Employee in morning, protester by evening: Meet those rendered jobless by Jharkhand call to scrap exam

On Monday night, amidst heavy rain in Ranchi, a group of individuals dressed in professional attire gathered outside the Jharkhand government building, Jharkhand Mantralaya. One of these was Roshan Kumar, a 30-year-old Assistant Section Officer (ASO) who had recently been informed of his job loss. Roshan, who had worked for a year in Gurgaon after clearing a railway recruitment, was now uncertain of his future after the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission - Combined Graduate Level (JSSC-CGL) examination was cancelled.

He had been preparing for government recruitment examinations since 2019, clearing several teaching-related exams. However, the JSSC-CGL examination, which had been a long wait with previous cancellations, was now cancelled, putting his job and that of about 2,000 others in jeopardy. Another affected individual was Chanda Kumari, a Junior Secretariat Assistant (JSA) who had also cleared the JSSC-CGL examination but was now prevented from starting her physical test for the Forest Range Officer (FRO) examination.

The cancellation of the JSSC-CGL examination, although hailed by protesters demanding action over alleged irregularities, has left many people, like Roshan and Chanda, jobless and uncertain about their future.