Congress says exam reform panel announced by PM to divert attention

Published 27 July 2026 · politics

The Congress on Monday (July 27, 2026) took a swipe at the Modi government over the announcement of a committee on exam reforms, alleging that

The Congress on Monday (July 27, 2026) took a swipe at the Modi government over the announcement of a committee on exam reforms, alleging that it was aimed at diverting the attention of people. The Opposition party said the Modi government has still not finished implementing the 101 recommendations of the K. Radhakrishnan Committee formed in 2024 after "it bungled multiple examinations including NEET-UG". Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh shared on X two video clips — one of then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announcing in 2024 that the government would set up a high-level committee to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations; and another of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (July 26, 2026) announcing the constitution of a high-powered task force on exam reforms.

While Mr. Ramesh captioned the Pradhan video clip "high-level hawabaazi", he gave the caption of "high-powered jumlebaazi" to PM Modi's video. "'Committee banao, dhyaan bhatkao' [Form a committee and divert attention]'," Mr. Ramesh said in his post in Hindi on X. Prime Minister Modi on Sunday (July 26, 2026) announced the constitution of the high-powered task force, headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, for reforms in the examinations conducted by the Testing Agency. The task force will give suggestions on maximum use of technology for setting up a robust and transparent examination system, Modi said in a video message posted on Instagram. Reacting to the development, Mr. Ramesh said on Monday (July 27, 2026), "Friends, in June 2024, after it bungled multiple examinations including NEET-UG, the Modi Government constituted a high-level committee of experts headed by Dr K Radhakrishnan to 'ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations.'" In July 2026, the Modi government bungled the NEET-UG and other exams and has now constituted another "high-powered task force", he said on X.

Ramesh said the new committee comes even as the Modi government has still not finished implementing the K. Radhakrishnan Committee's 101 recommendations. For most of the two years between the 2024 and 2026 paper leaks, it didn't even appoint a full-time director general for the Testing Agency, he said. "This is ultimately only a high-powered attempt to fix the Pradhan Mantri's irretrievably compromised image," the Congress leader said. According to the government, a multidisciplinary group of domain experts will be a part of the task force. Besides Mr. Nilekani, its other members are former Chairman of ISRO S. Somanath, former Director of the Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka, director of IIT Chennai V. Kamakoti, former Education Secretary Anita Karwal and logistics expert Amrit Lal Meena.