Resentment brews among candidates over alleged anomalies in P&RD exam

A Correspondent

Dibrugarh, May 24: The recent alleged maladministration of the Panchayat and Rural Development (P&RD) exam has drawn sharp reactions from the aspirants and students. Although the Minister-of-State (Independent charge) for Panchayat and Rural Development has refuted all claims regarding bad invigilation and paper leak at the P&RD exam, 2018, scores of students all across the State are crying foul. The Sentinel reached out to a few candidates and students to ascertain their views on the whole matter. Zartaj Washmin, an M Pharm postgraduate who wrote the examination, said, “I came to know about it from the photos being circulated on social media. I strongly believe that there should be an unbiased enquiry into it, and facts should be out in the open. I can’t comment if the allegations are true or false, but there can’t be any smoke without fire. If this is true, I feel sorry for the ones, who like me, had put an honest and whole-hearted effort into cracking the exam.”

Tanuj Gautam, a sales officer, snapped, “We are fast moving towards a dark tunnel, a point of no return. I, although much interested, couldn’t muster enough courage to appear for competitive exams, for I always doubted whether they really took a merit-based approach. Seeing the entire ruckus being created around the P&RD exam recently, my apprehensions seem to be turning valid.”

Dixita Phukan, a postgraduate student, said, “All I can say is that I’m losing faith in the system. Just when it looked like things will fall into place after the APSC cash-for-job scam was exposed, everything went back to square one. Is it so hard to have strict invigilators in place? Is it so tough to conduct an examination seamlessly?”

Another candidate, who wanted to remain anonymous, commented on the pattern of questions being asked at the exam, “It’s very unfortunate that the ones responsible for setting the question papers of such exams aren’t putting as much effort as they should. Many questions are an exact replica of the content freely available on certain websites. Although it’s not a crime to do so, but things become predictable to a large extent. This, in turn, works to the disadvantage of the meritorious students, and eventually comes as a loss for the State which needs capable people at the helm of affairs.”