CUET EXAM CENTER BIG UPDATE

The National Testing Agency of the Ministry of Education, Government of India, has received around 16.85 lakh application forms from aspirants seeking admission in different colleges across India through Common University Entrance Test (CUET) 2023. 14 lakh candidates who have fulfilled all formalities are appearing in this competitive exam scheduled to start from 21 May 2023. Reportedly 82,655 of the candidates are from Jammu and Kashmir. NTA has allocated centres to the candidates and fixed the calendar as per the number of candidates in a particular area and availability of testing centres. While this distribution is legitimate for most of the areas of the country which have standard surface communication systems, it is not applicable to candidates of the landlocked Kashmir and Ladakh territories. We are receiving a deluge of representations requesting us to sensitise the authorities about the problems 1000s of J&K and Ladakh candidates are facing in reaching their centres in different Indian States. Even the traffic on the highway remains disrupted on the only lifeline to Kashmir and Ladakh and the return air tickets are sold at very high rates. For a female candidate with one escort from family it means not less than ₹60,000 to ₹80,000 depending upon the date sheet and subjects of the candidate. Since many of the Kashmir and Ladakh candidates are getting their centres in Punjab and other States and they have no means to take this test outside the UTs, all concerned authorities, including NTA, Union Ministry of Education and Lieutenant Governors of J&K and Ladakh are requested to intervene immediately and arrange for adequate number of centres in J&K and Ladakh. If not done, 1000s of candidates from the two UTs will fail to appear in this test.