Learn lessons from the past : Horribly wrong !
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 28 2020 -

Good to see that the Manipur Public Service Commission has spoken out and encouraging to note that it has taken cognizance of ‘the misunderstanding’ that the scrapped MCSCC (Main) examination of 2016 is embroiled in.

Only thing that needs is a frank admission that anything that can go wrong has gone horribly wrong and there can be no two ways about it.

Think about it. Examination conducted in 2016 and a number of candidates who were declared successful had started work, all under the cushy name of MCS, MPS and MFS officers and suddenly these young men and women are without a job today !

Some would have got married as officers of the State Government and settled down and suddenly they are without a job and who should be held responsible for this ?

The Court too had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the conduct of the said examination and penalise those who tweaked and played around with the future of hundreds of young students who appeared for the said examination.

The buck has to stop somewhere and the interesting question is if MPSC has learnt any lessons from its inglorious past.

This is the time for the highest recruiting body in the State to look back, learn a lesson or two from the past and set its house in order else no amount of assurance and introduction of new technical assistance will be able to cleanse the house.

Remember it is the ‘people’ within the MPSC which is responsible for the fiasco it is presently facing and this was not the first time that an examination conducted by the Commission to recruit MCS and MPS officers have been cancelled.

The order of the Court has to be followed, it stands, but to make sure that such a fiasco is not repeated anytime in the future, MPSC will need to do much more than take assistance of new technologies.

Something, somewhere is terribly wrong. Now what is it that is wrong, is the question.

For starters let the CBI continue with the probe and penalise those who toyed around with the future of the young students.

Let fitting examples be set in such a way that it can act as a deterrent in the future.

MPSC will also need to openly acknowledge that this is not the first time that it has been embroiled in such infamy.

Back in 1994, another exam conducted by the MPSC to recruit MCS and MPS officers was cancelled, after the result was declared.

Thankfully back then, appointment was yet to be given so there was no question of officers suddenly finding themselves jobless.

Fast forward to 2016 and the case is a bit different in the sense that a number of young men and young women who had already entered service and were serving as officers suddenly found themselves jobless.

It may take time to cleanse the rot, but a beginning somewhere has to be made and perhaps this is where the directive given to the CBI to probe the case becomes extremely relevant.

Probe the case and pull up everyone who tried to mess around with the future of the young men and women.

In the meantime, let MPSC conduct the examination which can and should stand the test of time, else disband MPSC and give the job it does to some other agency like the UPSC or SSC.