In Telangana, it seems that everything is meant for sale, and only for sale in BRS ruled government. Why the assets are getting sold and why cash-rich state need more money? These questions have no answers.
Now, everything in Telangana is for sale, from government lands to benefits aimed at the poor. Selling test questions to choose the state’s future bureaucrats is the newest item on this list. Corruption is the link that binds all of these sales together.
During the past nine years, corruption has drained the state’s coffers. The “Rich State” has been brought to the brink of collapse while certain people in positions of authority and their cronies become obscenely wealthy. The state’s financial difficulty is demonstrated by the fact that even the government cannot pay its employees on the first of the month. As a last resort, the state has decided to formally list its property for sale after turning to massive debts.
While corruption indirectly compelled the government to sell its lands, the other for-sale boards were set up by the corrupt for their own personal financial gain. Even the very impoverished people are not exempt. Consider the Double Bedroom Housing Program or the Dalitha Bandhu scheme. Those in power collect lakhs of rupees from the poorest of the poor, promising to enter their names into the beneficiaries’ list.
For three reasons, this corruption committed in the name of assistance programmes is even more abhorrent and terrible. First off, the deserving suffer since the impoverished, who are unable to pay, are the benefits’ designated recipients. Second, even the most deserving and defenceless members of our population must pay out of fear of losing out. Last but not least, the government only partially or never fulfils its commitments.
Even the most unrelenting optimists have fallen into despair as a result of what has happened in our state over the past several days. Those who had thought that the upcoming elections would allow for a change in political leadership and an opportunity to ameliorate the existing situation experienced a nasty awakening.
The news of question papers from competitive examinations leaked from the Telangana State Public Service Commission was the reason for this shock (TSPSC). The TSPSC recruits the state’s future bureaucrats—the steel framework of every government administration—through these competitive exams. One can be confident that everyone who pays their way into the system will be corrupt if access into the steel frame itself is for sale. Political leadership can be changed through periodic elections, but the steel frame lasts far longer, and a tainted one can ruin our present and future.
The initial news was the leakage and sale of question papers related to one job notice for lakhs of rupees. But as more information became available, the TSPSC was forced to cancel several exams, even ones that were taken months ago, before establishing that the leaks were not an exception but the rule. It would have given the public some solace if TSPSC had caught the leaks. But no. If there were any such, the system’s counter checks had no role to play.
The causes for the repeated leaks are easy to find. Corruption, intentionally rigging the system so that those in power can exploit the loopholes to benefit themselves and their own, using appointments to boards like the TSPSC as political rewards, inefficient political and administrative leadership, and finally, lack of political will to get at the root causes and fix them top the list.
If not for these reasons, any administration need not look far to find systemic solutions. For example, without such leaks, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts similar kinds of competitive exams yearly, like clockwork, across India and enjoys a squeaky-clean track record. UPSC: The time-tested organisational structure, the qualifications for its members, the processes it follows ensuring leak-proof conduct of exams, and the early warning systems that are built-in into its operations to detect any mischief are all openly available to be copied by TSPSC or any board in the state that conducts exams.
Similarly, organisations with a strong track record, such as the College Board and the Educational Testing Service (ETS), administer the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) assessments globally.
The leaks caused thousands of applicants for government jobs who had already taken the exams or were getting ready to take them to go through a terrifying experience. In contrast, the entire top leadership of the administration was concentrated on defending the Chief Minister’s daughter in a case involving the Delhi liquor scam. The DelhiExcise Policy, which was made available for purchase, is at the centre of the Delhi liquor fraud. It’s no accident that a prominent political figure is alleged to have planned that scam. It’s natural to expand and conquer other markets when one has succeeded in the local market. #hydnews #hydkhabar #newsforhyderabad
