Dear Editor,
I’m a failed candidate who couldn’t make it into the list for mains. The results kept me thinking where did I go wrong? And what’s next? The answer was quite obvious, “Forget, rectify and proceed” and so did I. But the never ending ongoing chaos again got me thinking-
1) Copy pasting, are they justified? Obviously yes, unless it runs out of the syllabus.
2) Out of syllabus questions? Needless to say that every subject has a wide scope and is inter-related to other subjects too. It is really hard to find out the thin line of difference. This exactly happened with sociology- “Drain theory” by Dadabhai Naoroji should comfortably fit into either the Modern History or under the Indian Economy but it was asked in Sociology. But yes the commission won’t be justified if the thin line is identified to be crossed.
3) Compensatory Marks-The most serious issue- Is the commission justified? A big no!
In a competitive exam, one’s selection directly depends upon the marks scored by the other candidates and the commission should be well aware that the margin between the score of two candidates is usually of mere fractions of one. Even there lie a numerous candidates between a mark difference of just one.
The compensatory marks issued by the commission towards geography and commerce candidates have caused much unintended harm and damage than the intended benefits of rectifying its mistakes. Clearly it’s a ‘Free brownie points’ for the two which has changed the entire face of the ‘Holy PDF’. It deprived other candidates who otherwise sat just above the cut off marks. They have been kicked out of the list for no faults of theirs. Clearly, the commission rectified its self made mistakes at the cost of other deserving candidates who would have actually made into the list if compensatory marks were not awarded. Is this justified? Aren’t the said candidates deprived of equal treatment and also of equal opportunities?
Every candidate be it qualified or deprived, is being affected by this fiasco. Personally I won’t feel justified for the selected candidates if ever the exam is re conducted again but at the same time I won’t feel justified for those who have been forcefully kicked out of the list due to free brownie points awarded to others. Until now only APSC knows who those unfortunate ones who almost made it to the list.
So one thing which I personally find would be justified for everyone is to remit the compensatory marks awarded and simply increase the intake ratio for mains to somewhere around 3000 based on original answer sheet without any compensation. The Commission should really consider the dark side of the compensatory marks. Since the matter is already in the Court let’s see what the Court rules out.
Yours,
A candidate,
Itanagar