Protesters block roads over railway exam in Bihar Bandh
Protesters blocked roads in Bihar’s capital Patna and other places in the state today after opposition parties called a bandh over alleged “irregularities” in the Railway Recruitment Board exam. Several students’ groups including the All-India Students Association, or AISA, have called the Bihar bandh.
A passenger train was set on fire and another was attacked with stones in Bihar in violent protests by students against the railway jobs exam on a day the country celebrated Republic Day.
The protests involved the Railway Recruitment Board’s Non-Technical Popular Categories (RRB-NTPC) exam 2021. Students have opposed a decision by the railways to hold the exam in two stages, claiming that the second stage is unfair to those who have cleared the first stage, results for which were released on January 15.
Some 1.25 crore candidates had applied for the exams that had advertised over 35,000 posts from level 2 to level 6, with starting pay ranging from ₹ 19,900 to ₹ 35,400 per month. Around 60 lakh people appeared for the exam.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the opposition parties – Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, Communist Party of India, or CPI, and CPI (Marxist) – said, “Bihar has the most number of young people in the country and has the highest unemployment rate. Students are being cheated by the central as well as Bihar governments.”