#头条创作挑战赛#
A Pakistani man asked the Buddha: How can India be brought to a rapid demise without the use of any weapons of mass destruction?
The Buddha thought for a moment and said: as long as the Indians are allowed to cheat, the sick will die at the hands of quacks, the buildings will collapse at the hands of these engineers, the money will be lost in the hands of these economists and accountants, and justice will cease to exist in the hands of judges...... The collapse of education is the end of India.
Although this is a joke, with the recent emergence of a sensational college entrance examination fraud case in India, more details behind it have been exposed, and the plot is so exaggerated that even Bollywood's scripts dare not write like this: gangster involvement, dark network leakage, collusive bidding, internal and external collusion...... Its large scale, wide scope, and mature industrial chain have become a cancer affecting India's national fortunes.
Cause: Indian students protest: cheating ruined their future
India's National Student Union (NSUI) protests exam paper leak in Delhi (NSUI/Twitter)
A few days ago, hundreds of students in India took to the streets to protest alleged irregularities in the country's competitive medical school entrance exams.
Earlier last month, as many as 67 students received a perfect score of 720 in the National Eligibility and Entrance Examination (NEET), a centrally administered examination, unprecedented in the exam's history. When it became known that the six highest-scoring candidates were all from a test centre in the northern state of Haryana, protests from students and parents intensified.
Representatives of parent groups questioned the media: "Why are these six students who scored a perfect 720 from the examination centre in Faridabad, Haryana?" This is definitely "a conspiracy".
Hundreds of people flocked to the famous demonstration gathering place of Janta Mantar to protest NEET exam irregularities and the cancellation of exam papers, and more than two dozen students were arrested in Delhi. But soon, there was nationwide outrage and protests, and the parent team demanded that the National Testing Agency (NTA) conduct a thorough investigation into the fraud.
NEET is the gateway for students to pursue undergraduate medical and dental programs at nationally renowned institutions, and its credibility and fairness are seen as paramount, ensuring equal opportunities for candidates.
Police detained students who protested the cancellation of the 2024 UGC-NET exam outside Lucknow University.
For many candidates, it represents a decisive opportunity for career stability, a means of escaping poverty, and an opportunity to improve the standard of living and reputation of the entire family.
Initially, the reason for such a high percentage of perfect marks was believed to be the extra points given to 1,563 candidates due to a wrong question and logistical issues, with Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan denying the allegations that the exam papers were leaked.
"I would like to assure students and parents that the Government of India and the National Education Authority are committed to bringing justice to them," India's Education Minister said on June 13. "2.4 million students have successfully passed the NEET exam. There was no leak of the test papers, and no evidence has been found so far. ”
But the students and parents didn't believe it at all, and soon, the Education Authority was slapped in the face.
Burnt pieces of paper – key clues
In the wake of the protests, police in the eastern Indian state of Bihar quickly launched an operation. In the course of the investigation, a charred answer book was found, and the local police found 68 of the approximately 200 questions from the burnt remnants of copies of the test papers, the answers of which "exactly" matched the answers on the test papers, confirming the real existence of fraud.
Scandals and embarrassment for the new government that caused a stir across the country
As soon as the news came out, the whole of India was in an uproar, and it is not uncommon for test papers to leak in India. However, the violations were so egregious that they have become the focus of attention in India and have raised questions about the entire examination system.
It also became the first hot potato that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has faced since taking office after the June elections. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not had a good time after losing its absolute majority in parliament and being forced to share power in a coalition government, with India's main opposition party, --- the Indian National Congress Party, vowing to embarrass the BJP with an exam scandal.
印度共产党上周日要求教育部长 Dharmendra Pradhan 辞职。
NEET-UG 2024 Controversy: Key figure in scam admits to leaking exam papers to 700 students
Congress MP Malikajon Karg also said the Modi government should be questioned on the issue, while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the Modi government of handing over the entire education system to the "mafia" and "corrupt elements".
Due to the seriousness of the case, the Prime Minister's Office ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the country's highest investigative agency, (similar to the FBI in the United States), to send a task force to investigate. The Economic Crime Unit (EOU) of the Bihar State Police in the area where the incident occurred will cooperate with the investigation and hand over the relevant suspects and information to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
In an effort to quell public outrage, the Indian government replaced the head of the National Examinations Agency, Subod Kumar Singh, with immediate effect.
The bureau said on Sunday it would open an investigation into alleged irregularities, "including conspiracy, deception, impersonation, perfidy and destruction of evidence by candidates, institutions and intermediaries."
Given the importance of such exams across the country, the Supreme Court of India has also stepped in to remove the bonus points given to students, and affected students can choose to retake the exams or accept the final results without extra points.
