New Delhi: More than 20.8 lakh students appeared for medical entrance exam NEET-UG on Sunday at more than 5,400 centres under strict security measures amid sporadic incidents of protest and arrest.
More than 22.7 lakh candidates had registered for the exam, which was also conducted in 14 cities abroad.
National Testing Agency (NTA) officials said more than 20.8 lakh candidates appeared for the exam.
Mock drills were held at all National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) centres on Saturday to ensure smooth conduct of the nationwide exam. Most of the centres were located in government and government-aided schools, colleges, universities and institutions.
While no untoward incidents have been reported so far, members of the Brahmin community held a protest outside an exam centre in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi, demanding accountability after some students from the community were asked to remove their ‘janivara (sacred thread)’ before entering the exam hall.
Three men were detained by the Special Operations Group of the Rajasthan Police for allegedly trying to dupe a candidate of Rs 40 lakh by promising him the question paper. In Bhubaneshwar, police arrested four members of an interstate gang for allegedly taking money from aspirants for admission in a medical college.
In Delhi, some students at a centre in Jahangirpuri claimed their biometric authentication could not be completed.
“There were three layers of monitoring today -- at the district, state, and central levels. To ensure smooth and secure conduct of the exam, mock drills were conducted at all centres. These drills helped in testing readiness in terms of functionality of mobile signal jammers, availability of adequate manpower for frisking, and biometric authentication procedures,” an official said.
“A centralised control room under the Union Ministry of Education, with representatives from the ministries of health, defence, home affairs and electronics and information technology, was set up for monitoring all activities on the ground,” the official added.
Transporting question papers under police escort, monitoring coaching centres to identify organised cheating rackets, multi-layered frisking by district police in addition to designated security personnel at the exam centres were among the steps taken by the NTA, led by the education ministry.
The strict measures came a year after alleged irregularities, including paper leaks, were flagged in NEET-UG that put the exam’s integrity under scanner.
In a crackdown on fake claims about NEET-UG, the NTA identified 160 Telegram and 30 Instagram channels involved in spreading false information.