Standing Committee seeks computer-based NEET-UG, NTA accountable to Parliament
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports presented its report on reforming the National Testing Agency (NTA) to the Rajya Sabha Chairman on October 9, 2026. It recommended a Computer-Based Test for NEET-UG, government-owned centres in every district and a framework making the NTA accountable to Parliament. Of the NTA's 39 sanctioned posts, 41% are vacant.
Syllabus: Prelims · Polity & Governance; GS2 · Parliament & State Legislatures; GS2 · Health, Education & Human Resources
Why it matters
More than 22 lakh students sit NEET-UG in one sitting for MBBS, BDS, nursing and AYUSH seats. When the 2026 test was cancelled, each of them had to prepare and travel again. In a Computer-Based Test, question papers are not printed or carried to centres, which the committee says lowers the risk of a leak. A government centre in every district would cut travel and lodging costs for students from small towns. The larger question is accountability. The NTA runs the country's biggest entrance tests, yet it is a registered society, 41% of its sanctioned posts are vacant and the rest are held by officers on deputation. The committee wants Parliament to be able to hold it to account.
Prelims pointers
- Department-related standing committees: 24 in all; 16 work under the Lok Sabha Speaker and 8 under the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
- Composition: 31 members each, 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha; the term is one year; a Minister cannot be a member.
- The Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports is one of the eight that work under the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
- Functions: examine Demands for Grants, Bills referred by the Chairman or the Speaker, annual reports and long-term policy documents; not day-to-day administration.
- Their recommendations are advisory and do not bind the government or Parliament.
- National Testing Agency: set up in 2017; a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860; under the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education.
- Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024: offences are cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable; it covers UPSC, SSC and NTA examinations.
- Education is in the Concurrent List; the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 moved it there from the State List.
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to the Department-related Standing Committees of Parliament, consider the following statements:
1. The members of every such committee are nominated by the President of India on the advice of the Union Cabinet.
2. The recommendations made in the reports of these committees are advisory and do not bind the Government.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer
Answer: (b) 2 only
1 is incorrect: Lok Sabha members are nominated by the Speaker and Rajya Sabha members by the Chairman, not by the President. 2 is correct: the committees only recommend; the Government replies with the action it has taken but is not bound to accept a recommendation.
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