Job seekers in Indore have staged a protest, raising concerns over a candidate receiving 101.66 marks out of 100 in a Madhya Pradesh government recruitment exam due to the use of the "normalization" process.
Job seekers in Indore have staged a protest, raising concerns over a candidate receiving 101.66 marks out of 100 in a Madhya Pradesh government recruitment exam due to the use of the "normalization" process.
The protesters have accused the examination process of fraud and called for a thorough investigation.
Normalization is a method used to ensure fairness by adjusting scores so that candidates are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged by the varying difficulty levels of different exam papers. This is typically applied when the same exam subject is conducted in multiple sessions, each with a different paper.
On Monday, a group of unemployed youth gathered in front of the district collector's office and submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav through an officer, according to eyewitnesses.
The memorandum stated that in the joint recruitment examination for 2023 (Van and Jail Recruitment Test 2023) conducted for the forest and jail departments, a candidate scored 101.66 out of 100 and topped the selection list.
The results of the exam, administered by the Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board based in Bhopal, were declared on December 13.
Following the release of the results, the board issued a clarification that the "normalization process" had been applied in accordance with the rules. This process allows candidates to score more than 100 or even less than zero.
A leader of the protesters, Gopal Prajapat, told reporters, "This is the first time in the state's history that a candidate has scored more than the total marks due to the normalisation process adopted in the recruitment exam. We are protesting against the unfair process of normalisation."
He accused the recruitment exam for the positions of forest guard, field guard (executive), and jail guard (executive) of being fraudulent and called for a fair investigation.
Prajapat warned that if no action is taken, job aspirants will be compelled to launch a larger protest.