New Delhi: Cautioning aspirants against rumours, the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Monday that it will publish the answer keys for UGC-NET June 2026 and three other examinations related to Master’s degrees, Junior Research Fellowships and PhD programmes this week.   

In a statement on X, the NTA said, “Provisional answer keys for UGC-NET June 2026, CSIR-NET, and ICAR AIEEA (PG) and AICE (PhD) 2026 will be published on the official website this week.”

“Candidates will be able to view them, and to raise a challenge within the notified window. Detailed instructions will follow at the time of publication. Please rely only on official communications from NTA,” it said

The University Grants Commission’s National Eligibility Test (UGC‑NET) was cancelled in 2024 after papers were reportedly compromised, affecting nearly nine lakh students. Railway recruitment examinations, teacher eligibility tests in states like Odisha and Maharashtra, and police constable examinations in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have all faced similar disruptions. Each time, arrests were made, but convictions largely remained elusive.

Recognising the scale of the crisis, the Union government introduced the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, a landmark law aimed at criminalising organised examination fraud. The Act covers exams conducted by national agencies such as the NTA, UPSC, SSC, Railways and IBPS, as well as state boards.

Last month, the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 was passed by Parliament. It amends the 2024 Act to impose stricter penalties, including up to 10 years' imprisonment, fines up to Rs 10 crore for organised rings, and property seizures, while establishing special fast-track courts for time-bound trials.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra informed Lok Sabha that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also constituted a high-level task force, led by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, to recommend comprehensive reforms aimed at making the country's examination system "leak-proof".

He mentioned that the K. Radhakrishnan committee, constituted on June 22, 2024, had made 46 key recommendations, out of which 76 per cent, that is 35, have already been implemented.