Thiruvananthapuram: A section of students who wrote the NEET-PG 2018 examinations on January 7 has alleged that the personal data of over 22,250 students were leaked by the National Board of Examinations (NBE), which conducted the examinations. The students, who made the allegation in an e-mail sent to this newspaper, has also sent the screen shots of the personal details allegedly leaked from the website. The leaked data include date of birth, mobile phone and e-mail which can be manipulated and used for various purposes. The data was expected to be classified information.
The NBE, an autonomous organisation of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, conducted the examinations for admissions to MD/MS/PG diploma courses on a computer-based platform in 150 cities in a single session format. Earlier, there were allegations that scam calls were made for improvement of ranks. Though the NBE responded to it, it has kept mum over the charges of data leakage. When Deccan Chronicle contacted the NBE office in Delhi, the inquiry officer said that the board had made clear its stand in a press release that was also published on its website.
The press release, however, does not refer to the ‘leak.’ Instead, the NBE said it had received complaints that touts or agents were luring and misleading the candidates promising to get them good merit position and marks if money was paid to them. The NBE had filed a complaint with the local police, cyber cell and crime branch of Delhi police. The candidates were cautioned not to be misled by any such false claims, said the press release. It clarified that the NBE does not make any phone calls to any candidate or issues any communication regarding the change of rank obtained in any of the examinations conducted by it or for any other matters.
The NBE declared the result of NEET-PG 2018 on January 23 in respect of 1, 28,917 candidates, the press release claimed. The NBE has provided the marks obtained by each candidate in the results. Tie-breaking of candidates having the same marks and the same number of correct responses in the examinations was done on the basis of marks obtained in the MBBS professional examinations. This is unlike the previous NEET-PG and AIPGMEE where only the date of birth was utilised as a tie-breaking criterion, the statement said.
