Nagpur: Ahead of the Sept 16 visit of the state-appointed task force to reform the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) examination system, divisional commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidari has urged stakeholders to submit suggestions.The task force will hold consultations at Niyojan Bhavan in Civil Lines at 11am. A special cell has been set up at the collector’s office to receive suggestions from students, aspirants, parents, teachers, coaching institutes and citizens till 6pm on Sept 15. Suggestions can be submitted in person at the resident deputy collector’s office or emailed to nagpur-examreformstaskforce@maharashtra.gov.in. All feedback will be compiled and forwarded to the task force for inclusion in its final report to the state government.Collector Kumar Ashirwad, additional commissioner Pradeep Kulkarni, district civil surgeon Nivrutti Rathod, DIPR director Dr Ganesh Mulay and officials from Nagpur Municipal Corporation and other departments attended the review meeting on Sunday.The seven-member task force, headed by additional chief secretary (services) V Radha, was constituted in the wake of this year’s MPSC paper-leak controversy, which triggered student protests. The panel held its first consultation with students and stakeholders at Savitribai Phule Pune University on Saturday.During the interaction, officials said the guiding principle of the reforms would be “no question paper, no leak”, with question preparation, printing and physical transportation identified as the three stages most vulnerable to leaks.Task force members said they were considering measures to separate paper-setters from the examination process, introduce a larger question-bank system on the lines of the Staff Selection Commission, and ensure that no individual has physical or visual access to the final question paper until shortly before the examination through technological and procedural safeguards. MPSC examinations will continue in the pen-and-paper (OMR-based) format for the next year, with standard operating procedures being finalised, even as some student groups have opposed a shift to online examinations.
