NATA 2018: Candidates allege unexpectedly low marks in Drawing
New Delhi, June 6: Several candidates cried injustice on Wednesday when the Council of Architecture (COA) published results for the National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) without re-evaluating the earlier result, as it had promised, after protests from examinees against unexpectedly low marks.
As the results were published on Wednesday evening, many students and parents were dismayed at finding that scores for the 'Drawing' paper were not changed as promised.
Earlier, when the results were published for the NATA on June 4, many candidates had complained of getting "unexpectedly" low marks. Attributing the error to a technical glitch, the COA had corrected the marks for the 'Aptitude' test, while asking the candidates, in a message on Monday, to disregard the scores for Drawing and requested them to wait for an updated result on June 6 (Wednesday).
However on Wednesday afternoon, the council sent another communication to the candidates informing them that no re-evaluation will be done for the Drawing paper.
"On direction by the competent authority, it is informed that no review/re-evaluation will be available for the drawing test (Part B)," tcsinfo hub, the technical vendor hired by COA for publishing results, said in an email.
Far from satisfied, candidates were left with no choice but to wonder at allegedly unfair marks they scored in the subject.
"Although I scored 37 in drawing, I was expecting somewhere in the 50s. I got good marks in JEE architecture paper also. There are many others who have been accorded marks in 20s, despite otherwise doing well in the JEE," Mansi Chandwani, a student who took the exam, told IANS.
She added that she has even heard of a student who scored a zero in the paper.
The parent of another candidate called it an "injustice" and said he, along with others, will move to the COA office in the morning to protest there.
"The main issue is that firstly there were so many issues related to technical glitches with the aptitude test results on Monday. They had to change the results thrice before getting it right. And now with the drawing paper, the scores are too low to be believable," said the parent of a candidate who scored below the passing threshold, failing to make the cut.
Students had also found a mistake in the publishing of year of the examination also, which was published as 2019, instead of 2018, and was corrected in the result published on Wednesday.
The annual exam for the architecture aspirants is conducted in two components: an online test for Mathematics and General Aptitude for 120 marks, and another a Drawing test for 80 marks. Both the tests were done on April 29.
Contacted by IANS, COA Vice President Rajeev Garg said there was no issue with the marks and any glitches which were there have been rectified.
"The complaints which we received (after Monday results) have been rectified. The problem was of mismatching. The examiners' scores were not matching with the score cards published. .. as for the low scores for drawing, you and I cannot decide how much one should get. If somebody has got a zero, we will look into it," he said.
A total of 44,265 candidates had appeared for the exam out of which 30,560 qualified.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
