Paper leaks involving major recruitment agencies under the Central Government are things of the past, thanks to the innovations introduced in the examination system.
As per officials, no leakage of question papers has been reported in the examinations conducted by three central recruitment agencies -- Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) -- since June 2019.
The officials confirmed that requisite arrangements are made by the recruiting agencies for smooth conduct of examinations and recruitment tests. Many of these examinations are conducted in an online mode. The measures taken at the examination venues include thorough checking and frisking of candidates with the help of Hand-Held Metal Detectors, setting up of Low Powered Jammers and CCTV Camera surveillance, matching of photographs of candidates with that taken at the venue, among others.
As per a Parliament reply in July last year, for the smooth conduct of examinations and to fully achieve the objective of merit-based selection, the SSC constantly reviews and reforms the examination process and procedures, wherever required. New initiatives are also taken to bring about maximum efficiency and credibility in the examination process.
The paper leak was last reported in second tier of the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) examination, 2017, which took place on February 21, 2018. Its answer key were allegedly leaked and became viral on social media before the examination began.
On May 22, 2018, the CBI had registered a Regular Case (RC) against some private persons and other unknown persons including unknown officials of SSC on the allegations of malpractices including leakage in the said examination.
It came to the fore that the candidates used remote access software for solving their question papers by means of outside help from unknown persons.
It was alleged that the computers of some candidates were remotely accessed by unknown persons with the help of software which was not supposed to be installed in the Personal Computers of the candidates. These candidates were allegedly helped by the unknown persons in solving questions.
Screenshots of some of the questions of the CGL Tier-II Exam, 2017 were leaked on social media and had gone viral. The answer keys of the Quantitative Ability (QA) examination dated February 21, 2018 were also allegedly found on social media.
Keeping this in view, the SSC has taken an important initiative for a swift and comprehensive migration from the Optical Marks Reader (OMR) based mode to the Computer Based Mode (CBM) for conducting Objective Type Multiple Choice Examinations. The examinations for recruitment to Selection Posts, which were earlier made through interviews, are also now conducted in the CBM.
Moreover, the SSC has taken comprehensive measures which include audit of examination venues, conduct of mock-tests, deployment of Commission's representatives as Inspecting Officers at the examination venues, physical frisking of candidates with the help of hand-held metal detectors, comprehensive CCTV coverage of the examination venues, biometric registration of candidates and deployment of low powered mobile jammers, to ensure high standard of integrity, discipline and efficiency in the conduct of various examinations.