After scam embarrassment, MPPSC passes test of character

The opposition's vociferous protest over the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC) examination scam in and outside the state assembly seems to have had a positive impact on the functioning of the commission, which was reflected in state services (prelim) exam-2013 held on Sunday.

While the candidates spoke about "minimum errors" in both the question papers — general studies and general aptitude — and improved quality of questions, the examination hall was also under surveillance of CCTV cameras for the first time. About 50,000 candidates took the examination at 122 centres of the city.

Papers of general studies and general aptitude were held in two shifts amidst tight security and candidates who reached the centres late were not allowed to take the examination of a particular shift.

Talking about the question papers, a candidate Sarika Yadav from Betul said, "The quality of questions has improved this year and the scam that has rocked the state could be a reason for lesser number of errors. While about four/five questions had wrong answers in the options given in the paper last year, I've doubts over just one/two questions this year."

She said, “We can hope that the government would not allow any kind of irregularities in the exam this time, as happened last year.” However, some students found ambiguity in the general aptitude paper.

Chinmay Pandey from Bhopal said, “The general studies paper was really good but I had some doubts about a few questions in the general aptitude paper as options were not matching with my solutions. But as I am preparing for the Indian civil services examination too, I can say that I’ve found standard questions in MPPSC prelims this time.”

Similarly, another candidate from the city Ayesha said, “After the recent scam, I don’t think anybody would have taken the risk of leaking the question papers this time. I hope only deserving candidates are selected.”