Youths' future reduced to mere 'revenue-raising' exercise by Centre: Congress
Congress accuses Modi government of profiting from NTA at the expense of youths' futures
The Congress claimed on Sunday (August 4) that the National Testing Agency has made a profit of Rs 448 crore over the last six years, accusing the Narendra Modi government of turning the futures of millions of youths into a "revenue-raising exercise."
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared on X Minister of State in the Education Ministry Sukanta Majumdar's reply in the Rajya Sabha on July 31 to a question on the NTA.
"The National Testing Agency (NTA) is at the very heart of the NEET scandal. It is a body of the Education Ministry whose only purpose is to function via outsourcing to private vendors," Ramesh said on X.
"Not only do these vendors very often have dubious credentials but the NTA itself is headed by a person who presided over the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission, which has seen mega-scams," Ramesh said.
In an answer to the Rajya Sabha, the Union MoS for Education revealed that the NTA collected an estimated Rs 3,512.98 crore, while it spent Rs 3,064.77 crore on the conduct of examinations. "It therefore netted a profit of Rs 448 crore in the last six years," he pointed out.
"This corpus, however, has not been used to build the agency's capabilities to conduct tests itself, or to strengthen regulatory and monitoring capabilities for its vendors," Ramesh said.
"The future of millions of India's youths has ultimately become a mere revenue-raising exercise for the non-biological PM's Government," he added.
(With agency inputs)