A couple of days ago, the signboard outside the Vyapam office in Bhopal was whitewashed and within minutes, the name ‘Madhya Pradesh Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal,’ or Vyapam, imprinted on it was wiped out.
In its place appears a new name: ‘Professional Examinations Board’ (PEB), the lesser known English substitute of Vyapam.
PEB finance controller Pankaj Mohan said the fresh nomenclature was adopted for “positivity.”
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“The PEB Act mentions the Board both in English and Hindi. We have not changed any name, but simply adopted the English version as the Hindi one [Vyapam] has attained a certain disrepute,” Mr. Mohan said.
Vyapam or PEB, which conducts entrance tests for various courses and examinations to recruit government employees, had achieved notoriety owing to a major admission and recruitment scam.
Officials said the logo on the Vyapam signboard — a mirror image of a question mark-like design in red font — was also removed as they found that it was “unregistered.” A new logo has now come up in its place.
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The Congress has criticised the government for the ‘motivated’ change of name. “By merely changing the name (Vyapam), Shivraj Singh Chouhan cannot wash away his sins,” said Congress spokesperson K.K. Mishra, accusing the CM of cover-up.
Mr. Mohan says the requests by students also played a part in the name change. “New students complained to us that wherever they go they have to carry the stigma attached to Vyapam. Keeping their future in mind, we decided to omit Vyapam,” he said. Mr. Mishra retorted: “Vyapam has wrecked the lives of thousands of students. Mr. Chouhan cannot be forgiven for that. The name change is to dilute the gravity of his crime.”