Uttar Pradesh government rolls back decision on key job exams amid protests by candidates

The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission on Thursday agreed to the demands of protesting job aspirants and announced that the Provincial Civil Service preliminary exam will be conducted in a single day, reported India Today.

This came on the fourth day of widespread protests in Prayagraj, where thousands of candidates rallied against the Commission’s proposed multi-shift schedule for the Provincial Civil Service examination as well as the Review Officer and Assistant Review Officer examination.

The Provincial Civil Service exam, originally planned for December 7 and December 8 in two shifts, will now be held on a single day. The Review Officer and Assistant Review Officer examination, scheduled for December 22 and December 23 in three shifts, has been postponed, with a new date to be determined.

Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission Secretary Ashok Kumar, addressing the gathered protesters, said: “Several paper leak issues in competitive exams have come to light from different parts of the country in the past few months, in which some institutions were found to be involved. Keeping this in mind, to ensure the sanctity and transparency of competitive exams, the state government had planned to hold exams with over five lakh aspirants in multiple shifts.”

“Chief Minister Adityanath directed the Commission to maintain dialogue with the students and take a decision,” Kumar added. “The Commission will hold the exam in a single shift.”

The protests, which began on Monday and saw the participation of around 10,000 aspirants from across the state, highlighted concerns about varying levels of difficulty in separate shifts and the inadequacies of the normalisation process.

Candidates claimed that this approach could unfairly impact their chances of success. “We will not withdraw the protest until the Commission withdraws this decision,” an unidentified protester was quoted as saying by The Indian Express earlier in the week.

On Thursday, some protesters clashed with police, breaking through barricades outside the Commission’s headquarters. The Times of India reported that officers used force to disperse the crowd.

“We were lathi-charged here,” student Pravesh Kumar said. “Even a disabled student was manhandled by the police here. This is how the administration is treating the students here, even the students with disabilities.”

Another student, Abhishek Shukla, said that the protesters broke the barricades because they were not allowed to enter the headquarters. “Police officials were threatening us not to form groups,” he added.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhishek Bharti, however, claimed that certain individuals with criminal histories were instigating the crowd and confirmed that cases were registered against those who vandalised public property. “Two have already been arrested,” he said. “More of them are being identified and interrogated.”

“The students are being requested to continue their protest constitutionally and their demands will be taken to the authorities,” he had said.

The November 5 announcement to conduct exams in separate shifts faced immediate backlash. Despite assurances of a computerised normalisation formula to equalise performance metrics, aspirants demanded a “single-day, single-shift schedule” to ensure fairness.

The protests received attention from the Opposition, which criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party government over the handling of the examination schedule.

Chief Minister Adityanath took note of students’ concerns and directed the Commission to address their demands through dialogue, India Today reported.