Friday, 19 August 2022 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun
Exam sham
The story getting unfolded by STF investigation into the UKSSSC examination paper leak case appears to be a plot straight out of a popular Bollywood pot-boiler. The rags to the riches tale of the protagonist, his murky deals to hoodwink the system, connections with top Babus and politicians to create a clandestine recruitment agency where one can buy a government job have left the residents of the Himalayan State both amazed and anguished at the same time. The biggest casualty in this saga of corruption has been the faith of the people in the government and its institutions and the future of the youngsters who had spent years preparing for the recruitment examinations in the hope of an elusive government job. The pace at which new disclosures are coming to the fore from those connected with the Job syndicate has also baffled the investigators. Considering the seriousness of the case and the ramifications of things unearthed so far it would be prudent for the State government to hand over the case to CBI failing which it could meet the fate of similar high profile corruption cases of the past.
Tour takeaway
Probably inspired by the recent study tour of the Agriculture minister and some legislatures to the countries of Europe, Dhan Singh Rawat, the minister holding the portfolio of the Cooperative department in the State has come up with an idea of sending a group of 13 farmers on a similar trip. The diminutive minister has directed the officers of his department to select one model farmer from every district and then send the group of 13 farmers on a trip of two foreign countries and some Indian states to study the cooperative movement there. Though the plan of the minister deserves praise, the cynics are of the view that he is doing this to put his fellow cabinet minister in a poor light who had led a group of legislatures on a study tour of Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The ostensible reason behind this tour was to study the organic farming practices of these European countries and find out a market for agricultural produce of the Himalayan State but not many in the State were convinced with this objective and believed that the study tour was actually a ten day all expenses paid holiday for the lawmakers.
Holiday hitch
The State administration played the naughty Avtar of Lord Krishna to perfection when it affected a late night postponement of the Janmashtami holiday by one day on Wednesday. The legend has it that the Lord Krishna was born at middle of a dark night and probably due to this enlightenment to the mandarins of the State administration about the date of birth of the Krishna occurred belatedly following which an order mentioning that as per the Hindu calendar the vacation of Janmashtami would be on August 19, instead of the earlier declared August 18, was issued. Since the order came late, the attendance of the employees in offices especially located in mountainous places was thin on August 18. Apart from this the benevolent order also paved the way for a well earned long weekend for the hard working Babus of the State.
