Class 12th student Sarthak Siddhant is once again in the news regarding transparency in the government procurement system. Siddhant, who made headlines by analyzing the digital assessment tender of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), has now launched a public database of about 1.66 crore procurement records collected from the Central Public Procurement (CPP) portal of the Government of India.
Sharing this information on social media platform X, he said that “Transparency should be easily available to everyone and now it is possible.” According to him, in the last two weeks, crores of procurement records have been collected from the CPP portal and made publicly available to citizens, journalists and researchers. He also appealed to the people to download the database and check and analyze the records themselves.
Making analysis of government spending easier
According to Sarthak, this portal is not limited to the education sector only, but it includes procurement information of various government departments. Its purpose is to make it easier to find, understand and analyze government spending records. He believes that this initiative will enable more people to independently scrutinize the government procurement process, thereby promoting public accountability and transparency.
The issue of CBSE tender had reached Parliament
Earlier, Sarthak’s findings on CBSE’s digital evaluation tender have reached Parliament. He also had the opportunity to appear before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education to present his views on the evaluation system and government procurement process.
Questions were also raised on on-screen marking
Sarthak had earlier published a detailed document on On-Screen Marking (OSM) system and digital evaluation of Class 12 answer sheets. He started investigating after he noticed a discrepancy in the marks while looking at the scanned copy of his answer sheet. Later, he analyzed various tender documents of CBSE amid questions being raised on the transparency of digital assessment by many students. According to him, the changes in performance conditions and certification rules raise serious questions on the transparency of the government procurement process.
