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GOVERNMENTGujarat’s Recruitment Scam Model: 11 Papers Leaked, 201 Accused, But No Action Taken.Ankit Raj
May 25, 2024 Paper leaks not only result in the cancellation of exams, but with them the hopes and aspirations of countless candidates are also dashed. In the last five years, 41 recruitment exams in 15 states have been cancelled due to paper leaks, resulting in a huge blow to 1.4 crore applicants.Representative image. Photo: Unsplash
New Delhi: According to the Gujarat Congress, recruitment scams are not possible without government patronage. Asit Vora, a prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leader and a close aide of Narendra Modi, had to resign from the post of the Gujarat Secondary Service selection board chairman after one such notorious scam. The printing press which was in the news over the paper leak issue had once printed a book by Modi.
One of Modi’s guarantees in the BJP’s manifesto, titled ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, says, “We have already enacted a strict law to stop misconduct in recruitment exams across the country. We will strictly implement this law to ensure strict punishment to those playing with the future of our youth.”
In February this year, the Union government passed the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024.
This law mirrors the fraud happening with the youth across the country. Paper leaks not only result in the cancellation of exams, but with them the hopes and aspirations of countless candidates are also dashed. A recent report by the Indian Express said that in the last five years, 41 recruitment exams in 15 states have been cancelled due to paper leaks, resulting in a huge blow to 1.4 crore applicants.
These incidents have become a part of public memory, especially in the Hindi-speaking states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. However, the situation is just as worse in BJP’s ‘model’ state Gujarat. The first episode in this series presented by The Wire, which focuses on the scams taking place in government recruitment, is from Gujarat.
In February 2023, the BJP-led state government in Gujarat had passed a Bill to prevent paper leaks in government recruitment exams. The law provides for a maximum imprisonment of 10 years and a minimum fine of Rs 1 crore for the ‘organised crime’ of paper leak. While presenting the Bill in the House, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghvi admitted that there had been 11 cases of paper leaks in the state over the past 11 years. Consequently, 11 cases were registered against 201 accused individuals, and chargesheets were filed in 10 of these cases.
However, Sanghvi failed to mention that the roots of paper leak in Gujarat run deep and have a connection with the BJP rule. It involves two major players – Gujarat Subordinate Services Selection Board (GSSSB), the body that conducts examinations for all government recruitment, and Surya Offset Printing Press of Ahmedabad from where many papers have allegedly been leaked.
The Head Clerk Exam Paper Leak case of 2021 is the most infamous recruitment scam of Gujarat in the last decade.