Bihar Job Aspirants Detained After Patna March Turns Tense Over Recruitment Demands
Patna: Police in Bihar's capital detained several job aspirants on Saturday after a protest march towards Lok Bhavan turned tense, with demonstrators attempting to breach barricades and clashing with security personnel.
The march, organised by groups demanding greater transparency in government recruitment, was stopped near R-Golumber after police put up barricades. Officials said a scuffle broke out when protesters tried to push through, and security personnel used what they described as “mild force” to disperse the crowd. Several protesters were subsequently detained.
City Superintendent of Police (Central) Mamta Kalyani told PTI, “Adequate forces have been deployed to handle any situation.”
The protesters have been demanding implementation of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulation 2018 for the appointment of assistant professors, a higher maximum age limit for applicants, a single-tier BPSC Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE-4), and a level playing field for Hindi-medium candidates.
Guest faculty members of Bihar universities and PhD holders have been demonstrating for over two weeks. Their specific demands include raising the maximum age limit for applicants to 55 years, regularising assistant professor appointments, and implementing a domicile policy for recruitment.
The protesters have also called for the resignation of Higher Education Minister Sanjay Singh Tiger and Additional Chief Secretary Dipak Kumar Singh, who held a meeting with the demonstrators a few days ago to resolve the matter.
The latest protest came a day after Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, met the job aspirants and extended his party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal's, support to their demands. “Toying with the future of students is unacceptable. All of us will fight this battle together and uproot this incompetent government,” Yadav said. He added, “We stand in support of all the students and job aspirants protesting here. We have repeatedly urged the government to fulfil their demands. We hit the streets a few days ago and will do that again if need be.”
The agitation has continued despite the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) issuing a notification on Tuesday for recruitment to more than 32,000 posts.
Student leader Dileep Kumar told PTI that the government “should refrain from experimenting with TRE-4 exams, which are already delayed by around two years. Even if the government wishes to conduct the two-tier exam, including mains, for BPSC, they should do it from TRE-5 because aspirants have already lost too much time.” He also demanded the withdrawal of the 25 per cent bonus weightage given to existing contractual employees in BSSC exams, calling it an “unfair advantage to contractual employees.”
Protesters have warned of further escalation. One group said it would gherao the Bihar Chief Minister's official residence on August 25 if the government failed to hold a meaningful dialogue by August 24. TRE-4 protesters have also threatened to call a Bihar bandh if their demands are not considered.
No immediate response from the state government to the detentions or the demands was available at the time of reporting.
