Opinion The exam has a cottage industry
The silver lining in this unending circle of examinations is that some entrepreneurs have discovered an opportunity
Makeshift tea-stalls, chaat and bhelpuri carts, shared autos and cabs as well as bike taxis thronged the place through the day The young girl stopped me during my morning walk, asking me if there was a cyber café nearby. She was carrying an infant, and her husband was walking behind her with a huge backpack. She had come from Prayagraj and had lost her wallet with her Aadhaar card in the train. She needed to download and print out a copy so that she could appear for the exam. I told her the way to the shop, but added that it would possibly be closed so early on a cold and foggy morning.
The exam was a computer-based test conducted by the Staff Selection Commission for the recruitment of 7,500 Delhi Police constables. The centre was a school in our colony whose owners have figured out that hosting entrance and recruitment exams is big business. The exams were held for 15 days in multiple shifts, which meant that all through the day, the whole neighbourhood was taken over by thousands of candidates and their relatives who had come with them.
The collateral effect of this jamboree was a huge uptick in local business. Makeshift tea-stalls, chaat and bhelpuri carts, shared autos and cabs as well as bike taxis thronged the place through the day. And since the testing agencies have decided that the candidate needs to go through as much inconvenience as possible, the assigned exam centre is rarely in or even near one’s hometown. This, of course, meant that candidates usually had to come a day in advance and spend the night in a Dharamshala or a cheap OYO hotel.
The train/bus fare, the local transport by cabs/autos, the cost of boarding and lodging must all be adding up. And this was just one exam at one centre. If one takes the number of examinations conducted by the various agencies (UPSC, SSC, NTA, railways, defence services, public service commissions of various states, UGC, CSIR etc.) and multiplies that by the number of centres for each examination, the economic benefits of having our youth go through multiple exams to become a government servant are immense. And this is without taking into account the coaching industry, which has been and remains a sunshine industry — it is estimated to add Rs 30,000 crore to Kota’s economy alone, with places like Sikar fast catching up. One frequently reads about a few million appearing for the lowest-level government jobs. What is more, jobs for which the qualification is Class XII have people with PhD and Master’s degrees appearing for them.
The silver lining in this unending circle of examinations is that some entrepreneurs have discovered an opportunity. A student of mine, frustrated after several years of appearing unsuccessfully for various exams, realised that there is money to be made from them. His house is close to one of the exam centres. Apart from using his laptop and printer to download and print the various documents needed by the candidates, he has spied another niche. Candidates are not allowed to carry their phones or any other belongings to the exam. And the centre has no provision for safekeeping them. So, he allows them to keep their phones etc. with him for a small sum.
The writer is professor of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi
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