Despite several requests by the aspirants in Kerala, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) went on conducting its All India Entrance Examination for Admission (AIEEA) to doctoral degree programs and award of Junior/Senior Research Fellowships. The exams for the academic year 2018-19 were held on August 18 and 19 when the state was battling unprecedented flood crises. It was due to floods that a large number of students could not even make in the examination venue. Ignoring the state’s plight, ICAR continued with the entrance exam and even recently announced to publish the results on August 30. The Kerala High Court led by Justice Muhammed Mushtaq slams ICAR for being “insensitive” towards the difficulty of the people. The publication of the results for the entrance exam is withheld. ICAR AIEEA Re-Exam 2018 Admit Card Released Online. 

Two candidates filed a writ petition; Amal C T and Adarsh C K, who could not appear in the AIEEA 2018 due to floods. After heavy rains and massive landslides took place all over the state from August 15 onwards, the petitioners and several other candidates requested the Minister of Agriculture to direct ICAR to postpone the exams. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had announced on August 16 and directed all educational institution to remain closed till August 29. The petitioners stated that ICAR did not pay any attention to their plea and further said that the conducting body even changes their exam venue to Kochi without proper notice to them which was attended by less than 40 per cent candidates.

On the other hand, the state counsel G Prakash informed the court that lakhs of people including MBBS and BDS aspirants are still in relief camps. Member of Parliament, Shashi Tharoor pointed out on August 17 itself on Twitter that ICAR must refrain from conducting the exams. While accepting the writ petition, Justice Mustaque reportedly passed an order granting interim as requested for a period of three weeks. Hence, the publication of results of the August 18 and 19 entrance exam which was held in 56 centres all over the nation is postponed. Kerala Battles With Flood & Rumours Too! Special Classes for Kannur School Children to Tackle Fake News. 

Earlier, the Indian Council for Agricultural Research had notified the cancellation of ICAR AIEEA exam which was scheduled on June 23. Due to administrative reasons, the exams were postponed to August 18 and 19. Many institutes such as Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC), Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), had also cancelled their recruitment exam which was scheduled for August 17 for all the exam centres in Kerala. But ICAR did not change and continued with their exams. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) too conducted the exams for hiring Grade B officers and received much criticism for ignoring the disaster faced by Kerala candidates.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 21, 2018 04:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).