?NE(E)T Loss: Integrity in exam system | ??Why can't India stop hooch tragedies?

Have you checked out our YouTube and Instagram channels yet? Follow us to get the same sharp analyses you love, on your social media.

Market Watch

• Indian markets ended lower due to profit booking — Sensex dropped 269 points to close at 77,209.90, and the Nifty fell by 65.90 points, ending at 23,501.10.
• Sectorally, Nifty FMCG was down by 1.3%, Nifty Oil & Gas and Nifty PSU Bank each down 1%, Nifty Auto and Realty each down 0.7%, while Nifty IT and consumer durables gained more than 0.7%.

NE(E)T Loss: Integrity in the exam system

Just when the government was beginning to take stock and address the discrepancies in NEET, yet another paper leak was detected in the UGC-NET exam taken by postgraduate students for fellowships and teaching opportunities.

What’s happening with NEET? The Education Minister assured that the NEET exam will not be cancelled . Here’s a round-up of all the developments when it comes to NEET:

• Re-exam rescheduled: The National Testing Agency decided to change the centres for the students who were awarded grace marks. As a result, the re-exam scheduled to take place today has been rescheduled to 23 June .
• Counselling must go on: The Supreme Court refused to stay on NEET counselling which is set to begin on 5th July arguing that even if counselling is carried out, admissions can be nullified if the exam is invalidated later.

UGC-NET crisis: CBI registered an FIR in the UGC-NET paper leak case after the Union Education Ministry reported the exam's integrity was compromised. The exam was cancelled one day after 9 lakh students took the exam . No new dates have been announced.

• Exam papers were sold on Telegram for Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 , with origins potentially linked to the Dark web.

NET cancelled but why not NEET? Both NET and NEET are conducted by the National Testing Agency. While NET was cancelled after a paper leak, the ministry has refused to cancel NEET despite four students being arrested in the paper leak scam in Bihar raising questions on the partiality of the process.

• Some suspect lobbying by coaching centres to not cancel the NEET exam. NET has no backing of such preparation/coaching centres.

Integrity at stake: The government is on the defensive now and has vowed to appoint a panel to re-haul the NTA to prevent paper leaks.

• Former secretary of higher education R Subrahmanyam called for replacing the pen-and-paper methods with fool-proof digital methods. Interestingly, NEET which was always held online, was held in pen-and-paper mode this year .
• A third-party review of the exam centres revealed a lack of CCTV cameras in most centres and a lack of security in strong rooms where question papers are held.

Clip du jour

Saying goodbye to that one friend who understands you [Side note: Putin-Kim bromance goes ‘ballistic’ off camera as well]

Hi, I’m Sai Deepthi, the editor of this newsletter. We’d like to hear some feedback on our newsletter: what works and what doesn’t work? WhatsApp me directly and tell me what you think.

617 deaths and counting…why can't India stop hooch tragedies?

The death count in the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy has surged to 53 , prompting renewed political demands for a CBI investigation.

Why this is concerning:

A preventable tragedy: The main suspect Govindaraj was arrested days ago for selling liquor illegally but was released due to the small quantity seized.

• The other suspects including Govindaraj’s wife Vijaya, and Thamodhiran all have pending cases of illegally supplying liquor but have been frequently operating in the village and surrounding areas.
• The villagers’ complaints over illegal liquor fell on deaf ears . Now every other street in the village is mourning a death and many children were orphaned overnight.

No one to blame: Tamil Nadu’s revenue from state-run TASMAC has 30.43% growth in three years (2020-2023), and the total revenue for 2022-23 was ?44,098.56 crores.

• Liquor trade in Tamil Nadu is highly regulated with no space for blame on private players . It exposes the failure to crack down on bootleggers and parallel-running illegal activities that result in frequent deaths.
• The district in which the tragedy occurred reportedly has the second most number of TASMAC outlets.
• What’s more shocking is that this comes after a similar tragedy in the same region killed 30 last year .

CBI probe: The Madras High Court has inquired about preventive measures and sought details on actions against responsible officers.

• BJP state unit president K Annamalai has urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to order a CBI probe into the incident, citing ineffective governance by the DMK, as mentioned by The New Indian Express .

Heartbreaking visuals: Many children in the village have been orphaned, with activists calling on the government to provide for their accommodation and education.

ICYMI

• ?Arvind Kejriwal will stay in jail but the ED has a lot to answer on how it has linked Kejriwal to the case after the bail order revealed the ED’s flimsy reasoning .
• ??Trump’s new policy proposal : Give green cards to those who graduate from the US.
• ??In a breakthrough, J&K Police made the first arrest in the Reasi terror attack case; accused tour guide Hakim provided logistics to terrorists.
• ?Former coach Igor Stimac says ‘Indian football imprisoned’ .
• ??Finance Minister’s Budget meeting mulls robot tax for AI-affected jobs .
• ???'Bharat' vs 'India' debate : YouTubers Gaurav Taneja and Dhruv Rathee engage in a war of words after Sadhguru endorsed using Bharat.
• ??In another case of killing over alleged Blasphemy in Pakistan , a local tourist was burnt alive in public for allegedly desecrating the Quran.