Chairman of the High Powered Task Force on Examination Reforms, Nandan Nilekani, on Wednesday, November 4, met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat, where the latter reiterated the state's firm stance on the country's largest medical entrance examination, NEET, calling for its abolition. As PTI reported, panel members attended the meeting, including IIT-Madras Director V Kamakoti, former Union Education Secretary Anita Karwal, and EkStep Foundation CEO Shankar Maruwada. The release cited by the news agency stated that the TN government reaffirmed its stance on NEET and similar examinations for admission to higher education courses. It pressed for merit-based admissions, particularly on the basis of marks secured by students in Class 12. During the meeting, the State Legislative Assembly’s unanimous resolution against NEET, passed on August 11, 2026, was also flagged. Accordingly, the state government called for the scrapping of NEET and similar examinations held to offer admissions to medical and other courses. The High-Powered Task Force (HPTF), headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, was formed in August 2025 to look into and suggest detailed reforms pertaining to the conduct, security, design and governance of public examinations, including examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The task force is looking for ways to strengthen institutional systems and processes, ensure examination integrity and security, deploy appropriate technologies, augment examination infrastructure, promote accessibility and inclusion, and protect student well-being. In October, Nilekani recommended a significant shift in the country’s examination framework, proposing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate question papers on the day of the examination to eliminate the risk of paper leaks and fraud. Speaking at a Bloomberg Economic Forum, Nilekani addressed the structural weaknesses that lead to paper leaks, saying, "Question papers create an economic incentive for them to be sold. So, the way to solve this is to really have a massive bank of questions and only at the last minute generate the question paper for that day. Therefore, the question of 'a' question paper goes away, and there's no economic incentive for that. That's one way to think about how to solve this," according to ANI. He also called for a shift to a nationwide Computer-Based Testing (CBT) system. Deepali Samaniya has been covering education for the past 2 years with a passion for SEO and a knack for crafting engaging stories. She specialises in... View More