Editor,
The present situation after the 13-point charter of demands, specifically the ninth point that demands that examinations found to be involved in malpractices to be declared “null and void” has stirred a moral conflict amongst the protesters and a good sum of populace.
From a consequentialist ethical lens, one may argue that null and void since 2014 to till date would create administrative havoc in the state. Furthermore, the families of those who cleared the exam through sheer hard work will bear the punishment of some corrupted individuals. While from a deontological ethical perspective, morally obligatory actions like null and void must take place regardless of their consequences in order to get justice for deserving aspirants and to cleanse the entire commission.
This debate hopefully will be solved in the court of law in the times to come. But meanwhile, I have a few suggestions to offer which deny the binary of both consequentialists and deontologists but strive for a humanitarian approach. The Pan Arunachal Joint Steering Committee is acknowledged or for better words accepted by the state government had led to an ethical dilemma among the citizens.
1) An evaluation and assessment must be conducted of work done so far by employees who got jobs during the timeframe discussed by PAJSC. This process will not only tell their efficacy at work but also if they were intellectually and morally equipped to follow their duties as government servants.
2) A team of employees, PAJSC and government officials to be formed to create a special test for those whose integrity is suspicious. The special test must involve both aptitude level questions and domain expertise questions.
3) A thorough interrogation of employees who have complaints against them or whose name is submitted by PAJSC to the SIC and CBI.
As a student of social sciences and a future aspirant who is deeply concerned about the corruption in the state, I truly believe a pragmatic approach must be undertaken to arrive at a final solution, while the system should be cleansed and structural reformation must take place in the APPSC for a corruption-free Arunachal.
We must be careful that no injustice is done to those employees who have earned the job through sheer hard work and were sincere aspirants.
Hengam