Testing times: Rajasthan govt’s failure to plug question paper leaks

A differently abled candidate, Meena had woken up at 4 am to reach the exam centre 100 km away in Ajmer in a private car that she hired for Rs 5,000 for a return trip. She had high hopes from this exam, but this was the second time in less than two years that a state recruitment exam she had appeared for was cancelled due to a leaked question paper.

“I had appeared for the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET)-level II examination in September 2021. I discovered later that the question paper had been leaked. The exam was cancelled in February 2022,” recalls the Mehru Kalan village resident.

Cancellation of the second grade teacher recruitment examination in December 2022 is the latest in a string of question paper leaks plaguing the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, which are expected to be held in December.

Admitting that 10 state recruitment exam papers had leaked during the tenure of the present government, Rajasthan Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Kumar Dhariwal had stated in the Assembly in January that the figure was the same during the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

“During 2014 and 2018 (when the BJP was in power), 10 question paper leaks took place, 19 first information reports (FIRs) were lodged and 241 accused were arrested. During the tenure of the present (Congress) government, 10 question papers were leaked, 15 FIRs have been lodged and 281 accused arrested,” Dhariwal had said.

A year after the Gehlot government was voted to power, the recruitment exam for grade-III librarians was cancelled in December 2019 over a leaked question paper. It dealt a huge blow to the nearly 55,000 candidates who had applied for 700 vacant posts.

In September 2021, the Bikaner police arrested seven persons for allegedly leaking the question paper of the sub-inspector recruitment examination. In the same month, the government suspended Internet across Rajasthan to prevent cheating during the REET-levels I and II examinations. The move had sparked a huge controversy.

Following allegations of irregularities in the REET-level II exams and protests by the Opposition, the government was forced to cancel the exam once again. The Congress government was left with egg on its face when a police investigation revealed that one of the accused was the Jaipur exam coordinator and that the question paper had been leaked from the education department office days before the examination, long before the government suspended Internet to prevent irregularities. Over 25 lakh candidates were in the fray for REET-levels I and II examinations for around 31,000 vacant posts.

“I appeared for the REET-level II exam in 2021 in Kota. I have spent around Rs 15,000 on coaching for the exam since 2019, besides struggling due to the cost of living in Jaipur. The exam was not held in 2020 due to Covid-19. After the exam was cancelled again, I lost the desire to study for a while,” says Dharamraj Gurjar, a resident of Deoli in Tonk district.

To prevent irregularities in the May 2022 constable recruitment examination, the government installed mobile phone jammers at examination centres and introduced biometric identification. However, one exam paper was cancelled after it was leaked and the exam rescheduled. Around 1.6 lakh candidates were affected.

While cancelled exams are rescheduled, it is not always possible for aspirants to reappear for them.

“When the examination for second grade teacher recruitment was rescheduled for January, I couldn’t appear for it because hiring a car each time to reach a centre is not possible for me,” says a dejected Meena, who feels that she has lost the opportunity to become a teacher despite preparing for it for a long time.

Her disappointment is echoed by students on the sprawling campus of Dr Ambedkar Memorial Welfare Society in Jaipur. Over 100 students belonging to scheduled castes, below poverty line (BPL) families and remote villages across Rajasthan stay in the hostel here to prepare for competitive examinations.

“Question paper leaks leave us shattered because we work extremely hard to prepare for these exams. Paper leaks are an aspirant’s biggest fear,” says Bhilwara district resident Shubham Chauhan, 21, who appeared for the 2021 REET-level II exam that was cancelled.

Fed up with paper leaks, Nokha resident Sitaram Nayak, 25, took a strategic decision. “I have stopped preparing for state recruitment exams due to frequent cases of question paper leaks. I am now focusing on exams held by the central government,” he says.

In January 2022, the BJP had alleged the involvement of Rajiv Gandhi Study Circle (RGSC), an organisation with Gehlot as a patron, in the paper leaks. The BJP had claimed that RGSC members were among those arrested, an accusation rubbished by both the organisation and the Congress.

Hitting back, Dhariwal had said in February 2022, “REET question papers were leaked during the BJP regime in 2016 and 2018. Even then, retired teachers who had connections with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and were office-bearers of organisations related to the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), were given the responsibility of exam duty. Question papers of the Rajasthan Administrative Services (RAS) and Lower Division Clerk (LDC) examinations held in 2014, Rajasthan university examinations in 2017 and jail guard examinations in 2018 were leaked during the BJP tenure. Why did the BJP not hand over these cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)?”

The involvement of people associated with coaching centres has cast a shadow in the paper leak cases. Last month, the state government sent bulldozers to demolish a multi-storey building in Jaipur where a private coaching institute was being run by Suresh Dhaka and Bhupendra Saran, the two main accused in the second grade teacher recruitment examination question paper leak case.

The bulldozer action, in sharp contrast to the Chief Minister’s earlier position, was criticised by activists. Gehlot had criticised similar actions in BJP-ruled states, asserting that no CM, not even the Prime Minister, had the right to demolish the house of an accused till the charge was proved.

The Gehlot government passed the stringent Rajasthan Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill, 2022, in March last year. Under this law, all offences will be cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable. Besides provisions for imprisonment of up to 10 years and fines up to Rs 10 crore, it also empowers investigating officers to confiscate properties of the accused with prior permission from the state.

The Rajasthan Berozgar Ekikrit Mahasangh estimates that around 25-30 lakh youth are looking for government jobs in the state. Its president Upen Yadav says, “The youngsters are extremely angry and troubled due to repeated instances of question paper leaks. We are demanding life imprisonment for those involved in these crimes. The government should transfer these cases to the CBI if the state police fail to investigate.”

With elections around the corner, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned, including demanding a CBI probe, to corner the government on the issue.

“The youth of the state are fatigued and angry over repeated instances of question paper leaks. It seems that under the Congress government, the organised gangs that leak question papers have protection. The government has failed to rein in the question paper mafia, with the Chief Minister toying with the future of the state’s youngsters,” state BJP president Satish Poonia had said last year.

In his recent budget, which is the last budget to be presented before the elections, Gehlot had announced the creation of a special task force to prevent question paper leaks. The Congress hopes that measures taken by it against the accused will prevent the youth from deserting the party.

Rajasthan Cabinet Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas told The Indian Express, “Instances of question paper leaks are happening across the country and are a big challenge. Such cases are also happening in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. The youth can see the good intention of the Rajasthan government, which can be clearly seen—we brought in a law, took action and arrested people. The Rajasthan BJP doesn’t have any issue and that is why it is trying to create one, but it has failed here too.”

Apart from the Opposition, Gehlot was confronted on the issue by Sachin Pilot, his former deputy, who has been fighting a long-drawn battle with former over supremacy in the Rajasthan Congress.

In an apparent dig at Gehlot, also known as ‘Jaadugar’ in homage to his professional magician father, Pilot had said in January, “The exam copy is locked in a locker. Despite being in the locker, it reaches the students, ye toh jaadugari ho gayi bhai, aise kaise ho sakta hai (this is magic, how is this possible)?”