February 9, 2024
Abir Ranjan Biswas’s speech during a discussion on The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024
Six minutes, Sir; it is a two-hour Bill. We have only one speaker. It is two-hour Bill, ना? No; it is only one speaker. Yes, it is only one speaker. Sir, I rise to stand in support of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024. As we know, the Bill seeks to curb paper leaks and malpractices in recruitment examinations and entrance tests such as NEET and JEE. It is good that besides UPSC, SSC, Railways Recruitment exams, Banking and Government Departmental exams, this Bill covers all online exams conducted by the NTA, that is, the National Testing Agency. Sir, we are all against unfair means because this is something which, essentially, harms the future of the youth of the country. The problem of using unfair means has nowadays become endemic. This is a very serious problem and we do not want to politicise such an issue. It is a very appropriate and timely Bill and we all should be on board on this. Sir, all of us, cutting across party lines, have come together and we wish to eradicate this malice. Sir, I would like to highlight how Bengal has been harnessing technology to work towards eradicating such malpractices. Recently, during a Class X Board-level examination, all the question papers were marked with small QR codes besides each question. What happened in the process was, the moment a picture was taken and circulated, the particular question centre was known and soon, within one hour, we were able to apprehend two culprits. The whole process, which could have blown out of proportion, could be brought under control. So, Sir, this is one positive example from my State and I believe all of us should use the good practices from all the States for a better future. I am sure many other States and the Union Government will also use technology in innovative ways to eliminate such malpractices. Sir, I would like to say that we stand in support of the Bill, but just passing the Bill and having a new law in place will not solve the problem. The real challenge lies in its implementation. We have often seen how even officers are complicit in the whole affair. We have to change the whole ecosystem and the way of our thinking because the magnitude of this problem is large. A recent report studying documented instances of 41 leaks over the last five years across 15 States revealed that these leaks affected the future of around 1.5 crore aspirants. These range from Teacher Eligibility Tests in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, the Police recruitment examinations in Assam, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, a Forest Recruitment Examination in Uttarakhand and Engineering Recruitment Examinations in Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Sir, I am not blaming any State. I don’t intent to blame anyone, but I am sure every State Government is doing what is best at their disposal to tackle this problem. Sir, what the aspirants go through when something like this happens is, just as the previous speaker, Shri Prakash Javadekar was referring, years and years of their hard work is wasted. It is tragic that some students even commit suicide. That is most deplorable. All of this is happening at a time when the country is already witnessing an unprecedented job crisis. Sir, in the recently concluded quarter of October to December, 2023, joblessness among youth in the age group of 22 to 24 has grown to 45 per cent, which means that two out of five Graduates under the age of 25 are unemployed. On the other hand, there are a lot of vacancies in Government departments. So, the priorities need to be sorted first. We all remember who promised two crore jobs every year. So, Sir, while we welcome this Bill, we must address the more serious problem of joblessness in this country. Thank you, Sir.
