Politics
A teen whistleblower, portal chaos, cyberattacks and a leadership shake-up: How CBSEs OSM row snowballed
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday launched its long-awaited portal for Class 12 students seeking verification of answer sheets and re-evaluation of marks. The rollout was marred by technical glitches, cyberattack claims and ultimately an administrative upheaval.
The portal, which opened a day later than scheduled, allows students to seek verification of issues identified in scanned copies of answer books supplied by the Board and ply for re-evaluation of answers. The plication window will remain open until midnight on June 6.
ALSO READ | CBSE chairman, secretary transferred in government action amid OSM row
Leadership shake-up amid OSM scrutiny
CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta were transferred out of the Board on Tuesday. Prashant Lokhande was pointed the new CBSE Chairman.
The abrupt reassignments come amid intense government scrutiny over the procurement process for the Board’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. It is the digital platform deployed for the full-scale assessment of Class 12 answer scripts.
The Union education ministry has since ordered an intensive inquiry into the contract awarded to Hyderabad-based Coempt EduTeck and demanded a detailed report from the Board.
The ministry will take strong action against officials if any wrongdoing is established, an official said, as reported by HT earlier. They added that accountability will be fixed at multiple levels if procedural lses or negligence are established in the tendering process.
ALSO READ | Govt seeks detailed report from CBSE on OSM tender amid row over Class 12 evaluation
The contract was awarded to Coempt EduTeck on December 5 last year (74 days before the board examinations began on February 17) reportedly after the company undercut tech giant TCS by 60%.
CBSE officials have maintained that the tender process adhered strictly to General Financial Rules (GFR) and government procurement guidelines.
A 17-year-old whistleblower
On Tuesday, a 17-year-old student peared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports. Sarthak Sidhant independently parsed public tender documents on the Central Public Procurement portal and published his explosive findings on his blog.
The teen alleged that the Board systematically “rewrote rules” across three tender rounds to favour Coempt EduTeck, which formerly operated under the name Globarena.
The first discrepancy is that there were three clauses of ‘poor performance’ which were completely wiped out from the new RFP. In the earlier RFP, there was a clause called ‘blacklisted earlier’ whereas in the new RFP, it was changed to ‘blacklisted currently’. Why would the board want a service provider which was blacklisted earlier?
A separate Hindustan Times investigation also found technical changes made between successive tender rounds.
ALSO READ | CBSE ‘tender investigator’ Sarthak Sidhant’s big day in Delhi: Two meetings, and a govt move spurred by his blog
The Parliamentary Standing Committee subsequently reviewed concerns surrounding the OSM system and heard submissions from CBSE and Education Ministry officials. While the panel cannot directly penalise officials, it can seek records, summon individuals and recommend action.
Following the meeting, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, who chairs the committee, said the panel would now await CBSE’s response to the issues raised.
Rahul Gandhi backs student whistleblower
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, backed Sidhant’s findings.
[Sidhant] has revealed the hollowness of (education minister) Dharmendra Pradhan ji’s denials. The PM remains silent, as usual. The question is simple: who are they protecting, and why? An independent judicial inquiry is now essential to uncover the full extent of this scam, Gandhi wrote on X.
Portal struggles on opening day
Students attempting to access the portal reported a range of technical difficulties shortly after it went live.
Many said they encountered repeated authentication failures despite entering correct credentials, receiving messages saying, Verification failed, please check details. Others reported that the website froze after subject selection or redirected them to blank screens, forcing them to restart the process.
Students using mobile devices also complained of interface issues, including overlping text and buttons that could not be clicked.
CBSE claims cyberattacks
Amid complaints about disruptions, CBSE claimed the portal had been targeted by cyberattacks. “While thousands of students accessed the CBSE re-evaluation portal today, malicious actors attempted to disrupt services through a barrage of cyberattacks,” the Board said.
According to CBSE, “Most recent being a denial of service attack attempt causing 1.5 million hits on the portal within a matter of 2 minutes and more than 1 lakh attempts of unauthorised file access.”
