File photo: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman

NEW DELHI: Government did not stop students from protesting at any point in time, while at the same time, it was gearing up to conduct the NEET re-examination in time and punish the culprits who had engaged in paper leaks, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.“Permission was given when they came, as soon as Dipke landed. We didn’t try at any point in time to stop the protest at all. When things didn’t go right at the first time when the exams were held and leak became public, and it had to be acted upon, soon the govt arrested those who had bought and sold the papers. It was the responsibility of the govt to arrest them and put into the judicial process… but equally important was that the re-examination happens in time, so that one whole year does not get affected,” Sitharaman said on why the govt took long to respond to the students’ protest.

She stressed it was after the successful re-examination that education minister Dharmendra Pradhan took the “wise” decision to resign. “If he hadn’t done that (the re-examination process), it would have been irresponsible of everybody in the system,” she said.Besides, she said, India faced the risk of inflation from both external and internal factors. “…this year, there is El Nino. The catchment areas are not receiving adequate rains. So, water for irrigation and drinking is going to pose a challenge. So, inflation cannot be just imported. It is also our own,” she said.