The journey from Infosys to Aadhaar… Who is Nandan Nilekani? Who got the big responsibility of exam reform

Knews Desk- After the irregularities revealed in the NEET-UG examination and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Central Government has taken a big step towards comprehensive changes in the examination system of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the formation of a high-level task force for examination reforms, the command of which has been handed over to Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys and the chief architect of the Aadhaar project.

Nandan Nilekani is known in the country and the world as a successful technology leader, entrepreneur and expert in digital transformation. In the year 1981 he N. R. Infosys was founded along with Narayana Murthy and other colleagues. He played an important role in giving the company global recognition and led the company as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from 2002 to 2007. Later in 2017, he returned as non-executive chairman of Infosys.

Chief Architect of Aadhaar Project

The Government of India appointed Nandan Nilekani as the first Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the year 2009. Under his leadership the Aadhaar project was developed, which is today considered the world’s largest biometric identification system. This initiative gave a new direction to government services and digital identity system.

Apart from Aadhaar, Nandan Nilekani has also made an important contribution in strengthening India Stack and digital public infrastructure. His thinking is considered very important in the expansion of digital payment system and technology-based public services.

This high-powered task force constituted by the government will give suggestions to make the examination system of the National Testing Agency (NTA) more secure, transparent and technology-based. Its objective is to effectively stop paper leaks and examination related irregularities.

In this committee, former ISRO chief S. Many experts including Somnath, intelligence officer Tapan Deka, IIT Madras director V. Kamakoti, former education secretary Ankita Karwal and administrative officer Amrit Lal Meena have been included. With the help of these experts from different fields, an outline for long-term reforms in the examination system will be prepared.

What will be the focus of the task force?

• To implement modern technology and AI based security measures in the examination system.
• To suggest comprehensive reforms in the structure and functioning of NTA.
• To prepare recommendations from experts to prevent paper leaks and examination rigging.
• Making the examination process more transparent, reliable and secure.

This decision of the government was taken by Prof. Of. Has been taken following the recommendations of Radhakrishnan Committee. In this sequence, NTA has recently started the recruitment process of four General Managers and 16 Young Professionals, so that the examination system can be further strengthened.