Somewhere in the northern part of India. A university examination for BDS final year, some 17 years ago. At a dental college that then operated out of a four-storey residential building and some tin sheds. No rules existed in those days about minimum requirements of land and building, equipment, number of faculty or patient quotas.
The external examiner was an honest, upright gentleman. The owner of the college - the Chairman, as most owners of private colleges are usually referred to - was not. At the end of the examinations, the external examiner filled up the awards list, signed, sealed and submitted it to the college, to be forwarded to the university. The owner invited the external examiner to his room for a cup of tea.
Along with his tea and an elaborate side of samosas, pakodas, sandwiches and biscuits, the frail-looking partly bald examiner was served a few sheets of paper - a duplicate set of blank awards list sheets. Please sign this.
The righteous professor was indignant. He practically threw an apoplectic fit. The beady-eyed Chairman expressionlessly heard him out till he had finished. Then he quietly pulled out an automatic from below his table, ceremoniously placed it in front of him, and softly repeated, "Please sign this."
In the last so many years, external examiners have generally made it a practice to hand over signed blank awards lists to the internal examiner. And internal examiners are far more timid and malleable than external examiners.
So the examinee knows that the marks she / he receives in the university examinations are entirely in the hands of the internal examiner(s). So how does the student directly pressurize the internal examiner, without waiting for the Chairmen to come into the picture?
Simple. Read on.
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