Nilekani panel's mandate largely overlaps Radhakrishnan committee's NTA reform report

An HT analysis found that most of the HPTF's mandates were already covered by the 2024 expert panel, with the review of the NTA's statutory framework.

The high-powered task force (HPTF) set up by the Centre last month to overhaul India’s examination system is largely reviewing territory a government-appointed panel has already mapped — even as the government says implementation of several long-term structural reforms proposed by that earlier panel remains “in process”, an HT analysis of the new body’s Terms of Reference shows.

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who heads the Centre's high-powered task force on examination reforms, which will review India's testing ecosystem and the National Testing Agency's governance framework. (Bloomberg Photo)

Most mandates mirror earlier panel

Of the nine substantive mandates in the 10 Terms of Reference given to the task force headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, seven were fully addressed and two partially covered in the October 2024 report of the High-Level Committee of Experts (HLCE) led by former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan.

What the Nilekani panel adds is a wider remit: a review of the country’s entire examination ecosystem beyond the National Testing Agency, and — more significantly — an explicit examination of the agency’s statutory framework, questions that fell outside the Radhakrishnan committee’s brief.

HT reached this finding by mapping each of the HPTF’s ToRs against the 101 recommendations in the HLCE’s public report. The tenth ToR is an enabling clause allowing the panel to consider any other matter referred by the government.

The overlap runs across examination security, governance reforms, technology adoption, institutional strengthening, implementation roadmaps and examination processes.

Government cites evolving threats

The government’s rationale for the new panel is that circumstances have changed. Constituting the six-member task force through a July 27 Cabinet Secretariat notification, the Centre said the panel had become necessary because of “serious concerns, gaps and constantly evolving threats” around the “conduct, security and administrative robustness” of NEET-UG 2026.

The notification, seen by HT, states that though a majority of the Radhakrishnan committee’s recommendations had been implemented and longer-term structural reforms were “in-process”, “rapidly evolving cybersecurity threats and vested interests have in the meantime fundamentally altered the scale and sophistication of threat actors, especially on the technology side.”

The Nilekani panel has been asked to recommend reforms to make India’s examination system “robust, secure, transparent, trustworthy and future-ready”, anchored in AI and blockchain.

Reform implementation remains incomplete

The pace of the earlier reforms is itself part of the issue. As HT reported on July 28, 27 of the 101 recommendations submitted by the Radhakrishnan committee in October 2024 remain unimplemented. Of the 60 short-term recommendations, 46 have been implemented, three partially, two are under implementation, three have been announced for rollout, and six remain pending. Progress has been slower on structural change: 21 of 41 long-term recommendations are yet to be implemented.

Members of the Radhakrishnan committee, requesting anonymity, acknowledged the overlap but pointed to the wider scope of the new panel. The earlier committee was tasked primarily with reforming the NTA, one member said, while the Nilekani panel has been asked to review the entire examination ecosystem — from design and conduct to governance and technology. “While the earlier panel inevitably dealt with system-level issues of NTA because of the nature of its work, the new committee’s focus extends beyond the testing agency itself.” Another member said many of the reforms now in the HPTF’s mandate — greater use of AI and blockchain, institutional reforms, strengthening governance mechanisms — had already been recommended in the Radhakrishnan report. “The principal new element of the HPTF mandate is the direction to examine the NTA’s statutory framework.”

Statutory question

The HPTF’s Terms of Reference ask it to “recommend reforms to strengthen and institutionalise the governance mechanisms of NTA, from organisational structure to human resource management and statutory framework.” The NTA is currently a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 — the same colonial-era law under which literary clubs and charitable trusts are registered — and operates as an autonomous, self-sustained testing organisation established by the government. It has no independent statutory basis for its powers, and its enforcement, staffing and decision-making architecture flow from executive delegation rather than an Act of Parliament.

To be sure, the Nilekani panel’s ToRs do not ask it to recommend statutory status — but require it to examine the framework. The Radhakrishnan panel had not looked at that question because it fell outside its mandate, which was confined to reforming the existing institution. “The new committee could recommend converting the NTA — or a successor institution — into a statutory body if it considers that necessary,” the first member quoted above said.