India, July 25 -- The controversy surrounding the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is no longer about a leaked question paper or an examination conducted badly. It has become a test of the Indian state itself: Whether it can protect merit, respect federalism, admit institutional failure and respond to the anger of young citizens without treating them as a law-and-order problem.

A common medical entrance examination has an undeniable logic. It offers a national benchmark, reduces multiple tests and can curb arbitrary selection and capitation practices. But uniformity has value only when the process is unquestionably fair. Centralisation also creates a single point of failure. When one chain is compromised, the future of milli...