Six protesting MPSC aspirants go on indefinite hunger strike

The students who have announced an indefinite hunger strike are Pravin Patil, Leshpal Jagdale, Ashwini Barhate, Komal Sarik, Shrinivas Gutte and Nitin Andhale. Speaking to The Indian Express, some of the protesting students expressed fear that the exams for the agriculture department posts could be delayed further with Assembly elections coming up.

“The commission has received the demand letter dated August 16, 2024 for total 258 posts in Maharashtra Agricultural Service Group-A and Group-B cadre. According to the examination scheme released by the Maharashtra Public Service Commission on December 29, 2023, it is mentioned that the posts in Maharashtra Agricultural Service will be filled through the Maharashtra Gazetted Civil Services Combined Examination. However, as the demand letter for Maharashtra Agricultural Service Examination 2024 was not received by the commission till the publication of the advertisement on December 29, 2023 regarding the said examination, it was not possible to include the posts in the said agricultural service in the advertisement,” MPSC’s notice stated.

The protesting candidates received support from NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, who met them on Wednesday. In the evening, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar also arrived at the site to extend his support to the students.

Addressing the aspirants, Sule said she agreed with their demands. “The government should realise that paying multiple examination fees is not feasible. After meeting with you, I will meet the chief minister to impress upon him your demands.”

Omkar Jagdale, a protester, said, “Unemployment is already soaring in the country, the least the government can do is not deny us the right to take the exam. We have been requesting the CM and deputy CM for some time now. The minute our demands are met, we will leave the protest site.”

Jagdale added that to clear all the stages of exams including prelims, mains and interviews it takes around one and a half year, so each day counts for them.

Mahesh Raut (27), who has made four attempts at MPSC exams, said, “The condition of farmers in the state is heartbreaking. The government has been ignoring their issues. So agriculture department posts are the ones that need to be filled as soon as possible.”

Akshay Jain, president, Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress (media and communications department), said, “The government is playing with the emotions of students. Despite Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis announcing a meeting at 3 pm today (Tuesday), neither MPSC nor the government provided any clear information afterwards. It seems like MPSC is more focused on playing Twitter games rather than addressing the serious concerns of students. The patience of students should not be tested any further. If this continues, the government will undoubtedly face consequences in the upcoming elections.”