CBSE shares portal update
Later, it released another update: “The portal is currently supporting nearly 14000 concurrent users, with over 28000 successful submissions as of 10 pm today. Based on student feedback, further improvements, including extended session time limits, have been implemented to enhance user experience. Our teams remain on constant watch to ensure a secure, reliable, and student-friendly platform.”
The Board said that no offline plications would be accepted and that requests submitted after the deadline would not be entertained.
What students can ply for
Students can report issues in their scanned answer sheets, such as missing pages, supplementary sheets, ms or grhs, blurred pages, wrong answer books, or evaluation against an incorrect question per set.
They can also request re-evaluation of specific questions by providing the question and page numbers. CBSE is charging ₹100 per answer book for verification and ₹25 per question for re-evaluation. Once students click “Freeze” and proceed to payment, their plication details cannot be changed.
Politics
Southampton backs spygate Eckert despite worlds most lucrative game miss
Southampton back Tonda Eckert despite missing out on a playoff final for a Premier League place due to spying scandal.
Published On 2 Jun 2026
Southampton manager Tonda Eckert has ologised for orchestrating the spygate scandal that led to the club’s expulsion from the Championship playoffs, as owner Dragan Solak insisted that he would not sack the German.
For everything that’s hpened, I do want to ologise, and I hold my hand up because as a head coach I am responsible for everything that has hpened in this football club, Eckert said in a video statement on Tuesday.
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The Saints were kicked out of last month’s playoff final after admitting they had observed a training session held by semifinal opponents Middlesbrough, as well as two other similar incidents during the season.
They also received a four-point deduction that will be plied to the 2026-27 Championship table, while the Football Association has opened its own investigation and could yet charge Eckert.
An independent disciplinary commission of the English Football League (EFL) ruled that there had been a contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage through spying missions.
It said Eckert had authorised the tactics, highlighting the particularly deplorable use of junior members of staff to conduct clandestine operations.
Southampton beat Middlesbrough 2-1 over two legs in the playoff semifinals, but Boro were reinstated, going on to lose in the final to Hull City, who were promoted to the Premier League.
The prize for the winners of the final is regarded as the most lucrative in world football, with the winners joining the richest domestic league in the world. Hull will receive an estimated 200 million pounds ($268m) in extra income.
Eckert, who was pointed head coach in December, put out an eight-minute video statement about the scandal on Southampton’s social media channels.
The 33-year-old said: I am devastated that after six months of building that relationship [with fans] back up, the season has come to an end, come to an end that couldn’t have left us in a worse place than we are in right now.
He claimed that observing other teams was routine in other countries, though he admitted that this was not an excuse for his actions in the English second tier.
When I worked in Italy for over four years, every starting lineup that we’ve chosen for the games was always out in the media before games, he said.
And the reason is that our training sessions, especially the ones before games, have always been observed from the media and have always been observed from opponent teams that we came up against.
[Pep] Guardiola has spoken about this in his time at Bayern Munich, that it has been common practice in Germany to observe training sessions, knowing that other teams would do the same.
Many had anticipated Eckert would lose his job after Southampton’s expulsion from the playoffs, but chairman Solak gave robust backing to Eckert in his own post on the club’s channels on Tuesday.
Tonda’s period as our head coach has been a success so far. Our form during 2026 has been remarkable, and we believe he is the man to take us forward, Solak said.
As a board, we are fully behind him, and together we only have one objective – we want promotion back to Premier League.
Solak told the BBC separately that Tonda had been subject to a witch-hunt in the media, saying he believed the club had been over-sentenced.
The Serbian, whose media company acquired a majority stake in the south-coast club in 2022, said: I believe Tonda that he didn’t know that it was the rule that he was breaking.
My personal opinion, and the opinion of the board, is that he is a manager who deserves to be backed by us and to be supported by us.
