‘Null and void’ demand is not the answer

Editor,

I have seen a number of statements from people, both over social media and through your esteemed daily, over the demand of ‘null and void’ being the only solution for the scam of Arunachal’s most regarded exam APPSC.

While some pointed out such elaborate statements with a bunch of incomprehensible words and others jumped on the bandwagon of sharing their two cents, I, for one, am vehemently and openly against the demand made in such manner. Be it the prestigious student union body like the ANSU or the thousands of aspirants, null and void cannot be the solution for such a deep rooted injustice. No sir.

Most people had pointed out one similarity within their statements – the sheer atrocity and mental torture of all the aspirants who failed and suffered. While I completely understand this, these very people then turn around and chime in the protest for ‘null and void’, forgetting about the number of people who had worked hard without any foul play, got the job, feeding their families and shall suffer under the pressure if this demand is made through.

One person had written something along the lines of “a thousand lives matter more than the trouble of a few hundred lives.” And I haven’t seen a more contradictory and hypocritical statement in my life. Every life means something, even one. Most people who are in service right now through honest work, have families to look after, EMIs to pay every month, ailments to treat. Will the government be responsible for them? Will their loans be scrapped away? Rent and utilities will be provided?

The people who got the job may be in the hundreds, but the lives at stake, if counted along with their families will indefinitely be in the thousands. So, I ask you, what about them? Who will provide for them if the sole earner of the family is suddenly robbed of his/her job and asked to repeat the process once again?

My statements may come from a very emotional point of view, but so are the illogical demands by the aspirants, as well. There is no ‘one size fits all’. We cannot just rob a job from someone who had worked hard to be where they are for the misdeed and ill means of others.

This is where the state’s resources need to be applied. Bringing in experts to rightfully investigate and uproot the core of these corruptions. Not sacrifice the weakest and the most vulnerable link we can find.

I have no concrete solution for this. But what I most definitely know is that ‘null and void’ is not a concrete answer either. May we find the justice we deserve without the sacrificing of honest men/women?

A future aspirant