Perennially Leaking Papers Wet Gujarat Government's Shoes !

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 BY R.K.MISRA

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Dashed hopes, crashed dreams. Nine and a half lakh youth converge on examination centres state-wide competing for 1181 posts of junior clerks only to be turned back disappointed.

On January 29,the recruitment examination for junior clerks in the panchayats of Gujarat was postponed due to a question paper leak that effected 9.50 lakh candidates appearing to fill up 1181 positions. “There have been 15 such leaks of question papers of competitive examinations within the last 12 years in Gujarat and going by the record of the government, this may not be the last one either ‘,says Dr Manish Doshi, Gujarat Congress spokesperson and an educationist himself.

 The exams were being conducted by the Gujarat Panchayat Services Selection Board(GPSSB). And the postponement came mere hours before the examination was due to be held. There was chaos and mayhem at  the examination centres state-wide as disappointment turned to anger leading to noisy protests. Fearing an incendiary situation the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation under directions from the Gujarat government pulled back 1800 buses from its fleet to send back 88,000 of them back home for free.

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad(ATS) investigating the case arrested 19 persons describing it as the handiwork of a well-oiled inter-state network. The paper was leaked from a printing press in Hyderabad and wound its way to a resident of Chandanpur in Odisha who then passed it on to a contact in Bihar who provided the conduit to sell the paper in Vadodara and therefrom to Ahmedabad as well as other places in Gujarat. Two of them have been arrested from kolkata . Most of the arrested are connected with educational consultancy or coaching classes. Two of them Bhaskar Chaudhary and Ketan Barot had been arrested by the CBI in 2019 in a similar case involving BITS, Pilani. The paper in question purchased from the Hyderabad press contact for Rs 7 lakhs by a Bhubaneshwar, Odisha person  was slated to be priced at Rs 12 lakhs by the time it reached the end user.

Paper leak scam whistleblower and AAP leader  Yuvrajsinh Jadeja has alleged that all the three main accused arrested in the panchayat paper leak- Chaudhary, Barot and Hardik Sharma- were also involved in  similar scams including National Eligibility cum Entrance Test(NEET),Joint Entrance Examination(JEE),Institute of Banking Personnel Selection,(IBPS) and numerous other online examinations. The gang has also ben involved in issuing  fake certificates of other universities.

AAP leader Manish Sisodia took to twitter to castigate the BJP- led government while Congress Legislature Party leader Amit Chavda charged the ruling party with destroying the future of the youth.

Justice M.B.Shah, former judge of the Supreme Court and chairman of the Gujarat State Law Commission had in its 34th report submitted on July 1, 2022 recommended introduction of a special law against paper leak in recruitment exams conducted by the state government through appropriate authority/board. However with elections on its mind, the state government failed to act. It is only after  the latest leak that minister Rushikesh Patel said that a strict law will be   introduced and passed  in the ensuing budget session to curb the menace.

The Commission Report takes the government to task for its failure to curb the leaks stating that questions must be raised on the state government’s intention in conducting impartial and clean recruitment through competitive exams. ”It may be corruption due to the involvement of influential people in the state government but unfortunately they are never caught”, it said.

The Commission has recommended bringing a law similar to the Haryana Public Examination(Prevention of Unfair Means)Act 2021 and making  amendments in the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Act.

Exam paper leaks have been a recurring factor in Gujarat. In 2018  about 8.75 lakh students were similarly left  to rue their fate  following postponement of the written examination for recruitment of 9713 policemen. The postponement came just an hour before the written test was to commence on December 2, 2018  at 2440 centres  statewide , after it came to light that the exam paper had been leaked.

A week later, the written test for the recruitment of 334 Class-3 Forest Guard which was to take place on December 23 was cancelled, leaving another  6.25 lakh students in the lurch.

In 2014, there was a similar exam paper leak in the recruitment  of 1500 posts of talatis(Village level government functionaries) leading to cancellation of the exams. Again the same year ,the Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) had to scrap the exams for recruitment of chief officers following a similar leak. Similarly  the TET- 2 examination for secondary teachers was scrapped afterwards when it came to be known that the paper had leaked.

Despite the lengthening list of  competitive examination papers leaks for government jobs , most of the arrested and charged are out on bail  and after a decade long interlude ,it is only now that the government   talks of bringing a stringent law- a  case of locking the stable door after the horses have bolted time and again.

http://epaper.lokmat.com/lokmattimes/main-editions/Nagpur%20Main/2023-02-07/6

http://odishapostepaper.com/edition/4389/orissapost/page/9

 

 

 

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