It seems that the Jammu and Kashmir Administration too is playing a snakes and ladders game with our youth who as in the game board, attempt to cross 100 squares full of traps and tricks by rolling the dice of their hard work but the sheer tricks of the tools of Administration take them down to square one.
For how long the youth of Jammu and Kashmir bear the brunt of inefficient J&K Administration, is a question being asked in campus, court complexes and social interactions. The Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) on Wednesday cancelled the Paper-II (Qualifying) of the J&K Prosecuting Officer (Preliminary) Examination held in January. The new date for holding a fresh examination is announced for 16th March 2023.
According to an order the JKPSC said that the examination held earlier was cancelled after the complaints were received that the examination of the Qualifying Paper II of the preliminary examination was of a standard higher than the level prescribed in the notification.
The J&K PSC conducted the Preliminary Examination for filling up the posts of Prosecuting Officers in the Home Department on 29.01.2022 in two shifts. The Examination comprised two MCQ-based papers conducted in two sessions on the said day. The Provisional Answer Keys for Paper- I & Paper II (Qualifying) were notified seeking objections from the candidates within the stipulated period.
JKPSC said that along with the objections, various representations were received from the candidates through the J&K High Court Bar Association, Jammu and others, registering their grievance that the Examination of the Qualifying Paper II of the said Preliminary Examination was of a standard higher than the level prescribed in the notification and majority of them could not qualify the same.
This time it may be the question papers set in the higher benchmark but in other cases, the instances of paper leaks, unfair means, favouritism in interviews and cheating came to light in the entrance examinations held by the service selection bodies in Jammu Kashmir.
Just a couple of months back, the J&K Public Service Commission announced the Combined Services Entrance examination on one evening and suddenly changed the list of candidates successful in a preliminary examination where in it ousted scores of aspirants already declared qualifying and entering the almost equal number of new candidates as successful. It was shocking for those candidates who were declared successful in the earlier announced list. Many of the candidates later knocked on the doors of the Central Administrative Tribunal with the result the examination date for CCS Mains got further delayed.
The cancellation of the Service Selection Board selection list of Police Sub-Inspectors, Accounts Assistants and a few others are well known and it is history now.
Despite special laws and a variety of restrictions imposed by various states, paper leakage and other unfair means in exams remain notoriously common. As a result of a rash of such incidents in government recruitment examinations, if job insecurity is a reality, as evidenced by a handful of vacancies in government departments attracting thousands of applications, so is the deeply embedded culture of corruption. Because of the desperate need for a secure government job, there is no shortage of candidates willing to go to any length.
The first question is why and how it happens in such conduct of such public bodies on whom the people rely for integrity, transparency, credibility and efficiency. Taking remedial measures by cancelling the tests and selection lists is fine, but how do those responsible for the set-up go Scot-free while the buck is simply passed on to the external players in the nexus. How can the state play with the aspirations, sentiments and future of the youth – a pertinent question seeking an answer?
