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The picture says it all. Don’t think it’s a marathon or wall climbing contest. It’s a real pic from one of the examination center in Bihar where parents and friends were helping the students cheat in the exams by providing chits.

It is reported that the police who was in charge of the examination center took bribes and let in parents and friends into the examination center. A total of 14.27lac students appeared for the examination and around 515 debarred in two days for using unfair means, about 7 parents were arrested for helping the students in the examination centre. 

"Can the government alone conduct fair exams without the support of society and parents of students?" asks Bihar's education minister PK Shahi.

“The orders to conduct free and fair exams have been given to district magistrates and police officials,” he said but when it was pointed out that even cops were seen helping students, Shahi said, “It may be that even their kin are taking the exams so they may be helping.”

The minister expressed helplessness in taking action even in the remaining exams.

These scenes are not new, last year, more than 200 students were expelled, after being caught cheating in the Class 12 board exam. And more than a dozen parents who helped their children use unfair means were also arrested. But, 75 per cent of the 13 lakh students who appeared, passed the 10th boards exams.

The images of the mass cheating went viral on the social media.

Best-selling author Chetan Bhagat has run into another controversy in Bihar. After the former royals of the erstwhile princely state of Dumraon threatened to sue him for their allegedly disparaging portrayal, an English scholar from the state has accused him of plagiarism.

Dr Birbal Jha, director of British Lingua, a spoken English institute in Patna, has alleged that Bhagat had lifted the plot of his latest novel, Half Girlfriend, from his bilingual play, Englishia Boli.

"Bhagat had visited my institute in Patna in January this year and interacted with the students who were enrolled there," he said. "He even attended one of the classes there to observe things from close quarters."

Birbal said that the students at his centre were happy to see such a well-known author in their midst who had arrived there unannounced. "I had presented him a set of books which I have written for students seeking to improve their knowledge of spoken English," he said.

Birbal said that his gift of books to Bhagat included his play called Englishia Boli. "This is an educational social drama which was written in the drama form basically to educate the poor students of Bihar who had problems in speaking English with ease," he said.

Chetan Bhagat"The main character of my book, Chandra Prasad, is a talented youth belonging to a small town of Bihar. He goes to Delhi but faces problems because of his inability to converse in English," Birbal said. "He also meets a modern girl there who speaks English with utmost fluency. She, however, falls in love with him towards the end of the play because of his ability to prove himself."

Birbal alleged that Bhagat had taken the same theme for his Half Girlfriend. "This cannot be sheer coincidence," he said.

The English communicator said that he had released his book more than a year before Bhagat's book hit the stands. "I am sending a legal notice to Bhagat for deriv-By Giridhar Jha in Patna ing the theme of his novel from my book," he said. Birbal said that he and his students were particularly peeved at the 'derogatory' portrayal of Bihari students in Half Girlfriend.

Earlier, residents of Dumraon had taken to streets in protest against Bhagat's depiction of their home town. They also burnt copies of Half Girlfriend as well as effigies of the writer. The descendants of the formerly princely estate had also threatened to sue the writer for making allegedly uncharitable remarks on them in his novel.

Bhagat could not be reached for his comments.

Follow Atul Purohit on twitter: www.twitter.com/AryanPurohit

Source: India Today

Images: www.google.co.in

Saral Joshi © 2014 All Rights Reserved.

Swayam Doublesheet which has been consistent at around Rs.1124 for over a month now, has suddenly shot up to Rs.1500. Tomorrow they might show a 30% discount and reduce it to original price!

Van Heusen Slim Fit Men’s trousers which were hovering between Rs.1200 to Rs.1700 in the last 1 month have suddenly shot up to Rs.2200 in just 1 day! Cool technique to show people a huge Rs.500 discount on their favorite trousers on 6th October??!!

One of the best selling perfumes, Calvin Klein Be Eau de Toilette, had its price hovering around Rs.1650 for the last 3 months, suddenly it has shot up by around Rs.300 and is now available at Rs.1920.. Even Compare Hatke chrome extension which doesn’t know about this pseudo sale is suggesting only around 40% of the time to buy this product at the current price as they know prices might come down soon!

I have not even scratched the surface of this issue as I’m just looking at the price fluctuations on Flipkart site itself. There have been many instances (in fact in the above screenshots itself) where it was mentioned by Compare Hatke that cheaper products are available on Ebay, Amazon and well Flipkart itself before they discontinued older priced products! But the shocking fact was the above image of a Soch sari which is exorbitantly priced on Flipkart site when the same can be bought for less than half the price on Soch website itself. What kind of discounts are you talking about then, Flipkart?

Like they say, being well informed is to be empowered. So don’t fall for the marketing trap and ensure that you make the right decision while buying the products, be it The Billion Day or Diwali Dhamaka Week!

Saral Joshi © 2014 All Rights Reserved.