The Government of India notified on Friday, June 21, the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, or the 'anti-paper leak' act, and the opposition leaders are calling this move a damage control tactic. 

This notification from the Centre comes at a time when there are rows around three exams — the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG), the University Grants Commission - National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (CSIR UGC-NET).

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh says that while the President of India gave her assent on February 13, 2024, the act came into force from June 21. But he points out that while the law is surely the need of the hour, this deals with after the paper leaks have happened. "More important are laws, systems, processes, and procedures to ensure that leaks don't happen in the first place," he said, stated a report by PTI.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), the test conducting body, is under fire, along with the Ministry of Education and the ruling parties, for all the irregularities, cyber threats and so on with regard to the three aforementioned exams.