Chandigarh, April 26
Tomorrow when 2,47,743 students take the entrance test for admission to medical colleges against 2200 seats reserved for the CBSE candidates, no one will know as to how many of the meritorious students will get knocked out by a deep-rooted network of “touts and agents” who offer “seats for cash.” This time the test will be conducted at 432 centres simultaneously.

For those aspiring for a medical college seat for considerations other than merit , all they have to do is put the “asking rate” between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 18 lakh a seat in their bank lockers and deposit the key with the agent or put the money in the locker of the agent and keep the key themselves till the CBSE entrance test result is declared.

Intriguingly, most of the agents involved in “perhaps the country’s biggest entrance examination scam” operate openly. They insert advertisements in all leading newspapers of the country promising “confirmed seats in top Indian medical colleges” through “genuine guidance for CBSE (PMT), DPMT, CPMT (UP), Manipal, Karnataka, BVP (Pune), DY Patil and others.”

Some of the enterprising entrepreneurs have been even trying to entice others to join the “racket” by promising “low investment, sure profit in lakhs and no loss guaranteed” again through newspaper advertisements.

How the system works? It starts when the application forms are filled. The “willing candidates” are required to put “easy copiable signatures” on the admission form. By using latest computer techniques, efforts are made to mix the picture of the “actual candidate” with that of an impersonator so that the picture on the entrance card appears blurred. This is done by mixing the negatives of the two pictures. An Impersonator takes the test in place of the real candidate.

At no centre, the CBSE has either the provision for video-recording the conduct of the entrance test or any apparatus to check “impersonators”. In case impersonation is not possible for one reason or the other, then efforts are made to help the candidate inside the examination centre. Even if that fails, the answer-sheets are replaced. The “candidates” are told to leave their answer-sheets blank.

The last resort adopted by these agents is to manipulate the computerised results and get their candidates on the merit list at the cost of those who otherwise would have qualified on the basis of their performance in the test alone.

Insiders point out that the CBSE (PMT) entrance test is heavily loaded against meritorious students. The CBSE does not permit either revaluation or rechecking of the answer-sheets. It is where the maximum "bungling is done". For evaluation of the answer-sheets, the CBSE, like other bodies, depends upon the OMCR — (Optical Magnetic Character Recognition) system that scans the answer-sheets and awards marks.

The OMCR provides for evaluation of 2,000 to 5,000 sheets an hour. By using more computer-based systems, all answer-sheets can be evaluated in a few hours and the result declared the same day. But this is not done. It takes almost a month for the CBSE to evaluate the answer-sheets and declare the result. It is during this period that maximum manipulation is done.

Baba Farid Medical University of Punjab declares the result within 48 hours of the examination. It has also evolved a system where chances of impersonation are nearly eliminated. No pictures are fixed on the admission card for the entrance test. The self-attested pictures are fixed on the day of the examination and the same card is required at the time of counselling.

Similarly, Karnataka has also checked impersonation. For total transparency in the conduct of the examination, it invites all candidates to challenge the bona fides of suspicious candidates. Even the result or scoring in the examination could be challenged in the CET conducted by Karnataka.

Though the demand for a single entrance test throughout the country has been raised more than once, but nothing has been done so far. Now, for example, a student from Chandigarh aspiring to join a medical college, has to take 16 entrance tests . The parents of such a candidate have to shell out heavy amounts not only on buying prospectus but also for undertaking long journeys to enable their wards to take these tests. The tests, which start in the last week of April, continue until the first week of July.