Bihar woman breaks 10-day long fast after health worsens, UPSC stays mum

UPSC aspirant Priya Kumari, who was on a hunger strike, seeking a postponement of the UPSC CSE preliminary examination broke her fast on Monday. Priya, who hails from Patna started her hunger strike on September 11. The fast apparently lasted 10 days.

"I had to break the fast on medical advice," says Priya with a weak voice. She couldn't talk much, owing to fatigue. The examination is scheduled to be held on October 4. However, students from all across the country have been raising their voices against it, citing the upward COVID curve. They have been seeking a postponement of the examination until the COVID cases plateau in the country.

Priya was not particularly keen on giving up her strike, which she previously said will go on until the government decides to postpone the exam. "But I had to break the fast," she says. "I am not in very good condition. I am still recovering," says this engineering graduate, who has been preparing to write the CSE for the second consecutive time.

During her strike, she had also expressed solidarity with the students who wrote JEE and NEET, amid pandemic. "The COVID cases are on a rise. Apart from that, the lockdown has created a disaster in the country. So many people have lost their incomes and are still recovering from the newfound poverty. Apart from that, a lot of COVID warriors are aspiring to write the exam. If the UPSC conducts the exam in October, it is depriving many of them of the opportunity of writing the exam," she told us previously.

Recently, DMK MP P Wilson took up the issue in the parliament. He demanded that the exam be postponed to a date when it will be safe for people to be outside their homes again.