Karnataka ministers hit out at Centre for NEET cancellation
Bengaluru (PTI): The ruling Congress in Karnataka on Tuesday lashed out at the Centre for cancelling the NEET examination, saying that such an incident is happening for the second time.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the NEET examination held on May 3 and announced a reexamination following the leakage of question papers.
Addressing reporters, Karnataka School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa said children are suffering because of the mismanagement.
"Because of mismanagement, due to their hollow administration, injustice is being done to children. What else can I say? What more do you talk about people who just beat drums and light lamps without doing anything meaningful?" Bangarappa said.
He said the BJP leaders who often criticise the state government are now defending the Centre.
Slamming the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, the minister said, "Tell Ashoka what has happened for the second time, ask him what has happened to the children who wrote NEET".
State Higher Education Minister M C Sudhakar alleged that these incidents are being repeated.
"The Central Government and the Supreme Court must take note of it. There is opposition to NEET in many states. Because of this widespread opposition, perhaps those states should be allowed to conduct their own examinations," the minister said.
He charged that a lot of confusion has been created among students.
More than 22,79,000 students registered for NEET and 22,05,000 students appeared for it. Playing with the future of such a large number of students is something none of us can accept, Sudhakar said.
"Cancel NEET and conduct exams at the state level, using state PUC or equivalent 12th-grade marks on a 50-50 basis. We in Karnataka conduct CET through the Karnataka Examinations Authority. If such examinations are conducted, the problems faced by a large number of students can be avoided," he stated.
The Minister demanded that the Central Government should seriously consider his request, file an affidavit before the Supreme Court, and if changes are made, it will preserve the dignity of the NEET process and also prevent hardship to students.
Karnataka Minister for Medical Education Sharanaprakash Patil condemned the Central Government's cancellation of the NEET examination, calling it a grave injustice to lakhs of aspiring medical students across the country.
Speaking to reporters here, Patil alleged that the NEET fiasco is the Central Government's biggest scandal.
"For the past four to five years, irregularities and controversies in NEET have been a recurring phenomenon with no end in sight. The BJP government at the Centre is entirely responsible for this mess," he said.
The Minister pointed out that despite repeated representations to the Central Government and the ministry concerned, no corrective action was taken, leading to yet another massive failure.
"The Central Government must take full responsibility. The guilty must be brought to justice. This is a testament to the incompetence of the BJP-led government at the Centre," Patil charged.
BJP MLA and former Minister C N Ashwath Narayan defended the Centre. He said cancelling the examination was a good decision.
"Students are facing inconvenience because they will have to write the exam again, there will be delays, and multiple issues are arising. Still, to protect the integrity of the exam and ensure that meritorious students are not affected, this step is necessary," he noted.
Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy hit out at the state ministers for criticising the Centre.
"How many times have you postponed exams in our own state? During your (Congress) own tenure, how many such incidents have happened? Even today, you are not able to fix a single institution like the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC)," he said.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
