UPSC Extra Attempt 2021: In the wake of prevailing COVID-19 situation, scores of civil service aspirants have come together to demand an extra attempt to appear for the upcoming Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams 2021. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea filed by scores of UPSC aspirants, who had exhausted their last attempt in the October 2020 exam amid Covid-19, seeking an extra chance at the prestigious civil services exam. The Centre had told the Supreme Court that it is not in favour of one-time relaxation to UPSC civil service aspirants, to those who are age-barred, as it will be discriminatory to other candidates.

However, it seems the preserved students are not ready to budge till their demands are fulfilled. While some highlighted reasons like lack of basic needs like electricity and internet in remote regions, other aspirants cited lockdown, loss of lives in their families and mental stress as their reasons for the demanding an extra attempt.

“Many of us are Covid warriors and some of us have lost our loved ones. Give us an attempt on humanitarian grounds. We stood for the people on the call of the people of India when they wanted people to stand up for us now”, activist Yogita Bhayana wrote on Twitter.

#UPSCExtraAttempt2021 Trends on Twitter

To persuade the government, students have started trending #UPSCExtraAttempt2021 on the micro-blogging site. A candidate said that it is very hard to accept that our loved ones are not with us.

Tagging Union Minister Jitendra Singh, an aspirant named Saket Kumar said,”Sir, you were saying to us, ” It is a lame excuse.” But it’s reality how could you have empathy for us. Only those who is facing this pain could understand our situation.”

Check some other tweets here:

Earlier last month, the NSUI had demanded age relaxation and extra attempts for students appearing in competitive exams in wake of the unforeseen delays in examination schedules due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to Union Minister Jitendra Singh, NSUI national president Neeraj Kundan also demanded that vaccinating all students scheduled to appear for upcoming competitive examinations be made a priority.

“Apart from the demands of age relaxation and extra attempts for the aspirants, it is extremely important to form a vaccination policy for all such candidates before making any decision about any of the examinations,” the Congress” student wing said in the letter.

“The candidates going to appear in exams like UPSC, CA, NEET (UG & PG), JEE, SSC-CHSL, UGC NET, INCET should be vaccinated on priority basis as soon as possible,” it said.

Emphasizing the fact that due to the pandemic many aspirants of various exams like UPSC, SSC, RRB, IBOS, PSCs have missed out on the opportunity to sit for these exams, the NSUI, in a statement, said it was the government’s responsibility to “immediately form a policy to protect the attempts of all such candidates”.

“Independent India has never seen such an insensitive and deaf government like this. Students keep raising their concerns and the government keeps ignoring them. We have said this in the past and saying it again that nothing is more important than the lives of our fellow students,” Kundan said.

“This government has left all the student fraternity hanging. If they appear for the exams their lives will be in danger, and if they don’t, their future will be in danger. While the students are confused and panicked, the Modi government has not even shown signs of taking these issues into consideration,” he claimed.