News Analysis India

Tag: Dharmendra Pradhan

  • hd kumaraswamy: PM Modi acted immediately to safeguard students’ interests: Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy on NEET exam row

    Amid the row over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination, Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday said that “acting immediately” Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the concerned minister to safeguard the interest of the students.

    “According to my knowledge, PM Modi acted immediately after it came to his notice. In the first cabinet itself, he advised the concerned minister how to…safeguard the interest of the students. He has given the direction,” Kumaraswamy told reporters.

    The former Karnataka CM also performed yoga on the 10th International Yoga Day here in the national capital on Friday.”PM Modi encouraged citizens of nearly 124 countries to do Yoga every day and keep good health. I congratulate him,” he said after the event.

    Earlier on Thursday, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Modi and said he is ‘silent’ on the entire issue because he is “crippled” and he has “psychologically collapsed” post-elections and will struggle to run a government like this.

    Rahul Gandhi further said that it seems PM Modi is not bothered about NEET and is instead more concerned regarding the election of the Speaker.”The silence (of government) is because the Prime Minister is crippled. Right now, the PM’s main agenda is the (election of) Speaker. He is not bothered about NEET or all these things. He is bothered about his government and Speaker. That is where his mind is,” Rahul Gandhi said at a press conference on Thursday.Speaking about the people who have been arrested from Bihar in the “paper leak” case, he said, “Regarding Bihar, we have said that there should be an inquiry and action should be taken against those who have leaked the paper.”

    Rahul Gandhi also said that the Congress party will raise the issue in the Parliament.

    Recently, Patna Police arrested several people including some candidates who had taken the NEET exam in recent days.

    Meanwhile, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government is working to further strengthen the National Testing Agency (NTA) by “reconsidering important things.” He also assured action against those responsible for the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the examinations.

    Speaking to ANI, Pradhan said, “In a democracy, everyone has their views. It is our job to listen to everyone. Our responsibility is to run a process-driven government, it is our responsibility to speak the truth and accept truth. Few students have doubts about NTA (National Testing Agency) and we will have to accept this.”

    “The government has decided to form a committee and experts will be part of that committee. All the important things will be reconsidered and the NTA will be strengthened further. Those who are responsible for it (discrepancies) will be held accountable,” he said.

    The Education Minister earlier announced the formation of a high-level committee to probe into the issues pertaining to the functioning of NTA.

    The NEET-UG 2024 exam was conducted on May 5 and the results were declared on June 4, ahead of its scheduled announcement date of June 14. Protests were held alleging irregularities and paper leaks as the results showed that as many as 67 students had topped the exam with a perfect score of 720.

    The NEET-UG examination, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), paves the way for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

  • NEET 2024 Row: Dharmendra Pradhan Warns NTA Officials, Says ‘Won’t Be Spared If…’ |

    NEET 2024 Row: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday assured action against National Testing Agency officials if they are found guilty of the ‘irregularities’ in the conduct of 2024 National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate). The Minister added that the improvement in NTA, which conducts NEET exam, is needed.

    “On the recommendations of the Supreme Court, the order has been given for re-test of 1,563 candidates. Some irregularities have come to light in two places. I assure students and parents that the government has taken this seriously,” Pradhan told ANI.

    “Even if the big officials of the NTA are found guilty, they will not be spared. A lot of improvement is required in NTA. The government is concerned about this, no culprit will be spared, they will get the harshest punishment,” he added.

    The NTA told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the scorecards of 1,563 candidates who got ‘grace marks’ in the NEET-UG exam will be cancelled and the candidates will have a chance to reappear for the exam on June 23 and the results will be declared before June 30.

    The NTA told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that a committee has been constituted to review the results of over 1,563 candidates who were awarded ‘grace marks’ to compensate for the loss of time suffered while appearing for NEET-UG.

    “The Committee has decided to cancel the scorecards of 1563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates who were given grace marks and these students will be given the option to take a re-test,” NTA said.
    “The exam will be conducted on June 23 and the results will be declared before June 30,” it added.

    Many student organizations have protested over the 2024 NEET-UG exam issue. Members of the NSUI (National Students’ Union of India), students’ wing of the Congress, held a protest over the issue in Delhi on Saturday.
    Members of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) staged a protest on Saturday in Kerala and urged authorities to investigate the alleged irregularities surrounding the NEET-UG exam.

  • 54 MPs including ex-PM Manmohan Singh, 9 Union ministers retiring from Rajya Sabha

    As many as 54 members of the Rajya Sabha including former prime minister Manmohan Singh and nine union ministers are set to retire on Tuesday and Wednesday with some not returning to the Upper House. Former prime minister Singh ends his 33-year-long parliamentary innings in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday (April 3), just as former party chief Sonia Gandhi will enter the Upper House of Parliament for the first time.

    Singh, who is known for ushering in several bold reforms in the economy, became a member of the House for the first time in October 1991. He was the finance minister in the Narasimha Rao government from 1991 to 1996 and the prime minister from 2004 to 2014.

    Sonia Gandhi will enter the Upper House for the first time from Rajasthan, filling the seat that will fall vacant after 91-year-old Singh completes his tenure on April 3. Seven Union ministers — Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Purshottam Rupala, Information Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MoS External Affairs V Muraleedharan, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Narayan Rane and MoS Information and Broadcasting L Murugan — end their tenure in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

    Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will end their tenure on Wednesday.

    All these Union ministers, except Vaishnaw, are contesting the Lok Sabha elections and have not been given another term in the Upper House. Vaishnaw and Murugan have been given another Rajya Sabha term. As many as 49 members are retiring on Tuesday (April 2), while five are retiring on Wednesday (April 3).

    Of those retiring from the Upper House include Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachchan who has been renominated to the Council of States by her party for another term. So is Manoj Kumar Jha, who has been renominated by his party RJD for another term in the Rajya Sabha from Bihar, and Naseer Hussain (Congress), who has been renominated from Karnataka.

    Abhishek Singhvi of the Congress party, whose tenure in Rajya Sabha ends today will not be in the upper house as he lost his election from Himachal Pradesh.

    Among others who will be retiring include BJP’s national media in-charge Anil Baluni, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Garhwal seat in Uttarakhand,

    Besides, BJP’s Prakash Javadekar, a former union minister and Sushil Kumar Modi, former deputy chief minister of Bihar, also retire from the Rajya Sabha and have not been renominated by the party.

    BJP’s Anil Jain also retires on Tuesday as he has not been given another term by the party and so has Saroj Pandey from Chhattisgarh, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election in the state.