Politics
Monsoon likely to arrive in Kerala three days behind schedule around Jun 4: IMD
The monsoon is likely to arrive in Kerala around June 4, three days behind schedule, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Tuesday. On May 15, the IMD forecast that the monsoon was likely to set in over Kerala on May 26, with a model error of ± four days.
The monsoon advances northwards from Kerala, usually in surges, covering the entire country around July 15. It marks the transition from scorching temperatures. According to the agriculture ministry, 51% of India’s farmed area, accounting for 40% of production, is rain-fed, making the monsoon critical. With 47% of the country’s population dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, a bountiful monsoon is related to a healthy rural economy.
Conditions are favourable for further advance of south-west monsoon into some more parts of south-west and south-east Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep Islands, some parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, some more parts of south-west, west-central, east-central, and north-east Bay of Bengal, and remaining parts of south-east Bay of Bengal around June 4, the IMD said on Tuesday.
The IMD said isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall (7-20 cm) is very likely in Kerala over the next six to seven days. Isolated heavy rainfall was expected in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka during the same period. Moderate to severe thunderstorm activity with squally wind speeds of up to 40-50 kmph is likely in parts of north-west, central, east India, and south Peninsular India during the week.
The IMD’s extended range forecast shows largely dry conditions over Kerala between May 28 and June 4. A very marginal improvement was expected from June 4 to June 11.
A typhoon developing over the West Pacific, seen pulling significant moisture away from the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, and a cyclonic circulation over the Lakshadweep region, were the likely factors delaying or causing a weak monsoon onset in Kerala.
Last week, the IMD revised its seasonal rainfall forecast downward— from 92% of the long-period average (LPA) issued in ril to 90% — and attached a 60% probability to a deficient season, meaning there is a better-than-even chance that total rainfall falling below the threshold that even qualifies as below-normal.
The LPA for the June-to-September season, calculated over the 1971-2020 period, is 87cm. If the prediction bears out, this would mark the lowest monsoon season rainfall in 11 years.
Fuelled by unusually warm ocean waters in the tropical Pacific, El Niño conditions are developing and are set to influence global temperature and rainfall patterns, increasing the risk of extreme weather over the coming months, the World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday.
A new WMO El Niño/La Niña Update indicates an 80% likelihood of an El Niño event during June–August 2026. There is a 90% probability that it will continue until November. Most forecast models suggest it will be at least moderate and possibly strong. In India, an El Niño is associated with a harsher summer and a weaker monsoon.
Politics
Celebration, shock and scepticism follow Colombias presidential election
Less than two hours after polling stations closed on Sunday, it was clear that Colombia’s presidential race would be settled in a run-off between two finalists: hard-right political outsider Abelardo de la Espriella and leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda.
Though the overall result surprised few, de la Espriella’s strong showing upended pollsters’ predictions.
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Cepeda, President Gustavo Petro’schosen successor, had been expected to win the most votes, based on public opinion surveys.
But instead, de la Espriella came in first place, winning 43.74 percent of the vote. Cepeda trailed with 40.90 percent.
Supporters of de la Espriella, a criminal defence lawyer, held rturous celebrations in the coastal city of Barranquilla, where the candidate has an office.
Colombia won, and with more than 10 million votes, democracy won, said Elsa Suarez, a de la Espriella voter living in Bogota.
The far-right candidate has modelled himself after politicians like Donald Trump in the United States and Javier Milei in Argentina, flamboyant media personalities who won the presidency despite having little to no political experience.
Like them, de la Espriella has pledged a return to law and order, as well as a pared-back national government and policies to support traditional family values.
Notably, he promises to use an iron fist to stamp out crime and build megrisons to jail criminals, mimicking the policies of Salvadoran strongman Nayib Bukele.
Analysts say de la Espriella’s populist messaging resonated with voters in Colombia’s interior, where urban crime is a growing concern.
Electoral ms show de la Espriella besting Cepeda in 16 of the country’s 32 departments, primarily in the heart of Colombia and along the border with Venezuela.
