Ludhiana’s Aryan Gupta Tops NEET-UG Amid a Growing Students’ Movement in India

July

2026

A student from Ludhiana, Aryan Gupta, topped the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Under-Graduate (NEET-UG) 2026 examination by scoring an all-India Rank 1. Aryan scored 715 out of 720 marks. Aryan said he studied for nearly 16–17 hours daily to achieve this goal. He aspires to become an oncologist. 2.2 M candidates had appeared for the examination. The NEET-UG examination has been riddled with controversy since the paper was leaked in May and was reconducted in June. The mishandling of the exam led to the suicide of at least 20 students nationwide and gave rise to a students’ movement demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The students’ movement led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has been leading the protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar (protest site) for the past three weeks. Students from all across India have gathered at the site, expressing their anger at the system that has failed them. Many students, accompanied by their parents, have frequented the site expressing their solidarity. Students of All India Students' Association (AISA) began an indefinite hunger strike demanding Pradhan’s resignation. Educationist and scientist, Sonam Wangchuk from Ladakh, joined the movement, lending his strength to the protest, and joining the hunger strike. Despite claims by Panjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains that 882 students from government schools in Panjab cleared the NEET-UG, students feel there is not much left to celebrate in an exam that is a reflection of a broken education system. Some parents at the protest site were scared that their children may meet the same fate as the others who lost their lives due to the re-examination. Many exempted their children from appearing for NEET retest because they felt it was leading their children into depression. The stress on parents who had taken loans to put their children through coaching for these tough exams was palpable. The family of Riya Thapa from Dehradun, who lost her life as she couldn't take the pressure of appearing for NEET a second time, said that these exams are not worth it. Many teachers who also frequented the sites also spoke of the stress the education system lays on students to compete when jobs were becoming less available (earlier coverage).