Sarthak Siddhant -- The Whistleblower Who Uncovered CBSE's OSM Mess
Sarthak garners widespread attention and praise for exposing the irregularities that led to the transfer of CBSE chairman
Published : June 3, 2026 at 2:37 PM IST
|Updated : June 3, 2026 at 3:09 PM IST
Sarthak Siddhant, the 17-year-old whistleblower student from Ranchi who uncovered the flaws in CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system stemming from irregularities in the tender process, has garnered widespread attention and praise for blowing the lid off an issue that has now snowballed into a major controversy.
It was after reviewing a scanned copy of his answer sheet that he had applied for re-evaluation, Sarthak was convinced that something was amiss in the evaluation process, which made him delve deeper.
He scrutinised voluminous tender documents and shared his observations through social media posts and a detailed blog, claiming to have identified several discrepancies in the tender process.
According to Sarthak, a comparison of various CBSE tender documents revealed anomalies that appeared to favour a particular service provider. He alleged that the original tender was later removed from public records and a subsequent tender was floated with altered eligibility criteria to enable that particular service provider to qualify and then bag the contract.
Presentation before parliamentary committee: He presented his findings regarding the implementation of the system and alleged irregularities in the OSM tendering process before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Sarthak gave a presentation before the committee at the Parliament House Annexe, where members are reviewing the use of OSM in CBSE Class 12 examinations and concerns raised by students regarding evaluation and transparency.
Discrepancies detected: Sarthak alleged that a comparison of CBSE tender documents revealed several discrepancies, which appeared to favour the particular service provider.
"There were at least 15 discrepancies as per my blog. I would like to highlight three or four of them," said Sidhant, pointing to changes in the tender conditions governing the OSM system. He claimed that clauses relating to poor performance, blacklisting, financial qualification limits, CMMI levels and project eligibility criteria were altered across successive tenders.
"The first discrepancy is that in the old tender, there were three clauses of poor performance, that the service provider would be disqualified if they have poor performance. But in the new RFP, it was totally wiped out," he alleged.
The student said his research was undertaken in collaboration with ethical hacker Nisarg Adhikari and journalists investigating the issue. He expressed hope that the matter would lead to greater transparency in public procurement and educational evaluation systems.
Meeting with Rahul Gandhi: Leader of the Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday evening met Sarthak. “Sarthak, apne sidhanton pe adig raho (Sarthak, stay firm on your principles),” Rahul wrote in Hindi on X, after the meeting.
The meeting came hours after Sarthak deposed before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, sharing his findings; after which the Narendra Modi government changed the CBSE chairman and ordered an inquiry into the OSM procurement.
Though Sarthak says that rules were rewritten to favour the firm running OSM, the CBSE and the firm denied the allegations. The CBSE has acknowledged errors in the OSM and sought to correct them since the issue blew up.
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