Lok Sabha session: ‘NEET’ jeers by Opposition as Dharmendra Pradhan takes oath

The 18th Lok Sabha commenced today and Members of Parliament were sworn in one after the other, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath. However, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's oath was met with protests and sloganeering by Opposition leaders in the Parliament.

As Dharmendra Pradhan stepped forward to take his oath as a Member of Parliament, INDIA bloc leaders raised jeers of “NEET” to mock the NDA government amid alleged irregularities in the conduct of the exam.

Opposition leaders raised the slogan against the education minister in the Lok Sabha after a nationwide outrage was sparked against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) over inflated marking and paper leak allegations.

Earlier, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi attacked the Centre over the irregularities in NEET-UG 2024 exam, and promised students that his party will raise the issue in the Parliament.

The first session of the Lok Sabha is expected to be stormy with the Opposition likely to corner the BJP-led NDA government on the election of the Speaker, allegations of paper leaks in NEET-UG and UGC-NET.

Outrage against the central agency National Testing Agency (NTA) erupted shortly after the agency postponed the NEET-PG examination hours before it was scheduled to be conducted. Students who traveled from different states to reach their examination centres carried out protests, and the Centre's move was slammed by doctor associations and student bodies.

The NEET-UG exam was conducted in May, and the result was declared on June 4. Due to grace markings for several centres, the scores of hundreds of students were inflated. This year, 67 students topped the medical entrance test with a perfect 720/720 score.

Amid allegations of irregularities, the Centre formed a seven-member committee to probe the functioning of the NTA and make suggestions regarding examination reforms. The government also shunted out NTA DG Subodh Kumar Singh.

The probe into NEET-UG irregularities and paper leak allegations was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).