Mumbai Congress releases booklets on 'corruption in BJP'
Mumbai, June 11: A day before Congress President Rahul Gandhi's visit to Maharashtra, the Mumbai Congress on Monday released booklets "exposing deep-rooted corruption" in the state's ruling Bharatiya Janta Party-Shiv Sena combine.
The booklets detail alleged scams against several state government ministers worth hundreds or thousands of crores of rupees while the common people continue to suffer.
Releasing the booklets, Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam listed the names of Women & Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde in the Rs 206 crore Chikki "scam", Cooperatives Minister Subhash Deshmukh in the Rs 110 crore Lokmangal "scam" and Housing Minister Prakash Mehta in the Rs 500-800 crore FSI "scam".
The list includes Education Minister Vinod Tawde in the Rs 191 crore fire extinguisher "scam", Food & Civil Supplies Minister Girish Bapat allegedly involved in a Rs 4,000 crore "scam", and Tribal Development Minister Vishnu Savara in the Rs 300 crore employment department "scam" and the Rs 6,000 crore raincoats "scam".
"These figures show that it is only the government which is living 'achhe din' they promised to the people and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is refraining from taking any action against the corrupt," Nirupam said.
Other booklets include alleged corruption at the centre and the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), controlled by the ruling ally Shiv Sena.
Nirupam said the BMC claims to have spent Rs 2,605 crore on waste management, Rs 3,311 crore on health, Rs 2,311 crore on education, Rs 5,061 on water supply and Rs 3,286 crore on roads and skywalks, but sought to know the "actual amounts spent on development as the Mumbaikars continue to suffer".
"Corruption is the mutual belief shared by the BJP leaders at every level. It is extremely disheartening to watch the innocent people who voted form them in the past are now paying the price. We plan to create awareness among the people about such corrupt leaders.." he told media persons.
On the Narendra Modi-led Central government, he noted that the Prime Minister has spent almost Rs 4,300 crors on publicity alone and "clearly, this amount has been used to hide all the wrongdoings of the BJP government".
The booklet details other failures of the Central government like the lowest agricultural growth (1.9 percent) under the BJP compared to 4.2 percent during the Congress rule, failure in waiving off farm loans, continued scams in banks, soaring fuel prices, ineffectiveness in controlling Maoist attacks and the growing violence against the scheduled casts and others in society.
On Tuesday, Gandhi will arrive for a court hearing in Bhiwandi, Thane in a defamation case filed by a RSS worker and later address a rally of over 16,000 booth-level Congress workers in Mumbai.
This will mark the launch of a national endeavour, 'Project Shakti' by which the Congress President will establish direct communication between the grassroots workers and the party's central leadership.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
State recruitment exams: A system that tests patience more than merit
In India, Government exams are seen as a gateway to success in life. They offer job security, social mobility for the subaltern classes, a sense of recognition in society and a decent pay. While central government jobs are more lucrative and rewarding, they involve intense competition across the country, and the lack of nativity advantage pushes people towards state government jobs.
These state government jobs are relatively less competitive, offer a wide range of horizontal reservations, and also provide opportunities for regional aspirants as exams can be taken in regional languages. States like Karnataka even offer a good salary for those entering the government sector. This makes the state government exams more appealing to the aspirants.
Due to the serious unemployment crisis prevailing in India, the government jobs have become even more attractive these days. This has only increased competition further. We see reports of PhD candidates even applying for peon posts in government departments. Each post generally attracts more than 500 applicants and the syllabus too is generally vast for a government exam.
However, the devil lies in the details. What is more concerning is the non-academic aspect of state government exams: the psychological impact on aspirants. It begins with the notification. Once the notification is finalised, the exam dates are released. This exam date undergoes numerous revisions only to enhance the anxiety of hardworking aspirants. These dates are often poorly planned that they clash with other departmental recruitment exams or central government exams or some other important national events. All this owing to the great visionaries behind these exams!
Finally, the exam is conducted on a specified date, only to find that either the question paper was leaked or there were serious lapses in the conduct of the exam. They vary from issues concerning the translation of question paper, malpractice in the exam hall or even issues related to ill-advised answer keys. Then comes another mental agony to the aspirants when the whole exam gets cancelled and a re-exam is ordered.
In between these, hundreds of petitions are filed in the courts owing to the inefficiency of the exam conducting authority. This only pushes the examination dates further up adding to the agony of the candidates. If the examination has multiple levels like that of prelims and mains, these systemic issues occur once again in the lateral stages too.
More to these, there are some so-called organisations who try to make a name for themselves in the name of upholding aspirants’ interest. Their only objective is fame and to gain recognition among the political elites. While there are few who genuinely work for the students’ interest, many only try to gain a name for themselves putting genuine candidates under the bus. They cause more harm to the deserving candidates than upholding their interest.
Currently, in most of the state level government exams, the interview component has either been removed or their marks are reduced. Otherwise, this was another channel of ‘collection’ from the aspirants promising them a pivoted government post. That said, there are still murmurs that this kind of ‘setting’ still happens in various exams as seen in most of the states.
When such things are caught red-handed, it only results in the nullification of the exam and the order to re-conduct the same exam once again. The hard-working genuine aspirants who already faced the brunt of this agony, must face the wrath of this once again from the start.
Moreover, if there arise any structural issues like that of reservation overhaul or the interference of judiciary, the whole recruitment process gets stalled only to add fuel to the fire. All in all, the axe falls every time on the genuine candidates whose dreams now lay shattered!
Take for example the Gazetted Probationers notification of Karnataka released In Feb 2024; the preliminary exam date was postponed multiple times owing to different reasons only for the CM to intervene and strike off the exam due to translation issues. Later when the re-exam was conducted, similar calls were made but to no avail. Further, when the mains exam date was announced, it also underwent multiple changes even to the extent of judiciary stepping in at the last moment and allowing later entry for the mains exam. Even the mains exam was postponed ‘n’ number of times. Finally, when the exam was held, it took approximately 9 months to publish the results. While it’s good news to aspirants that finally the results are published, there are again allegations of corruption in this exam.
While the stakeholders are many in this turn of events – the exam conducting authority, the state government, the student organisations, the judiciary, the students involved in the malpractice – the ultimate casualty is just one, the hardworking genuine aspirants.
It is this bunch of people who have packed their bags and left home to prepare for these exams. They have also stayed socially isolated focussing only on clearing the exam and serving their state. In their prime age of working hard and building a career for themselves, they remain committed to these exams believing that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Many also find it extremely difficult to sustain themselves and depend on odd menial jobs to help themselves. A large proportion of these aspirants come from the lower to mid economic class and this makes their case even more painstaking.
It is high time that the state governments reform the examination authorities and align it with that of the standard of the UPSC. The judiciary should also exercise judicial restraint and ensure the process is not stagnated further. The student organisations should stop working for fame and start working for the interests of genuine candidates. Only then the real objective of state government jobs can be fulfilled in ensuring mutual benefits to the people, state government and deserving candidates. A system meant to reward merit must not become a test of endurance. Reforming state recruitment processes is no longer a policy choice - it is a moral obligation.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or position of the publication, its editors, or its management. The publication is not responsible for the accuracy of any information, statements, or opinions presented in this piece.
