ARE YOU SMILING TODAY?

If you are then possibilities are high that you are a Civil Services aspirant (no prizes for guessing the reason though). Like the thousands others I too was anxiously waiting for the outcome of a particular judgement regarding the disclosure of various facts by the U.P.S.C. Though fully aware that the judgement would arrive only by the mid-day (of 17th April) my anxiousness knew no bounds and led me switch on the T.V. set tens of times since the early morning. Among others, the curiosity of finally having a peek into the heavily guarded dark alleys of a system so powerful kept me up. My repeated encounters with the television set finally bore fruit and upon knowing the outcome my happiness knew no bounds...

Even if you are not a Civil Services aspirant- you still have a reason to smile. Smile for an evolution, a (+)ve change and a triumph of openness and transparency. Every knowledgeable person will definitely agree that for better governance lashed with a corruption free and an egalitarian environment access to information emanating out of a regime marked by openness and transparency is an absolute necessity. The movement towards transparency and accountability has a fairly long history. What began as a struggle against a secrecy centered colonial administration has come to be a struggle against our own democratically elected ‘sarkar’. The Supreme Court judgement way back in 1978 in the Meneka Gandhi v/s U.O.I. case conferring Right to Information(RTI) as a fundamental right was a shot in the arm for the movement which went on to see a major milestone with the enactment of the RTI Act in the year 2005...

Since then powered with the newly acquired statutory right the movement picked pace and slowly but steadily has lit up numerous secrecy prone dark alleys in the administrative sphere of our country. The latest being the foray into the administrative secrets of ‘the mother of all examinations in India’-the Civil Services examination (better k/a the IAS exam). History stands witness that when ever the people try claiming their rights- the (mighty) system hits back, but usually it’s the people, armoured with a strong determination and a ‘never say die’ attitude, have the last laugh. In the case in hand a number of C.S. aspirants filled petitions under the RTI Act seeking disclosure of certain facts regarding the exams. Even though the CIC threw its weight behind the candidates it got dragged up to the Delhi H.C. where the Court ruled in favour of the candidates and ruled that the desired information viz., individual scores, cut-off marks, answer sheets, model answers and scaling methods(?) needs to be published within a fortnight. The contentions of the U.P.S.C. that the aforesaid revelations will do it irreparable damage and hit at its efficiency and efficacy stands rejected...

What does this mean to the candidates? Candidates now will have clearer targets before them, they no longer need to shoot in the dark and above all learn from their past mistakes and try improving their skills to the desired levels. Moreover it will usher in a reign of openness and transparency in the U.P.S.C. administration and hopefully will help revive its of-late dwindling credibility. This landmark judgement will surely have a domino effect and will definitely percolate down to numerous other spheres of administration in our country. The U.P.S.C. has always been a model of uprightness and professionalism in recruitment related services, albeit the few hiccups, this landmark judgement will surely raise its head again with pride and this time round pride not only about its traditional uprightness and professionalism but also for its overall open and transparent functioning...