New Initiative

The very foundation of a democracy lies in the representation of all stakeholders and an indispensable part of nation-building starts with the inclusion of all in its electoral process. To uphold the spirit of free and fair elections, Election Commission of India declared ‘Accessible Elections’ as the theme for this year’s National Voters’  Day, i.e. 25th January 2018.  The theme seamlessly integrates with the underlying philosophy of universal adult suffrage and the concept of ‘No Voter to be Left Behind.’    On 3rd and 4th July 2018, the Election Commission of India organized a National Consultation on Accessible Elections at ‘The Lalit’, New Delhi, wherein all the 36 Chief Electoral Officers and representatives from Civil Society Organisations, working in the field of Disability deliberated upon ways and means to make elections completely accessible to Persons with Disabilities.   The two-day Consultation was also attended by representatives of national political parties and senior officials from Ministries apart from notable media organisations. Ahead of the National Consultation, a series of Consultations with the stakeholders were conducted in Districts and States across the country to identify the existing barriers and challenges, assess the implementation of the directives given by Commission on the subject, consolidate and gain from good practices (including innovations and technological support) and for further engagement with the stakeholders. The reports of the Consultations from the States were documented into  the Consultation Reader and the same were carefully assessed and analyzed in the National Consultation.  Recommendations of the National Consultation would pave the way for a policy document on ‘Accessible Elections’ and action plan for the upcoming elections. Background To make elections accessible to persons with disabilities, efforts have been taken up in past years. A well designed framework of guidelines has been directed by Commission for facilitating PwDs at every step in the electoral process. Many States and Union Territories have done exemplary work for overcoming the barriers and creating accessible and friendly environment for PwDs. The International Conference on ‘Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in Electoral Processes’, held in January, 2018, aided to consolidate and gain from international experience. Prior to this, the Commission's resolve in support of inclusion of PwDs has also been conveyed through official directives dated March 12, 2016 and September 7, 2016. Schedule 3rd July, 2018   09:30 am - 10:30 am   Registration 10:30 am - 11:15 am   Inaugural Session 11:30 am - 01:30 pm   Technical Session -I (Accessible Elections-Sharing of Initiatives) 02:00 pm - 05:30 pm   Technical Session-II (Group Tasks)   4th July, 2018   09:15 am - 01:45 pm   Technical Session-II (Thematic Presentations) 09:15 am - 10:30 am    Theme: Accessible Registration process including use of IT 10:45 am - 12:15 pm    Theme: Accessible Polling Station including EVM/VVPAT and other Facilitation measures 12:15 pm - 01:45 pm    Theme: Voter Education and Leveraging Partnerships 02:30 pm - 04:00 pm   Closing Session         Proceedings Day 1    The National Consultation on Accessible Elections opened with an enthusiastic start with the participation of more than 50 Civil Society Organizations and all the Chief Electoral Officers of States/UTs besides members of National Political Parties and Ministries, Government of India.Reaffirming ECI’s commitment to make elections entirely inclusive, accessible and hassle free for PwDs, Chief Election Commissioner Mr O P Rawat said in the inaugural session - “Despite having International, National laws and treaties or procedures in place, there is still a gap in reaching out to PwDs because of the apathy towards electoral process. I urge all the participants to suggest effective measures and help us devise a policy that can serve as a model framework for all Election Management Bodies of the world. Master Ram Chandra, a technician who was instrumental in creating the Jaipur Foot, which is now famous worldwide for providing assistance to PwDs and like him there are many famous as well as unsung heroes who are the part of war against disability.”     In addition to that, Election Commissioner Mr Ashok Lavasa highlighted the importance of collaboration with stakeholders and society as a whole, while laying emphasis on awareness initiatives and spirit of volunteering among people to make the entire electoral process accessible. Concluding his remarks he said - “More Sensitized we are, More Sensible we become.”   The first day of consultation also witnessed the launch of new dynamic website for ECI’s SVEEP (Systematic Voter’s Education and Electoral Participation) Division with a dedicated section on PwDs and state of the art security and accessibility features.   