As a result, the Ministry of Education had to cancel the results of another set of exams, the National Qualification Examination (NET), which is the basis for admission to doctoral programs and the appointment of university teachers, which may also have been leaked, and which affected about 240,000 candidates, according to the report.
The "answerer" gang surfaced, colluding inside and outside, and frightening step by step
As the investigation deepened, a gang of gangsters called "Respondents" gradually surfaced. After a preliminary investigation by the police, the gang was specifically engaged in fraud and profited from fraud, and was the mastermind behind this incident. The network specializes in obtaining and distributing resolved exam papers through social media platforms to meet the needs of candidates who are willing to pay a high price for guaranteed success.
Police arrested Baldev Kumar on Sunday, one of the backbone members of the "Clicker Gang" gang leader Sanjeev Kumar, who received an answered test paper from the gang leader the day before the June 5 exam and helped 27 candidates pass the NEET exam.
Bihar's "Neighbor Uncles"
The quality of schooling and exam cheating in Bihar has been a concern for years, and the state has long been notorious for cheating. Many people are secretly engaged in this industry, and a very mature underground industry has been formed.
Police arrested four gang members suspected of involvement in fraud, including Mukesh Kumar from Patna Agamu Kuan, Panku Kumar from Nalanda Chabilappur, Rajeev Kumar (alias Kalu) from Nalanda Ekangasarai and Paramjit Singh from Nalanda Chabilappur, alias Bitu).
One of the five defendants arrested for alleged irregularities in the 2024 NEET-UG exam in Patna
In addition, several "neighborhood uncles" who are specifically responsible for contacting students and introducing business have also been arrested. Sikandar Yadavendu, his nephew Anurag Yadav, and intermediaries Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand – who confessed to the police that they had asked four candidates to memorize the test papers and answers at a price of 4 million rupees (347,000 yuan) per candidate on the eve of the May 5 exam.
On June 23, 2024, the suspect in the leaked test papers case was detained by officers from the Economic Crime Unit of the Bihar State Police Department after undergoing a medical examination at LNJP Hospital in Patna.
Nine other peripheral helpers were arrested, including two teachers. They are accused of getting huge sums of money by selling exam information to students in advance.
A total of 18 people were arrested by the police, but none of them were the main suspects.
Interlocking theft and cheating processes
A police officer involved in the investigation said that local police suspect that the exam papers were leaked from one of the five schools where NEET-UG was held and are investigating in that direction. The five schools are Oasis School in Hazaribhagh, St. Xavier School, DAV Public School, Holy Cross School, and Vivekananda Central School. Hazari Bagh Oasis School is the most suspected.
As the investigation deepened, the police found that a key role was played by the serial number of the seized half-burned test papers, which were seized from the Learn Boys dormitory and play school located in Ramakrishna Nagar for the NEET UG-2024 exam. The serial number belongs to the Oasis School Kallu Chowk examination centre, Khazari Bagar Oasis School, Mandai Road, Hazari Bagar District, Jharkhand.
"Bardev Kumar received the exam paper in PDF format on his phone on the morning of May 5. Photocopies of the test papers were taken from this school's Wi-Fi printer.
On May 4, the day before the NEET exams, the mastermind behind the gang placed nearly 25 test takers in the boys' dormitory attached to the Learn Play School in Patna. It is alleged that it was in this dormitory that the candidates received the leaked test papers and answer sheets. Candidates were divided into groups and asked to memorize the papers.
Candidates are brought to the location in strict secrecy, using designated drop-off points and taxis to avoid detection. Taxi driver Mukesh Kumar was also arrested and his vehicle was impounded.
Since then, the leaked examination room has been confirmed to be the Hazari Bager Oasis School, but how did the test papers with tight security leak?
The principal of the Hazaribagh Oasis School, after obtaining the authorization and consent of the State Examination Agency (responsible for the examination), opened the electronic lock (the locker where the test papers are stored) for storing the test papers.
After preliminary verification by the police, the plastic bags used to pack the test papers at the examination center, the packaging bags of the original test papers recovered from the candidates concerned, and the packaging boxes were all vandalized and tampered with by the thieves.
Local police also questioned the two agencies involved: Blue Dart, which was responsible for the escort, and the State Bank of India (SBI), which was responsible for the custody of the test papers. The local police have taken the statements of the employees in charge of the Blue Dart Express, as well as the statements of the State Bank of India's Hazaribagh branch, which keeps the test papers.
