SFI Condemns Irregularities and Corruption in Competitive Exams Under Modi Government
The Student Federation of India (SFI) Himachal Pradesh State Committee has condemned the large-scale irregularities and corruption in the conduct of competitive examinations under the Modi regime. Effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and NTA Director Pradeep Kumar Joshi were burned in protest. Notably, the issue of the NEET scam had not yet been resolved when irregularities in the UGC-NET examination came to light, both of which were conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). On June 18, 2024, over 900,000 students appeared for this examination at 1,205 centers.
Despite the intense heat, youths from across the country and the state spent thousands of rupees to travel from their remote villages to take this exam. However, after their extensive preparation and hard work, they learned that the exam had been canceled due to significant irregularities, adding to their disappointment. Canceling the exam is not fair to the millions of youths across the country.
The SFI stated that agencies like the NTA have become a means for the BJP and RSS to make money unethically under the Modi government, continuously jeopardizing the future of the country’s youth. While 3-3.5 million posts remain vacant in various departments, irregularities in exams like NEET and UGC conducted by bodies established by the Modi government are at their peak.
The SFI claimed that irregularities in this UGC-NET exam can be easily inferred. Even in Himachal Pradesh, where several exam centers were set up, observers were appointed for impartial conduct. Most of these observers were teachers supporting BJP and RSS ideologies, including the most junior teachers appointed during the BJP regime, bypassing UGC regulations.
The NTA should have some seniority criteria for appointing observers. Teachers openly participating in meetings and events of the BJP and RSS’s student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, were appointed as observers at several centers in Himachal Pradesh. How can such people be expected to be neutral and impeccable in such appointments? Many teachers appointed as observers by the NTA have multiple cases pending against their appointments in the honorable courts. The basis on which the NTA appoints people for conducting these exams is a significant question.
The SFI alleged that the Modi government has appointed unqualified people to several top and responsible educational bodies, and such corruption and irregularities are indicative of these appointments.
The SFI demands the dissolution of corrupt institutions like the NTA, the resignation of the Union Education Minister on moral grounds, and an independent investigation into this scam under a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. The SFI will stage fierce protests across the state against these irregularities.
