Rajya Sabha passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill on February 9, a Bill cleared by the Lok Sabha earlier this week. The Bill, aimed at bringing greater transparency, fairness and credibility to the public examination systems, will now go to President Droupadi Murmu for assent.
Piloting the Bill, Union Minister of State for Personnel Affairs Jitendra Singh said it was yet another step by the Narendra Modi government in ensuring transparency in appointments and admissions. By doing away with interviews and attestations by gazetted officers, the government stopped colonial-era practices and ended nepotism, he added.
Mr. Singh said in the Bill that malpractices in public examinations led to delays and cancellation of examinations, adversely impacting the prospects of millions of youth. “At present, there is no specific substantive law to deal with unfair means adopted or offences committed by various entities involved in the conduct of public examinations by the Central government and its agencies. Therefore, it is imperative that elements that exploit vulnerabilities of examination system are identified and effectively dealt with by a comprehensive Central legislation,” he said.
The Bill has penal provisions for a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine of up to ₹1 crore for such offences. “We can’t allow vital youth power of this country to be surrendered or sacrificed in the hands of a handful few...Very cautiously, we have kept the bona fide candidate out of the purview of the law, be it a job aspirant or a student. So the message does not go that this new legislation is meant to harass the youth of this country. It is only meant to deter those who are playing with their future, and thereby the future of the nation,” Mr. Singh said in Raya Sabha.
