The Torment of Irregularities and Delay in State PSC Exams
The provision of the establishment of state PSC was provided in the Constitution of India to regulate the process of recruitment and address unemployment.
It was thought if every state and Union Territory has its own recruitment body, the whole process could be easy, timely and transparent.
But the irregularities and delay in State PSC Exams have proved everything to be the opposite. Exams are delayed, irregular, and the process is every time questionable.
It has just become an issue for political parties to garner votes whether it’s the ruling party or the opposition. No solid steps are taken to curb the situation.
In general, any recruitment process of State PSC comprises of Seven stages-
- Departments sending the list of vacant post
- Notification regarding the exam and posts
- Forms filled
- Pre Exam
- Mains Exam
- Interview
- Joining
But is it what we see practically?
Table of Contents
Current Steps of Recruitment which causes the Delay in State PSC Exams
The above steps of the recruitment process are just an ideal condition in the current scenario. Now a whole new and different stages are involved.
1.) It takes years and years to notify New Vacancy and Recruitment.
It is so shocking and normal to know the duration after which new vacancies are notified by the STATE PSC’s.
Shockingly, there is even a delay of up to 5 years and more in just acknowledging the new vacancy and advertising it.
But it is a routine now. Once a recruitment process is completed, no one knows when the next will happen. It may take half a decade or so. People have accepted it silently, and in that sense, it is normal now.
For example – It has been around 20 years since the Jharkhand Public Service Commission has been formed.
But you will be surprised to know that it has just completed a total of “6 Combined Civil Services Examinations” only. Even the 6th one was completed a few months back, and still, there is some dissatisfaction among the candidates regarding the result.
2.) The Employment advertisement gets Cancelled because of disparity in Reservation, Age etc.
The employment advertisement published contains some disparities and due to which it gets cancelled.
Again it takes a few months to publish the revised notification.
3.) Forms are Filled by the candidates
This step goes on smoothly if there is no unavoidable circumstance.
4.) A Long Wait for any notice of Examination
Generally, exam dates are mentioned in the employment advertisement, but rarely they are conducted on the schedule.
As the exam nears, one notification pops up saying –
“Due to Unavoidable reasons exams cannot be conducted on the said dates. The new schedule will be notified soon “
Thus, there is a long wait for any updates regarding the PRE – Exams.
5.) Pre-Exams are conducted
A big relief !!
Admit Cards are out, and the schedule is published.
Chalo at least exams are conducted. But wait, it’s just in phase one of the process.
6.) News of Paper Leak, Misconduct, Wrong Questions etc. on the Exam centres circulates.
Although Commissions always deny this but still in approximately every exam, the candidates report the news of Paper leak or Misconduct and many starts protesting against it.
A committee is established to look after any misconduct, and if everything is found at the right place, the Exam process proceeds.
7.) Release of Answer key
If everything goes as stated above, there is wait for the answer key, which in almost every case has few flaws.
8.) Release of Revised Answer key
After the objections raised by the candidates, the answer key is revised and again released.
9.) Announcement of “Preliminary” stage Result
The result of “Pre” is announced, and the patience of students are once again tested. There is some discrepancy in publishing the result ( according to a few candidates), and the matter is taken to court.
10.) Delays in the court hearing
Once the matter is in court, there is no specific duration when it will be even presented for hearing ( after all there are so-called high profile cases pending which are more important than the lives of thousands of students ).
It may take a few days, a few months or even a few years just to get any verdict from the court.
11.) If the verdict comes in favour of the Commission
There may be two outcomes of the case.
One- The appealing party wins. In that case, the whole recruitment process gets cancelled.
Two- Commission wins the case. In this case, the “Preliminary” result is approved, and the process of recruitment continues.
12.) Forms of the Second stage – “Mains” Examination are filled
Again the notification is released for the mains examinations and candidates qualified in Preliminary exam are instructed to fill the form of Mains ( although they already have all the details, still forms are filled and fees are collected ).
13.) Admit Cards are released for the Mains Exam
There is a long wait for the notification regarding dates of the Mains Examination.
Admit Cards are released, and at least Exams are conducted. Phew !!
14.) Answer Keys are published ( Original and Revised one )
Again the answer keys are published and asked for objections (which is present). Thus, a revised answer key is published.
