Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) MP N.K. Premachandran opposed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, during the debate in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, saying the changes proposed by the government were “cosmetic” and “an eyewash” only designed to overcome the political crisis triggered by student protests.
Event Context
The Kollam MP said he opposed the bill because it would fail to achieve any of the aims outlined in its Statement of Objects and Reason. Premachandran also proposed that the bill be first circulated among the public for feedback from the stakeholders, but the proposal was rejected.
The bill proposes a minimum jail term of five years and setting up of fast-track courts that will complete the trial within three months from the filing of the charge sheet, among other changes. The proposed law also allows setting up of a special task force to probe paper leaks.
“My specific question to the government is whether the existing statute of 2024 is not sufficient to meet the purpose,” he said, arguing that paper leaks stem not from a lack of law but from “the lack of the willpower of the government in properly conducting the examination in a fair and transparent manner.”
Player Focus
Premachandran described this group as being “in a state of suspended development,” a phrase he used to capture young adults caught in an extended, uncertain limbo of exam preparation with no fixed endpoint. He said each drop year costs a family three to six lakh rupees in coaching fees and living expenses, and that this pattern repeats for millions of aspirants every year.
Aggregated across roughly 30 to 35 lakh repeat candidates, he put the total cost of this “drop-year economy” at more than ₹90,000 crore annually, money he said does not circulate in the productive economy, build skills or generate human capital, but “evaporates only into the coaching industry.” He ended by calling for a complete overhaul of the NEET examination system.
Team Analysis
He said repeated NEET leaks and the CBSE’s “onscreen marking system” row together “reflects the systemic governance failures attributing direct legal responsibility to the union government.”
Premachandran also cited student suicide data, saying, the National Crime Records Bureau data showing 65 per cent rise in student suicide between 2013 and 2023,” which he attributed to what he called the inefficiency in conducting public examinations.
He also questioned NEET’s current design, contending that nearly 70 per cent of NEET qualifiers in any given year were repeat candidates. He said this meant “an estimated 30 to 35 lakh people between the age of 18 and 24” who are neither in higher education nor employment nor acquiring any skill.
