Govt jobs cool again, thanks to meltdown

29 April 2009
NEW DELHI:

NEW DELHI: The economic downturn is making the Indian middle class look at government jobs with renewed respect. The number of applicants for the Union Public Services Commission examination this year has seen a rise of 42%, up from last year’s figure of 2.8 lakh to a little over 4 lakh.

When Rohit Malwa walked out after appearing for the AIEEE at Parshwanath College on Ghodbunder Road, he complained that OMR sheets were sealed inside the envelope containing the question papers. Like several others, he had to waste a few minutes filling in personal details in the time allotted to answer the paper.

"Usually, OMR sheets are distributed before the question paper is given out. Students are given 15 minutes to fill in details such as registration and centre numbers. But this time, we were not given the grace time to do so," added Shantanu Bose, whose centre was Atomic Energy School-1 in Tarapur.

Students, though, were happy that the CBSE, which conducts the AIEEE, did not have too many tough questions for them. "The paper was very easy. I was tense because I lost some time early on but then I improved my pace," said Poonam Kotecha, a student who has taken a year's drop after Std XII to prepare for engineering.

Suman Prakash, head (academics) of a coaching class, said while the paper was based on the same course as 2008, the pattern of giving marks had changed. Like last year, there were three sections. However, AIEEE-2009 had fewer questions in each section: down to 30 from 35 questions in maths, physics and chemistry, respectively, in 2008.

The aggregate rose from 315 to 372. "Each question used to carry three marks and one mark was deducted for every wrong answer. Though 24 questions were marked in the same way, the remaining six questions were marked differently," said Prashant Mitta, a student. Those six questions carried eight marks and would invite two-mark penalties in case of wrong answers.

It is the largest engineering entrance exam in India if one goes by the number of students and institutes participating in it. This year, the board decided to have bilingual papers—in English and Hindi.

AIEEE 2009 saw an increase of 2 lakh in the number of takers from last year's 8 lakh. In Maharashtra, close to 2.4 lakh students took the exam and, unlike last year, they were all allotted centres in the state.

Source : The Times of India, Dated 27nth April.