MP: VYAPAM REDUX?
Aseries of dubious “coincidences” that have come to light in the results of a recruitment test conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), previously known as Vyapam, has led to the launch of an investigation.
On February 11 and 12, the MPPEB had conducted tests for the recruitment of 823 rural agriculture extension officers and senior agriculture development officers. Taken online, the candidates had received their test results on the spot. On February 17, the MPPEB also uploaded the answer sheets on its website, which the candidates could access using their roll numbers.
The similarities in the toppers’ answer sheets were identified by a group of candidates who decided to carry out their own investigation after a staff member at the exam centre told them about some candidates boasting about their high chances of being selected.
They used the roll numbers and date of birth of the top 10 candidates to access their answer sheets and found that all save one were from the same community and hailed from either Bhind or Morena district.
A similar scam in the state, unearthed in 2013, is still under investigation. Back then, it was found that entrance tests for recruitment to government jobs and professional courses were being compromised. The incident, now referred to as the ‘Vyapam scam’, was initially being probed by the state police, but then was handed over in 2015 to the CBI, which has since filed chargesheets against over 3,000 people and secured around 100 convictions in nearly 150 cases.
With opposition parties crying foul and students staging protest rallies across the state, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced on Twitter that an inquiry had been ordered into the alleged irregularities.
One of the complainants, Ranjeet Raghunath, pointed out that this was the first time that such high scores had been recorded in any test conducted by the MPPEB. “The topper had scored 194 out of 200 and the rest between 192 and 187,” he says. Raghunath, a graduate from the College of Agriculture, Khandwa, adds that none of the toppers had a strong academic record. “They completed their four-year undergraduate degree in five or more years. One of them took seven years. If they were so brilliant, why did they take so much time to pass the degree course?” he asks, adding that all the toppers had, most damningly, even made the same mistakes. “The MPPEB’s answer key had wrong answers to three questions and all the top candidates had given the same wrong answers in their answer booklets,” he says.
Officials were tight-lipped and, despite repeated attempts to contact MPPEB director Shanmuga Priya Mishra and chairman K.K. Singh, india today received no response. Sources, though, say that according to the board, the blame for any wrongdoing must lie with the centre of examination.
There are also allegations against NSEIT, the company that organised the exam. “The Mumbai-based NSEIT was in the middle of a controversy pertaining to recruitment of sub-inspectors in Uttar Pradesh in 2017. There were also complaints against it in a case of recruitment of teachers in Tamil Nadu,” says Balram Parihar, a graduate of the College of Agriculture, Tikamgarh, and one of the candidates who took the MPPEB exam. NSEIT staff, too, refused to comment. “It would not be right to say anything at this stage,” says Krishnam Dwivedi, incharge, NSEIT’s Bhopal centre. ■
NEARLY ALL THE TOP 10 CANDIDATES WERE FROM BHIND AND MORENA AND HAD A POOR ACADEMIC RECORD