NEET controversy: Amidst the NEET exam controversy, the central government removed NTA (National Testing Agency) Director General Subodh Kumar Singh at 9 pm on Saturday night. Pradeep Singh Kharola has been appointed as the new DG. He is a retired IAS officer of 1985 batch of Karnataka cadre. Kharola is the CMD of Indian Trade Promotion Organization.
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On May 1, 2024, he was given the additional charge of Chairman of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC). Meanwhile, the NEET- PG exam to be held on June 23 has also been postponed. The new date will be announced later. It is conducted by the National Board of Education in Medical Sciences (NBEMS). The exam was to be held on Sunday at more than 1000 centers in 300 cities.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Ministry of Education announced a 7-member high level committee to prevent irregularities and bring transparency in NTA examinations. Former Chairman of ISRO and former Director of IIT Kanpur K. Radhakrishnan will be its chief. This committee will submit its report to the Ministry of Education in 2 months.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had announced this in a press conference on June 20 on the NEET exam controversy. The Education Minister had said that this committee will give suggestions to the Ministry of Education to further improve the structure, functioning, exam process, transparency, transfer and data, security protocol of NTA.
National Testing Agency was formed 7 years ago
In 2017, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the formation of NTA in her budget speech. Its job is to provide quality testing service i.e. conduct exams for admission and scholarship in higher educational institutions of the country.
NTA cancels 3 exams in 9 days
NTA postponed the CSIR UGC NET exam on Friday at 8:30 pm. This exam was to be held between 25-27 June. The reason given for postponing the exam is lack of resources. NTA said that the new time table of this exam will be uploaded
soon on the official website csirnet.nta.ac.in .
Two days ago, on June 19, NTA had cancelled the UGC NET exam after suspicion of irregularities. Earlier, the NCET exam was cancelled on June 12.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said- The exam will be made zero error
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a press conference on June 20 on the NEET exam controversy. He said, ‘There will be no compromise with the NEET exam. It will be made zero error. A high level committee will be formed for NTA, which will recommend to improve it further.’
NTA is now under the control of this retired IAS officer! Know who is the new DG Pradeep Singh Kharola
Retired IAS officer Pradeep Singh Kharola is an officer of the 1985 batch. He has served on various important posts. Pradeep Singh Kharola has also served as the Chief Managing Director (CMD) of Air India. He has also served as the Managing Director of Bangalore Metro.
Held many important positionsÂ
Retired IAS officer Pradeep Singh Kharola was the Managing Director of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation when it was formed in 1997. He has also been the Managing Director of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation. Apart from this, he was on deputation in the Central Government between 2001 and 2009 and on return, he held the post of Principal Secretary to the then Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar along with other posts.
Residents of UttarakhandÂ
Former IAS Kharola is an officer of Karnataka cadre. According to reports, he is a resident of Dehradun, Uttarakhand. He was born on 15 September 1961. In the year 2015, Pradeep Singh Kharola was given additional charge of the post of Additional Chief Secretary of Tourism Department of Karnataka Government. Mr. Kharola took over the post of Chairman of Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation in the year 2013. Apart from this, he has played an important role on many important posts.Â
