This year, NTA made a whopping Rs 200 Crore as NEET registration fee, reveals RTI

At the same time, the agency had denied information on its expenses. The RTI was filed by a medical student Vivek Pandey
Image for representational purposes only
Image for representational purposes only

The National Testing Agency earned more than Rs 200 Crore as the NEET entrance examination fee, reveals an RTI response. The RTI filed by Madhya Pradesh-based medical student Vivek Pandey revealed that the NTA earned a total of Rs 2,08,87,04,500. The earning was approximately Rs 192 Crore last year.

However, a previous RTI that Pandey had filed, that sought the NTA's expenses conducting this examination was dismissed. At the same time, an RTI filed by another activist previously revealed that the CBSE, which conducted NEET in 2017 and 2018, earned Rs 145 Crore and 168 Crore as examination fees in both years respectively and that they had incurred an expense of Rs 40 Crore in 2017 while conducting the exam. "I was curious to know how much profit the agency had made, despite calling itself a not-for-profit organisation. Why do they have to hide their expenses," asks Pandey, who also points out a hike in the examination registration fee every year.

The registration fee for the medical examination for the general category was Rs 1,000 in 2013 and Rs 1,200 in 2015. At that time, the nation-wide entrance examination was called the All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT). After the introduction of NEET, the registration fee was Rs 1,400 for the General category in 2019 and Rs 1,500 in 2020. "Why is the form fee so high, when they call the exam poor-friendly? The form fees are much negligible for the UPSC examinations," he says.

After the NEET OMR sheets were released online in the first week of October, a lot of students had raised discrepancies in their sheets and answers. For challenging each question, a student had to spend Rs 1,000. While Pandey sought the amount that the NTA had earned through the OMR challenge, that query was disposed off.

He also said that the NTA denied details of students with disabilities and had provided incorrect data on the number fo students who appeared for JEE.

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