NEET, UGC-NET 2024 row: 10 year jail term, ₹1 Cr fine as punishments in new ‘anti-paper leak’ law. Full details here

The Union Education Ministry on June 19 scrapped the examination following inputs that the coveted test's integrity may have been compromised. The was conducted on June 18 across 317 cities of the country.

Over 11 lakh candidates appeared for the exam. The government has also handed over the matter to the (CBI) for a probe.

The cancellation of UGC-NET comes amid ongoing controversy over alleged irregularities in the . Both exams are conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

The is key to finding an entry-level teaching job in Indian universities and for admissions to PhD programmes. With the decision, it has become the first centrally conducted public examination to be scrapped after the PM Narendra Modi-led brought in a new ‘anti-paper leak’ law many months ago.

Known as the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) , this ‘anti-paper leak’ bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha on February 5, 2024. It was passed in the Lok Sabha on and in the Rajya Sabha on February 9, 2024. The same month, , cleared the bill, and it became law.

The idea behind the Public Examinations () Act, 2024, was to prevent use of unfair means in public examinations. Public examinations refer to competition tests conducted by authorities, including the Union Public Service Commission, the Staff Selection Commission, the Railway Recruitment Board, the (NTA), the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection, and the Union government departments and their attached offices for recruitment.

This law covers a series of offences with regard to . It prohibits collusion to facilitate indulgence in any unfair means. The unfair means are specified to include unauthorised access or leakage of question papers or answer keys, assisting a candidate