WHY RAILWAY CANDIDATES ARE PROTESTING

What happens when the only hope of thousands or lakhs of candidates get destroyed because of negligence of system and administration? The answer can be seen in what happened in Bihar in last few days. The railway candidates, starting from 12th pass and up to graduate and post graduate candidates appearing for RRB NTPC exams have started protesting against the government.

What is RRB NTPC? 

It stands for Railway Recruitment Board Non-Technical Popular Categories. The board conducts exams for recruiting candidates for designations that include Train Assistant, Traffic Assistant, Junior Clerk, Goods Guard, Timekeeper, and Station master. The jobs have eligibility from 12th pass (for level 2) to graduates (for level 6).

In NTPC exam, there are four stages:

1. 1st Stage CBT (Computer Based Test) (CBT-I)
2. 2nd Stage CBT (CBT-II)
3. Typical Skill Test or Aptitude test.
4. Document Verification and Medical Exam

What prompted protests?

The problem began with delay of exams due to Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. CBT-I was postponed and conducted from December 28, 2020 to July 31, 2021. The total number of vacancies were around 35,000 and the total number of candidates that appeared were around 1.25 crore.

There was a delay in results too; the RRB declared the results on January 15, 2022. 7 lakh students were shortlisted for CBT-II, which generally happens. But here the name of some candidates appeared for multiple occasions. The final data shows that in reality the actual number of shortlisted candidates is around 3.8 to 4 lakh.

One more concern for candidates was the cut-off which was different for different qualification students. The graduates and 12th pass were competing for same job. To this, the RRB said that it is no surprise that graduates should get more opportunities than a 12th pass.

The real issue here is the number of shortlisted candidates which is horribly irregular. The candidates have waited for so long to appear in exams and these problems certainly incited them to come on road to protest. Group D candidates were also unhappy due to sudden change in their examination pattern. Just before one month of examination, a notification came which stated that two exams will be conducted for them. They did not get time for preparation.

The Students tried to put their concern on twitter and with different hashtags but neither media nor the government threw light on such a serious issue going on. The students, with no option left, started protesting against the incorrectly declared irregular NTPC results.

Government's Say

Railway suspended the NTPC exams and formed a committee to examine the issues came forward after the result declaration that led to outrage of railway aspirants. The Ministry of railway stated that a candidates can lodge their concerns and suggestions to the committee till February 16 at rrbcommittee@railnet.gov.in. Students claimed that the administration is trying to delay the issue because of upcoming UP elections. 

According to the Ministry, number of candidates applied are large in number. and there is nowhere mentioned that 7 lakh distinct candidates will get shortlisted. Since the CBT-II is of five different levels and one candidate can get chance for more than one level, that's why one candidate has appeared for more than one time.

Outrage: Violence and Complaints 

"Bihar Bandh" was called on January 28. The protesters burnt train coaches out of frustration on NTPC results. Though there was no loss of life, but there was serious fight indulge between police and protesters which led to arrest of four protesters and suspension of a few police workers when their brutal actions were caught in CCTV.

Large scale protest against government

It is obvious that the current government does not take action with the root cause and instead regards the protests and activists as anti-nationals. Definitely violence will not gonna benefit anyone here. In contrast, the CBT-II has been postponed which is another setback for the Railway Aspirant.

Coaches of train were burnt

Moreover, FIR have been filed against some teachers and all have been booked under IPC section for inciting protests and violence; one of them is a popular youtuber and professor, Mr. Khan Sir. Other teachers are SK Jha, Gagan pratap, Gopal Verma, etc. When investigated, they all were simply asking students not to indulge in violence. This shows that no one is allowed to raise voice against the government, neither students nor teachers.

Government incompetence

This is not the first instance where government's negligence towards exam conduct is being seen. These irregularities are getting regular and hurting the students. The recently declared results of NEET exmas, SSC scam, NET-Hindi 2019, UPTET paper leak, REET paper leak, etc.  are some cases of negligence and lack of action from government. In Gujarat, 9 government exam papers have been leaked in the last 7 years.

There is a lack of will from the government. there is an ignorance towards what the students are going through. These railway candidates are mostly from lower economic background; for them, these exams are the decider of their life. With rise in unemployment, government has no answers for it. The situation of students will become worse with the combined effect of pandemic.

Tweet summarizing nation's problem

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References

1. https://www.indiatimes.com/explainers/news/rrb-ntpc-exam-protest-why-thousands-of-students-protesting-on-railway-tracks-560476.html
2. https://www.businesstoday.in/trending/story/rrb-ntpc-student-protests-meet-khan-sir-who-is-at-the-centre-of-a-storm-320621-2022-01-28