The papers were transported from Ahmedabad to Hazaribh via Ranchi via Blue Dart Express. The papers were deposited at the local State Bank of India branch and then sent to the Hazari Bagh Oasis School. Preliminary investigations revealed that neither Blue Dart Express nor the State Bank of India had complied with the regulations.
The police locked down the main culprit and chased the culprit for thousands of miles
Soon, the police zeroed in on the two core masterminds of the "Clicker" gang, one of whose leaders was Ravi Atri.
拉维·阿特里 (Ravi Attri) 是 Neet-Ug 2024 试卷泄露丑闻的主谋.
Atri, who is notorious for his involvement in previous leaks of exam papers, uses his connections to unscrupulously help people cheat in the states. Atri's modus operandi is to get exam papers in advance, usually the day before them, and then quickly distribute them to paying customers via social media.
Ravi Atri: From Medical Candidate to Exam Mafia
In 2007, Ravi Atri's parents sent him to Kota, Rajasthan, to prepare for the medical entrance exam. After years of preparation, he passed the exam in 2012 and was admitted to PGI Rohtak.
But he dropped out of school in his fourth year, by which time the authorities said he had already been linked to the "exam mafia" and began taking exams in place of other candidates. He also began to play a key role in disseminating leaked exam papers among students.
桑吉夫·穆希亚Sanjeev Mukhia,另一位黑帮头目
Police have confirmed that he is another central figure in the NEET exam paper leak case. Police are conducting raids on locations that may be related to him.
Sanjeif Muhia is a member of a notorious test paper leak gang that gained notoriety in 2010 for helping students cheat on Bluetooth devices. This year alone, his gang has been caught in connection with NEET, UP police recruitment, and BPSC exam leaks. His son was arrested in connection with the BPSC leak and is currently in prison.
But for now, Muhiya may have fled to Nepal, where the extradition process has been complicated by a bilateral agreement between India and Nepal.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation team arrived in the Nawada area of Sanjeev Muhiya's hometown on Sunday (June 23) only to be attacked by villagers, which also made headlines in the state.
Deep Throat insiders exposed the gangster's modus operandi, and the pre-test papers were leaked months in advance
Bijand Gupta has been implicated in leaking documents on several occasions in the past.
India Today's special investigation team tracked down a key insider in the test paper leak network, Gupta, who explained the sophisticated modus operandi of the gangster's fraud.
Bijender Gupta has been involved in several test paper leaks in the past and has been arrested twice, both of which have managed to escape from the police.
He has been in the leaks industry for 24 years and has been involved in cases for the 2023 Odisha Employees Selection Commission (OSSC) exams, Bihar Public Service Commission, and Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission.
Ahead of the NEET-UG 2024 exam, a video of him predicting in March that the medical entrance exam papers would be leaked has gone viral. In the video, Gupta (wearing a mask) claims that Vishal Chaurasia, who is currently in jail for the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) Teacher Recruitment Examination and the leaked Junior Engineer exam papers in Odisha, may also have leaked the NEET-UG papers.
In an investigation by India Today, Bijand Gupta said that the main suspect in the NEET-UG scam case, Sanjeev Muhiya, is currently at large and will not be caught. He added that the leaked exam papers targeted 700 students and the scam was targeting between Rs 20 and Rs 300 crore.
Gupta
Bijand Gupta gave a detailed analysis of how the paper leakage industry works, explaining how boxes can be damaged during transit, and how logistics companies that have even been blacklisted manage to get bids.
古普塔直言不讳地总结了这些行动. "监狱,保释,,
When asked if he had ever received a call after his video predicting that the NEET-UG exam paper would go viral, Gupta said no one knew his phone number.
He also explained how the test paper packing box was damaged during transportation, claiming that the blacklisted logistics company won the bid. Gupta said that the damage to the test papers occurred when the logistics company transported the test papers to different test centers.
"Leaks are done in a variety of ways. For example, liaising with government strongmen and printing houses, and so on," said Bijand Gupta in an interview with India Today.
His insights reveal an established network in which even blacklisted companies manipulate the bidding process to continue operating.
Gupta said Sanjeif Muhiya initially used Bluetooth devices to dictate answers to test takers' ears to help them cheat on entrance exams.
"Sanjeev Muhia has been mired in debt for 10 years. His total debt is close to Rs 300 crore but he never got rid of (the test paper leak scam)," he added.
When asked how the NEET-UG papers reached 700 students, Bijender Gupta said that there was an extensive network of teams and that the leak occurred during the distribution of the logistics company (the winning black company).
"There are a total of 300 children in Delhi, Patna and some other places. We sent teams to 3 or 4 places. That's where the exam papers leaked," he explained.
Gupta said he himself received his test papers two hours before the start of the medical examination on May 5.
