New Delhi: India has restricted access to the Telegram messaging app for a defined and limited period until June 22, the Ministry of Education said in a statement on Tuesday.
The move is aimed to prevent exam fraud ahead of NEET UG re-examination on June 21. The Ministry stated that the platform has been used to "defraud candidates" taking the medical entrance examination.
"Both measures have been taken in the interest of public order, in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination scheduled on 21 June 2026," NTA said. The platform has also been directed to disable message-editing feature on already posted messages till jun 30.
The directions have been issued on the recommendations of the National Testing Agency (NTA), which welcomed the move.
NTA STATEMENT REGARDING THE ACTION ON TELEGRAM PLATFORM IN INDIA1. The National Testing Agency (NTA) welcomes the directions issued today in respect of the Telegram platform in India. The directions, issued on recommendations of NTA are calibrated and bounded in time:(a) a…
The NEET-UG exam which was originally conducted on May 3 was cancelled due to a large scale paper-leak. The leak and the cancellation has led to widespread protests across India, especially by students and youth.
-With inputs from Reuters