Finally, I am writing my views on this topic after reading about a lot of things. I am not a famous person but still this incident has affected me a lot and hence, I am voicing out the same here.
The tragedy which happened in ORN was not only unfortunate but could have been avoided if we had adopted continuous accountability measures instead of the current episodic accountability system in place.
Let's just dig deep into the issue:
- The administration (public and private) waits for a disaster to happen and then takes countermeasures. The system doesn't take action till there's a social media outrage over it.
- Till about a month ago, no one cared about UPSC aspirants and their conditions. I remember visiting ORN to meet a friend in May 2024. [I was planning to shift there. One of my friends was already there and we both had been planning to give offline mocks. This is because I come from a city where guidance related to UPSC is limited to royal entry reels, topper motivation reels etc. None of the good coaching institutes have their centres here even though it is an important and well off city of the country]. I remember the rooms in Mukherjee Nagar were partitioned by a "cardboard". The room was like a confinement chamber. The summer made the room hot, closed room made it humid and the "common" bathroom smell added to the misery. But the rent? 9.5k per month. The next room (in ORN) was demanding 18k per month as room rent. I had convinced myself thinking that "Part of the journey hai, sab toh kar hi rahe hai" but unfortunately that's what every serious aspirant who comes to the UPSC hub thinks. They think this is the system here so we have two alternatives- either protest about the inhumane condition OR study. If aspirants had protested to prevent such an incident, the administration would have ignored it saying, Kuch hua kya abhi tak burra?. This is the attitude which needs to change in India irrespective of the political parties in power. We wait for the burra to happen. Those who dissent, criticize and point out the flaws in the system are called variety of names and are eventually silenced. When disaster strikes, these people lament about the fact that they told the administration beforehand.
- Recently, the govt came out with a bill to regulate coaching institutes now. But question is: The coaching industry has thrived ever since the exam started. We are bringing a bill now? After more than "75" years of independence? After the death of 5 aspirants?
- Take the Puja Khedkar controversy. Clearly, the girl is from a rich family background and most of the candidates who qualify do have a good background. The sad reality is: these people can afford to play with the system. For all we know, she will hire a top lawyer and keep the case in limbo. The way our judicial system is, we know what will happen. That's why when a person who is an autorickshaw driver's son/daughter or any child of a socially disadvantaged group makes it to the list, their tale is romanticized and "news" is created. We overlook the fact that they are outliers! Infact everyone who gets into the list is an outlier! We can't take their example and set out to prepare.
- Neither UPSC cares nor you would care why a person failed. In the end, it just matters whether you are in the list or out of the list. People will come to listen only to the victorious ones and not the ones who failed (obviously because of the number). Infact, people romanticize the 1st attempt mai clear karna stuff so much that it is annoying. I remember a faculty saying you are not a serious aspirant if you have taken 2 or more attempts. But the reality is that there are serious aspirants often end up reading "all" the recommended books so that their selection is guaranteed. To ensure this guarantee, a prominent faculty often brings out 2000 pages of Economy notes every year and claims that if you don't read those, you won't clear Prelims. The thought of not clearing Prelims and becoming an IAS in the first attempt invokes fear and anxiety in the minds of the aspirants. That's where some 'dubious' coaching institutes come in the picture and claim "Guaranteed Prelims and Guaranteed Mains" programmes. Hence, aspirants end up joining them.
- Next- privilege, a person from a good background irrespective of their reservation category might end up scoring better than the one who is not from such a background. People from far off areas come to ORN and Mukherjee Nagar thinking that they will crack UPSC and serve their country. But now the sad reality is: the underprivileged kid is overexploited in the city whereas privileged kids are provided all types of facilities when they sit for the exam.
