The Indian government late on Friday night brought into force a new law to check corruption in conducting exams.
The new law entails penal provisions such as 10 years imprisonment and a monetary fine of 10 million Indian rupees (around 119,674 U.S. dollars) for those found involved in irregularities or corrupt practices while conducting examinations for college admissions or government jobs.
Passed by the Indian parliament in February this year, the new law, Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act 2024, came into force on Friday.
The move assumed significance amid widespread protests by students and civil society groups across the country against the federal government's National Testing Agency over repeated incidents of question paper leaks of leading national-level examinations.