India, July 28 -- The Congress on Tuesday questioned the proposed amendments to the anti-paper leak law, saying despite an existing law, question paper leaks of public examinations have continued and it has proved to be a failure. Initiating the debate on the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill 2026 in Lok Sabha, Deputy Leader of Congress in the House, Gaurav Gogoi, also said that students were compelled to hit the streets and their pain needs to be understood. The government introduced the Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday, days after student protests over the NEET fiasco led to Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation as education minister, to provide for stricter punishment of up to 10 years in jail and a heftier fine of Rs 50 lakh for paper leaks.
Gogoi also slammed the government over the use of pellet guns and electric batons against the protesters and questioned the behaviour of police in demeaning the dignity of women. Accusing the Centre of failing to address the concerns of students, he said merely enhancing punishments and penalties will not curb paper leaks unless the education system is comprehensively reformed. The Congress MP said the proposed amendments are only a "cosmetic exercise" and reflects the government's failure to bring genuine reforms in the education sector. "This government is not serious about education. It does not want to bring real reforms. This is merely a showpiece amendment," he said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.