In the past few years, we have seen protests everywhere. The whole world is dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. One major problem that the youth of India is facing is “unemployment.”
On Republic Day 2021, the protesters in Bihar allegedly torched four empty coaches of a stationary train in Gaya, pelted stones, and blocked rail traffic between Gaya and Jehanabad. Similar protests were reported from Bhagalpur and Sasaram, Patna and Prayagraj.
Why are students protesting?
Students are protesting against the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) for alleged discrepancies in its Non-Technical Popular Categories Exam 2021. The protesters are unhappy over the “inaccurate exam results”.
They say the system of one screening test across five pay grades is designed to favour those with higher qualifications. The protesters have claimed that only one examination was mentioned in the RRB notification issued in 2019. They accused the officials of playing with the future of the students.
What is the Railway Recruitment Board?
Railway Recruitment Board is a government agency responsible for recruiting candidates to Group C and Group D non-gazetted civil service and engineering posts in the Indian Railways under the Ministry of Railways.
The RRB conducts the NTPC exam to recruit commercial apprentices like goods guards, traffic assistants etc., for the Indian Railways.
The NTPC 2019 exam was conducted between 28 December 2020 and 31 July 2021. Around 1.25 crore applicants had applied for just over 35,000 posts from level 2 to level 6, with starting pay ranging from Rs 19,900 to Rs 35,400 per month. Nearly 60 lakh candidates appeared for the exam.
The first part of the two-part exam was announced on 15 January this year, and over 7 lakh applicants cleared the first stage. However, the angry students were protesting against a decision by the Railways to hold the exam in two phases.
“The second stage of the exam is totally unfair to those who have cleared the first stage and for which results were released on 15 January,” students said.
“The Railways has set up a high-powered committee to look into the grievances of protesting students.”
Why is this happening?
As per my knowledge, lack of transparency in examinations is the leading cause of these problems. We had already seen a famous example of India’s most significant medical scam, “Vyapam scam”. It’s all about transparency and the work of administration. The government must bring a transparent cut transparency system for all examinations in India, whether online or offline.