The first technical session commenced with a presentation by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment followed by the presentation of Best Practices on Accessible Elections by the Chief Electoral Officers of Karnataka, West Bengal, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Meghalaya and District Election Officer of Mandya, Karnataka.    Break Out Groups Post lunch, the participants of the National Consultation were divided into five groups, for discussions under the second technical session, to cover specific disabilities.    Group 1: Blindness and Low Vision Group 2: Deaf and hard of hearing and mental illness Group 3: Locomotor Disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims, muscular dystrophy Group 4: Intellectual disability including autism, specific learning disability Group 5: Multiple disabilities including deaf-blindness   The groups read through the reports submitted by States/UT and assessed barriers, challenges specific to the disabilities; studied existing initiatives, took inputs from the participating CSOs and came up with findings and recommendations for thematic presentations.    Day 2   The second day of the consultation observed three panel discussions under the final technical session which featured presentations from representatives from each of the five groups. The theme for these panel discussions were as follows –    Theme 1: Accessible Registration Process including use of IT Theme 2 : Accessible Polling Station including EVM/VVPAT  & other Facilitation measures Theme 3 : Voter Education and leveraging Partnerships   The Closing Session of the National Consultation on Accessible Elections was graced by the presence of Hon'ble Chief Election Commissioner Mr O. P. Rawat, and Election Commissioners Mr Sunil Arora and Mr Ashok Lavasa. The Commission announced the following measures for the facilitation of PwDs.   Printing of EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) with Braille for Persons with Visual Impairment or Blind, Accessible Communication Awareness Materials A Mobile Application to motivate and educate  Appointment of Disability Coordinators at AC, District and State Level 5. Cascaded training on Accessibility to Poll officials Auxiliary Polling Stations  Accessible Photo Voter Slips Sign Language window in all the audio visual training and advertisement content material for the convenience of deaf persons Free Transport Facility for PwDs and their Assistants A new Accessible Division in India International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Management (IIIDEM), New Delhi   Strategic Framework for Accessible Elections   The deliberations held during the two day consultation resulted in a comprehensive, “Strategic Framework on Accessible Elections” which will help in making electoral process more accessible in the forthcoming State and National Elections. It would be a significant step in pursuit of Election Commission’s mission to leave no voter behind. The Strategic Framework on Accessible Elections is built around sensitization through education and training, community involvement of different sections of society, effective partnership with institutions and origination and creation of facilities to cater to the specific needs of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) with a view to increasing their participation.     You can read more about the Strategic Framework and its contents by following the given link - http://ecisveep.nic.in/news/election-commission-of-india-unveils-strategic-framework-on-accessible-elections-r3/      

Taking forward its continuous efforts of building an active democratic citizenry in the country, the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation division of ECI has undertaken a new initiative by the name of Electoral Literacy Clubs for developing a culture of avid electoral engagement and making informed and ethical ballot decisions among citizens of the country. The Electoral Literacy Clubs or ELCs program was officially launched on National Voters' Day 2018 in the august presence of the Hon'ble President of India. ELCs are informal learning groups which being set up across the country as direct interventions of ECI for promoting electoral literacy among Indian citizens of all ages by engaging them in interesting and experiential hands-on learning activities in their local languages in a strictly apolitical, non-partisan and neutral manner. Three different kinds of interventions have been designed under the ELCs program. First is ELC Future Voters which are being set up in Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools all across India to target future voters in the age-group of 14 to 17 years who are studying in Classes IX to XII. These ELCs will have all of the students from Classes IX, X, XI and XII as its members.  