NEET-2026 “Paper Loot” is a painful injustice to students: Pundir

Millions of youth are suffering the consequences of centralization of examinations

In a joint statement, the Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti and the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan expressed deep concern over the alleged paper leak and organized corruption in the NEET-UG 2026 exam, calling it a threat to the future of the country’s youth. HGVS State Secretary Satyawan Pundir stated that this was not a simple “paper leak,” but a large-scale “paper loot” involving coaching centers, guess paper rackets, solver gangs, cyber networks, and other organized syndicates. A CBI investigation has revealed a network spanning Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Kashmir. He said that according to reports, question papers were sold for lakhs of rupees, and bookings for “guess papers” were made several months before the exam.
The Gyan Vigyan Samiti said that the rescheduled NEET exam in 2026 after 2024 has been mired in controversy, causing immense mental stress, insecurity, and frustration to approximately 2.3 million students and their families. The committee believes that the National Testing Agency (NTA), which was established in 2017, has consistently failed to maintain the transparency and sanctity of major examinations like NEET, UGC-NET, JEE Mains, CUET.
The committee noted that when NEET was implemented, many states opposed it, and the Supreme Court even repealed it in 2013. However, it was later reinstated. Satyawan Pundir and Sumitra Chandel noted that a similar paper scam occurred in Himachal Pradesh in 2006. However, it was a state-level exam at the time and did not have such widespread impact on other parts of the country. 122 people were implicated in that scam, of whom 96 were convicted.
The committee demanded that NEET and NTA be abolished and the outsourcing of examinations be stopped. Furthermore, the admission process be delegated to the states, giving weightage to state-level exams and school scores. A single examination system based solely on multiple-choice questions be abolished and a multi-tiered selection process be adopted. Private coaching centers should be controlled and necessary restrictions imposed. The Union Education Minister should resign, taking moral responsibility.