Hundreds of the youths staged protests in Jammu and Srinagar simultaneously against the government\u2019s decision to engage Mumbai-based Aptech for conducting recruitments in government departments. The agency has been blacklisted by several states.<\/p>\n
Jammu and Kashmir police on Wednesday resorted to lathi-charge and detained dozens to crush protests against the government\u2019s decision to engage a blacklisted company to conduct recruitment exams for government jobs.<\/p>\n
The government is battling a credibility crisis after a number of recruitment lists were discarded over allegations of fraud after a number of recruitment lists were discarded over allegations of fraud.<\/p>\n
The allegations have dented the Centre\u2019s claim that the scrapping of the state\u2019s special status would rid it of \u201ccorrupt\u201d politicians and bring in a clean and transparent administration.<\/p>\n
The protesters took to the streets after the government paid no heed to their calls for canceling the firm\u2019s contract that was awarded last year.\u00a0 In answer, the police used force and chased protesters and used batons in Jammu after they refused to disperse. Dozens were detained<\/a> and taken away in police buses. The protest in Srinagar was peaceful.<\/p>\n A group of \u201cengineers\u201d staged a symbolic protest selling peanuts on a cart, regretting they might end up doing that in the wake of a bleak job market in the Union Territory.<\/p>\n Last year, lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha\u2019s administration canceled the merit list of 1,200 sub-inspectors, 1,300 junior engineers, and 1,000 financial account assistants and ordered a CBI investigation, bowing to massive protests over allegations of large-scale corruption, including paper leak, in recruitment exams.<\/p>\n The Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board(JKSSB), the government\u2019s main recruitment arm, is facing multiple investigations by the CBI following allegations of malpractices in recruitment exams.<\/p>\n The CBI has arrested over a dozen people, including a commandant of the Border Security Force, for their alleged involvement in sub-inspector recruitments. The CBI investigations claim police sub-inspector posts were sold for Rs 20-30 lakh each. The government later handed over the contract to M\/S Aptech Limited, triggering protests and prompting aspirants to knock on the door of Jammu & Kashmir<\/a> and Ladakh High Court.<\/p>\n