Delhi, India Mar 21, 2022 (Issuewire.com) - UPSC aspirants are sitting on an indefinite hunger strike since 3rd March 2020, demanding 2 compensatory attempts because the last 2 years were badly destroyed due to pandemic situations in the country. These are those aspirants who were in their last attempts but, unfortunately, lost their beloved ones, family members, or got themselves infected from Covid-19 and didn’t prepare effectively for UPSC CSE-2020 or 2021.
Many of these candidates had their last attempts in 2020 & 2021 and couldn’t appear for the exam due to “exceptional circumstances” which were a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They’re asking for an extra chance because their preparation was affected by the ongoing pandemic and some of them were on duty to treat the virus and were “Covid-warriors”. Some others were mourning the loss of their family members and others were battling with their mental health. It is said that they were compelled to attend the exam and it was their last attempt, even though they were not in the state to appear for a competitive exam due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So they have chosen their national duty first!
Last year these UPSC aspirants approached the Hon. Supreme Court in “Rachna vs Union of India, 2021” case and then in “Abhishek Anand Sinha vs Union of India and others, 2021” case.
The SC bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar said that the Court has limitations while interfering with the decisions of the executive (Union Govt.). The bench had repeatedly, during the oral hearings, urged the Centre and UPSC to take a favorable stance for the petitioners by reconsidering and doing some help to the aspirants. SC urged UPSC to take a 'Lenient View' on the plea of UPSC aspirants for extra chance due to the pandemic situation. The bench also gave liberty to the candidates to submit representations before concerned authorities for an extra attempt.
These UPSC aspirants then approached Hon. MPs and other dignitaries of their respective constituencies and it is said that more than 150+ Hon. Member of Parliaments found their demands as appropriate and some Hon. MPs even raised their demands in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha sessions also. But Central Govt. in all their answers refused to give any help to these Covid-affected UPSC aspirants who lost their last chance.
Central Govt.’s denial mode to students forced these UPSC aspirants to sit on an indefinite hunger strike till their death.
In the last few months, their concerns got also trended hundreds of times on Twitter with several hashtags like #UPSCExtraAttempt #ExtraAttemptforAll #2CompensatoryAttempt4All
Few UPSC aspirants expressed in their tweet:
- "It's so painful that we are not considered, our dreams are getting shattered. Please take a lenient view. We request for a chance to live our dreams.”
- "Losing Dream will Haunt Us Forever”
- "It's so painful that we are not considered, our dreams are getting shattered. Please take a lenient view. We request for a chance to live our dreams."
A UPSC aspirant said-
“While it impacted all, the force varied & was biased the most against the candidates who had their last attempt in 2020 & 2021, either attempt wise or age or both. It affected in several ways:
- Frontline warriors (Doctors, Policemen, etc) who had their last attempt, put their national duty at the forefront hampering their preparation.
- Many of the last attempt aspirants were Corona positive & hence were forced to skip the examination as per Government & UPSC guidelines.
We hence appeal to the Central Government (DoPT) & UPSC to be humane to our demands of an extra attempt to appear in CSE 2022. It will be in no manner against the rest of the aspirants as they were not affected the same way we have been affected, rather it shall be an attempt of undoing the injustices of COVID 19.”
Now everyone is also concerned over their health which is getting deteriorating day by day. These UPSC aspirants are not demanding a job, but a fair chance should be provided to all these candidates who got badly affected due to Covid-19 in their last attempts.
Media Contact
Rajat Tyagi *****@gmail.com https://extraattempt.co/