15.) Wait for the Result of Mains Examination
Candidates once again have no choice than wait for the Mains Result. After a long wait (months & months and in some cases a few years) the result is declared.
16.) Again a Court case
Again some shortcomings are noticed by someone, and the case is filed in court ( may that be related to cut-offs, markings, questions etc.)
Candidates again wait for months and years for any verdict.
If the verdict is in favour of the Appealing party, the process is halted.
But if the verdict comes in favour of the Commission, the process is continued further.
17.) Interviews are conducted
Yes, we are near!
The Commission releases the notification for the dates of the interview.
Somehow the interviews are conducted if there is no unavoidable circumstance.
18.) Final Merit Result
Finally, the merit list is published after a long wait. Still, if someone has an issue with the result, again the matter is taken to court, and there is a wait for the verdict.
If everything goes well, then the selected candidates are given the joining letter.
What is the Mental state of the Candidates
The whole recruitment process carried out by the State PSC’s is daunting and frustrating for the candidates. There are several stages on which they face mental torture due to this delay-
1.) Long Wait for the New Vacancy
First, the candidates have to wait for years and years just for a vacancy advertisement.
In the states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, etc. students have to wait for years and years just for an opportunity to appear in the exam.
Somehow there is some pressure for the Combined Civil Services Exams to be conducted on a regular schedule. But other recruitment processes related to Engineers, Professors, other technical degree holders etc. is completely neglected.
2.) Age Bar
One candidate gets very few chances to get appear in Examinations due to fewer opportunities.
Due to this age, many students cross above the mentioned age limit, and he is prohibited from giving the exam.
3.) Rent, Fees and Coachings
Mostly the students migrate to bigger cities for better coachings and preparation. Thus, they need to live there for years and years and are forced to pay the high rents and massive fees of the coaching institutions.
There are several incidents reported in even the national capital Delhi where students are forced to pay arbitrary rent.
If somehow there is even a day’s delay in paying the amount, their goods are thrown out in the streets. They are even abused regularly by the house owners.
The students have no choice to return to their hometown, as many of them are those whose Family’s stake is on his result and career.
4.) The pressure to feed the Family
This is something which is not always there. But as the age of the student increases year by year, an unsaid pressure builds for earning the livelihood for the Family.
Parents get retired, source of income is reduced, but on the other hand, the expense is always increasing.
These days the delays in the result seem eternity and students are in deep depression where they don’t know what to do.
5.) Delays in Getting Settled
There is an age for everything. A candidate who starts preparing for the Commission is of 23 years approximately. But soon the years pass like wind, and in just one or two attempts, his/her age is 32 years.
In India, females are forced to marry at an early age ( mostly 25 years around ).
On the other hand, boys are expected to be earning to prove their worth.
The delay in the recruitment process doesn’t let them do anything else because it’s considered a deviation and they are left with no other choice than to bear with the irregularities of the examinations.
6.) No source of income
Since the commission exams are considered to be very consuming, candidates never risk their already narrowed opportunity due to less number of exams and work simultaneously.
Thus, they are mostly dependent on their parents for the expenses. This creates a huge pressure of performing in the result.
There are several cases of suicide and mental illness among the students due to this increasing pressure.
7.) The pressure to prove they deserve
With such a limited chance to even appear in an examination, there is a huge pressure from connected Family, friends ( working ), society etc. to prove that they are worthy and deserving.
How come only two or three attempts in an exam where lakhs are appearing and seats are only a few hundred in numbers which decides someone’s worth.
It’s easy to say no to hear what others say. An aspirant to follows it but for how long is the question ??
Years pass, and he is bombarded with the same question on his abilities again and again.
His patience is tested again, and again there is a threshold to everything.
The mental torture an aspirant faces every day in the journey to appear in the exam to the result, and final joining is traumatising.
Who to blame for the condition
1.) The State PSC – Commission
The only work allocated to the Commission is to conduct the recruitment process, and it is even not able to do that properly.
There are so many delays, discrepancies, allegations etc. one following the other in the process of completing an employment procedure.
There are flaws in the notification and the number of posts.
Even the answer key ( even the MCQ type ) has wrong answers which are prepared by the specialists after rigorous analysis.
