Barely two-and-a-half months before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the then Narendra Modi government 2.0 brought the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, in Parliament, which sought to prevent “unfair means” in order to “bring greater transparency, fairness and credibility to the public examinations system” in the country.These exams include common entrance tests and government recruitment exams conducted by “public examination authorities” such as the UPSC and National Testing Agency (NTA), among others.AdvertisementThe Bill was passed by both the Houses in February 2024 during the Budget Session.Amid its current standoff with the student and youth protesters led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the Modi government is planning to amend the 2024 Bill to make it more stringent.Piloting the 2024 Bill in the Lok Sabha on February 6 of that year, Union minister Jitendra Singh underlined that while the Bill seeks to punish officials or organisations that indulge in various exam malpractices, including leaks of question papers and tampering of answer sheets, students or candidates will not come under its purview.AdvertisementWhile the Act stipulates a prison term of three to five years and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh for any person resorting to unfair means in exams, it provides for harsher punishment, including a jail term up to 10 years and a fine over Rs one crore, in cases of “organised” paper leaks.The Bill had got bipartisan support in both the Houses.Lok SabhaIntroducing the Bill in the Lower House on February 6, 2024, Jitendra Singh flagged media reports about a girl student from Kota, 18-year-old Niharika Solanki, a JEE aspirant, who had died by suicide just two days before its exam scheduled for 31 January, 2024.The minister quoted from the girl’s suicide note stating that “Mummy, papa, please forgive me. I cannot do it. I am the worst daughter.”Singh said the government was taking steps to serve the youth just months after it had passed a constitutional amendment legislation, 2023, to provide for one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. He said Prime Minister Modi believed that there were only four castes – women, youth, farmers and the poor.“We can say with evidence that in all provisions made for the youth in the last 10 years, it has been seen that there is transparency and that the youth get opportunities in keeping with their talent (pratibha), ability (yogyata) and hard work (parishram),” Singh said. “The definition of democracy is that every young person can dare to dream that he or she can occupy any post and can apply for admission to any educational institution, take the exam and pass it.”He noted that most of the exams were now conducted in computer-based mode in order to ensure transparency.Singh pointed out that there have been complaints in recent years that question papers have been leaked in various exams, citing instances of malpractices like impersonation and papers being solved outside the exam centres.He gave such examples from the then Trinamool Congress (TMC)-ruled West Bengal in 2022, the then Congress-ruled Rajasthan during 2018-2022, and Jammu and Kashmir between 2017 and 2022.Singh said the Bill had penal provisions for punishing those “evil people” who play with the future of students.Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh supported the Bill, urging the government to use the latest technology to ensure that there were no irregularities in exams. He also suggested the creation of an official wing for re-examination for cancelled exams.He attacked the then CPI (M)-led LDF government in Kerala, alleging certain malpractices in the conduct of exams there. He also suggested that not just the “direct culprits” but also the “conspiracy plotters” and “intermediary agents” be punished in these cases.The then Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, said that “the Bill has penal provisions for committed offences but lacks preventive measures to reduce such acts”.DMK member D M Kathir Anand also said that the Bill “only talks about imprisonment, punishment and fine being imposed”, adding that it has however “not said anything about how these malpractices can be controlled”.Later, in his reply, the minister said that “punishment itself is a deterrent meant for prevention”.YSR Congress MP Chinta Anuradha backed the Bill, commending it for deterring people from indulging in malpractices through penal provisions. She, however, questioned why candidates indulging in unfair means were exempted from the purview of the Bill.While supporting the Bill, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule asked what difference it would make. “There is a system in place. If there is any scam, people do get caught. Then… what are you bringing in today in the Bill that did not exist in the past?”Sule added that while the minister gave examples of the Opposition states regarding various paper leaks, there was one such leak that happened in the NDA-ruled Maharashtra too.TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee said the categories of offences mentioned in the Bill were already covered in the IPC and Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita 2023. The deficiencies, he noted, were not in the absence of laws, but in their implementation.Replying to the debate, Singh said: “This is a specific legislation because in the existing Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, offences like these are not specifically mentioned, and therefore, we have identified and tried to define ‘unfair means’ in the conduct of examinations to the best of our ability,” he said.“Of course, as you rightly hinted, if the magnitude of the crime goes beyond an extent, obviously it will fall in the domain of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita or the erstwhile IPC,” the minister added. The Bill was then passed by the House.Rajya SabhaThe Bill was taken up by the Rajya Sabha on February 9, 2024, when Jitendra Singh introduced it in the same manner that he had done in the other House. He again cited the Kota girl’s suicide note, saying that “WE have huge stakes in the youth of the country who comprise more than 70% of India’s population and, therefore, none of us would like vital youth energy and youth power to be sacrificed at the altar of a handful of selfish interests.” Congress leader Digvijaya Singh backed the Bill in principle, but added that the biggest of such scams was the Vyapam scandal in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh – an admission and recruitment fraud that happened there between 2008 and 2013. He said while those who gave bribes were jailed, those who took bribes were “roaming free”. He alleged that the online exams had become a major source of corruption, suggesting that all exams be held offline.Supporting the Bill, BJP MP and Ex-HRD minister Prakash Javadekar praised the NTA formed under him, saying that it was set up since PM Modi wanted “purity” in the exam system.“A proper procedure was put in place in NTA and NEET and other exams began to be conducted by it, and copying stopped,” Javadekar claimed.Significantly, it was under the NTA that the NEET-UG paper leaks took place in 2024 and 2026.you may likeThe then AAP MP Sandeep Pathak, who defected to the BJP in April 2026, said there were 70 paper leaks in the seven years prior to 2024. “This is the basis of the Amrit Kaal we talk about. In this, the amrit (nectar) goes to the corrupt and the mafia, and poison comes the people’s way,” he said.Pathak suggested that the guilty in such cases be given life imprisonment and their property confiscated. Jitendra Singh quipped that as per this proposal, the property of all AAP leaders in jail should be confiscated.After the minister’s short reply to the debate, the Bill was passed by the Upper House.