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.