If there are some set of rules and regulations, then why aren’t they followed strictly.
Yes we accept there are court cases, but how come UPSC (Union Public Service Commission)
can conduct the exams every year? There are cases filed on them as well.
But how come their processes are more transparent and so much regular?
So, I am not buying this reason at all.
And most importantly if one exam is in the court, then why can’t the Commission conduct the next recruitment process on schedule ( next year ) with a new set of vacancies.
This can at least regularise the process and students may get a chance to appear in the exam.
2.) The Political Negligence
Unemployment is one of the major issues which is cashed for garnering youth’s vote in the elections. But after the elections the issue gets redundant.
The ruling party seems least interested in new permanent vacancies. If needed, they appoint employees on contract basis on a minimal salary ( This itself is a very big issue which I will try to cover in some other article).
The opposition parties too just make hue and cry on unemployment, and no solid steps are taken to regularise the delayed process.
They confine themselves only to writing letters and posting a few tweets, and they feel as if they are relieved from their duty.
But the same people protest and come on streets to get any other issues heard by the government.
3.) The delay in court hearings
Everyone understands how many cases are already pending and the workload on less number of judges than required.
But I never get to understand how some high profile cases are notified and heard in a few days whereas these cases take months and months for being notified for the hearing.
Even the court takes self-cognition on several cases like environment, traffic, pollution, roads etc. then why this issue is neglected.
Several students commit suicide. Many go into depression and mental illness due to the trauma and pressure as a result of delays in the recruitment process.
Is the future and life of thousands and Lakhs of candidates hold lesser importance than other things.
I never get to understand the whole concept of why some high profile low valued cases are given the priority in hearing than cases where the future and life of so many students prevail. If any of you know, please explain it to me in the comment box. I will be highly obliged.
But still, some provisions should be made to lessen the duration of filing the case and verdict, as the career & life of thousands and lakhs of candidates are at stake.
The current example being the recruitment process of Assistant Engineers conducted by BPSC.
4.) TRP inclined media
The focus of the mainstream media has completely shifted from basic issues to sensational news.
Just like political parties, unemployment is a news which is remembered only when some elections are about to be held. This is the time when it gets some TV time.
The students protest for the exams, delays and result is provided with enough voice by the media.
This news hardly finds their place in the “Top 100 News “or “SuperFast News “section.
Since this news cannot be marketed as “Breaking News”, they are not at all good for TRP and views.
For massive views, every news should be “Breaking News “, whereas this news is considered fit for only aspirants of that exam or their Family.
So, they are never given that footage, hype and pressure which could bring some change and accelerate the complete process.
Somehow the Combined Civil Exams get some limelight. Still, delays in other exams conducted by the Commission is completely neglected, examples being the RPSC, BPSC, UP PSC exams for the post of Assistant Engineers.
5.) The Aspirants
Yes, the aspirants are equally responsible for such a shabby recruitment process. There is no unity among them to stand up against the delay and irregularity.
They are divided on political inclination when there is the time to voice against the government or opposition for the recruitment process.
They don’t question the political parties contesting the elections about the roadmap for the employment, nor they question the current delays.
So, when aspirants themselves are not united and aware of their duties, this irregularity will continue as usual.
Also Read,
- Current Situation and social status of Teachers in India
- Why are online classes for e Learning in India struggling
Conclusion
The whole gist of the article is not to demean anyone or any organisation but to showcase the rack; the distress candidates go through due to the irregularity and the delay in State PSC Exams.
Many times a vague solution is provided to the aspirants of State PSC’s / SSC, and that’s to be self-reliant , opt for Self Employment and start a business.
But do you know why they can’t – Because they are not meant to do that.
Life long they studied, Spent huge money on studies and devoted their precious life just to get a degree and knowledge so that they could apply for the job. They are nurtured in the way that only a job from PSC / SSC can justify their hard work and sacrifices they made over the years.
The trauma they experience can only be felt by the aspirants and their Family and not by the people sitting on the revolving chair under an AC.
This matter may seem very little but holds the question of life and death for many students and their families.
So, we hope the concerned authorities acknowledge the gravity and seriousness of the issue, and we get to see things getting better. At least if students unite, there is hope !!
