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The Indian government has temporarily blocked the messaging app Telegram ahead of a high-stakes re-examination for millions of medical students. The move comes just days before the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG), which was previously cancelled in May due to allegations of a massive paper leak. The National Testing Agency (NTA) supported the ban, citing the "organised use" of the platform by criminal syndicates to facilitate cheating and defrauding candidates.
But internet users and rights activists have criticised the ban, calling it a "band-aid solution" to tackle a much larger problem of exam fraud.
The platform was still available to users in India hours after the government's announcement, and it is not clear yet how the curb will be enforced.
But it has brought the NEET-UG exam - the gateway to joining medical colleges in India - and the recent controversy surrounding it back into the headlines.
Nearly 2.28 million candidates took the exam on 3 May at more than 5,000 centres across India. But within days, the NTA scrapped the exam after allegations of a paper leak led to widespread protests.
The case is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and more than a dozen arrests have been made so far.
The NEET cancellation and a separate controversy related to marking issues in a crucial school-leaving exam led to protests across India demanding the federal education minister's resignation.
In 2024 too, the NEET exam was rocked by allegations of paper leaks, fraud and irregularities in the awarding of grace marks after thousands of candidates received unusually high scores.
On Tuesday, NTA said that India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had directed Telegram to restrict access to the app in India until 22 June, the day after the retest.
