Over 22 lakh students took NEET in May 2026. Their exam was cancelled. The question paper was leaked. This is the second time in two years that India’s largest medical entrance exam has collapsed due to a security breach. NEET 2026represents not just a systemic failure, but a deliberate choice—a government that knew exactly how to fix the problem but refused to act.
In October 2024, after the first paper leak, the government constituted the Radhakrishnan Committee to diagnose NEET’s vulnerabilities. The committee did its job. It gave 101 recommendations—specific, actionable solutions that could have prevented the exact scenario that unfolded in May 2026. But the government ignored almost all of them.
“The most important point is that the government has learned nothing from this occurrence in 2024 and that caused a repeat of the paper leak this year,” Dr. Dhruv Chauhan, National Spokesperson of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said in our discussion. “The need to conduct a re-examination itself simply points to the absolute failure of the authorities.”
Also Read:How NEET Let the Paper Leak—And Why It Will Happen Again
Understanding What NEET Is—And Why It Matters
NEET—the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test—is the gateway to medical education in India. It determines who becomes a doctor. Every year, over 22 lakh students compete for roughly 1.1 lakh MBBS seats. For students from poor and middle-class backgrounds, NEET represents the only path to a stable career, respect, and upward mobility.
But NEET is more than just an exam. It is the foundation of India’s healthcare system. The doctors selected through NEET will treat patients, make life-and-death decisions, and shape the public health of the nation. When the exam is compromised, India’s healthcare future is compromised.
“This is something that deals with the healthcare of the nation,” Dr. Chauhan explained. “This directly deals with the economic status of the nation because if the country is healthy, the economic status will improve anyway.”
Yet despite this critical importance, NEET 2026 operated on a system designed in an era before cybersecurity threats became existential. The exam is conducted on a single day, across 551 cities with over 5,400 exam centres, with 22.7 la
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