In a cramped meeting room, committee members leaned forward as NTA’s top official delivered a curt confession. “No full paper leak,” he declared, eyes flicking to the tally sheet. The claim rattled the room; whispers flicked like sparks on a screen.
Chairs of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education sat alongside Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi, the camera lenses rolled, and the air thrum with anticipation. They heard the agency’s representatives explain what went wrong, what was right, and why the exam was scrapped. The clock ticked. By 10 p.m., the committee had its first clear answer.
The agency admitted to spotting irregularities in the paper’s distribution. They insisted those glitches didn’t amount to a wholesale leak. “Only certain questions travelled out,” NTA officials said, as they sketched the spread of the leaked snippets on a whiteboard. The admission felt like a half‑compliance award, but if True? The line between a breach and a leak, it seemed, is thin.
The exam, scheduled for May 3, was the first nationwide test conducted on a single day since 2020. It was canceled after rumors that some survey data matched the actual content. More than 22 lakh aspirants found themselves back at the drawing board, carrying fresh doubts about the exam’s integrity. Parents scrambled for new dates, while students leaned on hope.
NTA maintains a
