With the Assembly elections in Rajasthan round the corner, Opposition parties, particularly the BJP, have raised the heat on the Ashok Gehlot government on the issue of Paper Leak in a recruitment drive. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at his mega public rally in Bikaner on 8 July, had also alleged that Rajasthan has become a ‘Paper Leak Industry.

Six-time MLA from Bikaner region and senior Cabinet Minister Bulaki Das Kalla currently holds key portfolios, including Education (Primary and Secondary), Art, Literature, Culture and Archaeology.

During the recent Assembly session, Dr Kalla spoke to Yash Goyal on a number of issues, including paper leak.

Excerpts:

Q. How many papers were leaked in the education department between 2019 and 2023 during the Gehlot governments tenure as compared to the previous BJP government’s tenure?

A. Our department does not conduct examinations. It is mainly done by Rajasthan Public Service Commission, Subordinate Service Board, and Board of Secondary Education. As per the reply made in the Assembly recently, only eight question papers of the recruitment drive in education were leaked from January 2019 to January 2023. In the previous BJP government’s regime, 19 incidents of question paper leak and cheating were reported till 2018 but none was probed by the police. The paper leak and cheating mafias were active in many other states too. Gujarat has reported eight cases since 2018 and J & K, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra have reported three each. The official number may vary in these states but the paper leak mafia is active all over.

Q. How many cases of paper leak have been registered? What was the outcome of the police investigation and any legal action?

A. There were 15 complaints of paper leak (including some in the police recruitment drive) filed in police stations during the stipulated period. The Special Operation Group & the ATS of Rajasthan Police have arrested 296 accused for their alleged involvement in 15 cases, 14 charge sheets were produced in the court and one case is still being probed. Under the Departmental Probe of the Education Department, the services of five employees were terminated and six others were suspended. Forty-six students who were caught in the paper leak and cheating were debarred from future recruitment examinations. Under the new law of Rajasthan, the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act-2022 adopted by the Assembly last year, no accused was spared, charge sheets were filed in certain cases, and three examinations whose papers got leaked were rescheduled.

Q. What was the need to amend last years legislation on the Prevention of Unfair Means2022 in the recent Assembly session?

A. Public representatives wanted rigid laws and rigorous punishment for the convicts. Thus Rajasthan becomes the first state to frame the stringent laws and the bill was adopted by a voice vote after a serious debate in the House recently. Thus, the newly inducted amendments in the legislation raised the punishment from 10 years to life imprisonment. The offence has been made cognisable and non-bailable with a fine of Rs 10 crore and attachment of assets of the culprits. Attachment of property of those found guilty has already been done.

Q. What is the status of rescheduling of leaked papers, and new employment in the education department?

A. All recruitment examinations of REET Level 1 and 2, PTI, librarians have been conducted successfully, and about 90,000 posts filled, and remaining 90,000 posts will be given to qualified candidates in the next two/three months. The recommendations of the Kumawat, Vyas and Kerala Committees have been considered and action is being taken by the Department of Personnel and the Education Department to check unfair means in every recruitment examination.

Q. Do you think that Opposition parties can make the Paper Leak an election issue in the Assembly election?

A. It is the tendency of the BJP to highlight non-issues. Let them try this false agenda, but the Rajasthan government has given jobs to up to 1.80 lakh people in the education department through an effective recruitment drive. Congress workers would carry this message up to every citizen during the election campaign, if required.

Q. Is there any breakthrough in your department that has given a global recognition to Rajasthan?

A. Rajasthan School Education department has been conferred with a citation and included in the World Book of Records (London) for using Artificial Intelligence (AI) of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) of 1.35 crore students in class 3-8 in all schools in the state. It is the largest application of AI used at the state level in a mass drive titled ”Rajasthan Ke Shiksha Mein Badhate Kadam (RKSMBK)”. We have started more than 2,700 Mahatma Gandhi English medium schools in the state so far. In the coming days, 1,000 more English medium schools will be opened in urban and rural areas. At present, more than 3.5 lakh students are studying in English medium schools in the state and 10,000 teachers of English medium would be given new jobs soon.