Editorial
BCS examinations notified
55pc quota recruitment still in vogue?
After a time-lag of two and a half years since the circular for the last BCS exam was issued, that for the 28th BCS exam, has just been published. The delay in setting the BCS exam on the roll is because of the irregularities in the 27th BCS exam which took time to be cleared from the deck including the corrective steps put in place to avert any recurrence of the same this time around.
However, the delay in resuming the process has left several job seekers ineligible as they have aged beyond 30 years, the upper limit for eligibility.
As we know the Public Service Commission(PSC) had been reconstituted against the backdrop of scandals of question leakage and variegated forms of corruption plaguing the 27th BCS exam under the old set-up. The new leadership has taken some prophylactic steps. As a matter of fact during successive governments the PSC's role as the recruiter of civil government officials for the republic had been systematically weakened -- thanks to pushing of candidates by politicians, favouritism and nepotism. The result has been that quality assurance went by default in many cases.
Equality of opportunity to get into the republic's services is an important right of the citizen. That's why uniform criterion is prescribed for eligibility to appear at the tests. So far so good, but it is of utmost importance that along with that in selecting the incumbents for government offices at the highest entry levels considerations of merit supersede that of quotas. But we begin with a structural problem there: the non-merit quota exceeds the proportion of jobs earmarked for the merit-list. The ratio is 55pc to 45pc of the total number. The quota dispensation, although understandable and perhaps justifiable to certain extent, opens avenues for less qualified candidates to be recruited. Besides, it can spawn corruption. Political governments have often used this slot to push in their favourites. This should be recast.
We believe also that the allowable number of appearances at the BCS exams should be fixed. No more than three appearances should be allowed.
It is a palpable public expectation that the reconstituted PSC should be able to streamline the examination system with the government helping it tide over some of the structural problems that still exist.
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