG to computer-based testing. (250 words)
📌 Facts Corner, Knowledgepedia
Prelims, statement-ready facts:
- 382nd report, “Reforms and Strengthening of the National Testing Agency (NTA)”, presented to the Chairman, Rajya Sabha on 9 October 2026.
- Committee: Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports; chair Mukul Wasnik.
- NTA: a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (Cabinet release, 2017); its CEO is the Director General.
- NTA tests (report): JEE-Mains, NEET-UG, UGC-NET, CUET; about 1.2 crore students a year.
- NTA staffing: 39 sanctioned posts, 23 filled, all on deputation; 41% vacancy.
- HLCE (June 2024) chaired by Dr K. Radhakrishnan; 101 recommendations, implementation ongoing.
- Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024: in force from 21 June 2024.
Prelims, the traps:
- NEET-UG is the pen-and-paper “outlier”; JEE-Mains, UGC-NET and CUET are already computer-based.
- The 1,000 secure government CBT centres figure is the HLCE’s recommendation, which the Standing Committee backs.
- The Committee recommends; the Government and the NTA decide. Nothing in the report is binding by itself.
- The 2026 Amendment Act (assent 31 July 2026) raised the section 10(1) penalty to 5 to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh.
- The 2024 Act’s original section 10(1) penalty was 3 to 5 years and Rs 10 lakh.
- That no paper leak occurred in an NTA exam from 2017 till 2025 is the Department’s claim; some Committee Members dispute it.
Mains, arguments and keywords:
- Examination integrity; question bank; Computer Adaptive Testing; normalisation; digital divide; duty of care; equity audit; vendor blacklist.
- Autonomy with accountability: a “Parliamentary framework” for an agency created as a registered society.
- Capacity before technology: permanent specialists, government-owned centres, a research wing.
Interview, be ready for:
- “Should NEET-UG move to CBT before every district has a government test centre?” Weigh leak-proofing against access, and the Committee’s conditions: centres first, mock tests, hybrid interim.
- “Should there be an age or attempt limit for NEET?” Balance second chances against the anomalies the Committee cites.
Sources: Rajya Sabha Secretariat, press release on the 382nd report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, PIB, 9 October 2026; The Hindu, 10 October 2026, “House panel asks NTA to hold entrance exams in CBT mode” (Maitri Porecha). Background: PIB, HLCE constituted, 22 June 2024; PIB, Amendment Bill introduced, 27 July 2026; PIB, Amendment Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, 30 July 2026; PM India, Cabinet approves creation of National Testing Agency, 10 November 2017.
Source: NTA Reforms: Parliamentary Panel Wants NEET-UG in CBT Mode — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Current Affairs
