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Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

TET postponed after paper leak, three held

Mumbai: In another shocker, the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) question paper has ‘leaked’ - barely 24 hours before the scheduled examination on Sunday - jeopardising the future of thousands aspiring to join the noble profession of teaching, officials said here. Reacting quickly, the Maharashtra State Council of Examination cancelled Sunday’s paper scheduled to be held simultaneously at 1,028 centres across the state and said that the new date will be announced early next week. As...

TET postponed after paper leak, three held

Mumbai: In another shocker, the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) question paper has ‘leaked’ - barely 24 hours before the scheduled examination on Sunday - jeopardising the future of thousands aspiring to join the noble profession of teaching, officials said here. Reacting quickly, the Maharashtra State Council of Examination cancelled Sunday’s paper scheduled to be held simultaneously at 1,028 centres across the state and said that the new date will be announced early next week. As many as six lakh candidates were scheduled to appear for the examination across 1,728 centres at 37 locations, officials said. The paper leak was detected and verified swiftly by Bhiwandi Police in Thane district which has arrested three alleged suspected, two from Bihar and one from Haryana, who were planning to hawk it for a staggering sum of Rs. 1.50 crore, suggesting the involvement of an inter-state gang behind the incident. Giving details, the Bhiwandi Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Dudhe said that the question paper was allegedly being ‘sold’ for a staggering Rs 1.50 crore, indicating a well-organised racket transcending the state border. He said that early on Saturday, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP-II) Dr. Pawan Bansod received a confidential tip-off and he immediately alerted senior officials who launched a discreet operation to track and apprehend the culprits. “An informant tipped us that the accused were travelling from New Delhi to Mumbai carrying copies of the TET question papers. After verification, we laid a trap and arrested the three suspects in Bhiwandi. However, the kingpin/s behind the racket remain absconding,” Dudhe said. Police said that the papers were to be sold for Rs 1.50 crore for which advance was reportedly collected from some persons. The arrested accused are: Rajiv Shah, 45 and Akash Kumar, 30, both of Patna in Bihar and Dheeraj Kumar, 28, of Panipat in Haryana. Four Sets Official sources said that the police sleuths accosted the suspected trio in a local hotel room where they were staying, questioned and searched them. They recovered four sets of purported copies of the crucial TET paper from them. Upon sustained questioning they admitted that these were the copies of the TET examination question paper of June 28. Experts from the MSCE were immediately summoned to confirm the documents recovered and the officials confirmed that many of the questions apparently were similar to those in the official TET exam paper of Sunday. Armed with the information, the Kongaon Police Station in Bhiwandi initially detained the trio, filed a case and then placed them under arrest. They are slapped with charges under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita Sections 318(4), 316(5) and 61(2), besides stringent sections of the Maharashtra Examination Act, 2024, said Senior Police Inspector (HQ) Shailesh Salvi. As news of the paper leak spread like wildfire, thousands of candidates vent their ire before the mediapersons and on social media, demanding an overhaul of the public examinations monitoring systems and stringent punishment to the accused. SIT Formed The Thane Police have formed a 9-member SIT comprising Dr. Bansod, Sachin Sangle, Dr. Vinay Marathe and other officers, to investigate the source of the leak, identify the masterminds, and determine whether the network was linked with similar examination scams across the country. The TET paper leak comes days after the nationwide furore over the NEET 2026 exam paper leak with questions raised on the country’s public examinations system amid claims and assurances of tight security and monitoring. Congress, CJP flay govt Maharashtra Congress President Harshwardhan Sapkal and Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke pounced on the state government, accusing it of failing to safeguard the future of thousands of deserving candidates. They demanded a thorough probe and stringent action against everyone involved, lamenting how a series of examination scandals have damaged the credibility of the state’s education and public exams systems. “The government is not bothered. They are busy with breaking political parties. The so-called double-engine regime is to be blamed for the ‘double-leaks’ in such a short time. The education minister must resign,” demanded Dipke. The examination system has come under a cloud with several entrance and recruitment exams, including the NEET, UGC-NET, the Maharashtra TET and others cancelled or being probed in the past three years, triggering huge public outrage and raising question marks on the careers of lakhs of candidates.

Marathwada’s Soybean Squeeze

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

For the Shinde-led Mahayuti government, the soybean crisis in Marathwada should serve as a wake-up call as campaigning intensifies ahead of the crucial Assembly election.

In the drought-prone Marathwada region, soybean, a crucial kharif (monsoon) staple, has faced a serious blow this year as a deadly combination of erratic (and unusually heavy) rainfall and soil degradation has led to dwindling yields for farmers already steeped in debt. The crisis has not only deepened rural distress but also dented the political credibility of the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government in the recently concluded 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Farmers’ frustration, particularly over the low prices and inadequate support, was reflected in the electoral results. Discontent was not limited to soybean farmers but extended to those growing onions and other crops similarly affected by the erratic weather. The opposition parties capitalized on this anger, contributing to the ruling coalition’s losses in crucial constituencies.

Soybean cultivation is central to Marathwada’s agricultural economy with approximately 60% of the region’s cultivable land dedicated to it. However, this year, the area under cultivation fell sharply by 15%, while the yield per hectare has plummeted by nearly 20% compared to previous years.

Discontent among the rural electorate translated into a significant loss of votes for the Mahayuti coalition in the Lok Sabha election, which had counted on Marathwada as a stronghold. Many farmers switched their allegiance to opposition parties, particularly the Congress and the NCP, viewing the ruling government as ineffective in mitigating the crisis.

While promises of crop insurance and subsidies are being made, the delayed rollout of relief measures is aggravating the situation. Farmers are reporting delayed compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), India’s crop insurance scheme, which failed to provide timely payouts. To compound the issue, local cooperatives responsible for distributing government aid are being accused of corruption and inefficiency, thereby eroding trust among farmers.

To stem the erosion of its rural voter base, the Shinde government must take decisive action. Strengthening the PMFBY is a critical first step. Insurance payouts need to be streamlined and simplified, ensuring that claims are processed within a few weeks rather than months. The scheme also needs to account for pest attacks and erratic rainfall more accurately, as these are increasingly frequent due to climate change. Enhancing the precision of satellite-based yield assessments would ensure that more farmers receive timely compensation.

Additionally, the government should consider targeted subsidies for soybean growers, particularly for pest-resistant seeds and organic pesticides. A concerted push towards water conservation, particularly through promoting drip irrigation, could help mitigate the impact of future droughts. The state’s ‘Jalyukt Shivar’ campaign, launched in 2015 to boost irrigation in drought-hit regions, could be revitalized, but with greater accountability to ensure funds are utilized effectively.

The state’s past experiments with price stabilization funds, such as the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board’s attempt to guarantee minimum prices for soybeans, also offer a lesson. While well-intentioned, these initiatives were hampered by poor implementation and market manipulation by intermediaries.

For the Mahayuti government, immediate corrective measures like providing pest-resistant seeds, and reinvigorating irrigation schemes are essential not only to revive the fortunes of the state’s farmers but also to secure the government’s rural support base. Without these, the agrarian distress that continues to plague Maharashtra risks becoming a persistent political liability, as history has repeatedly shown.

(The writer is a farmer and resident of Latur district; views personal)

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