Students are often keen to exercise their rights but recently there has been an interesting twist - some in India are talking about their right to cheat in university exams.
"It is our democratic right!" a thin, addled-looking man named Pratap Singh once said to me as he stood, chai in hand, outside his university in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. "Cheating is our birthright."
Corruption in the university exam system is common in this part of India. The rich can bribe their way to examination success. There's even a whole subset of the youth population who are brokers between desperate students and avaricious administrators.
Then there's another class of student altogether, who are so well known locally - so renowned for their political links - invigilators dare not touch them. I've heard that these local thugs sometimes leave daggers on their desk in the exam hall. It's a sign to invigilators: "Leave me alone... or else."
So if those with money or political influence can cheat, poorer students ask, why shouldn't they?
Continued http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29950843
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