Mumbai: After an anxious few weeks spent waiting and coordinating with the Maharashtra health department, Nanded resident Tanaji Telange finally obtained his hall tickets for exams to two Group ‘C’ posts in the department that he had applied for. However, the exam centre was at Paithan in Aurangabad district, almost 300 kilometres away from his place.
Even as Telange was working out the logistics to attend the exams, scheduled on Saturday, September 25, he was notified about a new exam centre. This was a further 50 kilometres away.
The 26-year-old Telange, who is appearing for the junior clerk and operation theatre assistant positions, was issued three different hall tickets instead of two. All of them mentioned different locations and different exam timings. He was baffled.
Another candidate, Datta Patukar, was notified about an exam centre 1500 kilometres away, in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. For another candidate, the experience was even more surreal. He was issued a blank hall ticket, with just the pin code of Yutan village in China mentioned on it.
These exams were the first to be held in five years by the health department to fill over 6,250 vacant posts in Group C and D categories. Over 8 lakh aspirants from across the state have applied for these posted, only to encounter chaos and errors.
This is the latest in a series of exams conducted by the Maharastra government to be mired in confusion, controversy and allegations of fraud and mismanagement.
The chaos, however, was termed as a “minor technical snag” by the Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope.
When candidates pushed back and started a social media campaign exposing the department’s apparent lack of seriousness to conduct the exam, Tope was forced to abruptly cancel the exam late at night on September 24.
Earlier, Tope had claimed that for a brief period, the server was accessed somewhere in Uttar Pradesh, causing an error in the exam centres on some hall tickets. He, however, did not have any explanation for how a pin code from China was printed on a few hall tickets. Later at night, while announcing the cancellation of the exam, Tope blamed Nysa Communications, the private firm contracted by the Maharashtra Information Technology Corporation Limited or ‘MahaIT’ to conduct these state-level competitive exams.
MahaIT is the nodal agency of the government of Maharashtra that handles recruitment to several state government posts. The health department too is conducting its exam through MahaIT. Though the agency was set up to “bolster the efficient and effective implementation of Information and Communication Technology initiatives and to establish a robust e-Governance ecosystem framework”, it has been mired in many controversies since its inception.
Hall tickets showing exam centres in Noida, a village in China and one that is entirely blank. Photo: The Wire
The Wire tried contacting Puneet Kumar, the CEO of Nysa Communications several times but got no response. The story will be updated as and when Nysa Communications responds to The Wire’s queries.
During the previous Devendra Fadnavis-led government in the state, the department signed contracts with private firms like the US-based IT company ‘UST Global’ and an Indian company ‘Arceus Infotech Private Limited’ – both of which have been accused of misappropriation of funds and involvement in a “Vyapam-like scam” that was revealed by The Wire. The department is yet to clear its name from the past alleged misdoings.
Also Read: Under Fadnavis’s Watch, a Vyapam-Like Scam Flourished in Maharashtra
Tope’s sudden decision to cancel the exam late last night might have temporarily contained the chaos, but failed to take into account the anxiety, confusion and frustration that more than 8 lakh candidates have been subjected to in the process.
In the past year, almost all state exams have had similar issues. On February 28, when the health department had conducted another set of exams, several aspirants were accused of blatant cheating through the use of sophisticated microphones and scanning machines. At several centres, the question papers had arrived late; at some places, the seals were tampered with. Multiple FIRs were registered across the state and several candidates and centre management officials were arrested.
Similarly, last month, during the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) exams for class C and D posts, several students’ organisations had pointed out the chequered past of private firm Aptech Limited engaged to conduct the exams.
Aptech has already been blacklisted by the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh governments but still was taken on board by the MahaIT to conduct exams in Maharashtra. The Allahabad high court and the Delhi high court too have made scathing observations against the firm, asking for proper legal action to be initiated against it.
Following allegations, the MIDC was forced to cancel a part of its exams and has written to MahaIT seeking an explanation. Officials at MIDC confirmed that MahaIT has in turn written to Aptech to clear its stand. No action has been initiated against the firm so far.
Several candidates have levelled allegations of rampant exam fraud in Maharashtra. Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Vigilant students’ forum
Students’ organisations like ‘MPSC Samanvay Samiti’ and ‘Yuva Halla Bol’ have been at the forefront of exposing the system and amplifying the aspirants’ demands. Nilesh Gaikwad, a BTech graduate from Buldhana district, also a member of MPSC Samanvay Samiti says the students are doing what the government ideally ought to do.
“Earlier it was UST Global. Now it is Aptech and Nysa. Companies can be empanelled only if they meet the several criteria laid down in the contract. Clearly, the department has overlooked the glaring loopholes and have empanelled companies that are unfit to carry out large scale exams,” he said.
Delay in conducting these exams has meant increased vacancy in different departments and unrest among students. Not just the MahaIT but also the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) has failed to conduct exams on time. The delay in conducting these exams was cited as a reason by several aspirants who ended their lives. In just November and December of 2020 alone, at least six separate incidents of aspirants dying by suicide have come to light.
Telange, who already works as a group D worker and hopes to jump up to group C post eventually, says the government’s failure to ensure a fair examination process has failed an entire generation. “Aspirants, mainly from the rural region, wait for years to crack these exams. Most of us are children of landless farm labourers, who have toiled for years to make a decent life. And when it is time for us to face these competitive exams, the state administration lets us down,” Telange shared.
In October last year, The Wire has published a detailed investigative article of fraud in the state’s recruitment drive carried out by the previous Devendra Fadnavis government, which by its complexity and extent, was comparable to the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board scam, more commonly known as the Vyapam scam. The Wire‘s findings were corroborated by the former Ahmednagar collector Rahul Dwivedi and a private audit firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), engaged by the state in 2018 to audit the recruitment drive. The investigation pushed the state government to sideline the previously empanelled private firms. The problem, however, has persisted.
Students’ organisations have demanded that the state government do away with private players completely and that all exams should be handled by the MPSC. Gaikwad feels, “At least, we would be able to demand accountability and there would be some transparency in the process.”