Amid the raging controversies involving alleged irregularities in NEET, NET examinations, the country's premier recruitment body Union Public Service Commission(UPSC)has decided to use facial recognition and Artificial Intelligence-based CCTV surveillance system to prevent cheating and impersonation in its various tests.
It has recently floated a tender to invite bids from experienced public sector undertakings to devise two tech solutions "Aadhaar based fingerprint authentication (else digital fingerprint capturing)and facial recognition of candidates and QR code scanning of e-admit cards" and "Live AI-based CCTV surveillance service"-- to be used during the examination process.
The Union Public Service Commission, a Constitutional body, conducts 14 major examinations -- including the prestigious civil services examination to select officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and Indian Police Service (IPS) -- besides a number of recruitment tests, interviews every year for induction to Group ‘A' and Group ‘B' posts of the central government.
An estimated 26 lakh candidates are expected to appear in such recruitment, conducted at a maximum of 80 centres in Leh, Kargil, Srinagar, Imphal, Agartala, Aizawl and Gangtok, among other major cities.
"The UPSC attaches great importance to the conduct of its examinations in a free, fair and impartial manner. In its endeavor to fulfill these objectives, the Commission intends to make use of the latest digital technology to match and cross-check the biometric details of the candidates and to monitor various activities of the candidates during the examination to prevent cheating, fraud, unfair means and impersonation," read the tender document dated June 3, 2024.
Accordingly, the Commission has desired to incorporate Aadhaar-based fingerprint authentication (else digital fingerprint capturing) and facial recognition of candidates, scanning of QR Code of e-admit cards and monitoring through live AI-based CCTV video surveillance, it said.
The move is aimed at strengthening the examination process and eliminating the possibility of malpractices by the candidates.
The selected service provider will use the data provided by the UPSC for Aadhaar-based fingerprint authentication of candidates and facial recognition during the exam, according to the scope of work mentioned in the tender document.
"Provision should be made for a real-time attendance monitoring system through secured web server. System should have provision for real time monitoring of the enrolment activity along with GPS coordinates against every enrolment and time stamp to ensure that enrolment is done during the stipulated shift," it said.
The Commission said facial recognition should be performed in a completely stateless transaction of two images -- one provided during the online registration and the other captured on the day of the exam.
The UPSC said it has decided to implement CCTV/video surveillance with recording and live broadcast systems to monitor various activities of the candidates and other persons deployed to conduct the Commission's examinations at the various centres/venues across the country under a secure environment.
