As the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak controversy raised serious questions about the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and triggered major reforms in the examination process, the spotlight has now shifted to whether the key recommendations made by the committee chaired by former ISRO chief Dr K Radhakrishnan after the 2024 exam crisis were fully implemented.
Pankaj Bansal, a member of the committee set up in June 2024 to recommend reforms for ensuring transparent, smooth and fair examinations through the NTA after reports of question paper leaks surfaced during NEET-UG 2024, told NDTV in an exclusive interview, "All 95 recommendations have to be implemented. The weakest link will remain the biggest challenge for the NTA."
Bansal said the committee had strongly recommended reducing dependence on physical question papers after the NEET-UG 2024 controversy triggered allegations of leaks, grace marks and irregularities, eventually leading to Supreme Court intervention and nationwide protests by students.
"Computer-based testing should eliminate 95 per cent of the problems," Bansal said, arguing that the biggest vulnerabilities in the current system stem from the handling and movement of physical papers.
The Centre this week announced that NEET-UG would transition to a computer-based test (CBT) format from next year after allegations surfaced that question papers for the 2026 examination were circulated in the guise of "guess papers" before the test.
The government subsequently ordered a re-test for affected centres on June 21 and handed the investigation to the CBI, while Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan acknowledged lapses in the examination process and promised structural reforms within the NTA.
According to Bansal, the 2026 breach reflects the same systemic weaknesses the Radhakrishnan committee had flagged in its report submitted after the 2024 crisis.
"This exam mafia is able to thrive and survive for one big reason - there are so many gaps in the paper movement, from printing to transportation to the opening of papers," he told NDTV.
95 Recommendations After 2024 Crisis
The Radhakrishnan committee was constituted in 2024 after the Supreme Court sought a review of examination processes amid mounting criticism of the NTA's functioning and allegations that irregularities had compromised the integrity of NEET-UG.
Bansal said the panel spent nearly six months conducting consultations across states and union territories, meeting students and families, and examining suggestions submitted through government portals.
"We took about 37,000 suggestions," he said, adding that the committee eventually submitted a 185-page report carrying around 95 recommendations.
Those recommendations, he said, extended far beyond paper security and included organisational restructuring, technology integration, student welfare measures and operational reforms within the NTA.
"We had recommended how the NTA should be structured, how it should be designed," he said.
The report proposed dedicated functional departments within the NTA, stronger state and regional coordination mechanisms, tighter oversight of outsourcing agencies, and clearer protocols governing "confidential operations", the secure chain involving paper printing, storage and transportation.
The committee also examined the role of "testing indenting agencies". including medical bodies and universities that commission examinations through the NTA, and recommended stronger coordination between those institutions, regional authorities and local law enforcement agencies.
Questions Over Implementation
The latest controversy has now placed the implementation status of those recommendations under the spotlight.
While Bansal pointed to some measures that had been introduced, including leadership changes within the NTA, he acknowledged that he could not confirm whether all 95 recommendations had been fully implemented before the 2026 examination cycle.
"Am I here to say that all 95 were completely implemented? I'm not sure. I'm not privy to that," he said.
He also admitted that the paper leak had deeply disappointed members of the Radhakrishnan reform panel.
"We were disappointed. That was six months of hard work," he told NDTV, referring to the committee's suggestions to strengthen examination security.
That admission assumes significance amid growing criticism from students, opposition parties and education experts, many of whom have questioned why vulnerabilities identified after the 2024 crisis appear to have resurfaced.
Investigators are currently probing whether individuals linked to the examination process or insiders within the broader operational chain played a role in the leak.
Push For CBT And Structural Overhaul
Defending the shift towards CBT, Bansal argued that conducting a single-shift paper-based examination for more than 22 lakh candidates had become operationally unsustainable.
"Nowhere in the world do 22 lakh people go and write a test on paper," he said.
The committee, he said, had also explored possibilities such as adaptive testing and multi-shift examinations, which become more feasible once CBT infrastructure is established nationwide.
At the same time, he acknowledged concerns raised by some groups over whether students from rural or underprivileged backgrounds would face disadvantages in a fully digital examination format.
"We are a democracy, we have to take care of everything," he said, while adding that resistance to computer familiarity was becoming increasingly outdated.
'NTA Needs Structural Overhaul'
Bansal also referred to the committee's recommendations on institutional restructuring and leadership within the NTA.
"One strong recommendation we had was that an additional secretary-level officer or someone above that rank should be the DG of NTA," he said.
He welcomed the appointment of Abhishek Singh as the agency's chief, saying leadership would be crucial in restoring public trust in the examination body.
"The leader has to be right. We've got the right leader in place," he said.
Bansal also pointed to Singh's work with the DigiYatra Foundation and suggested similar technology-driven verification systems could eventually be adapted for examinations to strengthen candidate authentication and operational security.
Restoring Credibility
Bansal described the Centre's decisions - including the CBI investigation, re-test announcement and shift to CBT - as necessary corrective measures aimed at restoring credibility in the examination process.
"If NTA had not announced a re-test, it would have created more problems and students at large would have felt they were treated unfairly," he said.
Calling the examination leak ecosystem a long-standing issue rather than a recent phenomenon, Bansal expressed hope that the latest controversy could become a turning point in India's examination reform process.