NTA made the error, taxpayers pay? Gen Z Whistleblower Sarthak on UGC NET re-exam

NTA's decision to re-conduct UGC-NET papers for English, Commerce and Sociology has raised questions over the financial cost of the exercise. Gen Z whistleblower Sarthak Sidhant has now asked how much the re-exam will cost NTA and, ultimately, the taxpayer.NTA made the error, taxpayers pay? Gen Z Whistleblower Sarthak on UGC NET re-examThe National Testing Agency, NTA, got three UGC-NET papers wrong. Now, the agency will conduct re-exams, but who pays for the mistake? NTA on Sunday announced fresh exams for English, Commerce and Sociology after an expert panel found serious errors in the papers. Candidates will not be charged again.Gen Z whistleblower Sarthak Sidhant, a Class 12 student who brought alleged irregularities in CBSE’s On-Screen Marking system and tender process into the spotlight, has now raised two questions: What does a re-exam cost NTA, and ultimately the government, as in the case of re-NEET? And how much taxpayer money is being spent when the agency gets an exam wrong?The re-exam comes as NTA released provisional answer keys for 84 of 87 UGC-NET subjects. The keys for English, Commerce and Sociology were withheld amid complaints over errors in the papers.WHAT WENT WRONG?Candidates had flagged spelling and grammatical mistakes, poor translations, unclear wording, incorrect names and terminology, questions allegedly beyond the syllabus and repeated questions. A review committee later identified factual, typing, translation, grammar and punctuation errors, among other problems. With the problems considered too widespread to be fixed simply by dropping individual questions, NTA opted for a complete re-examination of the three papers.NTA’S OWN NUMBERSGovernment data presented in Parliament shows that NTA collected Rs 3,513.98 crore in examination fees between 2018-19 and 2023-24. During the same period, it reported expenditure of Rs 3,064.77 crore, leaving a difference of about Rs 449 crore. NTA calls itself “self-supporting through the examination fee collected.” Its core operations are therefore funded largely by fees paid by candidates rather than a direct annual taxpayer-funded operating budget.The numbers also grew sharply. NTA’s fee income rose from Rs 490.35 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 873.20 crore in 2022-23, and then to an estimated Rs 1,065.38 crore in 2023-24. Its expenditure in 2023-24 was estimated at Rs 1,020.35 crore.Further, the government says NTA outsources several critical examination functions, including biometric capture, frisking, CCTV surveillance, AI analytics and exam delivery, to specialised agencies. A re-exam therefore means more than preparing another question paper. Centres, manpower, security, technology, logistics and evaluation may all have to be mobilised again.THE REAL ACCOUNTABILITY QUESTIONThere is still no publicly disclosed figure for the exact cost of the UGC-NET re-exam for these three papers.And that brings Sarthak’s questions back into focus: How much does a re-exam actually cost? And how much public money is ultimately being spent when an examination system fails?Students pay the fees. Students lose time. Students face uncertainty. NTA made the error. The public deserves to know the bill.- EndsPublished By: Apoorva AnandPublished On: Aug 17, 2026 08:52 IST