Lakhs Of Youngsters To Protest In Delhi Against Corruption in Govt Job Recruitments

Lakhs of government job aspirants protesting against the scam in the exams of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) — which recruits for subordinate posts in the central government ministries and departments — will assemble in Delhi from all over India for a protest rally on 31 March.

Since 27 February, thousands of students had been sitting in protest outside the SSC headquarters in Delhi as well as at regional centres across the country for nearly three weeks, following the leaking of questions for the SSC-CGL (Combined Graduate Level) Tier-II Examination 2018 held from 17 to 22 February.

On 17 February, there were reports of one aspirant caught with the answer script before the examination in Delhi, and the same day the SSC cancelled the second shift of the exam at an exam centre in the Capital.

On 21 February, the answer keys of the ongoing paper appeared on social media even as the exam was going on, including by a whistleblower page called SSCtube on Facebook. Reportedly, the exam began at 12.30pm and the paper was leaked online at 12.32pm.

The SSC cancelled the exam held in the morning shift on February 21. On 24 February, the SSC declared that the 21 February exam will be re-conducted on  9 March.

However, the SSC did not accept the allegations that corruption had led to the paper leak, instead maintaining said the problem had happened due to “some technical reasons”.

Following protests by the students, the SSC on 4 March informed protesters that it would ask the government to carry out a CBI enquiry into the SSC-CGL (Tier-II) Examination. On 5 March, Home Minster Rajnath Singh said the government had ordered a CBI probe.

However, students are demanding that the CBI investigation be monitored by a Supreme Court-appointed committee, and that the SSC not conduct any other exam until the probe is over. They are also demanding resignation of Union Minister of State for Personnel, Jitendra Singh.

More than one crore youngsters appear for the SSC exams every year.

According to the SSC Annual Report 2015-16, almost 1.5 crore candidates applied for the eight main exams under the SSC.

“The future of crores of youths in the country is at stake here. Even after weeks of protest, the government has not heeded the demands,” said Sucheta De, who is part of the Rozgar Mange India campaign, which has been supporting the protesting students, speaking to Newsclick.

“The SSC scam has made the youth lose faith in the government, and in the idea that hard work and honesty will get them deserving jobs. This government came to power in the name of providing employment to the youth, but is instead shielding the corrupt.”

De said the protesting youngsters are demanding not only that an SC committee supervise the CBI probe, but that the investigation not be limited to just the SSC-CGL Tier-II exam 2018.

“We want that all tiers of all exams conducted by the SSC (such as the CHSL – combined higher secondary level examination) in the past one year be investigated. This is a systemic problem. Those found involved in the corruption must be punished,” she said.

“And we also demand that all vacant government posts be filled fairly before 2019.”

As per Rozgar Mange India campaign, a total of 1, 89,843 candidates had appeared for the SSC-CGL Tier-II exam this year.

According to an answer given in the Lok Sabha on 7 March 2018, more than 4 lakh posts in the various central government ministries and departments are lying vacant.

The SSC conducts a number of recruitment examinations for different (Group B) non-gazetted posts like lower division clerks, income tax inspectors, sub-inspectors of Central Police Organisations and CBI, etc, as well as for Group C (non-technical) posts.

Meanwhile, the SSC has postponed the CGL Tier-III exam, which was scheduled to be held on 31 March, to May. On 27 March, four people were arrested in Delhi in the CGL paper leak case.

On 31 March, the protest march, called #YuvaHallaBol, will take place in the Capital to Parliament Street.