Hundreds of state civil service aspirants intensified their indefinite hunger against the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) Tuesday over the panel’s delay in releasing results for the mains exams. The exam, conducted in May, was a combined one for three years.
The protest, which began last week, became larger Tuesday as protesters’ numbers swelled, with widespread outrage against both the government and the JPSC. The demonstration is being held in front of the JPSC office.
The JPSC had issued a notification in January last year, announcing around 340 vacancies for various government posts. The notification was collectively for the 11th, 12th, and 13th JPSC exams.
The preliminary exam was conducted in March last year, with nearly 3.5 lakh candidates appearing. The results were declared the following month, and 7,011 candidates qualified for the mains held in June. The notification had stated that the mains results would be declared in August that year, followed by the interview process.
But the results were never released. Meanwhile, then JPSC chairperson, Mary Neelima Kerketta, retired in August last year and the position remained vacant until February this year, when L. Khiante, the former chief secretary of Jharkhand, was appointed the new JPSC chairperson.
As the protest continued, several students reportedly fell ill due to heatstroke and had to be rushed to nearby hospitals.
Satyanarayan Shukla, president of the Jharkhand State Student Association (JSSA) who has been preparing for the exam for the last five years, said the students are under severe stress and uncertainty.
“It has been 10 months since the exam was conducted, and there has been no indication from the JPSC about the results. The students are already struggling mentally and emotionally — now it’s becoming a physical battle as well. We were told the results would be released after the appointment of the new chairperson. Later, the chief minister assured us he would act on the issue after returning from his foreign visit in April. But nothing has happened yet. The delay has forced us to take to the streets,” he said.
Echoing these sentiments, Arun Agrawal, a senior JPSC faculty member at a local coaching centre, said: “The students are going through a very difficult time. They’ve been waiting for over ten months for just 340 vacancies, which is a very small number compared to the huge number of applicants”.
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