Another major recruitment examination has landed in controversy

Why is Rahul Gandhi not talking about this exam scandal? Under the Congress-backed government in Jharkhand, one of the state's most important recruitment exams has come under serious scrutiny. Multiple irregularities have been reported in the Jharkhand Public Service Commission examination. What exactly happened? Let's understand this in three simple points. First, a government officer named Abhay Tiwari was allegedly running a recruitment racket. The police allege that while serving as a gazetted government officer, he was also working as a marketing manager of the private agency responsible for conducting the examination. The CID alleges that he demanded huge sums of money from candidates seeking government jobs. Second, the private agency, TSR Data Processing Private Limited, had already been blacklisted by the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission in 2025 over violations of a contract. Yet, just weeks later, it was given the task of conducting one of Jharkhand's biggest recruitment examinations. Third, how did this controversy come to light? It happened after results were declared. Candidates alleged that the commission did not publish category-wise cut-offs and the merit list didn't even have the signatures of constitutional members and several alleged OMR sheets began circulating on social media as well. One viral OMR sheet purportedly showed a candidate attempting only around 48 questions, far below the expected qualifying threshold and yet being declared qualified Almost every major Jharkhand PSC recruitment over the last two decades has faced some of the other allegations The Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission recruitments too have repeatedly faced paper leaks delays and irregularities Now this latest controversy has happened while our parliament is debating a paper leak bill which strengthens investigations into such leaks and promises stricter punishment. These are of course necessary but they are post-factor measures. They don't make our system paper leak proof. Whether it was a neat leak or recruitment exams in Rajasthan where people within the system allegedly facilitated the leaks, the recurring pattern is that the threat comes from inside the examination ecosystem. Punishing culprits after lakhs of students have suffered cannot restore lost years of public trust. Experts have consistently argued that prevention is the answer. End-to-end digital encryption of questioned papers, tighter vetting of vendors, real-time audit trails, independent oversight of testing agencies, limiting access to sensitive material and stronger conflict of interest checks and greater use of computer-based multi-shift examinations. And perhaps the most important lesson here is about political accountability. The BJP was questioned over NEET, rightfully so. Today, the Congress backed government in Jharkhand and the AAP government in Punjab must answer too. For far too long, paper leaks have been used as ammunition to attack political opponents and score brownie points in elections. But millions of young Indians who were protesting on the streets for days have made it clear. Now, no more.