The Rajasthan Public Services Commission’s (RPSC) new dress code for civil service examinations on Saturday put several students in trouble on Saturday with some of them taking off their shirts — full-sleeves were banned inside exam hall — to comply with the new rule.
The examination for Rajasthan Administrative Services-2013 (RAS) was conducted under tight security and new guidelines where male candidates were required to wear half-sleeve shirts while salwar suit or saree was mandatory for female candidates. Candidates were asked to wear slippers or sandals without socks.
“The new dress code has been introduced for the aspirants taking RAS examination. The initiative has been taken to check unfair practices. The exams were organised peacefully under tight security,” said a senior RPSC official.
Meanwhile, several male students landed in trouble when they were not allowed to enter examination centres for wearing full-sleeve shirts. Many students in Barmer district had to take off their shirt and write exam wearing only pants.
“I live in a small village in Barmer district. I was not aware of the new dress code. So, I left my full sleeves shirt and shoes in my bag and later entered the exam hall,” said Pawan Kumar, an aspirant.
Students were asked to report to exam centres one hour before the exam so that security personnel can frisk every candidate individually. Security agencies didn’t even allow the aspirants to carry water bottles or wrist watch inside the exam hall.
According to RPSC officials, about 4.5 lakh aspirants appeared for the exam and 2,100 supervisors were deployed at the centres across the state. Around 50 per cent of invigilators were from government schools and colleges. More than 7,000 police officials were deployed at the examination centres for security reasons.
“Examinations were conducted peacefully in 1,232 centres of 33 district headquarters across the state. Apart from guidelines issued by RPSC, 7,000 police officials were deployed at all the centres. About 50 jammers were installed at various centers and district collectors were authorised to install CCTV cameras wherever they feel,” said RPSC Chairman Lalit K Panwar.
The recent incident of paper leak has damaged the reputation of RPSC in the state. Previous RPSC chairman Habib Khan Gauran had to resign from the post after his alleged role in paper leak incidents. The new BJP government in Rajasthan appointed Lalit K Panwar as RPSC chairman with the target to set everything right in RPSC.