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Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the formation of a high-powered task force on July 26 to strengthen the integrity of public examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency, according to a statement carried by The Print. The panel, chaired by Nandan Nilekani, includes former ISRO chairman S Somanath, former Intelligence Bureau director Tapan Deka, IIT Madras director V Kamakoti, former education secretary Anita Karwal and logistics expert Amrit Lal Meena, a report in BW People detailed. Modi stated in the announcement that individuals who compromised students’ futures were already in jail but that the government must ensure the test system remains trustworthy, the same publication reported.
The task force was created after the NTA cancelled the May 2026 NEET-UG test and ordered a re-examination in June following allegations that question papers had been sold for as much as 5 million rupees and matched materials circulating on Telegram, Al Jazeera reported on May 26. NTA director Abhishek Singh acknowledged gaps in the system and pledged stronger security measures for future sittings, the Al Jazeera dispatch added. The episode triggered youth-led protests that contributed to the resignation of the federal education minister and renewed questions about the agency’s operational capacity, according to a September 6 BBC assessment.
Similar controversies had erupted in 2024 when the NEET-UG examination recorded an unprecedented 67 perfect scores, prompting the Supreme Court to examine whether the leak affected more than isolated cases in Bihar and Jharkhand, a Wikipedia entry summarising court records noted. The Supreme Court ruled on July 23 2024 that evidence showed around 155 students benefited directly from the leak but that no systemic failure justified cancelling the entire test for more than 23 lakh candidates, a parliamentary response from the Ministry of Education stated. The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed five charge sheets against a total of 45 accused in that matter and identified 144 alleged beneficiaries, the same official document indicated.
A committee headed by former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan had recommended more than 100 reforms after the 2024 events, yet only slightly more than half have been fully implemented, an India Today feature published on May 25 observed. The government has since replaced senior education officials, introduced a four-tier question paper scrutiny process and moved to station CISF personnel at NTA facilities, India Today reported on August 20. These steps preceded the Nilekani panel and reflect an effort to address recurring vulnerabilities before the task force submits formal proposals.
Underlying weaknesses in school-level preparation amplify the stakes of such entrance tests, a NITI Aayog working paper released in April concluded that the Right to Education Act had contributed to declining proficiency in reading and mathematics. Official test scores in some states overstated actual performance by nearly 39 percentage points in mathematics due to inflated grading, the NITI Aayog document found after comparing supervised retests with administrative data. Researchers cited in the paper warned that such discrepancies undermine confidence in the broader education metrics used to evaluate state performance.
The Nilekani panel is expected to focus on maximum use of technology for candidate authentication and data protection, drawing on the chairman’s experience developing Aadhaar, a Moneycontrol analysis published on July 27 explained. Members bring combined expertise in space research, intelligence, cybersecurity and public administration that the government hopes will produce durable safeguards against leaks and malpractices, according to the same report. Twenty-five days after its formation the panel had not yet released recommendations, although several operational changes had already been enacted independently, India Today noted on August 20.
