Bihar Sees 2nd Protest This Year over Agnipath, News18 Lists Events Where Students Took to Roads for Govt Jobs

Trains were set afire, public and police vehicles attacked and personnel injured as protests over ‘Agnipath’ snowballed and swept across several states on Thursday. As the violence spiralled, the government raised the upper age limit to 23 years from 21 years for recruitment under the scheme for the year 2022, without making a reference to the turmoil.

As violent protests against the new recruitment scheme Agnipath raged across several states, the government issued a clarification, asserting that the new model will not only bring in new capabilities to the armed forces but also open up avenues for youth in the private sector and help them become entrepreneurs with the aid of the financial package they will get upon retirement.

On Friday morning, protesters burned tyres on a railway station in Buxar, Bihar. Rioters in West Bengal Protestors tried to block the Bongaon train line early morning on Friday. The violence were reported across several places, from Bihar’s Ara to Haryana’s Palwal, from Agra in Uttar Pradesh to Gwalior and Indore in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh. However, the protests related to government job is not new, as there have been similar protests in the country in the recent past.

News18 takes a look at some of the protests that happened in the recent past over government jobs:

Railways Exam Protest

While Bihar, which is currently seeing protests over Agnipath, witnessed another protest in January over alleged irregularities in the Railway Recruitment Board’s examination procedure.

Thousands of aspirants for the Railways job burnt train, while clashes were reported in different parts of the states. Hundreds of students were booked for the violent protests. Districts like Patna, Nawada, Muzaffarpur, Buxar, Sasaram, Sitamarhi, Arrah, and Bhojpur witnessed protesters squatting on railway tracks, disrupting train services across the state. Similar protests were also reported in Uttar Pradesh.

The Bihar government later stated that government jobs or government contracts will not be given to those who stage violent protests or involved themselves in a criminal act against which charge sheets have been filed.

Anger over delay in results

In 2020, the government job aspirants protested against the delay in declaration of results of the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) exam and recruitment notification, and also the delay in issuance of admit card for the Railway Recruitment Board’s Non-Technical Popular Categories (RRB NTPC) recruitment test.

The protest was also seen on social media with aspirants trending the hashtag #speakupforSSCRaliwaystudents. The CGL exam, conducted by the Staff Selection Commission, was conducted in 2019 but students had not received their results, while the RRB NTPC test has not even been conducted, more than a year after registrations.

Protest against Andhra’s job calendar

In June last year, the student union in Andhra Pradesh protested at the office of Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission to express their anger against the government’s job calendar. The students said that CM Jagan Mohan Reddy had promised to fill up vacancies in government jobs, but it was not fulfilling its promise. They allege that instead of 6,500 positions for constables, only 450 posts were notified by the government.

Students Agitate After ‘Paper Leak’

In December 2019, thousands of students, who appeared for the examination for Non-Secretariat Clerks and Office Assistants, staged a protest in Gandhinagar, alleging irregularities and a paper leak and demanded cancellation of the examination.

Following the protests, over 700 students were detained. According to a report in The Indian Express, the youths were heard shouting slogans against the Centre.

Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here.