While the youth agitation led by Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has been suspended following the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the former Union minister for education, deep scepticism remains over whether the government has genuinely acknowledged the students’ cause. In reality, the NEET – UG question paper leak is merely the tip of an iceberg, hinting at a much larger systemic rot that manifests year after year.The recurring scams plaguing the medical entrance exam, the previous paper leaks of the UGC-NET, the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) knee-jerk response of postponing exams whenever misconduct comes to light, and the administration’s dismissive arrogance have collectively shaken the conscience of the Indian middle class.This systemic corruption and mismanagement are not isolated to the education sector; they plague other government recruitment examinations across the board. Yet, neither Pradhan’s resignation letter nor the rhetorics of the political executives reflect any genuine remorse. Instead, a narrative has been actively deployed to malign Sonam Wangchuk – the man who sparked the youth movement – by painting a legitimate student protest as a foreign-funded, deep-state conspiracy to destabilise the country and labelling the agitating youth as anti-national.Earlier in 2016, an online examination paper was leaked and widely circulated prior to the scheduled test timing in the Central Police Organisation exam for the recruitment of Sub-inspector, conducted by Staff Selection Commission working under Department of Personnel. On being detected, SSC cancelled the multi-shift examination and ordered a retest.Subsequently, there were complaints and agitations even in respect of Combined Graduate level Examinations (CGL) of 2017. It was alleged that certain private coaching institutes indulged in malpractices to get their students recruited and it was found that an unusually high number of candidates were selected from certain areas of the country. The Central Bureau of Investigation discovered large scale irregularities in the CGL of 2017 conducted by the Staff Selection Commission to fill up the posts in ministries and other central government subordinate offices.In its chargesheet, CBI named one well-known technology aggregator entrusted to conduct the online exam. It was learnt that the candidates “used remote access software for solving their question papers by means of outside help from unknown persons”. An FIR was lodged against the third-party exam vendor. The Supreme Court stayed the results to begin with, eventually allowing the release of these results years later.The rumours of a leak during the July 2025 SSC CGL (Tier-2) computer-based exam once again exposed glaring vulnerabilities in third-party server protections and network encryption.Meanwhile, student bodies launched massive protests at Jantar Mantar. Repeated instances of paper leak of exams conducted by various agencies established the systemic disconnect within the administration. It was a classic case of the government’s left hand not knowing what its right hand was doing. The ministry of education’s NTA remained entirely oblivious to the affairs of the Department of Personnel’s Staff Selection Commission, and vice versa.Media reports after the 2024 NEET paper leak indicated the operation of well-organised mafia gangs in such large-scale crimes. The exam scams of the Staff Selection Commission, on the other hand, never caught so much media attention. Further, the NEET scam this year was not a high-technology scam. This is a case of selected leakage of question papers. The papers and answers were leaked to those who paid high sums to the mafia-gang through their agents.Testing agencies apparently didn’t take measures to strengthen the standard protocol of conducting such examinations, even if that involves heavy expenses. It is intriguing that Union government had set aside the key red flags raised by Parliamentary Standing Committee regarding public examinations and functioning of the NTA. This high-handedness was seen despite the fact that 17 of the 30 members of the Standing Committee belonged to the Bharatiya Janata Party.For computer-based tests, the Parliamentary Standing Committee recommended that the exams be hosted strictly in government or government-controlled centers and should never be outsourced to private centers. The committee questioned why the NTA sat on a Rs 448.21 crore surplus instead of allocating it towards infrastructural upgradation and for securing exam protocols.The Union education ministry never bothered to explain, not even to the lawmakers, why it ignored these recommendations of the parliamentary committee. Against this background, the Union education minister’s resignation seems to be a calculated government strategy to buy peace rather than a genuine apology.The minister was forced to step down only when civil society’s support for the agitating youth pushed the government into a corner following the brutal beating of protesters by the police. Ultimately, if the government takes this signal from civil society seriously and addresses the concerns of the youth within a definitive timeframe, it will reaffirm its legitimacy to rule within a democratic framework.Gautam Bhattacharya is a former civil servant and an independent commentator on socio-economic issues and public policies.