Manipur Public Service Commission = Manipur Politely Corrupted Commission

Longjam Tony Angom *

Manipur Public Service Commission (MPSC) Building in Imphal (March 2013) :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

As per the answer keys published on the same day of examination i.e. 24th April 2014, 15 questions were found incorrect & new answer keys were made available on 13th May 2014. It was also mentioned on its publication that candidates would be given grace marks for the wrong questions. But take any examination in the country be it UPSC or State, no where you would find the system of allotting grace marks.

In a Public Service Commission examination, candidates compete with one another even for 1 mark however in our state 15 questions are found incorrect and candidates are awarded free marks. But the question lies in terms of those candidates who have really put in hard work & enthusiasm. They have been levelled together with those candidates who have blindly ticked the answers.

Therefore it hurts the sentiments of those candidates who have ticked the answers correctly. In the latest keys published on the 13th May 2014, the answers in all the series are mismatched i.e. MPSC has done the ratification only for Series A & not for the remaining series. They have corrected the answer keys for Series A & have not corrected the corresponding answer keys for Series B, C & D.

The following questions from Series A & D will explain as to what precisely is the concern.

The question no.10 in Series A is the same with question 110 in Series D. As per the MPSC keys, the answer for question no.10 of Series A & question 110 of Series D are D & B respectively. Questions have been shuffled but the options are the same. If series A has D as the correct answer then Series D will also have D as the correct answer for the respective question.

With this issue in hand, MPSC has announced the result on 14th May 2014 & some candidates are picked up for writing the main exam which will commence from 14th July 2014. The issue lies in terms of declaring the results i.e. have they really considered the mismatched in the above questions or have they without considering the mismatch declared the results.

Further, it was also found that answer keys for another 17 questions are also mismatched in the MPSC's initial answer keys published on 24th May 2014 and hence the corresponding keys for the respective questions in series B, C & D are not the same. In continuation to this question no. 59, 69 & 81 of Series A are not corrected in the latest publication and therefore the corresponding questions are not corrected for the other series as well.

However this issue was not brought to the notice of MPSC & they have declared the final results on 16th May 2014 through an addendum. Where in the country you would find results being declared twice for the same exam?

So, I would like to ask the concerned authority "on what basis the second results are declared".

Therefore the concerned authority should look into the matter once again as it touches the sentiment of all the candidates. If any individual candidate approaches through RTI to check his/her answer sheet, it will take time for him/her to go through the lengthy process and by the time he/she gets a green signal, he/she would have paucity of time to prepare for the main exam.

Therefore, it is high time for the concerned authority to make the OMR sheets available on the MPSC website to have some transparency in the selection process. Consequently, it is also required to check the answer sheets for all the students whoever got through the preliminary examinations.

Therefore it is high for all the students' organisations to join hands together, trace each & every records of MPSC in the past & also at present. And I hope all the students' organisations would lend their legitimate support in bringing some changes in the existing system. It is time to fight the cancer of corruption with the simple sword of truth.

"The flood of non-transparency that gushes into the system today is pollution of democracy"