Next time, when a son or daughter fails to make it to a medical entrance or a public service commission examination, parents may not have reasons to doubt the sincerity or the capability of their wards. Possibility of something like Vyapam hitting the prospects of their children could well-nigh be there. Such is the reach, scale and impact of admission-cum-recruitment related scams that people would feel the need to question the results of any competitive examination.
The whole credibility of such examinations, which are supposed to select the best from a lot, is at stake. No stone should be left unturned to find the real root of the scandal. Already, the uncanny frequency of deaths related to the Vyapam scam and the kind of circumstances related to those deaths obliquely suggests that there is something more to the incidents than what meets the eye. Calling those deaths abnormal instead of mysterious may hardly be reassuring when there is so much to smell.
But there are far greater implications of Vyapam than only unearthing the real breweries producing this deadly cocktail of crime and corruption. For a country like India where few opportunities are chased by too many aspirants, establishing the credibility of such examinations would be a major issue. More so because Vyapam-like scourges keep reappearing at a nagging rate. For a country with such an overwhelmingly large number of youthful aspirants waiting in the wings for their hard earned chance, loss of confidence in the system may be dangerous.
Vyapam or for that matter similar such scams that have been happening point out at the glaring systemic lapses. We had the likes of Ranjit Don of Bihar, who tampered and tinkered with medical entrance examinations. We had a Public Service Commission examination of Jharkhand declared void by the Hon’ble High Court. We had the recent All India Medical Entrance Examination declared void by the apex court. The kind of frustration that such incidents generate is certainly not good for the young India’s health.
How many more judicial and media trials will be needed before we are able to hold such crucial examinations in a free and fair manner, to the satisfaction of all examineesIJ Yes, satisfaction of all examinees, because that is the real test. If the examinee is satisfied that those better than him were successful, only then can an examination be called fair. Vyapam like incidents bring a bad name to all competitive examinations that are supposed to select persons on the basis of merit and merit alone.
How to ensure thisIJ Difficult to say. Particularly, because the society is witnessing a moral crisis of sorts. When parents become party to their wards’ cheating and corruption, what better can be expectedIJ It hints at a deeper malaise that has afflicted the society. Obsessed only about ends, means have ceased to be of any consequence in this society. Parents who were supposed to preach what is right and what is wrong are now teaching there is no wrong in the wrong as long as the results are right. But in the process the society is paying a heavy price. However, all is not lost yet as in the end the nemesis catches up as we are seeing in Vyapam case. There is an old-age adage that if you sow wind you will reap whirlwind.
The writer teaches management at Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad (Jharkhand). He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com