Topper fraud: Bihar board to make Aadhaar compulsory for examinations

Patna After facing a huge embarrassment, caused by age-forgery by the deposed intermediate (arts) topper Ganesh Kumar alias Ganesh Ram, earlier this year, the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has decided to make the Aadhaar number or the number of any other valid identity card, mandatory for filling up the forms for matriculation and intermediate exams from 2018. 

However, from 2019, Aadhaar number will be mandatory in all examinations conducted by it and alternative identity cards will become inadmissible, according to BSEB chairman Anand Kishore.

The number will be mentioned on the admit card of candidates to prevent any Ganesh-type recurrence.“It will do away with spelling mistakes in names and age,” he added. The CBSE and UGC have already made this mandatory for several important examinations and for all state boards it is now a requirement. 

The process of linking midday meal distribution with the Aadhaar number is already on in the state as part of the nationwide drive to identify the genuine beneficiaries and provide them subsidy through banks. 

Earlier this year, the results of intermediate (arts) led to a row after it was detected that Ganesh had fudged his age to take the exam a second time from Sanjay Gandhi Vidyalay, Lakshminia in Samastipur. He showed his date of birth as June 2, 1993. 

Later, it was found that his actual date of birth when he took the matriculation exam for the first time was November 7, 1975 and he appeared from a school in Jharkhand. He later got into Ramnandan Singh Jagdip Narayan Intermediate College College, from where he topped in IA. 

The CBSE has already made the Aadhaar card mandatory for all students taking JEE (Mains) and NEET exams. However, it had waived off the requirement for its schools in 25 foreign countries and asked them to upload passport numbers.

In Delhi university also, students are required to furnish the Aadhaar number at the time of admission. 

Some of the state boards have also decided to make the Aadhaar number mandatory. The UP board has instructed the officials concerned for making the Aadhaar number necessary for filling up forms.