{"text":[[{"start":8.7,"text":"India has temporarily banned messaging app Telegram, saying fraudsters were using it to promote cheating in a state-run entrance examination. "}],[{"start":16.45,"text":"The ban will last until June 22, the day after students aspiring to study medicine in Indian universities will resit a nationwide entrance exam, the National Testing Agency said. "}],[{"start":29.1,"text":"A separate ban on a Telegram feature that allows channel administrators to edit messages while preserving the original timestamp will last until June 30. "}],[{"start":39,"text":"Last month, more than 2.2mn Indians took the annual entrance exam to study undergraduate medicine, known as NEET (UG). But the results were annulled after reports that exam papers had been leaked on messaging apps."}],[{"start":52.95,"text":"“Both measures have been taken in the interest of public order, in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination scheduled on 21 June 2026,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday."}],[{"start":71.5,"text":"The cancellation of the exam results sparked uproar among students, many of whom had spent months and fortunes on preparation. The Cockroach Janta Party, an upstart youth protest group that went viral online last month, has demanded the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and has threatened nationwide demonstrations."}],[{"start":92.55,"text":"Pradhan has said the government treated concerns about the exam paper leaks with “utmost seriousness and sensitivity” and acted “solely in the interest of safeguarding the aspirations of honest and hardworking students”."}],[{"start":104.05,"text":"“Ensuring a transparent, credible and secure examination system remains our unwavering commitment to students and their future,” he said in a statement to the FT earlier this month."}],[{"start":115,"text":"The testing agency said that a Telegram feature allowing chat group administrators to alter older messages without changing the timestamp had been misused “to insert the actual question paper after the examination has been conducted”."}],[{"start":128.85,"text":"The resulting chat is then circulated as purported “evidence” that the paper was in circulation before the examination,” it said. "}],[{"start":136.29999999999998,"text":"Channels operating on Telegram under names such as “PAPER LEAKED NEET” and “Private Mafia” have demanded sums of as much as several hundred thousand rupees from candidates and their families for access to the purported medical entry re-examination paper due to be used on June 21, the agency said."}],[{"start":154.04999999999998,"text":"A senior government official said that internet service providers in India would be obliged to restrict access to Telegram, which he accused of “mischievously” using proxy servers."}],[{"start":165.74999999999997,"text":"“The most doable way of blocking [Telegram] is to get service providers to block them,” he said."}],[{"start":172.54999999999998,"text":"Telegram did not respond to a request for comment. The messaging app claims more than 1bn users worldwide and does not publish country breakdowns, but market intelligence groups estimate India is its biggest market."}],[{"start":184.7,"text":"The Internet Freedom Foundation objected to the ban on Tuesday as a “band-aid solution” and a “disproportionate answer to exam fraud”. "}],[{"start":193.2,"text":"“The block of Telegram is reactive and ineffective and will punish ordinary users instead of addressing the systemic source of exam leaks,” it said in a statement. "}],[{"start":203.04999999999998,"text":"India’s information and technology ministry, which ordered the ban using sweeping legislation intended to safeguard national security, did not give information about the move and its spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. "}],[{"start":216.39999999999998,"text":"Nikhil Pahwa, founder of the tech platform MediaNama, said that rather than targeting the exam paper leaks, the ban penalised users who were likely to migrate to other platforms."}],[{"start":227.45,"text":"“The government constantly keeps externalising the costs on citizens instead of fixing its own house,” he said, adding that small businesses using Telegram to match buyers and sellers would also be affected."}],[{"start":239.95,"text":"“Bureaucrats who don’t know how to use the internet take thoughtless decisions like this,” he said. “This is a disproportionate action.”"}],[{"start":254.9,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1781610489_2844.mp3"}