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Microsoft To Join ONDC | Will it ends the dominance of Flipkart & Amazon ?

Microsoft joins  India's ONDC WHAT HAS HAPPENED? US firm Microsoft has become the first big tech company to join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), A government-backed project which is aimed at enabling small merchants and mom-and-pop stores in parts of the country to access processes and technologies that are typically deployed by large e commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. The software giant intends to introduce social e-commerce - group buying experience in the Indian market, Which would include a shopping app for Indian consumers along with their social circle, harnessing the ONDC network to discover the best pricing among retailers and sellers. WHAT IS OPEN NETWORK FOR DIGITAL COMMERECE ? It is an initiative aimed at promoting open networks for all aspects of exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks. ONDC is to be based on open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols inde...
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Teacher Recruitment Scam in West Bengal

Teacher Recruitment Scam in West Bengal


WHAT HAS HAPPENED ?

West Bengal Teacher Recruitment scam took a new turn on Friday after the Enforcement Directorate seized ₹20 crores, Following raids at a dozen places including the residence of two ministers who were named in connection with the scam. The agency said that they had recovered huge cash amounting to approximately ₹20 crores from the residential premises of Arpita Mukherjee, who is a close associate of Partha Chatterjee (former West Bengal Education Minister).

The sleuths raided the residence of senior West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and questioned him for over 11 hours in connection with its investigation into the teacher recruitment scam, an official of the agency said.

Further the investigative agencies visited another minister Paresh Adhikari’s home in Cooch Behar district in the northern part of the state and talked to his family members. He is currently in Kolkata. Besides, they carried out simultaneous raids in the houses of former advisor of the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) Shanti Prasad Sinha, ex-president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education Kalyanmoy Ganguly and nine others, the official said.

CBI HANDLING THE CASE

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is looking into the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment of Group-C and D staff as well as teachers in government-sponsored and –aided schools on recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission. The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam. The moves comes on the directive orders of the Calcutta High Court to look into the teacher recruitment scam.



WHAT ARE THE ALLEGED SCAMS ?

The notification for appointment of teachers in state-run schools in West Bengal through SLST was published in 2014 and the recruitment process started in 2016. However, a series of petitions were filed in the Calcutta High Court alleging anomalies in the recruitment process. The petitioners alleged that many examinees who got less marks ranked high in the merit list. There were also allegations that some applicants, who weren’t even in the merit list, received appointment letters.

In the second case, the West Bengal government had, in 2016, issued a notification to the School Service Commission (SSC) to recruit 13,000 Group-D employees for state-run/aided schools. In 2019, the panel making the appointments had expired, but at least 25 persons were allegedly appointed by the WBBSE.

WHAT THE HC SAID ?

In Group C and Group D recruitment case, a single bench of the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI enquiry. The court said, “The record reveals the shocking state of affairs and we refrain ourselves to make any observations thereupon in the midst of an investigation/enquiry by the committee constituted by this Court.” The court also observed, “The moment prima facie evidence has been produced raising a serious concern on the modalities of the recommendation/appointment made to the candidates not only beyond the expiration of the panel but to the candidates who were not included in the panel itself, such stand has been taken responsibilities.”

The Mamata Banerjee government, however, challenged the order before the division bench. The bench stayed the order and constituted a committee to investigate the allegations. The division bench sought affidavits from the SSC and WBBSE. However, both bodies gave contradictory statements.

The SSC, in its affidavit, claimed that it had made no employee recommendations, while the WBBSE said it had received the data and the persons were duly appointed. During the hearing, the petitioners claimed that not just 25 but over 500 people were appointed after the SSC panel expired, and they were now drawing salaries from the state government. Meanwhile, in the teachers’ recruitment case, a single bench of the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe.

WHAT NEXT ?

The High Court’s observations in both the cases have been a cause of embarrassment for the department of school education. If the probe finds the government guilty, at least 10,000 people may lose their job. No exams have been conducted for the recruitment of teachers in state-run schools after 2016. According to sources in the West Bengal School Education Department, over 60,000 posts for the appointment of teachers are vacant at present.

Q. Which among the following was the impact on classrooms after implementation of RTE Act, 2009?
A) Unaffected
B) Gender-wise more homogenous
C) Age-wise more homogenous
D) Knowledge-wise more homogenous
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