Though i have been a witness to this group but have refrained from active participation. After much thought i am expressing my opinion which one may or may not concur with.
1) First of all everyone knows this is once is a lifetime pandemic which requires extraordinary response - economic, social etc. One may expect the government to be humane, empathetic and likewise aspirants who are writing this exam to also take the same approach. But this is not the case. For the present regime, it seems that people are just statistics and whoever lives or dies is not their concern. They want normalisation at any cost and that too quickly. Seeing this, i wont expect them to defer this exam unless the situation becomes so grave where we have drastic increase in mortality - say somewhere around 1500 deaths each day. That is also not a guarantee and if they want they will surely go ahead and take this exam
2) Coming to the judiciary. Those who are blaming the judiciary for everything should know that the era where the Supreme Court was supposed to be harbinger of social justice has appeared and gone. The apex court has shown through its various judgements that it would not encroach the executive policy making domain. But yes at the same time it is also abandoning its core function of the protector of fundamental rights. Right to health is clearly a concern at this point and it should have at least not ignored the NEET aspirants plea to further increase centres in states like Bihar where there are only 2 centres. Not everyone has equal resources, we should always think of the last man standing. Transportation is clearly an issue and courts should have at least directed the examination conducting authority to look into this. For JEE i have no objections as the exam is spread through a number of days. But for NEET, even the NTA is adamant and is not allowing centres to be set up in gulf countries.
3) Coming to the our hallowed body, the UPSC. While other testing agencies from CLAT to NTA have made an effort to increase examination centres and even created new centres in different cities, the UPSC decide to maintain status quo and allow change of centres only. Presently there are no guidelines for COVID affected candidates who want to appear for exam, whether they will be allowed or not. The SOP's are also not there as was given by AIIMS for NEET exam. We have seen just generalist measures like maintain personal hygiene and social distancing in their NDA admit card guidelines. It seems that the commission is escaping its primary responsibility of conducting the exam in a free and fair environment. I hope that the issues will be addressed so that everyone is granted a fair chance in this prestigious examination
