Why Are Students Prortesting ?
Introduction:
Bihar the state is witnessing yet another student sprotest why are we saying yet another it`s beacuase bihar has been seen 400 such students demonstrations betwen 2018 and 2022 only second to kerla ehich is at 518 and haran is at number three with 253 student protests currently in bihar students unions activists and politicians are out in huge numbers battling the harsh winter of north india at stake is the future of over three lakh young candidates who work tirelessly for years often with mere resources at their disposal with only one goal in mind secure a government job in the state job in the state but as think stand that dream faces roadblocks the latest protests have been gathering steam by the day for thr last few weeks a government exam conducted last month faces allegations of paper leak dramatic visuals show protecters clashing with the police resulting in lathi charge and firing water cannons to disperse the protesters janur chif and political strategist prashant kishore is in the think of the action too on the 2nd of january he began a fast onto death seeking justice for the affected students he has issued an ultimatum to bihar chief minister nitish kumar to address all grievances of the students but why are students in bear protecting.
Firstly let`s understand the so-called characters in story first the BPSC ( bihar public service commission ) at the all india level we have the union public service commission or the UPSC and each state has own so bihar has BPSC this government body recruits candidates every year through competitive exams for state government jobs now the bpsc conduceted something called 7th combined preliminary competitive examination on the 13th december 2024 the exam is conducted for recruitment to posts such as subdivision officer senior deputy collector superintendent of police and much more government posting advertisement for this exam was released in september 2024 4 lakh 83,000 candidates had applied for exam out of this 3 lakh 25,000 appeared for the exam and how many vacancies are we exactly talking about 2,000 OD vacancies and over 3lakh candidates imagine the probability in the first week of december students raised concerns on the examination process they accus the bpsc introducing a practice called normalization is when an exam is conducted in multiple shifts with the same or different seats of questions paper a normalization formula is used.
This is to ensure that aspirants of one shift don`t get an aner advantage the score of all aspirants is made comparable through normalization by adding subtracting or adjusting marks the bpsc dismissed all these allegations it called them rumors there were protests by the students in this regard with the police like i said resorthing to lathi charge on on exam day that is the 13th of december there were 912 exam centers initial signs of trouble came from one of them in patna it’s the bapu examination complex more than 12,000 candidates are said to have been present there for the exam student say there were delays distributting the question paper and that the paper was allegedly leadked soon bpsc officials were informed about complaints regarding some students a ruckus in the exam hall reportedly some started shouthing that the question paper had alredy gone viral on the internet bpsc chairman parar RI manai claimed some people pretending to be students started snatching question paper from the invigilators while the distrbution was taking place and chaos followed as per some reports the candidates ran of the exam room with the envelope containing the question papers those inside the center didn’t have their mobile phones with them these students then threw this which is the question paper to the other side of the boundary to give it to some people who are waiting outside the center.
Within an hour or so the question paper was being circulated online and offline amid the rakus at the center an offical on duty whose name was ram ikbal singh he’s the additional canter superintendent he suffered a heart attack died here’s what his son said my father had suffered a heart attack earlier as well there had been so much tension and appro at the center and my father could not tolerate it he should have cited medical reasons to skip examination duty the state government should ensure congenial and tension free atmosphere at examination center so that such incidents do not take place in the future meanwhile students have questioned as to why the paper distribution was delayed by a few minuites reportedly poor coordination between the bpsc the patna district administration and bihar school axamination board that is reason another concern raised by students is the content of the question paper it self many students claimed that the question seemed to be at the level of a police recruitment exam and closely matched model papers that was provided by by some coaching institutes.
The bpsc has united all such allegations it said that the sanctity of the exam is intact barring the incident at the bapu examination complex o few days later bpsc declared a re exam for only those who were at the center where this ruckus took place the re exam is stated to be held today that is the 4th of january at the time of shooting this video there’s no word on weather the re exam was held successfully meanwhile protests have been continuing for the last few days and weeks students claim that re exam only for one center is unfair and that the entire exam must be cancelled altogether on the 29th december protesters started a march towards chief minister nitish kumar’s residencr during the towords the CM house susan broke barricading at JP golambar which is near gandhi medan in patna the police assorted to mild LTI charge and water cannons to disperse tthese protesters subsequently a meeting was arranged betweeen bihar cheif secretary and delegation of students and nothing supposedly came out of that meeting curiously bihar chief minister is yet to make an official comment on this or even meet the protesting students yet opposition parties like the rjd and janj meanwhile have backed the students and theire demand and was also slammed by nitish kumar government today that is the 4th of january was the third day of january chif prashant kisor’s fast into death hunger strike he accused officials of selling more than half of the bpsc seats in fact here’s what kishor sir the issue is of bigger corruption charges it is that more than half of the seats are sold the re examination being held today is for 15,000 students the protesting 3 lakh 50,000 students did not get opportunity to sit in the exam it does not matter when you appear in the exmination it does not guarantee you not get the opportunty to sit in the exam it does not matter when you appear in the examination it does not get guarantee you a seat if you studied well the seat is only given to those who gave money to corrupt people.
Kishore in fact in fact also claimed that the post of the deputy superintendent of police or the DSP post was being sold for one and half CR rupees and that people were doing so openly without government action reports suggest that the students are not too pleased with their protest taking a political color a student centric protest taking a political color remember elections in the state of bihar are due later this year prashant kishor has been on the field for the last couple of years trying to build his party which jansuraj and contest the elections politics aside think of the students yet another year where a key government exam could not be conducted peacefully and yet another instance of their hardwork of all these years and months going waste states like bihar and uttarpradesh aren’t leading anyway when it comes employment so lacks of aspirants pin their hopes on these governments exams by one estimate 70 paper leaks were seen in seven years and 1.7CR aspirants were affected in 2024 a leak was allegedly reported in the neat exam which is the most important test for aspiring doctors in utterpardesh public service commission or upsc faced massive scrutiny after the leak of paper for the review officer or assistent review officer exam in many cases an organized indicate id behind the paper leak as for bihar an anti paper leak bill was passed in 2023 the bill has the provision of imprisonment of 3 to 5 years and fine of 10lakh rupees if a sevice provider whether a government entity or a private one engages in mal practices it will face a fine of 1CR rupees and four year termination of sevices of services now this is the legislation that was passed in bihar the latest round of protests serve yet another alarming reminder on the state of governments exams and these huge exams in india the pressing need to protect its sanctityand integrity.
