Merit Under Siege Again

Dear Readers,
This month, we take up a subject that decides the fate of aspiring doctors. The recent news of the 2026 National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), known as NEET-UG, being cancelled due to a paper leak indicates that the lessons have not been learnt from past scams related to admission to medical courses in the country.

The central government is again on the back foot due to the recent episode. This is an acute embarrassment and is being widely reported in the national media. The government has cancelled the exam, held on May 3, and announced that it will be re-conducted on dates to be notified. For millions of aspiring doctors who spent months and, in some cases, years preparing for the test, the announcement has been devastating.

NEET-UG is the gateway to studying medicine in India and is required for admission to medical colleges across the country. Nearly 2.28 million candidates wrote the exam on 3 May at more than 5,000 centres across India. Police officials claimed they were looking at a guess paper, which was allegedly circulated ahead of the test. A guess paper is a set of questions that teachers or coaching institutes predict could appear in an exam, based on past papers and exam patterns. The guess paper contained around 410 questions, about 120 of which are said to have appeared in the chemistry section of the actual exam. There are four different versions or sets of the NEET paper, each containing 180 compulsory questions divided across the Physics, Chemistry and Biology sections. The case has now been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In the 2024 NEET-UG scam, while the NTA initially dismissed social media reports of paper leaks, investigations by the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) in Bihar and raids in Godhra, Gujarat, uncovered evidence of localised malpractices. In Patna, police arrested 13 people, including four examinees, who had allegedly paid sums ranging from `30 lakh to `50 lakh to obtain the question paper beforehand. In Godhra, a raid at an exam centre revealed that a teacher, who was also the deputy superintendent, instructed students not to answer questions they did not know, promising to fill in their blank OMR sheets. Five people were arrested, and it was discovered that candidates from multiple states had taken the exam at this centre.

Alongside this we are covering the scale of rabies as a special story. The true scale of rabies’ impact in India is shrouded in conflicting mortality statistics. The gap between the NCDC data, which reported 54 deaths, and the WHO estimate of 20,000 deaths in a year, indicates the apathy of policymakers in ensuring a robust surveillance system for a disease with a 100 per cent fatality rate.

This issue also looks into the spike in cases of sudden heart attacks, cardiac arrests, and other cardiovascular complications among all age groups across the country since the mass COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Even seemingly fit people have died of cardiac health issues while walking on the street, on the dance floor and even while sitting at a desk.

Also, Jackson, son of Australian cricket legend Shane Warne, has blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for precipitating his father’s death. He went so far as to say that this line of thinking is not controversial anymore. Perhaps reports from around the world of rising cardiac and vascular events after population-level mass vaccine rollouts made him think along these lines.

While Jackson admitted that his father had underlying health issues, he asserted that the jabs contributed to the sudden death. What makes Warne’s unfortunate and untimely death more poignant (in case the vaccine was responsible) is that he had recovered from COVID-19 before taking the shots. By all principles of immunology and current evidence, the jabs were not indicated.

Like a cricket pitch, the presence of comorbidities cannot automatically explain every death among the vaccinated. In cricket, the pitch often shapes the outcome, especially in Test matches, the format in which Shane Warne built his legend. A dry, dusty and worn surface gives spinners a clear advantage, and Warne could use such conditions far more effectively than an ordinary bowler.

The same logic can be applied cautiously to health outcomes. If a person already has underlying medical conditions, any intervention carrying a possible risk may have a greater impact than it would on a healthier body. Therefore, the presence of comorbidities should not, by itself, rule out the possible role of an intervention in a fatal outcome. At the same time, it would be equally wrong to conclude, on the basis of one case alone, that the vaccine caused Warne’s death. Life, like cricket, is shaped by uncertainty. Even a great spinner can go wicketless on a helpful pitch. That is why one tragic case, even involving a global sporting icon, should be seen as a prompt to examine the larger pattern rather than as final proof of causation.

The issue carries many more engaging, informative and interesting stories.

Happy reading!

Thanks and regards,
Amresh K Tiwari
Editor-in-Chief