Electoral Literacy Clubs are also being set up in colleges across India as ELC New Voters for targeting the age-group of 18 to 21 years old who are pursuing their graduation.The overarching goal of ELCs program is to make the future and new voters of the country fully confident of how, when, where, what and why of democratic elections. They should develop an understanding of the value of their vote, significance of sanctity and secrecy of their vote, and a conviction of making mature, competent and ethical ballot decisions. They should become interested and excited for exercising their very first ballot decision in an ethical and informed fashion as soon as they become 18 years old. In quantifiable terms, the outcome of ELCs would mean increased electoral registration and enhanced voter turnout. And for reaching out to the population left outside of the formal education structures, ELCs shall be set up at every Polling Station by the name of Chunav Pathshala. Chunav Pathshala will have members from the village or community to which the polling station belongs. While there will be significant focus on school dropouts, the Chunav Pathshala will also aim to be representative of the entire village's demographic composition. To successfully roll-out this tremendous project, fine attention has been given to its implementation at ground level. Each ELC will be facilitated by a convener who will operate under the nodal officer for their district. To retain the pedagogical essence of all the ELC activities, a series of structured workshops have been designed for the conveners. Workshops were conducted for State Level Master Trainers (SLMTs) from the 36 States and Union Territories of the country in four batches of 40-50 participants each during February-March 2018 in New Delhi.These SLMTs shall further conduct workshops for District Level Master Trainers (DLMTs) who will then train the specific ELC conveners falling in their respective districts. ELCs have been envisaged to serve as a vibrant hub of Elections related interaction for promoting electoral literacy and electoral participation in the country. The program has the potential of becoming the largest experiment of its kind in the field of voter education with over 2 lakh proposed ELCs across the length and breadth of the country.       Resources http://ecisveep.nic.in/files/category/12-elcs/  

National Elections Quiz (NEQ) 2018, a pan-India knowledge venture on elections and electoral processes is perhaps the World's largest inter school quiz contest on elections witnessing an astounding participation of 13,63,982 students from 38,160 schools! A brainchild of the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation SVEEP division of the Election Commission of India, it is aimed as an outreach initiative for the future electors of the country dedicated to ECI's theme for the year 2017, Empowering Young and Future Electors. NEQ is an extension of the Interactive School Engagement (ISE) programme (Phase I and Phase II) that covered more than 55 lakh students from nearly 30,000 schools. NEQ 2018, the integrated communicative effort that started in November 2017, concluded on the 16th of January, 2018 with the Grand Finale taking place at the Rajya Sabha TV Studios in New Delhi. Planned in a ladder-like structure, the overall aim of the endeavour is- To engage high-school students from Classes IX to XII (in the age-group of 14-17 years) – the future voters of India, in a self-learning exercise about elections and electoral process and aid in building an aware and informed electorate of the future. Treading the length and breadth of the country, the structure of NEQ 2018 adhered to the following outline- Level 1: The Intra-School Round Scheduled between the 1st and 15th of November 2017, the Intra-School Round comprised a set of functional and essential questions testing the participants' basic electoral knowledge. The competition was organized entirely by schools within their campus ambits with content assistance from Election Commission of India and the District Election Officers. The winners advanced to the next stage of the Quiz. Level 2: The District Round Organized between 27th November to 3rd December 2017, the District Round was a collaborative effort shared by the District Election Officers (DEOs) and the District Education Departments. The participants competed through a written question paper of moderate difficulty. The two-member teams scoring the highest advanced to the State Round. Level 3: The State Round Planned around the year-end as the penultimate on-stage event with several rounds of rigorous quizzing, the State Round for NEQ 2018 witnessed the transfer of batons to the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) who served as bandmasters for the final level before letting the scene shift to the National Capital. Delhi Darshan With