New Delhi: YouTube has blocked videos of last week’s protests by railway job aspirants in Patna shot by several local news channels, citing orders from the Indian government. One channel seems to have been shut down completely.
The protests broke out 30 January when candidates preparing to become railway loco pilots staged a fierce demonstration in Patna, opposing a notification issued by the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) seeking applications for 5,696 posts of assistant loco pilots (ALP). The protesters were demanding an increase in the number of posts.
The police resorted to lathicharge in many parts of the city and prohibitory orders under Section 144 were imposed in several areas. The protests saw participation of railway aspirants from all over Bihar, who were supported by coaching institutes for government jobs in the city.
The demonstrations were covered by several YouTube channels, which uploaded videos of the protesters making their demands.
The channels where protest videos were blocked included ‘Kya Kahti Hai Public’, ‘Sach Bihar’ and ‘On Duty’. People associated with two of these channels told ThePrint they got emails from YouTube stating that it had “received an order from the government related to national security or public order regarding your content”.
Brijesh Satyarthi, who runs On Duty, told ThePrint: “YouTube did not block our channel but it removed the video of the demonstration, citing the government’s complaint. YouTube said that it was a matter of national security and public order, but there was nothing like that in the video. We were just covering the protest by the ALP candidates.”
A journalist associated with Kya Kahti Hai Public, not wanting to be named, said: “We know there is nothing in the videos but the government has done what it wants. Whatever is against them, they will shut it down.”
The YouTube channel that has apparently been shut down is ‘SK Jha’, named after the coaching teacher who runs it.
Jha runs a coaching centre under the name ‘Aash Education Private Limited’ in Patna and the YouTube channel on which he provides online tuition for government job exams. The channel had around 11 lakh subscribers.
Jha put out a video message on another channel saying: “Our channel was closed on the orders of the government. The government considers this a matter of national security. It is possible that they feel that the (protest) movement can become bigger, and action has been taken accordingly. We are people who believe in the Constitution of India. The government must have been confused or someone must have got it done. We did not instigate any candidates.”
Jha was among those who had supported the protest by railway aspirants and had put out a video on the same on his YouTube channel. He, however, did not receive any mail from YouTube regarding the apparent shut down, his coaching manager, who did not wish to be named, said.
Ritik Kumar, a student studying under Jha and preparing for the ALP exam, told ThePrint: “S.K. Jha is currently the number one teacher for railway exam preparation in Bihar. When students in Patna demonstrated for increase in railway vacancies, sir made a video supporting them. Since then, sir’s channel has been closed.”
“Only 5,000 posts have come up for loco pilots. In 2018, there was recruitment for more than 64,000 posts. Recruitment has reduced over six years. We were expecting there would be recruitment for at least 30,000 posts,” he added.
Jha’s coaching manager told ThePrint: “Sir did not say anything in his video that was a matter of national security. Sir only talks about the rights of candidates. There is so much unemployment in the country and the ALP vacancy has come after many years. There are so few seats, so it is obvious that students will get angry. The candidates have been waiting for many years.”
ThePrint reached the assistant secretary in RRB Patna over phone with queries about the issue, but got no response. Patna Police Superintendent Vaibhav Sharma also did not respond to ThePrint’s calls. This report will be updated if and when their responses are received.
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‘Thousands of posts vacant, govt not filling them’
ThePrint spoke to N.B. Dutta, former working president of the All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA), about the grievances of the railway aspirants. “The railways has been struggling with shortage of loco pilots for decades. Thousands of posts are still vacant. Loco pilots have to work 16 hours and don’t even get leave. But the government is not filling the posts. The candidates are raising the right demand and those supporting them are being harassed by the government,” he said.
This January, AILRSA had reportedly written to the chairman of the Railway Board, stating that a total of 16,373 loco pilot posts were vacant and asked for recruitment for these.
Last year, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh, while answering a question in the Rajya Sabha, had said that 2.93 lakh posts were vacant in the railways.
“The government is not listening to the youth. There are so many vacant posts. Candidates wait for vacancies for years and work hard day and night for the exams. I did a course from ITI so that when the ALP vacancy comes, I could get the job. It should be easy. But my hopes were dashed. I don’t know whether I will be selected when the seats are so few,” said Rachna Bharti, who has been preparing for the railway exam in Patna’s Musallahpur Hat for three years.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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This is how BJP manages protests against its government; by suppressing the protest using force. That way the time of AMRITKAAL will not be polluted. This is really great governance! Bharat Mata Ki Jai!