In more central areas and closer to the citals, people prioritise security, explained Laura Bonilla, the deputy director at the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation (PARES), a Bogota-based research nonprofit.
By contrast, de la Espriella’s security messaging failed to sway voters along the coast and in border areas afflicted by rebel violence.
Bonilla argues that people in these regions instead place greater value on the socioeconomic issues that Cepeda represents, as the continuity candidate for Petro’s Historic Pact party.
Over the past four years, they have received constant attention from the government, said Bonilla, citing state development projects under the Petro administration.
A blow to the conservative establishment
De la Espriella’s success also highlights growing anti-establishment sentiment in Colombia, according to experts.
The lawyer, who has never run for public office before, comfortably beat his main rival on the right, Senator Paloma Valencia, who was backed by former President Alvaro Uribe, the figurehead of Colombian conservatism.
Initially, Sunday’s election was predicted to be a close race between Valencia and de la Espriella, both of whom lagged behind Cepeda in the polls.
But as Sunday’s ballots were tallied, Valencia flopped with less than 7 percent of the vote.
Miguel Silva, a Colombian political consultant, credited some of de la Espriella’s success to his campaign messaging.
De la Espriella, he explained, used his campaign to draw a distinction between the haves and the have-nots, those who have benefitted from the government and those who feel ignored.
He [succeeded] by portraying himself and the people he represents as ‘Los Nunca’ and by portraying Paloma and her followers as ‘Los Siempre’, Silva said, using the Spanish words for The Nevers and The Always.
Pollsters predicted the right would be divided in the first round, paving the way for Cepeda to win the most votes, but de la Espriella ctured millions of votes from traditional conservatives, marking a shift in Colombia’s political landsce.
In Bogota, the only province in the country’s interior to vote for Cepeda, the left-wing candidate’s supporters were shocked by Sunday’s results.
Everyone is a little surprised, said Juan Camilo Rodriguez, who voted for Cepeda. These results don’t match the polls.
Petro himself had hammered his base to flood the polls, warning that the left’s chances of success could be hampered by electoral fraud.
The outgoing president rejected last night’s results, which were based on the pre-conteo, or preliminary count, a non-legally binding process.
Instead, Petro called on the public to wait for the official, scrutinised count, which will be released in the coming days.
Cepeda echoed the president’s scepticism in a speech on Sunday night. Only once the vote-counting committees have fully, clearly, and thoroughly clarified this matter, will we comment on tonight’s results, he told supporters.
But the candidate peared to mellow his stance this morning, acknowledging that there was no evidence of irregularities in the vote. He trailed de la Espriella by more than 670,000 votes.
Experts warn that Cepeda is losing precious time by focusing on fraud allegations and should instead concentrate on swaying moderate voters.
By crying fraud so early, it’s hard to bring more voters to the table, said Silva.
A second round of voting, between Cepeda and de la Espriella, is scheduled for June 21.
Up for grabs are more than a million votes for centrist candidate Sergio Fajardo and 1.6 million for Paloma Valencia. While Valencia endorsed de la Espriella, her running mate, moderate politician Juan Daniel Oviedo, did not.
Miguel Jaramillo Lujan, a Colombian political strategist, said the final two candidates must tread carefully in the next three weeks to prevail.
As the saying goes, whoever makes fewer mistakes will be the winner.
Politics
CBSE misses June 1 deadline to relaunch Class 12 verification and re-evaluation portal
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday failed to make its Class 12 verification and re-evaluation portal operational, despite announcing earlier that the service would reopen that day. The delay left thousands of students awaiting an opportunity to challenge their marks and ply for the re-evaluation of answer scripts. Track live updates
The hold-up comes even after a four-member expert team from IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras was tasked with auditing and strengthening the board’s post-result services platform following technical glitches and complaints from students.
While CBSE in a X post at 2 PM on Monday said the portal would go live “soon”, officials associated with the exercise maintained that the launch would take place before midnight on June 1. The website was not launched till the filing of the story on June 2.