the NEQ Nationals itinerary beginning from the 13th of January, 2018 (Saturday), the NEQ State acers were congratulated at the Commission Headquarters (Nirvachan Sadan) by Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha and Director (SVEEP) Padma Angmo who extended their best wishes before the participants were taken on a guided tour of the city- to the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Qutb Complex. Staggered across the following two days, the educative trip or, the Delhi Darshan, also included visits to popular places of attraction like, the Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Elections Museum, Gandhi Smriti and the Birla Mandir. As a bonus, participants also visited NEQ's partner- Facebook India's office in Delhi. NEQ Collaborations Taking place over the course of 3 days from the 14th January, 2018 to 16th January, 2018 at the Rajya Sabha TV Studios in New Delhi and receiving content support from Jesus and Mary College and Ambedkar University, the Zonal Finals and the Grand Finale of NEQ 2018 included questions on the following themes and many more- Elections in India, The Election Commission of lndia, History of Democracies and Elections, Voting Processes, Voter Education and Literacy, National Voters' Day & its Inception, Electoral Technology, Electoral Terminology Rules- The Model Code of Conduct, Landmark Steps and Measures, Popular Stories, Personalities, Elections across the world, Electoral Management Bodies, Types of Elections, International Electoral Organizations and Foundations, Popular Culture and Elections, Election Symbols, Elections to Local Bodies, Women and Elections, Constituent Assembly Debates on Universal Suffrage and Famous Parliamentary Debates on Elections. Level 4: The Zonal Finals Six in number and scheduled on just two days, the Zonal Finals witnessed some intense and high-octane quizzing from the 72 State Winners (36 teams) as they gave their all-in and battled for a berth in the Top 6. At the end of three exciting days of contest, teams from Manipur (from the North-East Semi Finals), Puducherry (from the South Zone Semi-Finals), Goa (representing the West Zone), Delhi (from the Special Central Zone), Jharkhand (representing the East Zone) and Jammu & Kashmir (from the North Zone) edged past 60 equally brilliant contenders to scalp a place in the much coveted Finale. Level 5: The National FinalsAnchored by World Quizzing Champion (2014) Vikram Joshi, the Grand Finale of NEQ 2018 was easily a battle of nerves, wits and guts. Featuring some spectacular answering by the 6 teams, but marked by a consistent lead by the team from DPS, Ranchi representing Jharkhand, the Finale comprised 4 rounds- two general, an innovative grid round and one on the buzzer, with none of the 12 challengers leaving an ounce of space for error. Doing an encore of their Semi-Finals century record and scoring a stupendous 105 points in the mind-sport contest, team Jharkhand represented by Madhur Jain and Aditya Kumar, eventually went to clinch a thriller trouncing everyone to seal their place as the first National Champions of the National Elections Quiz. Giving a tough-fight but finishing 2nd was R. Mithun Krishna and V.Vishnu Priya from Puducherry with the all-boys team from Manipur comprising Ashmaan Mainali and Shangker Singh Laishram standing 3rd. Teams from Delhi, Goa and Jammu & Kashmir finished 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. Organized on the evening of the 16th at Nirvachan Sadan lawns, the post-event presentation ceremony was graced by Chief Election Commissioner A.K Joti, Election Commissioner O.P Rawat and Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, who felicitated the winners drawing close to nearly three month long exercise . A one-of-a-kind endeavour seeking to engage with and initiate a conversation with the youth of India on the fulcrum of Indian democracy, NEQ 2018- the World's Largest Quiz on Elections, should ideally be viewed as a part of an interlinked communicative project (including the Interactive School Engagement programme and Electoral Literacy Clubs) that strives to achieve the twin goals of habit-formation and behaviour-change specifically with regard to one of its core stakeholders, upon which hinges the destiny of the nation. Catch the premiere of the 7-part series- National Elections Quiz 2018 only on Rajya Sabha TV today at 5:00 pm. To know more about the Election Commission of India's knowledge-venture for the youth, follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/EveryVoteCountsIN/) and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGdsgdPfwnwYF1l8YTFkknA) or, Rajya Sabha TV at https://www.youtube.com/user/rajyasabhatv. An event, supported by Facebook, watch the Grand Finale of NEQ 2018 via Facebook Live on our page India Votes, Facebook India and Governments, Politics and Non-Profits on