NEW DELHI, Feb 9: The Rajya Sabha today passed ‘The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024’ aimed at curbing leaks, malpractices as well as organised malpractices in recruitment examinations like UPSC, SSC etc and entrance tests such as NEET, JEE, and CUET. The Bill, which has already been passed by the Lok Sabha, will now become a law after the issue of notification.
Initiating the debate on the Bill, the Union Minister Incharge DoPT said, “the Public Exams Bill, which is possibly the first of its kind in the history of India’s Parliament, is dedicated to the youth of India”.
“Prevention of Unfair Means Bill, 2024” will also cover entrance examinations held by the Union Public Service Commission, the Staff Selection Commission, the Railways, banking recruitment examinations and all computer-based examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency.
The Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha after an extensive discussion on 6th February 2024.
Participating in the debate, Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said, the Bill deals with a subject in the Concurrent List and called for its extension to States.
Speaking on the issue, Prakash Javadekar, BJP said that the National Testing Agency was a crucial step in the direction to check malpractices in exams.
- Wilson, DMK; Sandeep Kumar Pathak, AAP; Muzibulla Khan, BJD; Dr V. Sivadasan, CPI(M); Dr Amee Yajnik, Congress; Dr Dinesh Sharma, BJP; Sandosh Kumar P., CPI & Dr Fauzia Khan, NCP also participated in the debate.
Replying to the debate, the Union Minister said the Bill will ensure more transparency and time-bound selection process and provide level-playing field. Government will encourage the States to adopt the Bill.
The S&T Minister said India today is ranked in the top 5 Manufacturing countries of the world. In Biotech, we had just 50 Startups, today we have 6,000 BioTech Startups, he said.
