The protest of Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) job aspirants against the conduct of Civil Services (preliminary), Review Officer/Assistant Review Officer (RO/ARO) examination in multiple shifts and against normalisation of score entered day two on Tuesday (November 12, 2024). Thousands of youth are protesting outside the UPPSC headquarters in Prayagraj. Some protestors carried placards with the slogan “Na batenge na hatenge” (We neither get divided nor back off) along the lines of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s slogan “Batenge toh katenge’ (divided we fall).
The local administration’s efforts to pacify the demonstrators went in vain as they were firm on continuing the protest till their demands are met by the Commission. “We are going nowhere till the UPPSC withdraws the decision of multiple shifts and normalisation,” said Anshuman Pandey, a protestor. The Civil Services (preliminary) examination is scheduled to be conducted over two days, on December 7 and 8, while the RO/ARO (preliminary) examination 2023 will be held in three shifts on December 22 and 23, 2024.
Citing past failures, some aspirants say they don’t trust the system due to lack of regularity and transparency. “The PSC prelims exam was to be held in March 2024, got postponed to December 2024. Apart from this, the RO/ARO examination paper was leaked in February 2024 and subsequently got cancelled. After that the date kept getting postponed before finally settling in December 2024. In such a situation, how could we trust the Commission’s decision to bring changes in format. In a single-shift examination, chances of paper leak are very low,” said Ashwini Vishwakarma, another aspirant from Prayagraj. He said, “The protest will transform into a massive indefinite movement if demands are not accepted.”
Another protestor Priyesh Srivastava said, “normalisation brings complexity as marks in some shifts increase and some decrease, then the one getting less marks gets selected and the one getting more marks may fail to clear the examination.”
Normalisation is widely used: UPPSC
The UPPSC responded saying the reforms were made in response to the demand of candidates and that the normalisation system was not new as it was widely being used by prestigious recruitment bodies nationwide.
It argued that when exams are held on multiple days or shifts for a single recruitment notification, the score normalisation process is essential in evaluating the results as the difficulty level of the paper in each shift/day varies.
“To maintain the integrity and quality of examinations, it is essential to hold exams in multiple shifts when there are over 5,00,000 candidates. When exams are held across multiple days or shifts for a single advertisement, the normalization process is essential for evaluating the results. This approach is commonly used by various prestigious recruitment bodies and commissions across the country,” read a statement by the UPPSC.
The Commission mentioned that it had received a letter from candidates informing that certain Telegram channels and YouTubers were conspiring to postpone the examination. These channels were spreading confusion about the normalisation process and misleading candidates. “However, many candidates, for whom both the examination and timing are crucial, have expressed support for the Commission’s decision,” the statement read.
“In the context of normalization, the Commission welcomes suggestions from candidates. Anyone with recommendations for improvement or a better system is encouraged to submit them. These suggestions will be reviewed by a committee of eminent experts, ensuring that the necessary purity and quality, in the best interest of the candidates, will be upheld,” it added.
SP, Congress target BJP
Opposition parties continued their criticism asking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government if it could propose to hold elections simultaneously across the country, why exams cannot be held simultaneously in just one State. “Jobs are not in the BJP’s agenda. The people of BJP do politics of keeping the people engaged in the struggle for livelihood, so that BJP people can continue to indulge in corruption under the guise of communal politics. For years, either vacancies are not released or the examination process is not completed. BJP has taken the students away from their study desks and has made them stand on the street. Elections can be proposed to be held simultaneously in the entire country but exams cannot be held simultaneously in one state. The hypocrisy of BJP has been exposed,” wrote the Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on X.
The Congress said the ongoing protest highlighted intensity of unemployment in Uttar Pradesh and the mistrust on the system. “Such a huge protest in Prayagraj shows that students have no trust in the present government due to its constant failures in conducting transparent recruitment examinations. At the same time the protest brings to the fore the severity of unemployment problem in U.P. and the frustration of students/aspirants as lakhs of students filed applications for a few hundred [vacant] posts,” said Anil Yadav, general secretary of Uttar Pradesh Congress.
Published - November 12, 2024 10:32 pm IST
