New Delhi, Jun 20 – The Congress criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday following the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam, alleging that his government cannot conduct an examination without “leaks and frauds” despite the annual “grand tamasha” of ‘Pareeksha pe Charcha’.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge questioned the credibility of ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ amid frequent exam paper leaks. He accused the Modi government of failing to manage the country’s education and recruitment systems, citing irregularities in NEET, UGC-NET, and CUET exams. Kharge also criticized the National Recruitment Agency (NRA), calling it defunct.
Kharge noted that in August 2020, Modi announced the NRA with great fanfare, promising it would streamline recruitment exams and boost transparency. However, he pointed out that the NRA has not conducted a single exam in four years, despite receiving Rs 1,517.57 crore for a three-year period, with only Rs 20 crore spent by December 2022.
Kharge further alleged that 30 lakh government jobs remain vacant and accused the Modi government of deliberately undermining reservation rights for SC, ST, OBC, and EWS youth. He also criticized the politicization of NCERT books and the erosion of autonomy in institutions like UGC, CBSE, IIT, and IIM.
He claimed that the expenditure on Modi’s ‘Pariksha pe Charcha’ has increased by 175 percent in six years, branding it as dishonest given the ongoing exam rigging issues. Kharge emphasized the Congress’s commitment to job security, reservation rights, and freedom from paper leaks, vowing to continue their struggle from the streets to Parliament.
Amid controversies over the NEET exam, the Union education ministry on Wednesday canceled the UGC-NET exam due to compromised integrity, referring the matter to the CBI. UGC-NET determines eligibility for junior research fellowships, assistant professorships, and PhD admissions in Indian universities.
The ministry also sought a report from Bihar Police’s Economic Offences Unit on alleged irregularities in the NEET (UG) 2024 exam in Patna. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh highlighted the government’s failure to conduct exams without issues, questioning the integrity of the National Testing Agency (NTA).
Ramesh criticized the impact of CUET on Class XII exams and alleged that the professionalism of NCERT, UGC, and CBSE has been destroyed. He derisively referred to the New Education Policy 2020 as the “Nagpur Education Policy 2020”, questioning if Modi would ever address these issues.
Following the UGC-NET cancellation, the Congress labeled the Modi government as the “paper leak government” and demanded accountability from the education minister. The NEET-UG exam, conducted by the NTA, has also faced scrutiny over paper leaks and discrepancies, affecting 24 lakh candidates who appeared for the exam on May 5.
