Aspirants of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Service Examination plan to organise a ten-day hunger strike in Delhi. 

Speaking to EdexLive, Dinesh Singh, an aspirant says that this protest is to demand a one-time relaxation in the age limit of the CSE, to let aspirants who missed their attempt during the COVID-19 pandemic take the exam again.

On February 24 and 25 (Saturday and Sunday), aspirants of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) took to social media platform X to voice this demand online as well. 

“We COVID-affected UPSC aspirants, who either missed their attempts during COVID waves or debarred in exam hall for having contracted the COVID virus or suffered severe mental health issues, are demanding only a 'one-time' opportunity to contest the UPSC-CSE exam fairly ( not any jobs or financial packages). For our own justice, we have been protesting and petitioning for three years (sic),” a press note from the aspirants, released on February 24, reads. 

Hashtags such as #PMCoronaIASchance, #ModijiCSEcoronaRelief, #COVIDwalaUPSCrelaxation, and #CovidBrozgar were used by the aspirants to put forth their demands. In fact, #PMकोरोनाIASchance was one of the top trending hashtags of X on February 24.

According to Dinesh, however, the Delhi Police is denying the aspirants permission to protest. “We are still looking for places to organise our sit-in and hunger strike… we want to do it either at Jantar Mantar or in an enclosed space,” he added.