Three exams, one date: TS police aspirants seek postponement of SI recruitment test
The dates for Telangana state SI recruitment exam, the national-level CAPF Assistant Commandant exam, and the IBPS RRB PO exam, which is an alternative exam written by many of the police service aspirants in the state, are clashing (7 August) and thousands of aspirants are upset about missing their opportunities through no fault of theirs.
By Nimisha S Pradeep Published on 14 July 2022 11:15 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Akshay (name changed) has been waiting for the Telangana police SI recruitment exam since 2019. He first appeared for the exam in 2018 but could not clear it. Since then, he has been waiting for a second chance. Akshay was happy when the Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board (TSLPRB) issued the recruitment notification in April 2022. He felt there was a new ray of hope. In May, the TSLPRB announced that the preliminary written test for SI recruitment will be conducted on 7 August. Akshay was disappointed because on the same day he had the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) Assistant Commandant exam that is conducted by UPSC. He would have to forgo one of his opportunities for sure.
The dates for Telangana state SI recruitment exam, the national-level CAPF Assistant Commandant exam, and the IBPS RRB PO exam, which is an alternative exam written by many of the police service aspirants in the state, are clashing (7 August) and thousands of aspirants are upset about missing their opportunities through no fault of theirs.
"Since 2019, I have been waiting for this exam. In the last three years, it was very hard to stay focused on my dream and convince my parents to be patient. In 2020 and 2021, there was this added pressure to get settled due to the pandemic," says Akshay. He also says there is a lot of financial burden on his family and they have been asking him to quit preparations for police exams and take up some other job. "How many years will you continue trying, they ask," says Akshay.
Akshay is also worried because he is 26 years old and the SI post has an age limit of 30 years. "Since the state-level SI recruitment does not happen every year, we do not know when the next exam will be conducted. It sometimes takes place once in two years, sometimes once in three years," says Akshay.
Another aspirant, Sai Vamshi from Karimnagar, has also applied for the state-level SI examination, the CAPF exam, and the IBPS RRB exam. "There are not many opportunities in the police. So, we write multiple exams, some of them in no way related to the service, like the TET, NTPC or the IBPS exam," he said.
"Most of the candidates are writing two out of the three exams. That is, the people who are writing the state-level police recruitment exam are also writing the Central-level exam. So, it is not fair to conduct both on the same day," says Vamshi. He also says that it is not possible to attend one exam in the morning and the other in the evening as the CAPF exam has two papers –Paper 1 in the morning from 10 a.m to noon and Paper 2 in the afternoon from 2 p.m to 5 p.m.
The CAPF Assistant Commandant exam also has an age bar of 25 years for candidates from the general category. For SC/ST candidates, there is an age relaxation of five years and for OBC candidates, there is an age relaxation of three years.
Despite multiple representations given to TSLPRB chairman V.V Srinivasa Rao and MAUD minister KTR, the aspirants have not heard from them. A lot of them tweeted their concerns. One of the aspirants also told NewsMeter that some of the aspirants are scared to speak up post the Agnipath protests in Hyderabad and the arrests that followed.