Increase penalties for cheating students
India's National Examinations Authority (NTA) has also stepped up penalties for more students, disqualifying 17 candidates from the exam in Bihar after it was found to be "cheating". Previously, the bureau had disqualified 63 candidates from the exam for using improper means in the exam. On Saturday, another 30 candidates in Godala, Gujarat, were also disqualified from the exam.
The University of East India has arrested 18 people involved in the case of leaked medical entrance examination papers, cheating, cheating at the examination center, and inconsistent results in this year's medical entrance examination. According to police, one of the arrested people admitted to receiving the leaked test papers.
The government also launched the CBI's investigation into the case and implemented a strict law aimed at curbing fraud and irregularities in competitive examinations. According to the law, offenders can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to Rs 1 crore, some of the harsh measures.
The 70 file breaches that occurred in the last 7 years have affected 170 million candidates
The scale of exam fraud in India is enormous. The cheating underground industry is doing well, with about 70 document breaches in 15 Indian states over the past seven years. The number of people affected by these breaches reached 170 million. This time alone, the NEET-UG 2024 exam paper was leaked, involving more than 2.4 million candidates.
The new Anti-Unfair Means Act aims to combat paper leaks
In order to "curb leakage, fraud, and organised fraud in recruitment exams such as UPSC, SSC, and entrance exams such as NEET, JEE, and CUET", Narendra Modi's government enacted the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill 2024 in February.
Cheating incidents in Bihar
The quality of school education and cheating on exams in Bihar has been a concern for many years, and it has long been notorious for cheating.
In 2013, more than 1,600 students were expelled for using improper means in grade 10 exams conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB). About 100 guardians who tried to help the test takers were also detained.
In 2014 there was another incident of mass cheating in which more than 200 students who took the BSEB Grade 12 exams were expelled.
In 2015, hundreds of parents and friends climbed the wall of a school in Vaishali district to distribute exam papers to test takers that went viral, further tarnishing the state's reputation.
At that time, more than 1,600 students were expelled for cheating in the Bihar exam.
One of the most talked-about incidents occurred in 2016, when the winners of the BSEB Grade 12 exams were unable to answer even basic questions about the subjects they excelled in.
Ruby Rai, an honor student in Arts & Humanities, and Saurabh Shrestha, an honor student in Science, were in the spotlight after the Honors scam came to light. Ruby, who described her political science subjects as "boring science," was arrested by the Bihar police but later released on bail.
Amid a series of controversies, the Bihar government took steps in 2017 to make the exam process more rigorous and eliminate cheating. However, in some cases, there are still significant differences. The results of Ganesh Kumar, an honors student in the art stream, were canceled in two days due to the discovery that he was 42 years old and a father of two children. According to NDTV, he claimed to be 24 years old. Kumar scored 65 out of 70 on the Music Practice exam, but he was also unable to answer basic questions about music.
After strict anti-cheating measures were implemented, as many as 64 percent of students failed their Year 12 exams that year.
In 2018, the BSEB committee sparked controversy when it banned Year 10 students from wearing shoes and socks into the exam room. The committee said the move was aimed at preventing cheating, but critics called the decision "mental torture" for candidates.
In Bihar, almost every year, dozens of candidates who sit for BSEB board exams are expelled for using underhanded means. Some people who impersonate candidates have also broken the law.
The quality of education in Bihar is deteriorating because of cheating
The never-ending problem of mass cheating is only part of the problem. Over the years, Bihar's learning problems have also become increasingly serious.
By comparing the 2018 and 2022 Annual State of Education Report (ASER), it can be found that students' reading levels have dropped significantly.
According to the Hindustan Times (HT), in 2018, 32.8% of children in grades 3-5 were able to read grade 2 level textbooks. In 2022, this drops to 30%.
In the case of students in grades 6-8, 63.1% of students in 2018 could read textbooks for grade 2, while only 61.3% had basic reading skills in 2022, the report added.
The ASER report 2022, released last year, shows that despite the increase in enrolment, the problem of low student and teacher attendance in Bihar continues to plague the state.
This is still happening despite improvements in the state's infrastructure, lunch allowance, and other facilities.
Under the exam scandal, the young generation of Indians is confused
Last week, on a hot day in Delhi, Kavya Mukhija spent several hours taking a government-run key exam for admission to teaching positions in Indian universities.
The 25-year-old freelance researcher and disabled activist uses a wheelchair because she suffers from a rare congenital condition of joint stiffness and finds the test center difficult to access. The road outside was dug up, the steep slope was not wheelchair accessible – and the test centre itself was wheelchair-free.
And if all this wasn't enough, an even worse blow awaited her.
