25 days into Nilekani panel, no recommendations yet: Inside India's exam overhaul

The Nilekani-led high-level task force is yet to submit a single recommendation, 25 days after it was formed. Meanwhile, the NTA and Education ministry have already undergone major changes, with NEET reform and exam security at the centre of the overhaul.

In Short

• Centre forms high-powered task force under Nandan Nilekani to revamp exam system
• Senior education officials reshuffled, NTA security and procedures tightened
• Major changes done before Nilekani panel submits recommendations

Twenty-five days after the Centre announced a high-powered task force under Nandan Nilekani to overhaul India's examination system, the government has already changed senior education officials, tightened the National Testing Agency's security architecture, introduced a 4-tier question-paper check and taken Parliament's route to tougher penalties for examination malpractice.

But, some of the biggest questions surrounding NEET remain open.

Should NEET paper move from pen-and-paper to computer-based testing? Should it be split into two stages, on the lines of JEE Main and JEE Advanced? And what should the long-term structure of the NTA look like?

The Centre has said that some of these decisions will be based on the Nilekani task force’s recommendations. However, there has been no update from the panel yet.

The task force has been given three months to submit its recommendations, and 24 days have already passed. And major changes are underway even in the NTA and the Education Ministry, creating a contrast between the quick overhaul of the system and the wait for the panel’s recommendations.

FROM PRADHAN'S EXIT TO NILEKANI

The present phase of the examination overhaul began with a change at the top of the Education Ministry.

Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as Education Minister on July 25, following weeks of student protests over examination-related irregularities. Pralhad Joshi was given charge of the ministry on July 26. The same day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the constitution of the high-powered task force headed by Nandan Nilekani, Infosys co-founder.

The high-powered task force also comprises former ISRO Chairman S Somanath, Intelligence Bureau Director Tapan Deka, IIT Madras Director V Kamakoti, former School Education Secretary Anita Karwal, and Higher Education Secretary Amrit Lal Meena.

The panel was tasked with recommending end-to-end reforms to make public examinations more secure, transparent and efficient. The Centre has said it has three months to submit its recommendations.

THE BUREAUCRATIC RESET

The reshuffle had actually begun even before Nilekani's appointment.

On July 23, Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi was moved to the Panchayati Raj Ministry. Naresh Pal Gangwar was named his replacement, while TK Anil Kumar took charge as School Education Secretary on July 24. Joshi had also been holding the school education portfolio after Sanjay Kumar's retirement.

Then, on August 10, the Higher Education Department changed hands again. Deepti Gaur Mukerjee replaced Gangwar, meaning the department overseeing higher education and NTA saw two successive changes at the top within weeks.

THE GOVERNMENT MOVES ON LAW AND SECURITY

The reform process did not wait for the Nilekani report.

Parliament passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, strengthening the legal framework against examination malpractice. The government said the legislation builds on the 2024 law and is aimed at making India's public examination system more secure.

The Centre also told the Supreme Court that it had put in place a multi-layered security system for NEET, covering the process from question-paper preparation to the declaration of results.

AUGUST 5: NEET'S BIG QUESTIONS GO TO NILEKANI

The most consequential development came before the Supreme Court on August 5.

The Centre said shifting NEET-UG to computer-based testing was under active consideration, but that no final decision had been taken. It said the decision would follow the recommendations of the high-level task force, the Nilekani committee, and consultations with stakeholders.

The possibility of a two-stage NEET, modelled on JEE Main and JEE Advanced, was also being examined.

AND THEN, THE NTA REVAMP

On August 17, Joshi ordered a comprehensive audit of NTA's examination processes and sought a corrective-action report within 30 days after errors in UGC-NET question papers triggered re-examinations in three subjects.

A day later came the biggest operational overhaul yet.

NTA removed around 600 experts from its examination panels and began onboarding new specialists. A four-tier question-paper scrutiny system is being introduced. The agency is also moving its offices and strengthening security with CISF personnel. 20 to 25 officials are expected to be inducted over the next two to three weeks.

All of this has happened even as the Nilekani panel is yet to make a single recommendation.

SO, WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE NILEKANI?

That is now the key question.

The panel was given three months from July 26 to submit its recommendations. But even before it has spoken, the government has already moved ahead with major changes to the NTA and the wider examination system: it has already produced a ministerial change, a bureaucratic churn, new legislation, new security protocols, an NTA personnel overhaul and a possible rethink of the NEET format.

What is concerning is that there has not been a single recommendation from the high-level task force and major decisions have been taken.

What also remains unclear is what will ultimately come from Nilekani itself.

Will its report endorse CBT for NEET? Will it recommend a two-stage examination? Will it propose a fundamental restructuring of NTA? And, perhaps most importantly, how much of its eventual blueprint will be genuinely new, and how much will build on reforms already proposed by the earlier Radhakrishnan committee?

For now, the government is moving on several fronts. But on the questions it has explicitly linked to the Nilekani task force, the final word is still awaited.

- Ends