Changing the merit list of PMT : Turning it into a bazar
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 30, 2012 -

The Health Minister, Health Commissioner and the Health Director will not resign. This is a certainty.

If what the Democratic Students' Alliance of Manipur has had to say is true then it is also a certainty that there are some elements out there who are hell bent on turning the pre-medical test into one big bazar, where medical seats can be bargained on the basis of the clout and influence that one may wield.

Between these two certainties, what is however uncertain is the fate of quite a number of students who may have seen their names appear and disappear from the merit list, prepared on the basis of their performance in the entrance examination for MBBS/BDS, 2012.

Rules and regulations, it seems are framed for some well placed people to twist and turn them according to their fancy and whims. On the basis of wrong answer keys, the merit list of the MBBS/BDS entrance examination was changed twice, after it was declared on June 11, which is nothing less than making a farce of the rule that explicitly lays down that there would be no re-evaluation of the answer scripts.

This is not how Government institutions are supposed to function. An apt example of how effectively the question of accountability and responsibility has been trashed and condemned.

There is something eerily sadistic in the idea of kicking candidates up and down the merit list and such a mentality has come to take deep roots as a result of the years of immunity granted to the officialdom and their political masters. A case of ‘we can do anything we like, damn the public.’

It is this aura of invincibility that needs to be punctured with a prick where it matters. The non-chalant manner in which the merit list was altered, not only once but twice in a space of 11/12 days after the result was declared is a clear indication of where the hard labour of the young students stand in the eyes of the powers that be.

The lack of professionalism on the part of the question setters and the mental disposition of the men responsible for conducting the said examination all stand in direct contrast to the aspirations of the people.

A case of diligence being guillotined at the altar of official bungling and arrogance and it becomes all that more abhorrent. This is something which sucks.

There can be nothing more insulting than cocking a snook at the hard labour of the youngsters and flouting the laid down rules without so much of an explanation certainly comes under this.

The Medical Directorate owes an explanation to the people. It is not only a question of drawing up a merit list but also entails the future of quite a number of young students.

Why should students be made to face the ignominy of being kicked around in the merit list, due to the bungling of some question setters and an insensitive officialdom ?

The pre-medical test is not a fish market where the seats can be haggled over a price.