Prayagraj,
05 March (HS): Today, a high level
meeting was conducted by the Railway Board. It has been decided that all
departmental promotion examinations will be done by RRB / centralised
examination through CBT. All zonal railways will make a calendar for the
examination. All the examinations will be conducted on the basis of a calendar
only. This has been decided after a long experience of transparent, fair, and
highly appreciated examinations conducted by RRB in recent years.
How
RRB used to conduct examination without any complaints, with all the
transparency: From 2015 to till date more than 7 crores candidates have been
examined through computer based tests without any Paper leakage, Impersonation,
Remote Log-in, and use of Spy devices.
How
was it possible? Selection of exam conducting agency, Open tender and Criteria
QCBS
ISO
certifications, financials, CERT-IN certifications, CMMI certification
Minimum
eligibility criteria – number of centers, past experience,
Examination
centre auditing by Railway team: Auditing checklist for all the available
facilities – bathroom outside not allowed, 100% CCTV coverage and recording
starts 2 hours pre-exam and 1 hour post exam . IP based CCTV surveillance for
better resolution, reliable and uninterrupted connection. Isolation from commercial
and other residential area, minimum 250 nodes capacity centers are being taken.
Infrastructure with power backup
Technical
specification – Server: CPU speed should be 1.5 GHz or higher, RAM should be 4
GB or higher, screen resolutions should be 1024×768.
Nodes:
RAM should be 2 GB or higher, rest same as server, USB disabled, proxy
disabled, internet disabled and keyboard disabled after login.
Proprietary
Operating System: All mouse and key clicks to be recorded with time stamp for
audit purpose. Information about city of exam is disclosed about ten days
before the actual date of examination. Venue/centre of examination is made
available only four days before the exam. Exam centre is allotted through a
computerized randomized generation avoiding manual intervention. Inside the
centre, the allotment of lab and the nodes including buffer nodes, all are
automated, randomized generated. Conducting team and the centre people get the
information about the candidate just two hours before the examination. In the
examination centers, checking & frisking of candidates is done with
Hand-held metal detectors
Biometric
attendance (both LTI and digital) is taken before entry & mid of exam and
after every bio break. Also a handwriting sample is taken. This process is
repeated at all the stages of examination and at the time of document
verification. Aadhaar based Authentication is done at exam centre.
N:N
comparison – comparison of across shifts, across events for identifying solvers
gangs
Question
paper is in highly encrypted form (256-bit encryption). Last minute decryption
happens only when the candidate actually logs in. No two candidates get the
same sequence of questions and options for each question. Everything is
randomized and shuffled. There is a complete log maintained for each activity
performed by the candidate which determines how he has attempted the questions.
Three
separate layers of Invigilation: ECA team invigilation, Railway invigilation by
Officers and Supervisors, Surprise check by Railway vigilance team, 1st and 2nd
teams are shuffled periodically between labs and centers. As a result, a number
of candidates involving in some kinds of malpractice/unfair means are being
regularly caught.
Eligibility
criteria: all the critical data of eligibility e.g. caste, certificate number,
mobile number, marks of identifications, photograph and signature, date of
birth, and qualification clearly defined and captured. Application will have QR
code to detect fake applications.
Admit
cards will have a barcode to establish the genuineness of the candidate.
In
Computer Based Tests (CBTs), candidates are shown their Question paper, Answer
Booklets along with correct Answer Keys. They are also given an opportunity to
raise objection regarding correctness of questions and answer keys, if any.
Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi