Pune: Thousands of students preparing for Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) exams have gathered near the S.M. Joshi Bridge in Pune, as a protest that has been growing for the past week continued to draw more participants. Some aspirants and Youth Congress workers have also gone on a hunger strike.The protest entered its eighth day on Thursday, October 8. The students are demanding the resignation and removal of chairman Vivek Bhimanwar, and seeking transparency in MPSC and other government recruitment exams, along with timely recruitment, and action to prevent question paper leaks and other irregularities in the examination process.Pune has the highest number of students preparing for MPSC competitive exams in Maharashtra. Every year, lakhs of students come to the city from different parts of the state to prepare for these exams.This is not the first time students have expressed their anger against the MPSC but their anger has increased substantially in the last few months, particularly over the drug inspector recruitment exam held by the state commission on March 22.Also read: Tribal Welfare, Crumbling Infrastructure and Exam Irregularities Spark Multiple Protests in MaharashtraThe MPSC had conducted the exam for 154 drug inspector posts in the Food and Drug Administration. Around 44,500 candidates appeared for the exam. The results were declared on June 12. A total of 506 candidates were called for the interview, and 488 of them were interviewed in July. The provisional merit list of these 488 candidates was released on July 22.Around the same time, however, the MPSC received complaints that some questions from the exam paper had reached some candidates before the exam. The preliminary inquiry found that the question paper had been leaked to at least one candidate. Subsequently, the MPSC cancelled the entire recruitment process on August 26 and decided to conduct the exam again.Angry students questioned the MPSC and the state government’s recruitment process, and protests began across Maharashtra.NCP(SP) leader Rohit Pawar addressing protesting students near the S.M. Joshi Bridge in Pune. Photo: Atul Ashok HowaleNationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) (NCP(SP)) MLA Rohit Pawar has been at the forefront of the students’ protest and is supporting their demands. Speaking to The Wire, Pawar said, “There are serious allegations against MPSC chairman B.V. Bhimanwar, and he should be removed from the post. The protest will continue until he is removed. If he remains in the post, he could misuse his position to destroy or manipulate evidence against him.”Protesting against all oddsMany parents send their children to Pune to study, often by borrowing money at high interest and cutting down on their own expenses. Pawar noted that currently more than 70% of Maharashtra is facing drought-like conditions. According to this report, at least 265 talukas in Maharashtra have been declared drought prone. The situation of farmers and labourers in villages has become far more difficult in recent months. “These students then live in the city, spending more than Rs 10,000 a month, sometimes skipping a meal to afford their studies. And when they finally appear for the exam, the question paper gets leaked,” he said.For a student staying and studying in Pune, a month can easily cost up to Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000.“Instead of talking to the protesting students, the government is playing politics. The anger of people in rural Maharashtra and the frustration of students in Pune has now come together. In the next two days, more than one lakh students will come out to the streets against this corrupt system,” Pawar said.Lakhs of students come to Pune every year from across the state, and a large nexus has formed to keep the business around MPSC preparation going. This includes coaching centres, study libraries, messes, hotels, rented rooms and bookshops. Sonali Vaishnav, an MPSC aspirant from Buldhana, has been preparing for MPSC for the last six years. Coming to Pune from a distant district like Buldhana and living here has not been easy for her. Speaking to The Wire, she said, “We give up so many things in our lives. Five or six girls stay together in a small room in Pune. We eat at messes even when the food is not good, and still spend around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 every month. Our families somehow manage this expense.“Until now, we thought our preparation was not good enough and that was why we were failing by one or two marks. But now we realise that the problem was not our preparation. There were people within MPSC involved in leaking question papers. These paper leaks have cost us valuable years of our lives, money and our mental health.”The demand does not stop at the resignation of the MPSC chairman, she added, “We want the entire MPSC body, from the watchman to the chairman, to be dissolved and new, honest officials appointed. That is our main demand.”Police actionDuring the day, there are fewer students at the protest site as they spend the day studying. As evening approaches, thousands gather every day near S.M. Joshi Bridge and they stay until midnight.Students gathered at the protest site at night. Photo: Atul Ashok HowaleOver the past few days, political leaders from the opposition parties in Maharashtra have also extended their support to the protest, including leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. Several leaders from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Congress and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), All India Kisan Sabha CPM leader Ajit Nawale, as well as Maratha activist Manoj Jarange and Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijit Dipke have also visited the protest site.Sujat Ambedkar of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi also visited the protest site on Wednesday evening and spoke to the protesting students.With the protest having grown bigger, the Pune police has also started taking action against those involved in the protest. According to the protesters, notices have been issued under Section 168 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) (prevention of cognisable offences) to more than 100 people. They allege that the police are using these notices to put pressure on them and weaken the agitation.Police notice to protesters. Photo: Atul Ashok HowalePramod Patil, one of the organisers of the protest, who also received a notice, told The Wire,“The Pune police have served notices to me as well as to protesting students, library owners, teachers and people who are running Telegram channels. The government under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis may be trying to put pressure on the protest through these notices, but I don’t think the students are going to be scared. These notices will not stop the agitation.”Hunger strikeSeveral students and Youth Congress office-bearers have undertaken a hunger strike at the protest site. Meanwhile, the organisers say that no government delegation or anyone from the ruling government has come to meet the protesting students so far and the government has also not given any response to the main demand – the resignation of MPSC chairman Bhimanwar.Shivraj More, Maharashtra Youth Congress president, is among those on hunger strike. Speaking to The Wire, he questioned why the government won’t speak to the students instead of using police pressure.Maharashtra Youth Congress president Shivraj More and other protesting students on hunger strike. Photo: Atul Ashok Howale“After putting in all this effort, when their exam paper is leaked, it destroys students’ dreams and confidence. At an age when they should be supporting their parents, they are forced to ask their families for money to continue their studies. We will not step back from this fight until all our demands are accepted,” he said.The students have demanded an overhaul of the system, having raised concerns about the delays in recruitment, over transparency and paper leaks in the process.Simultaneous protests over exam patternA simultaneous protest was being held, though split into two groups of opinion, at two locations, over the changes made to the MPSC exam pattern: while some students want the exams to continue in the descriptive answer format, others want the earlier MCQ-based pattern to be restored for the same posts.A poster at the Alka Talkies chowk protest demanding descriptive pattern for MPSC exams. Photo: Atul Ashok HowaleThe protest seeking continuation of the descriptive answer format, being held at Alka Talkies chowk, was called off on Wednesday after the Bombay high court urged the protesting students to return to their studies.Nitin Andhale, one of the organisers of the protest near Ahilya Shikshan Sanstha, demanding the MCQ pattern back, told The Wire, “The descriptive pattern introduced for the MPSC exams is unfair to students from poor and farming families in Maharashtra. It mainly benefits those who can afford to move to cities like Pune and Mumbai and spend lakhs of rupees on coaching classes. The MCQ pattern is more accessible to ordinary students, who use whatever resources available and study while helping with work on the farm.”Protesters demanding the MCQ pattern be brought back in MPSC exams, near Ahilya Shikshan Sanstha. Photo: Atul Ashok HowaleHe also alleged that when the exam was conducted in the descriptive format, there was so much confusion in the evaluation of answer sheets that the state government had to intervene and ask the commission to recheck all the papers. “If the government did not have a proper system to evaluate descriptive answers, why was this system imposed on lakhs of students and their future put at risk?” he asked.Whatever may be the main demand, these protests reflect the growing frustration and anger among students preparing for government jobs in Maharashtra.Meanwhile, leaders from the ruling parties have only criticised the protests, alleging that they are being driven by political interests, such as that of Rohit Pawar and the Maharashtra Congress.