At Jantar Mantar, angry young Indians brought their revolt to the capital. A leak from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) lit the fuse. Tens of thousands marched in Delhi on 20 July.
Police used batons and tear gas; calls for the education minister to resign spread. In May, 2.275 million registered for NEET and 2.205 million sat it. The paper was cancelled; nearly 2 million sat it again in June.
The Central Bureau of Investigation says experts hired by the National Testing Agency (NTA) leaked questions, one allegedly after rebuilding physics items from memory. There have been arrests, a 2027 switch to computer-based NEET has been promised, the NTA faces an overhaul and fast-track courts are planned. The 2024 anti-leak law can jail organised offenders for ten years and fine them Rs 10 million.
Students lose months, fees, travel and coaching costs; job candidates may also lose an attempt or cross the age bar. No law can guard a paper while the choice of experts, private vendors and chain of custody stay hidden. This is why a leak can bring a generation to the street.
India's official unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 29 was 9.9 per cent in 2025. Some 25 per cent of that age group was neither working nor studying nor in training. At the last count, in March 2022, 964,000 central civilian posts were empty.
An Indian Express study found 41 recruitment paper leaks across 15 states in five years. They hit 14 million applicants seeking just over 104,000 posts. Young Indians saw revolts in Bangladesh and Nepal.
Summary from source