The day after she finished the four-hour exam, her mother was waiting outside in the sweltering heat when authorities canceled the exam, called UGC-NET, which was taken by more than 900,000 candidates from more than 300 cities.
The Ministry of Education initially issued a vague statement saying that "the fairness of the examination may be compromised". A day later, Minister Dharmendra Pradhan admitted that the exam papers had been leaked on the social media platform Telegram and the "dark web".
"I felt very angry. It's like a double whammy for me. I don't think I have the energy to take this exam anymore," Kavia told me.
Kavya Mukhija 表示考试取消后她没有精力参加补考
In the city of Patna, nearly 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away, Archit Kumar faced the same challenge.
In May, the 19-year-old would-be doctor took a 200-minute national undergraduate exam run by the government, with 2.4 million candidates vying for more than 110,000 medical school seats.
A scandal erupted shortly after the exams ended – four people in Bihar were arrested on suspicion of leaking papers for the so-called National Qualifications Entrance Examination (Undergraduate) or NEET-UG exams.
Allegations of cheating are widespread, and many test takers have suspiciously high scores. Candidates have publicly reported that they have been pulled for interviews by "recruiters", and that in the hours leading up to the exam, external exams have been asked to pay up to 3 million rupees (US$35,918; £28,384). Some even use phone recordings as evidence.
Many students and parents have asked for a re-examination, for which a large number of petitions have been filed with the court – the matter is being reviewed by the Supreme Court. Mr. Pradhan ordered an investigation and admitted that "some mistakes limited to specific areas" had indeed occurred. He said the fate of millions of test takers would not be implicated in "some isolated incidents."
Archit Kumar studied 12 hours a day for two years to prepare for the exam, but his exam results suffered
But none of this comforted Archet.
For the past two years, he has given up on his social life and even avoided meeting with friends, studying up to 12 hours a day to prepare for one of the world's most competitive exams. He scored 720 points out of 625 in the final and was ranked 53,000th in all India.
"It's shocking. I'm anxious. I have a friend who has taken the exam for the fifth time in a row this year. Imagine his state. Imagine what it would be like if we had to retake the test. I've forgotten a lot of things," Achette said.
"It's getting worse. A mafia-like alliance between teachers, test scammers and test center operators has led to this," said Maheshwer Peri, an educator who has been tracking the leak of the test papers.
Mr Perry said scammers would often contact candidates to ask for fees for exam papers and sometimes even accept postdated cheques. In the written test, they will leak the test paper to the candidates in advance and provide the answers for the candidates to remember. In an online exam, scammers collect candidates' digital credentials, remotely access their computers, and answer questions on their behalf.
The situation is even worse with the state exams. In an economy where job competition is fierce, the papers of local government recruitment exams are often leaked, as most positions are informal, precarious, and low-paid.
Recruitment exams for police, forestry personnel, engineers, veterinarians, and income tax inspectors have all been affected by leaks in the past. The test paper was leaked on WhatsApp and stolen from the storage room.
The suspects hacked into the servers of the private company that processed the exam. In 2022, the Delhi Police uncovered a large cyber cheating ring that helped candidates cheat in the college entrance exam. They hired Russian hackers to develop undetectable software that allowed them to remotely hack into the test center's computers.
Earlier this year, The Indian Express investigated 41 shocking document leaks, which were reported to have led India in 15 state recruitment exams over the past five years, led by governments of different political parties.
The investigation found that the leak affected the work placements of about 14 million applicants, who were vying for more than 100,000 positions. The situation is very bad, and in the recent elections, the document leak incident became a hot topic in states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana. Currently, most states are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In 2015, the most brazen exam cheating scandal shocked Vyapam, a government agency in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, which oversees exams for more than 50 government positions and local medical colleges.
Exam papers are leaked, answer sheets are tampered with, and candidates are hired to take the test in lieu of bright young students who are themselves smart young students who are hired to take the test and sell their seats to the highest bidder. The teachers of the conspirator filled out incomplete answer sheets, which improved their scores.
"We have created an educational system that encourages this kind of fraud," Mr. Perry said. ”
In 2018, private schools and tutors in Delhi were arrested for leaking high school exam papers
With 2.4 million students vying for 110,000 medical school spots this year, this year's pressure and fierce competition are highlighted. About 55,000-60,000 of these places are from public institutions and the rest are from private institutions. Half of these places are reserved for underprivileged students.
Students prefer public universities because tuition fees are cheaper – the tuition fee for a five-year MBB program at a public university is between Rs 500,000 to Rs 10 lakh, while the tuition fee at a private university can be as high as 10 times.
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