Supreme Court examines NTA's response on NEET-UG topper surge
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is currently scrutinizing the significant increase in top scores in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) amidst ongoing allegations of irregularities and a paper leak.
This year, 67 students achieved a perfect score of 720/720 in the NEET-UG, a record that drew suspicion, particularly as six of these students hailed from the same examination center in Jhajjar, Haryana.
However, a subsequent retest on May 23 saw the number of perfect scores drop to 61.
In its affidavit to the Supreme Court, the National Testing Agency (NTA) addressed these concerns. The agency clarified that the six students from the Jhajjar center initially received full marks due to grace marks awarded for lost time during the exam. These students did not achieve perfect scores in the retest.
The NTA further explained that of the 61 students who retained perfect scores, 17 achieved this based on the provisional answer keys, while the remaining 44 scored full marks after a revision in the answer key for a Physics question. This revision was done because of discrepancies between old and new editions of the NCERT textbook, leading experts to accept two correct answers for one question.
The agency said that only 17 students achieved a perfect score without any key revisions, a figure not significantly higher than previous years. These 17 students were spread across 16 centers in 15 cities, and the 61 students were distributed across 58 centers in 41 cities nationwide.
The NTA also countered the petitioner's claim that high scores were concentrated in certain centers, citing an analysis showing the top 100 candidates were spread across 95 centers in 56 cities across 18 states and union territories.
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4 workers die after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad
Dhanbad (Jharkhand) (PTI): At least four workers died after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district on Saturday, a police official said.
The incident took place at Moonidih coal washery in the command area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).
"Bodies of all four workers were dug out of debris during a rescue operation," Putki police station in-charge Waqar Hussain told PTI.
The incident took place when coal slurry was being loaded into trucks by workers, during which a large chunk of slurry fell and trapped several workers underneath, officials said.
The deceased have been identified as Manik Bauri, Dinesh Bauri, Deepak Bauri, and Hemlal Gope.
Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased and local villagers placed the bodies in front of the washery gate and began a protest.
They demanded compensation, jobs for dependents and action against those responsible for the incident.
Police and administration officials are trying to pacify the protesters, an official said.
