Of wrong answer keys and right answers : Suffering the morons and dolts
- Sangai Express Editorial :: December 27, 2013 -

Morons. Dolts, they all are.

Manipur have been suffering them for far too long.

From the copy and paste question in the preliminary examination for the State Civil Services Examination, some years back, it has now come to totally wrong answer keys, which ultimately have come to raise a question over the job prospect of a candidate in the selection examination for Sub-Inspectors in the State Police Department.

A story coming full circle, history repeating itself.

The Manipur High Court has already passed its verdict, indicting the Government and directing it to recruit a candidate who gave the right answers but which morphed into wrong answers when seen against the answer keys which were totally off the mark.

To give more clarity to the points that are being sought to be made here, let’s go back to the questions asked and the answers given by the candidate as well as the answer keys.

Question number 6 of the exam paper carrying one mark asked, “Dialysis is used to correct the functioning of.....”

The candidate gave the answer as ‘kidney’ but instead of securing the full mark of 1, he was given half a mark as the answer key was ‘Kidneys’.

Ignorance is written all over the marks given to the candidate.

A case of half literate question setters and half literate examiners.

The human body has two kidneys, but dialysis as a treatment does not necessarily mean treating two kidneys, as only one kidney can be treated.

That this simple fact flew over the empty heads of the examiners and question setters should be obvious.

This is not all.

Let’s go to question number 15.

The question was about the date of Manipur merger with the Union of India.

The candidate gave October 15, 1949 which is correct but the answer key was September 2, a date which has nothing to do with the merger agreement.

The merger agreement was signed on 21st September, 1949 and it came into effect on October 15, 1949.

A simple point which even a child studying in Class IX or X will have on her finger tips.

Again question number 10 asked the question of who the founder of the Indian National Army was and the candidate gave the answer as Netaji Subash Chandra Bose.

For this correct answer he was given half a mark for the answer key was Subash Chandra Bose.

Maybe, the examiners were under the impression that Mr Bose does not deserve the term Netaji, which was bestowed on him by the Nation.

To be sure, the matter may not end here for the aggrieved candidate, for the State Government must have started rolling its machineries to take the case to a higher Court, the Supreme Court and it would be premature to say anything on the likely outcome.

But as things stand today, the decree of the Manipur High Court has exposed the incompetency, the lethargy and probably the hands of corruption muddying the process of recruiting the police Sub-Inspectors.

There is no reason to believe why such a farcical process of recruiting Government officials would not have happened in other cases.

Here is a case of an individual being robbed the chance of getting employment, but look further than this and the incompetency of the Government agencies stands exposed like an ugly wart.

If the State Government and its agencies cannot even conduct the recruitment process of police Sub-Inspectors correctly then it is high time to study and explore other possibilities.

The stand of The Sangai Express has been consistent.

If the MPSC and other recruiting boards or DPC members cannot conduct an examination with the merit it deserves, then it is time to rope in the service of other agencies, such as the Staff Selection Commission, UPSC etc.

For too long the people of Manipur have been suffering these morons, these dolts who do nothing but jeopardise the lives of others.