PUNE: “While lakhs of students from all over the State aspire to clear the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) exam each year, the mess in the whole system of the State’s most sought after examination is causing agitation and stress among the students.
While MPSC has been under constant criticism for recurring cases of copying and dummies during the examinations, the introduction of biometric attendance system to address the issue has not exactly been successful.
“The issue of dummy candidates has been haunting MPSC aspirants for years now. While we thought biometrics would help us, the government has failed in its implementation, as most of the times, it is not used for preliminary examinations,” MPSC aspirant Mahesh Bade said.
The candidates have time and again stated that biometrics is as essential for the preliminaries as it is for the mains, as if people pass prelims with the help of dummies, it is injustice to the honest candidates.
He added, “There have been cases where the biometric attendance has been made after the examination. At some centres, the biometrics was done and then the candidates were seen roaming around the Centre, while they are supposed to be seated in the classrooms strictly. This does not make any sense.”
NUMBER OF VACANCIES
While last year the commission caused a huge controversy leading to a protest, when it declared only 69 vacant posts, the number of vacancies has been an ongoing issue.
“Even after the protests last year, the government increased the vacancies only by 42 seats. Considering the number of candidates, the government should at least declare 350 to 400 posts,” Bade added.
Commenting on the inefficient work of the MPSC and the State Government, he said, “Usually, the vacant posts are to be declared by taking into consideration the requirements of all the government departments. There are 19.5 lakh approved posts in the government departments, many of which have not yet been filled. And yet, lakhs of candidates remain deprived of MPSC’s posts despite studying hard.”
Another MPSC aspirant, Bhujang Patil of MPSC Vidyarthi Samanvay Samiti (MPSC Students Coordination Committee) said that if the disparity between the number of posts and candidates is reduced even slightly, it will help address the issue of unemployment in a big way.
WAITING LIST CRISIS
“Many times, the smartest of the students score so well that they are eligible for three-four posts. However, they assume only one. If waiting lists are declared for all the posts, other students could benefit. Sometimes, posts too remain vacant because of this issue,” Patil added. (concluded)
