Claiming National Testing Agency to be “at the very heart of NEET scan-dal”, Congress on Sunday accused it of making a Rs 448-crore profit in last six years by conducting exams and not using the corpus “to build its capabilities to conduct tests itself or to strengthen regulatory and monitoring capabilities for its vendors”.
Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan junked the claim.”Opposition is frustrated with their failed propaganda. However, people need to understand the mandate of exam-conducting organisations like NTA and CBSE, which are self-sustaining. Unlike typical govt entities, self-sustaining bodies like NTA have operational costs. The organisation has been in the negative since its inception,” he said.
NTA rebuts Jairam claim of exam body’s ‘Rs 448cr profit’
National Testing Agency on Sunday rebutted claims that it had made a profit of Rs 448 crore in the last six years through conduct of exams, which sources in NTA said were “based on inadequate understanding and facts”.
Citing data based on the reply to a Parliament question, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had said on X, “This corpus, however, has not been used to build the agency’s capabilities to conduct tests itself, or to strengthen regulatory and monitoring capabilities for its vendors.”
Ramesh shared minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar’s reply in Rajya Sabha on July 31 to a question on NTA. According to the reply, “NTA collected an estimated Rs 3,512.98 crore while it spent Rs 3,064.77 crore on the conduct of examinations, it therefore netted a profit of Rs 448 crore in the last six years”, he said.
Dismissing the claim, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, “The opposition is frustrated with their failed propaganda. The govt has initiated comprehensive examination and NTA reforms, and we are awaiting the recommendations of the high-powered committee. However, people need to understand the mandate of exam-conducting organisations like NTA and CBSE, which are self-sustaining. Unlike typical govt entities, self-sustaining bodies like NTA have operational costs. The organisation has been in the negative since its inception.”
Ramesh earlier said, “NTA is at the very heart of the NEET scandal. It is a body of the education ministry whose only purpose is to function via outsourcing to private vendors. Not only do these vendors very often have dubious credentials but the NTA itself is headed by a person who presided over the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission, which has seen mega scams,” he added.
In response, a senior NTA official said, “Having a corpus of Rs 450 crore to Rs 500 crore in the bank doesn’t mean we are in the positive, as they are not considering the liabilities. Apart from the cost of conducting exams, salaries are also paid from the same collection of registration fees.”
Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan junked the claim.”Opposition is frustrated with their failed propaganda. However, people need to understand the mandate of exam-conducting organisations like NTA and CBSE, which are self-sustaining. Unlike typical govt entities, self-sustaining bodies like NTA have operational costs. The organisation has been in the negative since its inception,” he said.
NTA rebuts Jairam claim of exam body’s ‘Rs 448cr profit’
National Testing Agency on Sunday rebutted claims that it had made a profit of Rs 448 crore in the last six years through conduct of exams, which sources in NTA said were “based on inadequate understanding and facts”.
Citing data based on the reply to a Parliament question, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had said on X, “This corpus, however, has not been used to build the agency’s capabilities to conduct tests itself, or to strengthen regulatory and monitoring capabilities for its vendors.”
Ramesh shared minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar’s reply in Rajya Sabha on July 31 to a question on NTA. According to the reply, “NTA collected an estimated Rs 3,512.98 crore while it spent Rs 3,064.77 crore on the conduct of examinations, it therefore netted a profit of Rs 448 crore in the last six years”, he said.
Dismissing the claim, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, “The opposition is frustrated with their failed propaganda. The govt has initiated comprehensive examination and NTA reforms, and we are awaiting the recommendations of the high-powered committee. However, people need to understand the mandate of exam-conducting organisations like NTA and CBSE, which are self-sustaining. Unlike typical govt entities, self-sustaining bodies like NTA have operational costs. The organisation has been in the negative since its inception.”
Ramesh earlier said, “NTA is at the very heart of the NEET scandal. It is a body of the education ministry whose only purpose is to function via outsourcing to private vendors. Not only do these vendors very often have dubious credentials but the NTA itself is headed by a person who presided over the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission, which has seen mega scams,” he added.
In response, a senior NTA official said, “Having a corpus of Rs 450 crore to Rs 500 crore in the bank doesn’t mean we are in the positive, as they are not considering the liabilities. Apart from the cost of conducting exams, salaries are also paid from the same collection of registration fees.”
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