After NEET-UG 2026 leak, NTA plans ‘zero-trust’ system to overhaul question paper setting: What does it mean?

Days after the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak exposed the fragility of the examination process, the National Testing Agency (NTA) is working to redesign the fundamental process of creating the question papers. Under the new proposal, the NTA has decided to ensure that subject experts remain unaware of the question papers they will set for the next year's exam, whether NEET, JEE or any other examination conducted by this body.

A central part of the reform is separating question paper preparation from specific examinations altogether and adopting what officials call a “zero-trust architecture,” where reliance is placed on secure processes rather than individuals. The proposal comes in the wake of the CBI’s investigation into the NEET-UG 2026 leak, which has led to the arrest of 13 people so far, including translators and subject experts accused of leaking portions of the question paper.

According to a report by The Indian Express last week, the arrests suggest that the breach may have occurred during the initial phase of the Confidential Operations (CONOPs), the tightly controlled paper-setting and translation mechanism introduced after the 2024 NEET controversy.

The involvement of translators allegedly connected to the Physics, Chemistry and Biology sections has prompted authorities to reassess the long-held belief that trusted experts can be granted access to entire sections of an examination paper without compromising security. “If the paper is compromised, then it is not a pen-and-paper problem. It is a problem of system design and structure,” a senior government official said. “We are trying to reduce the human interface. There has to be a zero-trust architecture.”

Alteration of subject specialists

Officials indicated that the proposed system would fundamentally alter the role of subject specialists. Rather than being asked to prepare questions for a specific examination, experts would submit questions to a centralised question bank without knowing which of those questions would ultimately be used. “The domain expert should be examination-agnostic. He should not know whether the question is being set for NEET, JEE or any other examination. The objective is to ensure that no single individual has visibility of the final paper,” the official said.

The agency is considering the development of a large repository containing thousands of subject-wise questions, officials said. Examination papers would then be generated from this pool through technology-driven mechanisms aimed at ensuring an appropriate balance of topics and maintaining consistent difficulty levels. “We can have a bank of 10,000 questions. The final paper can be built on that bank. Technology can help determine difficulty levels and question distribution. The idea is to minimise the number of eyes through which the paper passes,” the official said.

Translation procedures, which came under the spotlight after arrests linked to the 2026 paper leak case, are also expected to see major reforms. The proposed changes build on assurances previously given by the National Testing Agency (NTA) to the Supreme Court. In an earlier affidavit, the agency stated that it intended to deploy artificial intelligence for nearly 85 per cent of the translation work, while human experts would be responsible for reviewing and validating the remaining portion.