- Personal story: [When I used to live in Dhanbad, I had to travel 4 hrs to my Mains centre in Ranchi. And guess what, there was only one centre for all of Jharkhand. So people from far off areas had to take hotel rooms in Ranchi for a period of almost one week. It costed me around 12k to survive there just to give Mains exam. I consider myself privileged enough that I could afford that amount. But when I got there, the hotel room was in a basement with no ventilation with snails creeping out of the toilet (So yes, not only coaching institutes but hotels are also opened up in basements). Fortunately enough, I met a college friend in the exam hall itself and we took a room together. But all of this chaos was during Mains! Now everyone saw just the end result and not the story behind it. My point is we have to take into account the privileges one had while they prepared for an exam. If you can't control the privileges part then focus on insulating your prep from such psychological turmoil. I couldn't do it in that attempt and hence, I couldn't clear (In addition, to other factors like strategy)].
- Again, no offence to anyone who has a good background but let's just acknowledge our privileges and paint a true picture of things instead of romanticizing stuff.
- Recently, a girl had committed suicide in ORN (I can't recall her name) when her "landlord" asked her to leave. In her suicide letter, she also writes about planning to become IAS in the "1st attempt". She was from a humble background (Not affluent). People, who come from Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities where guidance is close to zero, learn from online sources. That's where YouTube comes in the picture and role of teachers like Vikas Divyakirti and Awadh Ojha assumes importance. These people have painted a rosy picture and this picture became these people's dreams. When the reality strikes, this dream breaks. When it breaks, there's anger. I am sure some clips might have been quoted out of context but it is what it is.
- Next, will UPSC and DoPT accept their mistakes? What about the allegations of fake OBC and PwD certificates? Everyone clearly knows why the notification said only Puja was such an exception and everything else is fine - it will open the Pandora's box. The administration knows that protest and outrage won't last for long no matter how emotional the incident is.
Coming to the education part:
- Oh the rot runs so deep here! Coaching institutes are present because the formal educational system is highly inadequate to address the demands of education.
- We reduce syllabus in the name of reducing pressure on the student. But did the syllabus of competitive exams change? Did the syllabus of UPSC become less hard? or Did life become less hard? NO. So who will fulfill that gap? Coaching institutes.
- But yes, some coaching institutes are good and do really help the aspirants. But why are they not part of the formal educational industry? Why do most students sit at the last bench in their college but fight for the first bench in a coaching institute? Why are we paying lakhs of money in addition to our college degrees?
What needs to be done? The solution?
- Broadly, accept mistakes! Look beyond money! (Why did the recent landslide happen when Kasturirangan and Gadgil Committee recommendations had clearly pointed out environmental issues in their respective reports? Groups protested against the Committee being "too environment friendly"! Govt overlooked it. What happened? Tragedy. Now tell me who are we going to blame?).
- Practice what you preach(Ethics).
- Learn to take responsibility! I loved how Shri Swati Maliwal, MP in Rajya Sabha, framed it, "When a road is built, all local politicians would fight about the fact that the road should be named after them. But when the same waterlogged roads are clogged and tragedy strikes, these leaders are nowhere to be seen".
- There are no technical suggestions here because the bureaucrats know about that better but please practice compassion. In the tussle between Delhi govt and the Union govt, the bureaucrats are having a field day. They don't listen to the ministers. The same suggestion is for the coaching institutes.
- Without adopting transparency and accountability in the UPSC exam process, we can't talk about reducing the number of attempts and reducing the age limit. There are many people who realise what they want in life later on. In addition to this, people from underprivileged background have to work first and become financially secure and then think about what they really want to pursue. (It is easy for the ivory tower bureaucrats to give such recommendations but please get down from your holy pedestal and accept the reality).
For people writing Mains this year, UPSC won't give us extra time just because this incident happened. So we have to study despite what is happening. UPSC doesn't care about your circumstances, it cares only about the outcome. So prepare keeping that in mind. (Remember people who had their last attempt during the Pandemic period suffered but did they get extra attempts?). The least we can do is voice out our concerns on online platform.
Aspirants in ORN and Mukherjee Nagar, take care. As I live far away from Delhi, I am voicing out my view here.
My heartfelt condolences to those who passed away (Tanya, Nevin, Shreya, Neelesh and the one girl who committed suicide due to high room rent). May their soul rest in peace.
"More work, less talk".
