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  "path": "/news/2008345/india-blocks-telegram-before-retest-exam-to-curb-cheating",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-16T15:30:29.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.dawn.com",
  "tags": [
    "Tech",
    "marking fiasco",
    "Cockroach People’s Party",
    "movement"
  ],
  "textContent": "India blocked access to the Telegram messenger app on Tuesday ahead of a retest of a nationwide medical college entrance examination, following a scandal last month over a question paper leak.\n\nThe failure of the hugely competitive exam, along with a separate marking fiasco in high school tests, sparked outrage and fuelled youth protests demanding the education minister’s resignation.\n\nThe electronics ministry issued the order restricting access to Telegram until Monday, the day of the retest. Message-editing features, which allow users to alter existing posts, will remain restricted until June 30.\n\n“Both measures have been taken in the interest of public order, in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates,” India’s National Testing Agency (NTA) said in a statement.\n\n> The National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) is one of the country’s most competitive exams, attracting more than two million aspiring doctors.\n\nThe NEET exam was scrapped in May following allegations that the question paper was leaked in advance, including reports that it had been circulated through Telegram channels.\n\nResponding to the electronics ministry’s decision, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov said the week-long ban “hasn’t stopped anything” but “punishes” 150 million ordinary users of the messaging app in India and “not the insiders who leaked the exam materials”.\n\n“The leaks just moved to other apps,” Durov said in a post on X.\n\n> The Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights group, said the ban “is a disproportionate answer to exam fraud”.\n\nThe intense pressure to succeed in the national exams has fuelled a lucrative industry, with tens of thousands of coaching centres across the country.\n\nFierce competition means that success often comes at a high personal and financial cost — creating opportunities for criminal networks seeking to sell leaked examination papers to the highest bidder.\n\n## Test pilots\n\nIndia’s Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested the “kingpin” alleged to be behind the leak, naming him as a chemistry lecturer involved in the examination process for the NTA.\n\nOn Monday, the education ministry launched a website where the public can report “suspicious claims, unauthorised content, or fraudulent activities” related to the NEET exam.\n\nIndian air force helicopters were seen on Tuesday readying for the delivery of the test papers, to “prevent any possibility of leak”, _The_ _Press Trust of India_ news agency reported, broadcasting images of preparations in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.\n\nDespite rapid economic growth, millions of people in the world’s most populous nation still struggle to find stable and well-paying jobs, fuelling discontent.\n\nStudents spend years preparing for exams in the hope of securing a professional career, with the pressure intensified by limited opportunities and intense competition.\n\nIndian media reported suicides of teenagers following the fiasco over the NEET exam.\n\nThe NEET scandal came on top of another controversy, related to the online marking system used for tests taken by nearly two million high school students.\n\nMany students said the system had assigned incorrect grades or issued results to the wrong candidates.\n\nAnger at the exam mishandling has been channelled by the satirical “Cockroach People’s Party”, which has won millions of followers on social media since its launch in May.\n\nThe movement emerged after India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant reportedly likened young people who criticised the government to “cockroaches” and “parasites” during a court hearing, sparking outrage among the youth. Kant later said his comments were taken out of context.",
  "title": "India blocks Telegram before retest exam to curb cheating"
}