GUWAHATI
The State government had suspended mobile internet connectivity for nearly four hours in 25 of the total 35 districts on Sunday for conducting the government jobs recruitment examinations to fill up around 30,000 Grade III and IV posts in various departments.
A total of 14,30,337 candidates are expected to appear for the written tests examination, which are scheduled on August 21, 28 and September 11. On Sunday, the internet connectivity was shut down from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The exams are being held as part of a drive to provide 100,000 jobs after the BJP returned to power in Assam.
Section 144 imposed
Apart from shutting down mobile internet, Section 144 was imposed within a radius of 100 metres of the examination centres as well as the Secondary Education Board of Assam complex in the city’s Bamunimaidam area. The board is conducting the exam on behalf of the State-Level Recruitment Commission for Grade III and Grade IV posts.
Announcing the temporary mobile data ban a few days ago, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had apologised to the people for the inconvenience it would cause. “This measure was necessary to prevent a possible leak of the question paper through WhatsApp during the exam,” he said later.
A third exam has been scheduled on September 11 for the recruitment of drives in various State government departments. A decision on whether to shut down mobile internet that day would be taken later, officials said.
The mobile internet shutdown drew criticism. The Assam unit of the All India Professionals’ Congress said such measures to apparently curb cheating in recruitment exams for government jobs are ridiculous and comical when mobile phones were not allowed inside the examination centres.
“Going by this logic, internet should be banned across the country when the Union Public Service Commission exams are conducted,” the unit’s president, Gauravv Somani said.
The BJP countered by citing the example of Congress-ruled Rajasthan, which had blocked mobile internet and text messaging in 2021 during exams to recruit teachers.
