Death by Reasonable Objection: How NEET Stayed On Paper For Eight Years

India had the fix for NEET paper leaks in 2018. One committee, two scandals, and eight years of institutional resistance later, the obvious finally became unavoidable.

Ever since the NEET-UG paper leak scandal erupted, the public conversation has settled on the Education Ministry as the villain. That story is emotionally satisfying and not without its logic but it misses a critical fact.

The ministry now facing the loudest criticism spent nearly eight years — across two separate leak controversies — trying to move NEET to a Computer-Based Test format.

The strongest resistance came from elsewhere, and it came twice.

The First Block: 2018

In July 2018, the then HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar announced that the newly created National Testing Agency would conduct major entrance examinations in computer-based mode. NEET too was slated to move online and be conducted twice a year.

But within a month, the plan was shelved — because the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare objected. The ministry argued that rural students would be disadvantaged by an online examination and raised concerns about additional stress from multiple exam cycles.

NEET would continue on paper, specifically at the Health Ministry's request.

Every other major competitive examination in India had already moved to CBT. JEE Main, CUET, NEET-PG, banking, railways, SSC recruitment — all digital. NEET alone was held back.

The Second Block: 2024–2025

When the 2024 NEET-UG paper leak triggered nationwide protests, a Supreme Court intervention, and the removal of the NTA chief, the case for CBT became impossible to argue against.

The Radhakrishnan Committee, formed in the aftermath, submitted recommendations in October 2024 strongly favouring a shift to CBT as the preferred mode to reduce leak risk.

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan publicly stated in November 2024 that the transition was "in all likelihood" moving forward. The Education Ministry began implementation planning.

The Health Ministry and the National Medical Commission resisted again — this time citing concerns over equity, infrastructure gaps, and score normalisation across multiple exam shifts.

The Scandal That Forced the Obvious

On 3 May 2026, the paper leaked again. Within days, a national controversy had erupted, the examination was cancelled, and the matter was back before the Supreme Court.

On 15 May, Pradhan announced that NEET would move permanently to CBT from 2027. The position the Health Ministry had blocked twice in eight years became government policy in a matter of weeks.

India had the solution in 2018, rejected it, paid for it in 2024, rejected it again, and spent 2026 paying the bill a second time.

CBT brings its own challenges — normalisation, cybersecurity, infrastructure — but those are implementation problems. Paper leaks are structural ones.

The question Parliament should now ask is not why CBT is finally being introduced. It is who bears responsibility for the two occasions it was blocked, and what those decisions cost.