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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.

Unity within MVA suffers significant blow

CM Devendra Fadnavis' customary tea party on the eve of Assembly Session. | Pic: DGIPR
CM Devendra Fadnavis' customary tea party on the eve of Assembly Session. | Pic: DGIPR

Mumbai: The facade of unity within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has suffered a significant blow on the eve of the Maharashtra Legislature’s budget session. What was meant to be a show of strength against the Mahayuti government has instead exposed deep-seated mistrust and conflicting ambitions, primarily centered around the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. The cracks were most visible during the customary opposition press conference and the boycott of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s tea party, where leaders from Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) were conspicuously absent, signaling their exclusion from the alliance’s core decision-making process.


The primary source of friction is the lone Rajya Sabha seat that the MVA can mathematically secure with its combined strength of roughly 50 MLAs. Sources reveal that Uddhav Thackeray has been in direct, exclusive contact with the Congress high command in Delhi to negotiate the candidacy, reportedly keeping the Sharad Pawar faction entirely out of the loop. This exclusion has sparked rumors of a shifting power dynamic within the MVA, where the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress appear to be forming a "primary bloc," leaving the veteran Pawar to navigate the political waters independently.


Adding to the internal turmoil is a sharp public disagreement within the Shiv Sena (UBT) itself. While party spokesperson Sanjay Raut has publicly advocated for giving Sharad Pawar another term in the Rajya Sabha as a gesture of alliance solidarity, he has been met with stiff resistance from within his own camp. Former minister Aaditya Thackeray has countered this stance by citing the cold arithmetic of the assembly. Aaditya argued that based on current numbers—where the Sena (UBT) holds 20 seats compared to the NCP (SP)’s 10—the claim to the seat naturally belongs to the Thackeray faction. He further remarked that Raut requires a more aggressive "companion" in the Upper House to sustain the party's offensive against the central government, hinting that the seat should go to a loyalist rather than an ally.


The timing of this internal rift is particularly delicate as Sharad Pawar struggles with health issues. The 85-year-old leader was admitted to Pune’s Ruby Hall Clinic for the second time in a fortnight on Sunday, suffering from mild dehydration and fatigue. His hospitalization has cast a shadow of uncertainty over his own plans for re-election, even as his allies debate whether to support him or field their own candidates.


The broader political landscape further complicates the MVA's predicament. With the Mahayuti alliance—comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and the NCP—holding a dominant majority, they are expected to sweep six of the seven Rajya Sabha seats. The MVA’s inability to settle on a single candidate for the seventh seat not only threatens their chances of an unopposed victory but also provides the ruling coalition with an opportunity to exploit these growing divisions. As the budget session begins, the MVA faces the daunting task of proving that it is still a cohesive unit, or risk entering the 2026 electoral cycle as a house divided.

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