This comes in the wake of the case of trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar who is facing a UPSC probe for allegedly “faking her identity” to flout appearance norms for the Civil Service Exams. UPSC’s plan also comes close on the heels of a row over the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) conduct of examinations including the NEET-UG exam.
UPSC has now invited bids from PSUs to provide technology services during the examinations conducted by it. The services that have been listed in the tender recently floated by the Commission include Aadhaar-based fingerprint authentication (else Digital Fingerprint Capturing) and facial recognition of candidates; QR Code Scanning of e-Admit Cards, and live AI-based CCTV surveillance service.
The tender documents also say that the exam schedule, detailed list of exam venues, and the number of candidates for each venue will be provided by the UPSC to the provider of these technology services two to three weeks before the examination “for making on-site preparation”. UPSC will also provide candidate details (name, roll number, photo etc.) seven days before the exam for use in fingerprint authentication and facial recognition.