Facebook in India and South Asia. List of winners from State rounds: North Zone: Chandigarh Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, Chandigarh Ankur Goyat Ankush Goyat Haryana Aarohi Model Senior Secondary School, Chhajpur Kalan, Panipat Minakshi Muskan Himachal Pradesh Govt. Sr. Sec. School, Girls Sultanpur, District Kullu Dimple Neha Jammu and Kashmir GHSS Parnalla Billawar, Kathua Atul Khajuria Sonali Sihrotra Punjab Baba Gola Govt. Senior Secondary School, Banga, S.B.S. Nagar, Nawanshahr Neha Kusum Uttarakhand Janta Inter College, Rudrpur, Udham Singh Nagar Baljeet Singh Krishant Kumar East Zone: Assam Delhi Public School, Numaligarh Sarfaraz Nawaz Hussain Vishal Choudhury Bihar Utkramit Uchcha Vidyalaya, Barka Gaon, Buxar Kamta Shiromani Uchcha Vidyalaya, Keshath, Buxar Rahul Kumar Manshi Singh Jharkhand Delhi Public School, Ranchi Madhur Jain Aditya Kumar Odisha Zilla School, Bhadrak Afia Naaz Prabhudatta Behera Sikkim Mangshila Sr. Secondary School, North Dikcha Lawaghan Roma Limboo West Bengal Fatapukur Saradamoni Bidyalaya, Jalpaiguri Riya Sarkar Dipa Jha West Zone: Gujarat Anjuman Sarvajanik High School, Radhanpur, Patan Adityana High School, Porbandar Bhatti Alamkhan A. Khunti Kiran Masribhai Goa People's Higher Secondary School, Panaji Sachin Panicker Ashlesha Naik Dadra and Nagar Haveli Govt Higher Secondary School, Silvassa Nira S. Singh Vaibhav B. Kumar Daman and Diu Shree Machhi Mahajan English Medium School, Nani Daman, Daman Priyansu Kumar Sah Sheikh Aamirnurain Maharashtra Abasaheb Kakade, Shevgao, Ahmednagar B.G.P. Sahyadri Junior College, Sangamner, Ahmednagar Murdare Chaitanya Somnath Patil Avdhoot Bhagwan Rajasthan Adarsh Government Senior Secondary School Balu Singh Devra Amit Kumar Purohit South Zone: Andhra Pradesh Sri Chaitanya School, Ravulapalem, East Godavari District Bhashyam High School, Chandramouli Nagar, Guntur K. Bheemeswara Vijaya Verma K. Navya Karnataka F.M. Dabali PU College, Shirahatti, Gadag Suma S. Bidave Basayya M. Guruwodeyyar Kerala Govt. Vocational Higher Secondary School, Mananthavady, Wayanad Arjunan S.P Akmal E.K Puducherry St. Patric Matric Higher Secondary School, Puducherry V. Vishnu Priya R. Mithun Krishna Tamil Nadu Cheran Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Vennaimalai, Karur B Praveen T Praveen Kumar Telangana ZPSS Yerrupalem Khammam Narayana Best Foundation School, Madhira, Khammam Ch. Gopi Nath P. Swathi North East Zone: Arunachal Pradesh Government Higher Secondary School, Tirap District Ms Jinliam Suyang Somu Barman Manipur Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Senapati Ashmaan Mainali Shangker Singh Laishram Meghalaya JNV Nongpyndeng Nongstoin, West Khasi Hills Shanborlang Donshiew Brington Suting Mizoram Govt. Republic Higher Secondary School, Aizawl Lianthanzuala Ruthi Zonuntluangi Nagaland Ministers' Hill Baptist Higher Secondary School, Kohima Merio Ngullie Kekhriese Yhoshu Tripura Shishu Bihar HS School, Agartala Amisha Chakraborty Binita Paul Special Central Zone: Andaman and Nicobar Pratick Pratik Yadav Chhattisgarh Municipal Higher Secondary School, Mungeli Nageshwar Prasad Sahu Vibhav Singh Rajput Delhi Jain Bharti Mrigavati Vidyalaya, Alipur, North Delhi Vani Saini Shubham Khatri Lakshadweep Govt. Senior Secondary School, Agatti Shanawas Hussain Rahmathbi TKP Madhya Pradesh Government Excellence School Multai, Betul Tanish Sahu Pratham Malviya Uttar Pradesh S.H. Sen Secondary School (Boys), AMU Aligarh Government Inter College, Etah Chandan Gupta Jitendra Giri

Election Commission of India widens its reach through NIOS Community Radio through a series named ‘Mat evam Matdan, kare Loktantra nirman’. This series on elections is a joint initiative of ECI and NIOS-CR where different aspects of elections and the election processes would be explored. The first programme was broadcast live with Mr. Umesh Sinha, Deputy Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India, answering the queries on voter enrollment and registration on 'NIOS-CR' FM 91.2 MHz on 23rd June 2017. The next programme dealing with ‘Systematic Voters’ Education & Electoral Participation (SVEEP), a flagship programme of Election of India that spreads awareness on elections, was broadcast live on 20th July 2017. The third episode in the series introduced the listeners to Electronic Voting Machines and NOTA which was broadcasted on August 17th, 2017. In the fourth episode, which was broadcast on 21st September 2017, the presidential election process was elucidated. This one-hour programme, to be aired monthly, incorporates interview/ panel discussion with expert(s) along with small snippets of different creatives developed by ECI to spread awareness on the importance of elections such as songs, jingles, audio/ video plays, statements by icons, advertisements etc. This makes the radio programme even more informative and