Vyapam Scam simplified

Topic of the week is ‘Vyapam Scam of Madhya Pradesh’. The news is about a scam which took place in 2009 and the unnatural deaths of people who are connected with the scam and its investigation in the recent past. Through this article, I have made an attempt to compile the information about this complicated scam in simplified manner. Hope you like this article.

What is Vyapam?

Vyapam is a shortform for Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal. The Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) also known as VYAPAM, was initially set-up as Pre Medical Test Board by Government of Madhya Pradesh in the year 1970. Later, in the year 1981, Pre Engineering Board was constituted. Soon after, in the year 1982 both these Boards were amalgamated and named as Professional Examination Board (P.E.B.). Professional Examination Board (PEB), a government body has been assigned the responsibility of conducting entrance tests for admission to various colleges and recruitment to government jobs in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

What is Vyapam Scam?

It’s simple. The job of VYAPAM is to conduct entrance tests and when such a job is not carried out in a fair manner, it leads to a scam. There is nothing new about such scams in India. Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) Scam, Haryana Teachers Recruitment scam are among the many ‘unearthed scams’ of the recent past.

In case of VYAPAM, undeserving candidates were given high marks in the exams, in exchange for bribes.

How did the undeserving candidates get high marks?

There was no great technology used for this dirty job! The age old, tried and tested methods were used, namely

• Allowing proxy (or impersonator or imposters) candidates to write the exam as a replacement for the original (or actual) candidate. These proxies (brilliant students) were hired from neighboring places.

• Allow copying from the adjacent candidate during exams. The seating is done in such a way that the proxy is seated adjacent to the undeserving candidate. The candidate will copy from the sheets of proxy or exchange the answer sheets at the end of the exam.

• Ask the candidates (underserving) to leave the answer papers blank and give high marks. Later fill the answer sheets according to the marks they have already given!

Who were behind this scam?

Can this be done by one individual or at the behest of one politician? Definitely, No. This is a multi-Crore (several Crores have changed hands) scam industry! This industry was run by a lot of people including junior and senior officials of the Board (MPPEB or VYAPAM), middlemen, candidates and parents, bureaucrats and of course, politicians! Some of the stars (scamstars?) are Laxmikant Sharma, ex-Education Minister, Shailesh,son of Ram Naresh Yadav, Governor of MP are among the others.

Is this a new scam?

This is a good question. Scam in admission tests was reported during 1995. However, the major irregularities were noticed in 2009 in Pre-Medical Test (PMT). A Special Task Force (STP) was established in 2012 to unearth the scale of the scam. STP, so far has arrested over 2000 people who are connected with the scam.

Who should get the credit for unearthing such a large scale scam?

The Whistleblowers and activists namely, Anand Rai of Indore, Ashish Chaturvedi and Prashant Pandey should be rewarded for exposing this dirty scam.

Why is there a pressure on Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh to resign?

It is alleged that some of his ministers (ex and present) in the cabinet and their relatives, relatives of the Chief Minister are involved in the scam. Moreover, the entire scam took place during the tenure of Mr.Shivraj Chouhan. Though he was not directly involved in the scam, to facilitate a fair investigation, the opposition is demanding his resignation on moral grounds.

Most importantly, a number of people connected to the scam and its investigation, died during the course of investigation. According to the High-Court Special Investigation Team (SIT), 32 people in 25-30 age-group identified as ‘racketeers’ during the investigation, died in suspicious circumstances since the investigation started in 2012. As per media reports, it is estimated that around 45 people died (due to illness, accident, suicide or murder) during the last 4 years, of which 50% of them died in the last one year.

Is the scam reported in one test or many tests?

The massive scale of the scam was in Pre-Medical Test (PMT) test of 2009. Apart from this, pre-PG, Food inspector Selection Test, Milk Federation test, Subedar- Sub Inspector Act, Constable Test, Forest Guard Recruitment Exam., etc., are also reported and investigated now.

What next?

The case may be shifted from STF to CBI for further investigation to catch the real culprits. Looking at the volume of the scam, it is unlikely that the final outcome of the investigation will be published in the near future (at least for the next 3-4 years). Let’s hope that the real culprits are severely punished.

Thought for the day

Punishment is justice for the unjust.

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