India, July 29 -- The recent controversies over leaked examination papers have reignited a familiar anxiety across India: The fear that merit is losing its meaning. For millions of families, education is not simply schooling. It is the one inheritance a poor parent can realistically pass on to a child; the bridge between a life of hardship and one of dignity. When that bridge is compromised, it is not just an exam that suffers. It is a promise. And this promise is tested on the journey to becoming a doctor.Medicine has always occupied a special place in the public imagination. A stethoscope does not ask where a child was born. It does not check the size of a parent's bank balance before it listens to a heartbeat. A doctor from a humble ba...