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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Trust Reset

As the recent protests over the NEET paper leak showed, India’s examination system has reached a point where incremental repairs are no longer enough. The appointment of a high-powered task force on examination reforms, headed by technology pioneer Nandan Nilekani, is therefore not merely an administrative response to the NEET-UG paper leak crisis but a concrete attempt to rebuild confidence in one of the country’s most important public institutions. Examinations are gateways to opportunity,...

Trust Reset

As the recent protests over the NEET paper leak showed, India’s examination system has reached a point where incremental repairs are no longer enough. The appointment of a high-powered task force on examination reforms, headed by technology pioneer Nandan Nilekani, is therefore not merely an administrative response to the NEET-UG paper leak crisis but a concrete attempt to rebuild confidence in one of the country’s most important public institutions. Examinations are gateways to opportunity, social mobility and professional ambition. For millions of students across the country, a competitive examination represents years of sacrifice by families and the possibility of a better future. When question papers leak repeatedly, evaluation systems fail or allegations of manipulation emerge, the resulting damage strikes at the idea of fairness itself. The crisis surrounding NEET-UG exposed uncomfortable vulnerabilities in the country’s examination infrastructure. The resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the subsequent appointment of Pralhad Joshi with additional charge of the ministry underlined the political seriousness of the issue. But political accountability alone cannot fix a structural problem. That is why the composition of the new task force is a move on the right direction. It brings together expertise from technology, space research, intelligence, education administration and logistics. Nilekani’s appointment is particularly significant. The former Infosys chief executive and architect of Aadhaar has experience in building large-scale digital public infrastructure involving hundreds of millions of citizens. The Aadhaar project itself was born out of a similar challenge: how to create a reliable identity system in a country where leakages and duplication weakened welfare delivery. India’s examination system now requires the same kind of thinking. The committee’s mandate to examine the entire examination lifecycle - from question paper creation and distribution to candidate verification, evaluation and results - is the right approach. The problem lies in multiple weak points where human intervention, poor security protocols and outdated processes can create opportunities for malpractice. Technology will inevitably be central to the solution. Artificial intelligence can help detect unusual patterns, blockchain-based verification can strengthen record security and better data systems can improve transparency. But a secure examination system requires independent oversight, professional management, clear accountability and swift punishment for wrongdoing. India’s National Testing Agency was created to bring efficiency and standardisation to public examinations. Its credibility must now be restored through reforms that are visible and trusted by students. The Nilekani task force has been given the difficult job of repairing that trust. The government has chosen a committee led by people with experience of managing complex national systems. It is a sensible first step. The real test will now be whether its recommendations translate into action.

No cylinders for 11 days, says popular restaurant

Mumbai: The war in West Asia has affected the commercial restaurants all over India. It has led to the shortage of the LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) supply to local restaurants in Mumbai.


One such restaurant experiencing this disruption of supply is the Stadium Restaurant located at Churchgate. Owned by an Iranian, the restaurant started in 1946 a year before independence. After 80 years, the restaurant is very well-known in South Mumbai and is mostly packed throughout the day.


India is totally dependent on West Asian countries for the LPG, PNG (Piped Natural Gas), CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), fuel, etc. Due to the shortage the government has evoked the Essential Commodities Act,1995, that allows the government to control all the supply. The government has said that their main focus is domestic gas supply which has caused disruption in the commercial gas supply.


When asked to the Chief Manager of the restaurant about the crisis, he told the The Perfect Voice on the basis of anonymity that we are managing the days somehow. He mentioned that the restaurant needs two cylinders per day, totalling to 60 to 62 cylinders per month. A commercial 19 kg cylinder costs around Rs 2000 to the restaurant.


“We do not have any cylinder now and it has been 10-11 days since we ordered cylinders but there is not one delivered yet,” he added.


If not cylinder then what? To this question the manager replied, “We have switched to Electric Induction that has led us to reduce the items we serve.”


He said that there around 100-120 items on the menu and it is now drastically reduced to serve only 20-24 items, resulting in a 20 per cent drop.


When questioned about the change in number of customers, he said, “Now there amid crisis we are facing a 50 to 60 per cent drop in the customers.”


The term, ‘fog of war’, where a lot of rumors are spread amid war, has now travelled to India from West Asia as the manager mentioned, “More than the gas the rumours are affecting us, and we are only focusing on what the government says.”


The Chief Manager also mentioned about the Black Marketing of cylinders. He said, “The insufficient supply can maybe because of these black-marketing guys, because if new ships are coming and the gas is still less then, it might be a conspiracy by them.”

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