Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has directed coaching centres across the state to remove advertisements featuring successful candidates of the Assam Public Service Commission within a week. The Chief Minister alleged that several institutes misuse the success stories of candidates to promote their coaching programmes and mislead young aspirants preparing for government jobs.The direction was issued during a programme where appointment letters were distributed to candidates who cleared the Combined Competitive Examination conducted by the APSC. Addressing the newly appointed officers, Sarma said the government has already instructed officials to ensure that such advertisements are removed at the earliest.The Chief Minister strongly criticised coaching centres that claim credit for the success of candidates. He said many institutes turn into what he described as “rote-learning factories”, where students are trained to memorise certain topics rather than develop a deeper understanding of subjects. According to him, these institutes later use the names and photographs of successful candidates in their advertisements to attract more students.Sarma said the examination system should not be influenced by such practices. He suggested that question papers should be designed in a way that goes beyond what coaching centres usually teach. “They make students memorise a few things like parrots and then claim credit when someone succeeds,” he said.
He also emphasised that government jobs should go to deserving candidates from poor and middle-class families who work hard and succeed through merit rather than through marketing campaigns by coaching institutes.Speaking about the state government’s recruitment record, Sarma said around 1.6 lakh appointments have been made in Assam over the past five years. He claimed that these recruitments were conducted in a transparent manner and that no allegation of irregularity has surfaced either in the media or on social media platforms.“There has not been a single case or any negative report regarding these appointments,” the Chief Minister said. He added that in the past there were allegations that government jobs through APSC required huge amounts of money. According to him, there were also complaints that even transfers of officials involved payments.Sarma referred to the findings of retired Justice Biplab Kumar Sharma, whose report had earlier highlighted alleged irregularities in previous recruitment processes. The Chief Minister said such practices no longer exist and that the present government has worked to restore public confidence in the recruitment system.
At the same time, Sarma reminded the newly appointed officers that maintaining integrity after joining government service is their own responsibility. He said the government can ensure transparent recruitment but cannot monitor every action of an officer once they join service.To underline this point, he mentioned the case of ACS officer Nupur Bora, saying that even when recruitment is clean, individual conduct may still come under scrutiny later.The Chief Minister also said that the government has intensified monitoring of corruption within departments. According to him, the highest number of arrests in the past five years have been among Mandals in the Revenue Department.He further stated that in the digital age it has become increasingly difficult to hide illegal wealth. “It will not be easy to conceal large amounts of cash from income tax authorities. If necessary, technology can help track and catch many accused officials within a short period,” he said.Sarma also encouraged the newly appointed officers not to stop aiming higher in their careers. He advised them to continue preparing for the Union Public Service Commission examinations if they wish to move to higher services.
