NEW DELHI: Four weeks after the NEET-UG paper leak forced its cancellation, the government on Friday signalled it was leaving nothing to chance, with the Cabinet Secretary chairing yet another review and the NTA quietly rolling out a series of candidate-friendly changes for the June 21 re-examination.
Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan, who has now held three rounds of preparatory meetings since June 1, reviewed examination readiness with NTA Director General Abhishek Singh and warned that wrongdoers would face the full force of law. “The full might and weight of law will fall on any person trying in any manner to distort, disrupt, or tamper with the integrity…of the re-examination,” he said.
Central and state governments, district administrations and central armed forces are all being co-opted for the exercise, a note from the government said. The MHA has specifically asked CRPF and CISF to guard question paper consignments in transit.
For its part, the NTA has made quiet but meaningful changes to the exam format. Rough sheets per booklet have been doubled from two to four, with the additional sheets now split between the front and back portion of the booklet. This was done keeping in mind nearly 15% of candidates who are left-handed and who previously struggled with sheets bunched at the booklet’s end.
Based on feedback from students, the exam will run 15 minutes longer, from 2 pm to 5.15 pm, with PwDs getting 4 hours and 20 minutes. Women make up 58%, or 13.31 lakh of the 22.79 lakh, registered candidates.
More rough sheets in exam
Explaining the rationale behind changing the paper layout by splitting the rough sheets, a top official said, “A little over three lakh who attempt June 21 exam will use their left hand to write it. This puts them at a disadvantage. We decided to double the rough sheets.”
