Maharashtra Public Service Commission yesterday cancelled the drug inspectors recruitment examination. The exam was conducted on March 22, results were declared on June 12, interviews took place in July, final results were out on July 22 and 485 successful candidates were awaiting appointment letters. A re-test will be conducted soon. Reason: The question paper was leaked on March 20, two days before the exam.
Six persons, including the undersecretary of MPSC, two section officers and a coaching centre owner, have been arrested. The allegation: Question papers were sold at Rs 40 lakh each. The can of worms opened when a student, Gaurav Patil ratted on his ex-girl friend Rituja Patil, who scored 7th rank in the exam. Gaurav showed screenshots of his WhatsApp chats with Rituja to RTI activist Hrishikesh Gangurde. Both sent a complaint to MPSC. During probe, it was found Rituja’s father Amrit Patil had bought the leaked paper from Praveen Patil, who runs a coaching centre in Nandurbar.
Praveen Patil spilled the beans. He said, he got the question paper set from some MPSC officials. If Rituja Patil had not broken her relationship with Gaurav, the paper leak would have remained a secret, forever. The question now: What about those successful candidates who toiled hard and cracked the exam? In Rajasthan, a student who cracked the physical training instructor exam, was found to have produced fake degree issued by a private university vice-chancellor. The student, Bharmal Ram of Sanchore, Rajasthan, cracked the PTI exam by sending a dummy candidate. He submitted two fake B.P. Ed. degrees from different universities.
One back dated fake degree submitting while filling application form, was from OPJS University, Churu and the other, presented after selection, was from Satya Sai University, Sehore, Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan Police special operations group arrested Mukesh Tiwari, vice chancellor, Sanjay Rathore, controller of exams, and Anand Sharma, computer operator, all from Satya Sai University. All three were brought from MP to Jaipur. During probe, it was found that there were 66 such candidates in the PTI exam who had submitted fake B.P. Ed. degrees from Satya Sai University. This is really worrying. If officials sitting in Public Service Commission start leaking question papers, and if the vice chancellor of a university sells fake degrees, what will be the fate of our young generation?
There is this famous Bollywood song from the movie ‘Amar Prem”: “Maanjhi Jab Naav Duboye, Usey Koun Bachayey” (if the boatman sinks the boat, who can save?) If a vice chancellor starts a racket by selling fake degrees, who can stop education from going to hell? The roots of this system are deep. The corrupt network is so widespread that it will be a humungous task to track. What will teachers teach when they crack exam using dummy candidates and fake degrees? No government can stop this crime where corruption has spread from top to bottom. The only way out: Set up fast track courts and give stringent punishment to those who are involved in cheating. Unless three or four persons are given exemplary punishment, one cannot strike terror in the minds of other criminals.
Nepal flash flood : Did delay in alert from China caused loss of lives?
The sudden flash flood on Nepal-Tibet border has claimed lives of several hundred people. Thousands are still missing. Among the missing are 288 Indian tourists and 291 other foreign nationals. Most of the Indian tourists had gone on pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar. Nobody living near the banks of Bhotekashi river had any inkling that a huge 100-feet high wall of flood water would sweep off everything within 30 seconds. Buildings, markets, homes and vehicles were swept away in the deluge.
Responders are finding it difficult to trace those missing as road links and communications have been snapped. India has sent two plane loads of emergency relief and disaster management materials. Experts say that China probably delayed in sharing info about the deluge with Nepal. Had Chinese authorities shared real time info 45 minutes earlier, lives of several thousand people could have been saved. People in Nepal say, the location where the glacier burst took place is 50 km from the border.
The flash flood took 30 to 40 minutes time to reach Nepal. Pilgrims who had returned from Kailash Mansarovar were present inside the Chinese immigration office, when flash flood swept away the building. The danger is not over. Some experts from Nepal have told me that a second burst may occur, followed by flash flood. China shared info about the flash flood with Nepal only when the deluge had swept away everything. The people of Nepal will never forget the destruction unleashed from China.
Bhagwat at Madison Square : Will he remove misconceptions about RSS?
The chief of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Mohan Bhagwat will be addressing a big event at New York’s Madison Square on Saturday August 29 in the presence of more than 5,000 Indians. Several organizations including Indian American Muslim Council have demanded that permission for the event be withdrawn. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said he does not support this event. Mamdani said: ” The vision of India I was taught by my family, and the one that I grew up being very familiar with, was of a pluralistic society — a secular republic that believed in the belonging of each and every person who was from India. It has been incredibly troubling to see the rise of a movement that is predicated on an exclusionary vision of any country, frankly.”
Mamdani said, “I find myself in deep opposition to — not only as an Indian American, but also as the mayor of a city that believes deeply in the belonging of each and every person, no matter their colour, their creed, their religion, their faith, wherever they’re from.” I can confidently say, when Mamdani will hear the RSS chief speak, he will know that Bhagwat is different from other traditional RSS leaders. He does not speak about exclusion. Bhagwat has been saying that there is no need to search for Shivling in every mosque built in India. He has also spoken to Islamic clerics of Deoband. Bhagwat never projects RSS as a secret organization. He speaks on all topics with an open mind. Last week, we saw how he answered each and every question posed by GenZ youths. Bhagwat’s views are open and modern. That is why, when he speaks at Madison Square, many misconceptions about the RSS will be removed.