Pilot project for digital academic repository complete

The government has moved step closer to creating a national academic depository that’s expected to help curb forgery and make verifications of education credentials easier and quicker. Human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal said on Monday a pilot to assess the feasibility of this depository has been completed.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which carried out the pilot, has digitized the education certificates of all the students who cleared its class XII examination in 2011. Certificates of aspiring teachers who have appeared for the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (C-TET) will also be available in digital format. The results will be declared on Tuesday.

“This will help in curbing forgery of education credentials. The menace of fake certificates can be controlled through this,” Sibal said, giving a lowdown on the process of verifying digital certificates. The minister said the recent instances of fake certificates that plagued Delhi University can be tackled easily through this measure. In June, Delhi University authorities found that a number of students had submitted fake certificates while seeking admissions under a certain quota.

The Central Depository Services India Ltd. (CDSL) and the National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL) helped CBSE conduct the pilot. “It was done by both the depositories with no initial cost to the ministry. It will remain free for CBSE for next three months; but after that it has to pay certain fees,” Sibal explained.

CBSE Chairperson Vineet Joshi said the depository will make it easier for employers and educational institutes to verify the credentials of prospective workers and students. It will also help do away with the fear of losing physical certificates. According to CRP HR Services, a background screening firm based in Mumbai, discrepancies are found in 15% of the education credentials submitted by aspiring job seekers.

“We are also moving a Bill on this (the depository) in the coming Parliament session (that begins on 1 August),” Sibal said. Once the Bill is passed, it will mandate digitizing all educational certificates of school boards, colleges and universities. “The depositories will be soon deploying their own agents. Anyone can approach them for digitizing, but these agencies will first verify whether their certificates are original or fake,” Joshi said.

Source: Mint, July 26, 2011

MHRD & UIDAI join hands for tracking student mobility

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the presence of Mr. Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Human Resource Development and Mr. Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, UIDAI in New Delhi today. Mr. Amit Khare, Joint Secretary in the MHRD signed the MOU on behalf of his Ministry and Mr. Anil Kachi, Deputy Director General signed on behalf of UIDAI.

The proposed MOU would be helpful in tracking student’s mobility by creating an electronic registry of all students, right from primary/elementary level through secondary and higher education, as also between the institutions. Imprinting of UID number on performance record of individual students (marksheets, merit certificates, migration certificates) will also be helpful to prospective employers and educational institutions. UID number will help in tracking problems of fake degrees. UID can also be utilized while dematting of academic certificates as also education loan and scholarship schemes. It would also be useful in the implementation of Mid-Day Meal Scheme.

The MHRD will co-operate and collaborate with the UIDAI in conducting proof of concept (PoC) studies, pilots to test the working of the technology and process of enrolment into the UID database, identify Registrars for the implementation of the UID project (PoC and pilots). The ministry will help ensure that the Registrar shall do all that is necessary to effectively complete the PoCs and pilots; and put in place an institutional mechanism to effectively oversee and monitor the implementation of the UID project and provide logistic and liaison support to the staff and representatives of UIDAI.

The Government has set up the UIDAI for the issuing of UID number to all the residents of India, based on demographic and biometric data of the individual. UIDAI will develop and prescribe standards for recording data fields, data verification and biometric fields, prescribe a process for enrolment of beneficiaries/students to authenticate the identity of a person with a UID number.

Source: Press Information Bureau, Government of India, October 27, 2010

HRD Ministry to consider E-certificates to check misuse

India’s premier investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), asked to investigate fake marksheet cases across Maharashtra by the Bombay high court, on Monday recommended that the Centre store marksheets in tamper-proof electronic format. Responding to CBI’s request, Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal said his ministry is willing to consider the recommendation. He also said the ministry has set up a task force under IIT-Kanpur Director S. G. Dhande to work on de-materialization of certificates. Its a concept which resembles demat shares, said P. Kandaswamy, CBIs head of Mumbai zone.

According to Kandaswamy, CBI found 1,576 fake marksheets issued in the name of 10 universities across the state. Of these, 659 fakes were issued in the name of University of Mumbai and another 729 by the Pune University.
Kandaswamy suggested HRD ministry consider e-certificates with ways to check their misuse. A body can be formed to store the marksheets and update as and when a person acquires a fresh degree. Any prospective employer can ask for marksheet related data from educational institutions or the regulatory body for a fee. Each person can be issued a unique code or biometrics for access, he said. The transfer certificate issued after Class X will contain other details of the person. K. Ramkumar of Central Depository Services (India) Ltd. helped the CBI in working out a draft framework.

According to CBI, none of the universities informed law enforcement agencies when fake marksheets were sent to them for verification by prospective employers. Kandaswamy said the cases that came to light are only the tip of an iceberg. All the cases have been handed over to the police who will carry out detailed investigation, he said. The CBI identified three groups as involved in the scam. They charged anything from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 5,000 for a fake marksheet.

Investigation revealed that most of the marksheets were in commerce and economics, Kandaswamy said. The Medical Council of India did not provide any figure of fake MBBS marksheets floating around in the market, said Kandaswamy. Our job ended with submitting a report to the court and suggesting corrective measures, he said.

Source: The Times of India, July 13, 2010

HRD Ministry to consider E-certificates to check misuse

India’s premier investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), asked to investigate fake marksheet cases across Maharashtra by the Bombay high court, on Monday recommended that the Centre store marksheets in tamper-proof electronic format. Responding to CBI’s request, Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal said his ministry is willing to consider the recommendation. He also said the ministry has set up a task force under IIT-Kanpur Director S. G. Dhande to work on de-materialization of certificates. Its a concept which resembles demat shares, said P. Kandaswamy, CBIs head of Mumbai zone.

According to Kandaswamy, CBI found 1,576 fake marksheets issued in the name of 10 universities across the state. Of these, 659 fakes were issued in the name of University of Mumbai and another 729 by the Pune University.
Kandaswamy suggested HRD ministry consider e-certificates with ways to check their misuse. A body can be formed to store the marksheets and update as and when a person acquires a fresh degree. Any prospective employer can ask for marksheet related data from educational institutions or the regulatory body for a fee. Each person can be issued a unique code or biometrics for access, he said. The transfer certificate issued after Class X will contain other details of the person. K. Ramkumar of Central Depository Services (India) Ltd. helped the CBI in working out a draft framework.

According to CBI, none of the universities informed law enforcement agencies when fake marksheets were sent to them for verification by prospective employers. Kandaswamy said the cases that came to light are only the tip of an iceberg. All the cases have been handed over to the police who will carry out detailed investigation, he said. The CBI identified three groups as involved in the scam. They charged anything from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 5,000 for a fake marksheet.

Investigation revealed that most of the marksheets were in commerce and economics, Kandaswamy said. The Medical Council of India did not provide any figure of fake MBBS marksheets floating around in the market, said Kandaswamy. Our job ended with submitting a report to the court and suggesting corrective measures, he said.

Source: The Times of India, July 13, 2010