Hyderabad: An average pupil studies to obtain a degree. But those students who prefer the backdoor method buy degrees. It is a time-consuming practice- to study well, have full attendance in classes, write exams every year, get good scores and work harder to acquire extra skill base. For those who do not have that kind of patience to attend college or succeed in exams, there are several 'gangs' who supply fake degrees.
With education becoming a profitable business in India, such consumers and merchandisers are on the rise. As a result, fake degrees are flooding the country.
Fraudulent institutions that supply tenth, intermediate and other degree certificates are mushrooming in all corners of the country. By paying Rs 10,000-15,000, one can obtain a fake degree within no time.
For graduation, post-graduation and engineering certificates, one has to pay Rs.20,000-75,000. These gangs produce certificates with the name of the university of our choice.
One year ago, a scam in which PhD certificates were supplied through dummy consultancies under the name of private universities came to light in Telugu states. JNTU(H) ordered an investigation into the scam.
The former governor Narasimhan ordered a probe into lecturers who were appointed through such fake certificates. But there were no further developments in that regard.
Recently, Eenadu conducted an operation to dig out the secrets of the PhD scam. There are about 10 consultancies in Hyderabad through which candidates enrolling in Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu and Bangalore University, Karnataka are contacted by professors and research scholars saying they would help them obtain desired certificates.
Wrongdoings of Shri Venkateshwara University, UP came to light after inquiries were made about fake PhD degrees for MTech candidates. Such consultancies will take care of synopsis, dissertation and an award of Engineering PhD within 6 months if we pay Rs 4,00,000.
The fee is lesser for other doctoral degrees. Since the scam was unearthed, legal action was taken against the consultancies. There are thousands of such illegal consultancies across the country.
According to the official census, 78,000 students cracked the PhD entrance exam in the academic year 2010-11. Within the next 7 years, the number increased to 1,60,000. UGC said that the quality of research was subpar.
The fake PhD certificate supply has become a small-scale industry. In Rajasthan, PhD admissions rose by 70 percent in the span of a year. All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) investigated the reason behind such surge and recognized that four private universities in the state are awarding fake certificates. There are no qualified professors or candidate rolls in any of those universities.
An investigation committee revoked 20 doctoral degrees awarded by Barkatullah University in Madhya Pradesh. One-fifth of the doctoral degrees being awarded in Kashmir are fraudulent. The Police Department was shocked after a gang supplying fake certificates within a span of 10 minutes was caught.
A few months ago, hundreds of fake diplomas and degree certificates were being supplied in Gudivada. All these examples illustrate the gravity of the situation.
Three years ago, the government of Nepal had dismissed 35 government doctors on the accusation of producing forged certificates made in Bihar. The higher education ministry of Thailand had derecognized 40 doctoral degrees awarded by Magadh University, Bihar.
With fake certificate rackets and subpar education tarnishing the nation’s image, there seem to be no action plans in place. Unless tougher curbs on bogus certificates are put in place, there won’t be an end to these scams.
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