interesting. Moreover, a question is posed at the end of each programme and first 25 correct entries are given a prize by Election commission of India. National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) is an autonomous institution under Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Government of India and caters to the educational requirements of out of school youth of India. With 2.3 million learners on rolls, NIOS has emerged as the largest open schooling organization in the world. The Community Radio Station of NIOS, known as NIOS-CR FM 91.2 MHz, covers approximately more than 10 lakh people, as it reaches out to listeners up to a radius of 8-10 kms of area. It works with 14+ years old school dropouts, where over 75% of learners fall in the age group of 14-25 years. ECI has taken this new initiative on NIOS-CR with an aim to spread awareness on issues related to elections among these young adults. The series ‘Mat evam Matdan, kare Loktantra nirman’ produced in collaboration with ECI would also be aired from 167 community radios pan India through Federation of Community Radio Association (FCRS).          

Interactive School Engagement(ISE) is an outreach initiative under the flagship SVEEP programme of the Election Commission of India. Under ISE, election officials interact with the students of Class IX-XII, and reply to their queries regarding elections and the electoral process, and sensitise the students about the importance of electoral participation by eligible citizens. Under the first phase of Interactive School Engagement (ISE), 25,11,594 students from 11,800 schools were covered in January 2017. Background Several international studies suggest that the first three elections for which a voter is qualified are of defining importance, and if voting does not become a routine event early in a person’s life, the potential for that individual to participate consistently may be lost. Election Commission of India has been targeting young and future voters through its voter education and outreach programme SVEEP. The young people falling within the 15-17years age group have been identified by ECI as the ‘Future Voters’. The theme for 7th National Voters’ Day (NVD) was ‘Empowering Young and Future Voters’ and the same is the focus of ECI in the year 2017. Interactive School programme (ISE) has been conceptualized to target at the future voters studying in schools so as to sensitise them about the electoral process in general and about the registration and voting procedure in particular. The ISE is also meant to provide a platform to connect future voters with the election machinery. Component The election officials at state, district and constituency level directly interact with the students in identified schools. Different schools are selected in each of the two phases every year so as to cover the maximum number of schools and school going children. Record is maintained on the schools covered in the State/Districts so as to plan the coverage of all Schools once within a period of 3-4 years. The main component of each interaction with school has the following component: All EROs/ROs cover atleast one school within their constituency in each phase to interact with the students in 15-17 year age group (9th-12th standard). The ERO is equipped with a kit and uses the same for interaction with the school students. Similarly DEOs and CEOs cover atleast one school, within their district and State/UT respectively during the same period. It is ensured that those Schools are covered by DEO and CEO that are not covered by the EROs. CEOs ensure that rural and urban schools are equally covered and suitable components from the kit are used based on the target audience and their familiarity with the format/medium. The students are given the badge of ‘Future Voter’ and the brochure, as given in the kit. Selected students (based on the best question asked or any similar criteria) are suitably rewarded with non-monetary incentives like merchandise item, certificate of appreciation etc. Additional In some districts, volunteering students are invited to watch the election process right from filing of nominations till counting of votes in election states/UTs. In non-election states and UTs, students are given the opportunity to have a guided tour of a model Voter Facilitation centre or election museum. Period The entire exercise is carried out within a month, every year in two phases each as given:  1st Phase – January, ahead of the National Voters’ Day (J&K, Uttarakhand where schools remain closed throughout January, may extend it till March) 2nd Phase – July, ahead of the Summary Revision Reporting Format A report on the number of schools covered district wise is submitted to the CEO and to ECI. Question Bank EROs also list out the questions put forth to them by the students. The databank of these Questions is maintained