DIMAPUR, JUNE 27 (MExN): The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) on Tuesday expressed happiness that their long standing demand to lower the marks of the viva-voce component from the then 12.5 % to 5% of the total marks has been fulfilled through a recent amendment of the Nagaland State Staff Selection Board (NSSB) Regulation 2020 which was notified by the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department (Administrative Reforms Branch) government of Nagaland on June 27, 2023.
This move of the government is set to greatly benefit the thousands of aspirants seeking for employment from the state government in various group C posts by minimizing the chance for manipulation by the authorities concerned, the Federation in a press release stated.
More so, the principle behind the setting up of NSSB will be upheld by providing a level playing field for all the aspirants and will go a long in promoting meritocracy and also ensuring that ‘the right person is recruited for the right job,’ it added.
In this connection, the Federation extended gratitude to the government of the day under the leadership of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio for exhibiting the political will for positive change and affirmatively responding to the call of the younger generation for transparency and equal opportunity during the recruitment process to various government jobs.
At the same time, the Federation also reminded that it will continue to keep a close watch on the functioning of the board and also the process of conducting the examinations. It will not tolerate any attempt to mar the examinations with manipulation by any individual whatsoever, it said.
Demand re-examination of CTSE
Meanwhile, the Federation in another press statement demanded re-examination of the CTSE (civil engineering stream) in order to provide for a level playing field to all the aspiring candidates.
In a representation addressed to the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) chairman, the Federation cited the numerous anomalies pointed out by aspirants who sat for the recently held CTSE exam which said 76% of questions were from CESE 2022 to CTSE 2023, 177 questions were copy pasted from degree to diploma for which the diploma exam had been duly cancelled and 8 questions in degree paper-1 were out of the syllabus.
In light of this, the Federation has questioned the sincerity and integrity of the board members of NPSC and all others involved in the conduct of the examination.
“It is totally unbecoming of the commission responsible for the recruitment of the top bureaucrats and technocrats to allow for lacunas to creep in the question papers over and over again. The process of conducting the various examinations should be properly streamlined and such grievous errors should not be committed again in the future,” it stated.
