INTRODUCTION
Cheating means to gain personal benefits dishonestly, in today’s world cheating is the most common way to get personal gains, and many people take advantage of some unfair things to get personal gains like exams, sports, and games to take advantage easily without hard work. Example- A school organizes periodic exams and a student of that school takes a cheat sheet with him and uses it in his exam and gets 90% in his periodic exams with the help of the cheat sheet without doing any study or hard work, on another side others students of school doing hard work in their studies. Still, they only got 70% in their academics, so this is not a fair result for all. One more incident happened recently in the NEET exam conducted by NTA (National Test Agency) there were some middlemen and examination Centres included in the NEET exam paper leak they leaked paper one day before the exam and they took a huge amount of money from students who want to cheat in the exam and want government medical college without doing any efforts.
RECENT SCENARIOS ON EXAM LEAKS
NEET 2024 SCAM – this is the biggest examination scam in India in 2024. around 67 students got full marks in the NEET UG exam this is the first time in the history of the NEET exam. There are some school principals and middlemen included in the paper leak of NEET UG. They charged a very large amount of money from the students to help them get a government medical college.
UGC NET 2024 – The Ministry of Education cancelled the UGC NET exam on 19 June and said that the integrity may have been compromised of the exam and they rescheduled the exam and released new dates of exams soon.
BPSC – Bihar Public Service Commission exam was leaked on 8 May 2022, The Economic Offences unit arrested 226 people in the BPSC exam paper leak.
FOREST GUARD RECRUITMENT- Forest Guard Recruitment exam was leaked in Rajasthan in 2022.
CBSE – CBSE 10th 12th paper leak in 2018. Delhi Police Crime branch arrested 5 people in the matter.
The SSC – Staff Selection Commission exam was also leaked in 2017. Many aspirants also protest due to exam leaks.
RO\ARO– Review Officer / Assistant Review Officers exam was also leaked which was conducted by Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC). It was leaked at the examination center in Lucknow. And CBI investigated the matter after the examination was cancelled. And the exam was re-conducted in 2020.
Because of these incidents, the government came into action and introduced THE PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS ( PREVENTIONS OF UNFAIR MEANS) ACT 2024. the bill was passed in February by parliament but it came into force on 21 June 2024 after the NEET UG scam.
The impact of paper leaks on students
Stress and anxiety are the main factors students may experience in exam preparation, due to paper leaks and some other changes in exam patterns. When a student starts competitive exams preparations he gives his all efforts in exams. But because of changes in exams, his confidence is disrupted and he also loses the trust in the examination system. Its impact on their performance and financial impacts are also terrible for economically weak students who travel thousands of kilometers to reach examination centers. Students have numerous types of stress during exam preparation like fa very pressured students to score good marks in exams, The future tension is whether he can crack exams or not if he getting a good college or not. Failure in examinations is the reason for suicide in students.
Why do we need an anti-cheating law?
We need this law to prevent unfair practices in exams like UPSC, SSC, IBPS, or any other exams conducted by NTA.
If any students crack these types of exams by cheating this a terrible for the future just example NEET exam if any student passes the exam by cheating, they don’t have an idea how the medical system works and about the biological factors of the human body, because they are not qualified the exam by study and not capable for the being a doctor and as we know doctors are considered as second god because they save life of humans.
What if any aspirant cracks UPSC by cheating, this is a huge trouble for society because he doesn’t know about how the administration works and he is not capable of policies. And he performs corrupt activities.
That’s why anti-cheating law is important In India because it will have a bad impact on society in the future. And it’s taking action against those who leak papers and who are included in cheating.
THE PUBLIC EXAMINATION ( PREVENTIONS OF UNFAIR MEANS) 2024
Public Examination (Preventions Of Unfair Means) Act aims to prevent unfair means in the public examination system.
To bring greater transparency, fairness, and credibility to the public system.
What are the public exams?
