recommended omr and barcode technology in cover page of answer sheets for all universities on a pilot basis in the first half of 2013 and for all examinations by 2014 the cover page of answer booklet is proposed to be divided into two omr sections each having a unique barcode the first section will contain omr sheet for capturing students personal details like roll number course code etc while the second section will contain omr sheet for use by the examiners for entering individual marks obtained in each answer and finally the total marks postexamination the first section containing students details should be torn off and sent separately to the examination cell for data entry and the same can be directly read by the scanners and stored against the unique barcode of the answer sheet after evaluation the examiners should enter the marks obtained by the student in each answer individually as well as total marks the software automatically reads these entries and provides alerts in case of totaling mistakes the report stated eventually the committee has suggested barcode technology for each pages of the answer booklet for digital scanning and onscreen evaluation the committee has suggested that the universities can start with this for a few examinations the system requires scanning of answer sheets at a secure place following which the same is assessed on computers laptop or tablets by the appointed examiners at the centralized assessment process cap centre through this system issues related to secure transport of answer sheets replacement of answer sheet and delay in assessment can be reduced the report stated and added that providing copies of answer sheets to students online will also be easier the committee has further recommended that by the first half of 2013 the universities should mandatorily display the results including the complete breakup of marks online each student should be able to register on website and check hisher results universities also need to facilitate online application for reevaluation it has pointed out that dematting of degrees and certificate which has to be made mandatory by 2014 for all universities will ensure confidentiality authenticity and will enable online verification and easy retrieval of academic qualifications industry and other stakeholders will be able to verify the degree of students online and this will reduce the malpractices associated with fake certificates or tampering of certificates the report stated apart from the technological recommendations the committee has dwelt in detail about the academic reforms needed for strengthening the examination processes steps such as decentralization of examinations by allowing grade a colleges to conduct exams for the initial years of a course leaving the final year exam for the university increase in number of cap centres strong penal action against staff defaulting in exam duties to ensure timely results and stringent evaluation criteria have been recommended