In an effort to encourage Dalit, SC/ST and OBC students to take up civil services, the Bihar government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today announced rewards for those who clear these exams. Making these announcements, Nitish announced cash rewards for successful candidates.
“Students from Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, Dalit and OBC communities will be given Rs 50,000 if they clear Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) Preliminary Exams and Rs 1 lakh if they clear Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Preliminary Exams,” CM Nitish Kumar announced on Tuesday.
Earlier, the BPSC announced a number of vacant posts on its official website, for which the 64th combined preliminary exam will be held. The registration for the same is already on. The commission had also increased the number of vacant posts including Block Panchayat Officers and seven for Town executives. The last date to register for prelims is August 20.
The announcement to grant rewards to successful SC/ST, OBC and Dalit students came days after the state government decided to provide reservation in promotion to SC/ST staff. It had also decided to provide reservation facility in promotions of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes personnel in the state government jobs. This step was taken on the advice of the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in the wake of the Supreme Court order passed on May 17 and June 6 on a writ petition.
However, according to an official notification, the reservation in promotions would be subject to further orders of the top court. The state government had also said that the decision in this regard was taken after the recommendations of a high-level panel of state government officials that was formed for the purpose on June 27 and the legal advice obtained in this regard. The Nitish Kumar government also gave detailed guidelines for effecting such reservation during promotions.
The decision was taken following the recommendation of the state government’s high-level committee and Secretary General/Secretary-level officials. It was formed on June 27 after the DoPT’s advice.
