Former president of the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit, K Annamalai, has raised concerns over the tight security measures adopted for the upcoming NEET UG retest. In a post on X, the Tamil leader said such measures would only increase pressure on candidates, rather than reduce it.
“2-tier CRPF CISF escort with IAF airlift. 4-tier CCTV with AI surveillance. Biometric and facial recognition before entry. Multiple layers of screening. Multi-tier censorship with direct monitoring from the Prime Minister’s Office. Yes, you read it right. But these are not arrangements to procure high-level, classified and military programmes. These are the arrangements made by the Ministry of Education for the retake of the NEET examination scheduled on June 21, 2026,” he wrote. On X.
He added that while students would appreciate orders to prevent paper leaks, the added security of the three-hour exam would only add to the “already bloated exam stress.”
“While the government took measures to contain leaks, it forgot the additional burden it imposed on the young student before taking the assessment, an assessment for which they had spent months preparing, defeating the entire purpose of our examination system and the NEP 2020 goal of reducing ‘exam stress,’” the former BJP leader wrote.
The Tamil Nadu leader also pointed out that the measures adopted by the Center may not solve the problem, but create problems.
Annamalai also pointed out the problems faced by candidates while trying to download their NEET UG admit cards for re-test, which is a necessary document to appear in the medical entrance exam.
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Responding to Annamalai, BJP’s Tamil Nadu state minister Vinoj P Selvam responded and said such measures are normal for a large-scale examination.
“More than 13 million students take China’s gaokao system every year under some of the most stringent exam protocols in the world. No one calls it ‘militarization’ they call it meritocracy,” he wrote on X, adding that students deserve to have confidence in the system, and the measures implemented for NEET aim to reflect that.
NEET UG exam will be retaken on June 21
The National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct the re-screening for the National Eligibility for Entrance Test (NEET) on June 21.
This re-exam comes in the wake of the cancellation of the May 3 exam due to a paper leak.
The NEET paper leak, which has created a sensation in the country, is currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Ahead of the re-examination, the Center announced a series of security measures to ensure that leakage does not occur again, including restricting the Indian Air Force from transporting question papers to the examination centers concerned.
