REET 2021 SCAM: Gehlot's Acid Test

The fallout of the REET (Rajasthan Eligibility Entrance Test) scam— involving the leak of the question paper for an exam to select 31,000 teachers for state schools, conducted in September last year—has left the Ashok Gehlot government besieged.

- Rohit Parihar

The fallout of the REET (Rajasthan Eligibility Entrance Test) scam— involving the leak of the question paper for an exam to select 31,000 teachers for state schools, conducted in September last year—has left the Ashok Gehlot government besieged. Last week, the investigation by Rajasthan Police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) led to the arrest of some members of the Rajiv Gandhi Study Circle (RGSC), a Congress-backed think-tank of which Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is chairman. One of Gehlot’s close aides, Minister of State (MoS) for Technical Education and Ayurveda Subhash Garg, is the national coordinator of the RGSC.

The REET exam drew over 2.6 million applicants, of which 1.6 million sat for the paper on September 26, 2021. The scam came to light around the same time, with one early report involving the police finding out—on the day of the exam—that the paper had been leaked to persons in Kota by candidates in Sawai Madhopur in an attempt to cheat. What is more troubling are the many accusations of corruption at the very top—even in this particular incident, the kin of police officers were allegedly part of the scam. Since the investigation began, some 30 people have been arrested.