Exams conducted by the following bodies: UPSC, SSC, Railways Recruitment Board, Ministries, Departments of Central Government, Institute Of Banking Personnel Selection, and National Test Agency.
What are unfair means and offenses?
• Leakage of question paper or answer key and colluding with others for the same.
• Assisting candidates directly or indirectly.
• Trying to wrongful change the assessment process
• Willful violation of exam guidelines and norms
• Tampering with documents important for selection, computer network, and the system
• Violation of security norms at the exam centre to enable cheating • Manipulation in seating arrangement
• Creating fake websites
• Issuance of fake admit cards
• Conduct of fake exams
Who are the Service Providers?
An agency, organization, or body.
A service provider, engaged by the public examination authority for the conduct of an examination
Providing any kind of computer/material support to the exam conduct authority.
Service providers play the main role in conducting public examinations. If any provision or act is violated by the service provider, so exam conducting authority wants to report to the police immediately. They are also liable for a punishment fine of Up to Rupees 1 Crore, recovery cost of the examination, and debarred from conducting exams for 5 years.
If during the investigation of cheating found that there is involvement of management of service providers like the director, senior management, or person in charge they are also liable for a fine Up to 1 crore or imprisonment. Organized liability or personal liability is both included in crime.
Organized crime is considered as a crime committed by a person or a group,
Punishment for organized crime is 5 to 10 years imprisonment or a fine up to Rupees 1 crore. If any institution is involved in cheating like coaching institutes schools, or colleges their property is attached by investigation agencies. Any person or persons resorting to unfair means and offenses under this Act shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not less than 3 years but which may extend to 5 years and with a fine up to 10 lakh rupees.
All the under this act shall be cognizable, nonbailable, and non-compoundable. Cognizable offense means police have the power to arrest without a warrant, and non-compoundable offense means charges against the accused cannot withdrawn. All the investigations held by officer rank of Deputy Superintendent (DSP) or ACP and the Central Government have the power to transfer the case to central investigations agencies.
What to do if you see any message or news that exam papers are leak • Report the police immediately.
• Don’t share question papers if any how papers are leaked on public platforms like Telegram, or WhatsApp.
• Take a screenshot of a sender who sends you a leaked paper and report it in a cyber cell or police.
• Don’t trust any person demanding money for a question paper because some are scammers who only want money.
CONCLUSION
The main motive of this act is to prevent cheating in public exams and ensure fairness in educational assessments or maintain integrity in education. This type of law is important for modern India because several sectors work for the public just as IAS, Doctors, Engineers, or Lawyers, and their exams are conducted by government agencies if any cheating or unfair activity can be done intentionally this is harmful to our society. And unequal for all the candidates who appear in
exams. Some exam mafia and government officials are included in paper leaks this is the reason that conducting exams is sometimes a failure but because of our new strict law its impact on the fairness of exams may be it reduce the cheating and unfair practices in exams. The significance of the anti-cheating law is that this law provides strict punishment against the people who are leaking the paper directly or indirectly involved in the activity.
REFERENCES
- https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/president-clears-anti-cheating billwhich-exams-will-it-cover-and-what-is-the-punishment-417343-2024-02-13
- https://prsindia.org/files/bills_acts/bills_parliament/2024/Public_Examinations_( Prevention_of_Unfair_Means)_Bill,_2024.pdf
- https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/featurephilia/story/paper-leaks inindia-over-17-crore-aspirants-affected-in-7-years-2555716-2024-06-20
- https://www.dailypioneer.com/2024/columnists/the-impact-of competitiveexam-paper-leaks-onstudents.html#:~:text=When%20a%20question%20paper%20is,cynicism%20and%20disillusionment%20among%20students.
- https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/spotlight/drive-digital-innovation-and aiexcellence-with-isb-executive-educations-chief-digital-and-ai officerprogramme/articleshow/110969106.cms
- https://www.deccanherald.com/india/list-of-major-paper-leaks-in-india-in thelast-10-years-2-3078693#7
