Paper leaks, impersonation, OMR sheet manipulation and bribery are undermining national and state-level entrance tests and government recruitment exams. Senior police officers involved in ongoing investigations identify outsourced printing presses as the primary source of paper leaks, while OMR manipulation and bribery are often linked to organised gangs.
The Enforcement Directorate has initiated at least eight cases in connection with paper leaks and OMR sheet manipulation in three states – West Bengal, Rajasthan and Jharkhand – to investigate the money laundering angle. The CBI has been investigating at least a dozen such scams across states like Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand.
From February to May this year, states and statutory organisations issued approximately 1,400 tenders for printing question papers for various exams. Tender values ranged from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 6.2 crore, depending on the specific exam, News18 has learnt.
A senior source in the Ministry of Home Affairs, however, said that the numbers may even be higher as the government-run printing presses generally do not have the capacity to print question papers in such bulk numbers. The investigations often lead to the printing houses as the “source” of the leak, though there are persons at every level in the system who have been complicit in such leaks, the source added.
No Surveillance on Outsourcing
A senior IAS officer who has served in the Ministry of Education told News18 that the National Testing Agency (NTA) was formed to conduct all major examinations, but without necessary resources.
“The NTA tender documents reveal how the NTA runs. The organisation outsources almost everything. They hire manpower and they also allow the successful bidders (for any process) to hire third parties at will. The NTA does not have a surveillance system. The outsourcing process is not surveilled,” said the senior IAS officer.
In a recent and active tender for “the establishment of Computer Based Test (CBT) Exam Centers PAN India”, the NTA in its Third Party Contracts section has mentioned that the successful bidder can hire a third party for its work without NTA’s permission. “The successful bidder shall be authorized to enter into a contract with any third-party agency or authority to perform any part or render any service mentioned in the tender in whole or in part without prior consent of NTA.”
“In addition to entering into contract or agreement with any third party or agency aforementioned, the successful bidder shall also be authorised to enter into agreement, including but not limited to, manpower agreement, hardware provider agreement and power back-up agreement with any third party or agency for effective discharge of duties and obligations as mentioned in the Agreement,” it added.
Clamour for Return to Decentralised Exams
As the central government grapples with the paper leak crisis, the Opposition is demanding disbanding the NTA and returning to the old de-centralised examination system.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “The allegations of paper leak, taking bribes by certain people and the officials involved in the conduct of the examinations, opening of windows to accommodate certain students to apply for examinations, grace marks etc, are some of the serious issues which need complete attention and require a thorough, clean and impartial probe. Such instances jeopardise the career and aspirations of lakhs and lakhs of students who look forward to getting admission into these medical courses.”
“Such instances not only compromise the quality of medical education in the country but adversely affect the quality of medical facilities/treatment in the country. In this regard, this is also to point out that before 2017, the states were allowed to conduct their own entrance examinations and the central government also used to conduct its own examinations for admission into the medical courses. This system was functioning smoothly and without much problems,” she added.
“Therefore, the state should be given freedom to select medical students through Joint Entrance Examination. The decentralized system was later changed to a unitary and centralised system of examination (NEET) so as to take complete control of- all the admissions in the country in the medical courses without any involvement of the state governments. This is completely unacceptable and violates the true spirits of the federal structure of the country,” she further said.
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