After a week-long impasse, the Lok Sabha on Tuesday began a discussion on the anti-paper leak Bill, with Union Minister Jitendra Singh describing it as a “milestone and the first-of-its-kind” legislation in the history of Parliament.From the Opposition, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra questioned why it was necessary for the government to fire tear gas shells or rain lathis on students.Jitendra, who initiated the debate, said the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, was a reaffirmation of the government’s commitment to safeguarding the welfare of students and youth. The minister said the Bill, which was introduced on Monday, amended the law enacted by the NDA government in 2024. “The amendment is being brought to make the law more stringent. Before this, there was no comprehensive law to deal with such cases,” he said.Citing the 2009 Railway Recruitment Board examination, 2010 BEd entrance test in Uttar Pradesh, 2011 AIIMS examination and the 2013 Maharashtra Secondary Certificate Examination, the minister said paper leaks had taken place in various states ruled by different parties.The government brought the stringent Bill, which provides for punishment of up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh for those involved in paper leaks, days after student protests over the NEET fiasco led to Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as Education Minister. The Opposition has been raising the NEET paper leak issue since the monsoon session began on July 20. As a result, no major legislative business could be taken up until Monday.BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj accused the Opposition of displaying “selective outrage” over examination paper leaks, saying similar incidents had also happened during the UPA regime.Swaraj claimed there were 22 paper leaks between 2004 and 2014 at the Centre and in states ruled by the Congress and its allies. She referred to alleged irregularities in the AIIMS-PG examination in 2006, CLAT in 2009, the Railway Recruitment Board examination in 2009, AIEEE in 2011 and SSC-CGL in 2013. She said the amended Bill strengthened the legal framework to deal with organised inter-state examination mafias.BJP MP Tejasvi Surya said the real problem lay in the education system, which the Narendra Modi government had tried to fix through the National Education Policy introduced in 2020.“For decades, students were trapped in rote learning, coaching culture and relentless exam pressure, with little room for critical thinking or innovation. The National Education Policy is driving reforms in education,” he said.Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde said there was a need to consider improvements in the education system. “Years of hard work by students and the expectations of their families cannot be decided in three hours. The way these examinations are conducted needs to change. In other countries, students have multiple opportunities each year to take an examination. But in India, if a student falls sick or there is a natural calamity, the candidate won’t be able to appear in the examination and will lose an entire year of preparation,” he said.Citing the US Graduate Management Admission Test, which is conducted multiple times a year even though admissions take place only once annually, Shinde said India could develop a similar system with the help of artificial intelligence to ease pressure on students.