UGC-NET 2026 Row: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has responded to concerns over alleged errors in the UGC-NET Sociology paper and reported repetition of questions in the English paper, urging candidates to formally challenge such issues through its grievance redressal mechanism.
Responding to the controversy, a senior NTA official told NDTV, "Students need to challenge the questions in the paper and submit formal queries to us."
The official said the agency would examine all genuine objections raised by candidates, citing the recent Re-NEET examination as an example of its review process.
"NTA promises to look into the errors. We received 10,000 challenges from students regarding the Re-NEET exam paper. One question was retracted after the challenge was found to be valid. We will do the same for UGC-NET as well, but students need to submit their grievances formally through the grievance redressal portal," the official said.
Addressing concerns over repeated questions and typographical errors, the official said such issues are not unusual and reiterated that candidates must follow the prescribed process to raise objections.
"Questions are repeated; it's not something that doesn't happen every year. Typographical errors also occur. Professors set the question papers; NTA does not even review them. We encourage students to challenge the questions, and our teams will look into their concerns," the official added.
The clarification comes after a UGC-NET aspirant alleged on social media platform X that the Sociology paper conducted on June 30 contained multiple spelling, grammar, and translation errors. In a post that went viral, the candidate claimed that nearly half the paper was affected by mistakes, including misspelled names of sociologists and incorrect translations in the Hindi version of the question paper.
The aspirant alleged that names such as "Ritzer" were printed as "Putzer", "Parsons" as "Parsow", "Ghurye" as "Ghunye", "A R Desai" as "A K Desai", and "Nussbaum" as "Nusbaut". The post also claimed that the Hindi translation of several questions was poorly framed, making it difficult for many students to understand and attempt the paper.
Didn't think I would have to reopen X after this long for something this pathetic. The recent NTA NET Sociology exam held on 30th June'26 crossed all limits of academic deceit and accountability. Not even getting started on the irregularity of the paper asking AI generated…
— Antara Chakrabarty | অন্তরা (@ant_taraa) July 1, 2026
The post gained traction on X, drawing widespread attention and renewed scrutiny of the NTA's conduct of national-level examinations.
Reacting to the controversy, Jairam Ramesh criticised the examination agency and the Union government.
"It required the might of the armed forces and the whole of the government at every level to conduct Re-NEET on June 21, 2026. It reflected the complete failure of the Modi Government to conduct exams without such unprecedented mobilization," he said.
Referring to the UGC-NET examination, Ramesh alleged, "When it comes to exams that are handled by the NTA itself, the track record continues to be atrocious. Questions in the UGC-NET English exam were wholesale lifted from past papers without any changes, and the UGC-NET Sociology question paper was chock-full of spelling, translation, and grammar errors."
He further said, "The NTA is not fit for purpose. The Mantri Pradhan, on whose watch the NTA was supposed to be reformed and strengthened, has been exposed as incompetent and callous. His continuation in office is a blot on our democracy and a reflection of the Prime Minister's cynical political calculations."