Task Force Pushes Secure Question Vault and Last‑Minute Digital Exams

The high‑powered task force led by Nandan Nilekani is proposing a secure “question vault” backed by strong software, a pool of over one lakh vetted questions and digital delivery of exam papers minutes before a test to stop leaks. The panel also wants to “debundle” exam duties so that one provider does not handle paper setting, centre management and delivery. Nilekani explained at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum 2026 that generating the paper at the last minute removes the economic incentive to sell a fixed “A” paper. The Staff Selection Commission already uses a similar vault; a senior government official said AI‑driven vaults let experts create questions all year and keep the final paper unknown until selection. The official illustrated with 1,000 experts and a random draw of 20‑30 questions from a pool of one lakh for each SSC exam. Translation of English papers into regional languages was flagged as a key leak point, citing the recent NEET‑UG case where a Marathi translator copied questions. SSC Chairman S Gopalakrishnan noted that SSC has had no paper leaks in five years because it never prints papers, using encryption and an internal digital vault. He described the process: for a 5 pm exam, questions are selected, assembled and encrypted at 4:45 pm, then sent to about 200 centres; candidates see the paper after logging in. The task force, after more than 58 meetings, will submit its final report by the end of October. Doreswamy P, CEO of Excelsoft Technologies, praised the vault but warned the whole workflow—from question creation to delivery—must be secured with strong encryption, controlled access and audit trails. ## Context The push follows repeated exam paper leaks, most recently in the NEET‑UG exam, and aims to use technology to close the gaps that allowed translators or insiders to steal questions.