Days after college students showing for the Karnataka Widespread Entrance Take a look at (KCET) had been controversially requested to take away janivara (sacred thread), the same row has erupted in reference to Sunday’s Nationwide Eligibility-cum-Entrance Take a look at (NEET).
A number of candidates taking NEET within the afternoon session had been allegedly requested to take away their janivara earlier than getting into the examination corridor at St Mary’s College in Kalaburagi. Quickly after the matter got here to gentle, members from numerous communities, together with Brahmin subsects Smarta and Vaishnava, in addition to Lingayat and Dalit teams, protested demanding the suspension of the official accountable, stating that janivara, an emblem of non secular dedication, posed no menace to examination integrity.
Sudhir Patil instructed reporters that his son Sripad Patil returned from the examination centre visibly upset, saying officers had insisted he take away the sacred thread earlier than being allowed into the corridor. Performing on his father’s recommendation, Sripad eliminated the janivara and proceeded to take the examination. Sripad, a resident of Guess Balkunda village in Bidar district’s Basavakalyan taluk, had travelled to Kalaburagi for the examination.
Talking to reporters, Sripad expressed frustration, revealing that he had been so anxious after the incident that he mistakenly wrote the fallacious registration quantity on his reply sheet. He additionally known as for a re-examination.
Officers clarified that two outsourced workers members, Ganesh and Sharanagouda from the Revanasidda company, had been tasked with frisking candidates and instructed to not allow any steel objects or threads. They mentioned the workers members didn’t explicitly ask Sripad to take away his janivara, suggesting the boy might have misunderstood.
The Sanatana Yuva Shakti Belief, Akhila Bharat Madhwa Maha Parishat, and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad backed the protest.
Kalaburagi South MLA Allamaprabhu Patil visited the protesters and urged the deputy commissioner and police commissioner over the telephone to research and maintain the officers accountable.
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The district administration has ordered an inquiry, together with a overview of CCTV footage.
As roughly 1.4 lakh college students took NEET UG 2025 at 381 centres in Karnataka, logistical challenges additionally led to controversies, with a number of candidates noting that roughly 8-10 of the three-hour examination had been misplaced to administrative duties like thumb impressions, signatures, and Aadhaar verification.
A candidate who appeared for the examination at DRDO Complicated in Bengaluru’s CV Raman Nagar mentioned, “The 180-minute length for 180 questions was already tight with a prolonged paper, however we misplaced 15-20 minutes to administrative duties. Signatures and thumb impressions took 2-3 minutes, adopted by Aadhaar verification and videorecording of the centre ate up seven-eight minutes—equal to seven-eight questions. This led to distraction and interrupted my examination. All this, speculated to be performed by 2 pm, began solely in the course of the examination.”
One other candidate, who took the examination at Kendriya Vidyalaya on the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, mentioned, “All of the miscellaneous formalities like signatures, writing father’s and mom’s identify amongst others began after the examination, resulting in a time crunch. I virtually acquired a solution fallacious due to this distraction.”
The 2 candidates wished to be nameless.
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The state authorities to needed to concern pointers directing officers to respect cultural practices after the same controversy erupted in Bidar and Shivamogga in the course of the KCET on April 16. Later the Railway Recruitment Board sought to ban sacred threads and mangalsutras from examination halls however withdrew the choice after it drew flak.
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