While the government has appointed a three-member committee to investigate the incident, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences has ordered a re-examination on September 5. A re-examination, however, repairs only part of the damage because the affected candidates will have to answer a question paper, which is different from the one everyone else had answered
The power failure that prevented 2,445 medical graduates from completing the NEET-PG at two iON Digital Zone centres — TC Nos. 41682 and 41683 — at Sitapura locality in Jaipur cannot be dismissed as an unforeseen technical disruption. Electricity failures are not unforeseen in India. That is why centres conducting computer-based examinations were mandated to have adequate uninterruptible power supply systems and a rehearsed recovery protocol.
While the government has appointed a three-member committee to investigate the incident, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences has ordered a re-examination on September 5. A re-examination, however, repairs only part of the damage because the affected candidates will have to answer a question paper, which is different from the one everyone else had answered. This could raise accusations about the new question paper either being easy or tough — either way there won't be any equal treatment for all candidates and potentially leading to litigation.
Union health ministry officials blamed Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the operator of iON Digital Zone centres, for the internal power-supply failure. However, the government must resist the temptation to make TCS as a whole the convenient scapegoat. TCS has successfully supported the examination at more than 1,100 centres, with over 2.63 lakh candidates completing it. The failure was concentrated at two adjoining centres, pointing to negligence in local execution, supervision or certification.
The government must identify the individuals who inspected and approved the centres, maintained the electrical systems, certified the generators and UPS installations, and supervised operations on examination day and take action against them.
The government should also scrutinise the Rajasthan connection of the NEET-UG paper leak and the NEET-PG power outage. The officials need to investigate whether it was merely a coincidence that the two unfortunate events happened in Rajasthan or if there was any strong exam mafia that was operating in the state.