ALSO READ: CBSE’s own ‘corrigendum’ means it can’t blacklist company linked to OSM mess. Here’s how that unfolded in tender process
Students voice frustration
“I had plied for obtaining answer copies on May 29 and I am yet to receive my Chemistry answer copy. It is frustrating that they are not able to provide copies on time and not able to start the re-evaluation portal where we can raise objections and get our marks verified,” said Manisha Singh, a Class 12 student from Jabalpur.
Another student Anuj Kumar from Delhi said the portal continued to display a maintenance message throughout the day. “I have been checking the portal since morning but it is showing that website is under maintenance. I want to raise objections in all subjects as my copies are not checked properly and my marks will increase after checking. I am angry over CBSE’s behaviour,” Kumar said.
Officials speak on CBSE delay
Earlier, responding to queries on why the portal had not become operational till 7 pm, a senior IIT Kanpur official, requesting anonymity, said there was still time left before the announced deadline expired.
“Well, there is still time till midnight. We are constantly working on fixing the website and constantly supervising the CBSE and it will be live,” the official said.
“It is unfortunate that students are not able to access it. If we could avoid it, we could have done. We want to make sure that the platform is robust, but there is no way anybody can guarantee 100% robustness. We are trying to maximise robustness, and that’s the effort that our teams have been putting in for the last several days. Now we are reaching a point where we think we can launch it. So it has taken time, unfortunately. The portal will be launched before midnight,” the official added.
CBSE did not respond to HT’s queries.
Asked about the reason behind the continued delay, a senior CBSE official told HT that final checks were still underway. “We are doing final security audits and hopefully it will be done soon and we will make the website live,” the official said.
ALSO READ: CBSE may penalise vendor over OSM flaws, blacklisting unlikely
Why the portal matters
The portal was originally scheduled to reopen on May 29 for students who had already obtained scanned copies of their evaluated answer books. However, the Board postponed the launch to June 1, saying additional time was needed to ensure a “transparent and glitch-free” process.
Students had been allowed to ply for scanned copies of answer scripts between May 19 and May 25. The portal has remained unavailable since May 26. Under the revised schedule, students who have received their answer books will be able to raise question-wise objections wherever they believe marks were not awarded correctly. Those objections will then be reviewed by subject experts through the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, according to an education ministry official.
Government steps in
The delay prompted intervention from the Union government. On May 29, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan directed IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras to examine technical issues reported in CBSE’s post-result services and assist the Board in ensuring a glitch-free process.
A four-member team comprising two experts each from IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras was subsequently deputed to conduct a comprehensive technical audit of the portal, examine workflows and help resolve glitches.
Rising scrutiny of evaluation process
The scrutiny comes amid heightened concerns over the Board’s evaluation and post-result processes. CBSE has acknowledged around 20 cases of answer-sheet mix-ups after declaration of results. At the same time, nearly one in four of the roughly 1.8 million students who peared for the Class 12 examination plied for scanned copies of their answer books — a 208% increase over last year, according to officials.
This year also marked the first full-scale implementation of CBSE’s On-Screen Marking system. Under the digital evaluation exercise, about 9.86 million answer books were assessed electronically, while 13,583 answer scripts had to be evaluated manually after repeated scanning failures.
Background
The developments follow the declaration of Class 12 results on May 13, when the overall pass percentage fell to 85.20%, down from 88.39% last year and the lowest since 2019. The result season was accompanied by complaints from several students and parents who questioned marks awarded in some subjects and sought greater scrutiny of answer-sheet evaluation under the OSM system.
While CBSE is accepting plications through its own portal, the actual re-evaluation of answer scripts by teachers will be carried out on Coempt’s OnMark platform — the same system that was used for the initial on-screen evaluation of answer books.
Politics
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A teen whistleblower, portal chaos, cyberattacks and a leadership shake-up: How CBSEs OSM row snowballed
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