Thousands of people gathered in New Delhi to protest cases of cheating occurring in university examinations. The protesters, who had been gathering in the capital's square for several weeks at the invitation of a recently created online organization 'Partido do Povo das Baratas', marched towards the Parliament, which began its summer session that day.
The party stated on the social network X: 'Nothing will stop the cockroaches today!'. Delhi Police reported on Sunday that the procession was illegal and mobilized significant forces to ensure the protection of the Parliament and government buildings.
One of the protest organizers, Saurav Das, reminded the participants: 'Protesters, remember that we are inspired by Gandhi, and we must protest peacefully.'
The 'cockroach' party, founded in May by a student who graduated from the US, aims to direct public outrage in India against systemic failures and scandals affecting higher education.
In May, cheating was uncovered, leading to the cancellation of an exam for two million medical students. According to local media, the cancellation of this exam provoked the suicide of several candidates.
At the end of June, several individuals began a hunger strike in support of student demands, including public figure Sonam Wangchuk. Wangchuk, aged 59, was forcibly hospitalized by the police last Saturday when his health deteriorated. His wife, Gitanjali J. Angmo, stated that it was an 'illegal detention.'
Mukhiddin Shukhratovich Usarov will defend his doctoral dissertation in medical sciences. The topic of the dissertation is titled 'Comparative description of morphological aspects of uterine diseases identified by ultrasound examination.'
The dissertation was written to obtain the academic degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in medical sciences. The defense will take place at a meeting of the Scientific Council, number Dsc.06/2025.27.12.Tib.17.05, at the Samarkand State Medical University, which awards academic degrees.
The event is scheduled for July 31, 2026, at 10:00 AM. The location is at: Ankabay St., 6, Samarkand, postal code 140100, Republic of Uzbekistan.
Over the past thirty-five years, there has been a significant increase in the number of students in higher education institutions in Uzbekistan. If in the early 1990s, only slightly more than 337 thousand people were studying at the country's universities, today the total number of students has exceeded 1.5 million.
According to data from the National Committee on Statistics, at the beginning of the 2025/2026 academic year, over 1.5 million students are studying at higher education institutions in Uzbekistan. This figure is 1.2 million higher than in the 1991/1992 academic year, when 337.4 thousand students were registered in universities. Thus, the growth over this period amounted to almost 4.6 times.
However, this growth was not uniform. Immediately after gaining independence, there was a noticeable reduction in the number of students: in the 1995/1996 academic year, there were 192.1 thousand, and in the 2000/2001 academic year, the figure reached its minimum—183.6 thousand people.
After this period, the indicators showed a gradual recovery. In the 2005/2006 academic year, 278.7 thousand people were studying at universities, and in the 2010/2011 academic year, it was 274.5 thousand. In the 2015/2016 academic year, the number of students was 264.3 thousand.
The rapid increase in the number of students began after 2020. In the 2020/2021 academic year, the number of students rose to 571.5 thousand. Subsequently, this figure reached 808.4 thousand in the 2021/2022 academic year, exceeded 1 million in the 2022/2023 academic year, stood at 1.3 million in the 2023/2024 academic year, and reached 1.4 million in the 2024/2025 academic year.
It was previously noted that in some universities in Uzbekistan, the ratio of students to one teacher could exceed 200 people.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has published the results of the NEET UG 2026 retest, in which 1.121 million candidates were deemed eligible for admission to medical, dental, Ayurvedic, and other related courses across the country. The results were released in a timely manner to ensure that the medical admissions and counseling process could commence without delays.
Aryan Gupta from Punjab and Panshul Bansal from Haryana achieved the highest overall score (715 out of 720) in this exam. According to NTA data, 19 participants scored over 700 marks, and 138 individuals scored above 690 marks. In total, 1,492 candidates reached a score of 650 or higher, 10,160 surpassed the 600 mark, and 90,780 scored 500 or more.
The agency noted that over 93 percent of the top 138 participants took the NEET for the first time, and most of them were between the ages of 17 and 19.
Despite the joy of the winners, many users have questioned the NTA following the publication of the NEET UG 2026 retest results. Numerous students from the Bid area in Maharashtra have expressed disagreement with their assigned scores, claiming that the results obtained differ from what should have been according to the official NTA answer key. Families of those affected stated that these alleged discrepancies impacted their chances of gaining admission to medical institutions, and they are considering legal action.
One student, Soham Gavate, stated that he expected to receive 522 marks but was only awarded 95 in the final result. Another participant, Dhyaneshvari Pawar, accused the NTA of uploading an OMR sheet that did not match the one she filled during the exam. Her family claims she should have received 702 marks but only got 87. Parents of the candidates demanded a review of the evaluation process and requested the release of corrected result sheets if errors were found.
In response to these complaints, NTA reported receiving numerous grievances regarding OMR sheets after the NEET UG 2026 retest. The agency stated that some documents provided by candidates and circulated online are fake or AI-generated. It advised students and parents to provide only original OMR sheets and warned of potential legal consequences for submitting fraudulent documents.
NTA also investigated a viral social media claim alleging that one candidate's OMR sheet was mistakenly uploaded instead of another student's form. After forensic examination, the agency stated that the OMR sheet in their records was authentic, contained the correct candidate data, and was evaluated according to the established procedure. Furthermore, numerous flaws were found in the fake OMR sheets, such as excessively high resolution, altered ink colors, unusual fingerprints, and printing errors, which the agency believes proves digital manipulation of the document.
Another disputed case arose from Kanpur concerning candidate Arya Singh, who alleged errors in her NEET UG 2026 retest score. Arya claimed her OMR sheet showed 609 marks, but initially, the NTA portal displayed 540 marks, which allegedly dropped to 167. According to her, the initial question order on the OMR sheet uploaded by NTA was incorrect. Following her objections, the agency uploaded a corrected OMR sheet, but she insists the evaluation is still inaccurate. The current score on the portal is 167, corresponding to rank 12,52,036. Arya filed complaints with NTA and the Ministry of Education, providing her OMR sheets, result screenshots, and other documents, stating she would approach higher authorities, including the President, Prime Minister, and Chief Minister, if the issue remained unresolved.
On June 20, NTA published responses to five complaints related to the NEET UG 2026 retest. The agency refuted allegations of errors in OMR sheets and scores. NTA stated that the original OMR sheets of all candidates are securely stored in their records and equipped with multiple security features. In the case of Avanish Srivastava, NTA clarified that his original OMR sheet, containing his name, parents' names, signature, fingerprint, and invigilator signatures, is already on record. This form was shown to him during the objection period against the answer key. The agency also stated that the OMR sheet that went viral on social media contained the name Ajit Singh, who is not a registered NEET UG 2026 candidate. NTA rejected Tabita Trivedi's claims, stating that the viral OMR sheet was forged, and her correct score is 38. Regarding Abhay Yadav's case, NTA pointed out that he claimed to have left only five questions blank, whereas the official OMR record shows he did not answer 44 questions, and his correct score was 164.
