In order to prevent malpractices during the exams, the Universities Grants Commission has instructed all the universities and colleges in the country to use jammers in the examination halls.

In a letter to all the Vice Chancellors of Universities on Wednesday, UGC’s secretary Jaspal S. Sandhu said that, according to the Jammer Policy of the Government of India, the institutions are allowed to use low-power jammers at the centres to prevent malpractices through radio frequency devices by the candidates.

“The institutions that require jammers should apply to the Cabinet Secretariat along with the schedule of the examinations so that, the devices are made available on lease on the particular days,” he said. The institutions will have to pay the cost for leasing the jammer devices.

In a letter to the UGC dated January 19, Arti Batnagar, the Secretary of the Cabinet Secretariat, said that the authorized vendors are “expected to amortize the price of the jammers over a period of 4-5 years.”

According to the Jammer Policy of India, the institutions can procure jammers from only two companies – Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), and Electronic Corporation of India (ECIL). Both the companies possess one Low Power Jammer each, with BEL having a CJR-05 model and ECIL providing ECSJ555B. Both can be used for 3G connectivity.

According to sources, low-powered jammers are capable of carrying out Electronic Support Measures (ESM) as well as Electronic Counter Measure (ECM) functions for within a range of 20 – 3000 MHZ, Very High Frequency (VHF) and Ultra High Frequency (UHF). The low-powered jammers have ECM functionality in the range of 30 – 1000 MHz, with all the modes of communication jamming facility. They can also intercept and jam cell phones in GSM and extended GSM band.

The UGC has further said that it is the responsibility of the vendors to operate and make sure that the jammer is working, and the office of the secretary will have to make sure that no local tampering is made to the jammer during the examinations.

Meanwhile, the UGC has said that the institutions may use the jammer in sensitive areas, but, it has not specified if deploying the jammers is mandatory for all the universities.