New Delhi: Videos of a protest by thousands of railway job aspirants in Patna on January 30 uploaded by a news website called ‘On Duty’ have been blocked by YouTube citing government orders.The protest took place after job aspirants took to the streets against a notification issued by the Indian Railway Recruitment Board 2024, which sought applications for 5,696 posts of assistant loco pilots. The protesters demanded an increase in the number of vacancies.Earlier, the Railway Running Staff Association in a letter to the Railway Board said that there should be at least 16,373 vacancies for railway drivers and said that if the vacancies are filled, the number of railway drivers will increase. The letter added that if the vacancies are filled, it will help in alleviating the pressure on existing drivers who work 12-20 hours a day and don’t get enough leaves.The protests were covered by several YouTube channels, including ‘On Duty’, ‘Kya Kehti Hai Public’, ‘Sach Bihar’, ‘Champaran Darpan’ and ‘Kaabil News’.In an interview to The Wire, Brijesh Kumar, who operates the ‘On Duty’ YouTube channel, mentioned that the police also employed baton charging against the protesters, leading to some sustaining serious injuries.He said that videos of the protest that were uploaded by his ‘On Duty’ channel were taken down by YouTube.He shared a notification he received from YouTube by email that said: “We received an order from the government related to national security or public order regarding your content. After review, the following content has been blocked from view on the YouTube country sites listed below India.”The email implies that the video sharing platform received a request from the Union government, following which YouTube sent the notification to Kumar.Kumar, aged 24, said that he has been managing the ‘On Duty’ YouTube channel since 2022, focusing primarily on topics related to education. His aim is to provide a platform for unemployed youth to voice their concerns through his stories.He said that his videos showed police personnel baton charging protesters who were seen asking the police: “What have we done that you are beating us with sticks?”Kumar said that he had been detained by the police along with some other journalists and was only released after the police spoke to his father. He said that when he came home he found the notification from YouTube in his email.He said that since the notification stated that the video has been blocked on the orders of the government, he got scared and deleted the video. He added since his livelihood depends on his YouTube channel, he fears that his channel might be banned.On January 28, the East Central Railways announced that the Railways had recently concluded the recruitment process for 1.5 lakh posts, and the hiring process for assistant loco pilots (ALP) has now been initiated once again. Going forward, there will be regular job openings in the Railways every year.ALP की अधिसूचना पर छात्रों के मध्य उत्पन्न भ्रांतियों को दूर करते हुए GM श्री अनिल कुमार खंडेलवाल ने कहा कि रेलवे ने हाल ही में 1.5 लाख पदों पर रोजगार प्रक्रिया पूरी की है और अब पुनः ALP की भर्ती प्रक्रिया प्रारंभ की गयी है । अब रेलवे में हर साल नियमित रूप से रिक्तियां आएंगी । pic.twitter.com/gDmKkncZMI— East Central Railway (@ECRlyHJP) January 28, 2024Meanwhile, it has been learnt that prohibitory orders under Section 144 have been imposed in Patna. It is also learnt that police teams have been going to hostels, marking the candidates and threatening them.