Shubhra Debnath passed the preliminary, written and oral examinations of the 48th BCS (Special) and the 45th BCS and was recommended by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC) for the health cadre.
However, his name was missing from the gazette notification for the 45th BCS published on 14 October. Earlier, he had also been excluded from the gazette for the 48th BCS (Special), published on 22 January.
Shubhra Debnath does not know why he has been dropped repeatedly. He was also recommended by the BPSC for the police cadre in the 46th BCS. However, he now fears that he may be dropped from that list as well.
Shubhra Debnath told Prothom Alo, “I have no idea who is acting against me or why. However, the government could not exclude me on the grounds of merit. What is happening is deliberate.”
The government has given final appointments to 1,702 candidates through the gazette notification for the 45th BCS issued by the Ministry of Public Administration.
However, when the BPSC made its recommendations 11 months ago, the list contained 1,807 names. This means that 105 candidates were excluded from the gazette.
Shubhra Debnath said the state minister had assured them that the government would reconsider the matter if any of the candidates excluded from the 45th BCS gazette had been treated unfairly.
Of them, 49 candidates did not take part in the physical examinations and other procedures. The remaining 56 were dropped. Nine of these 56 candidates belong to the Hindu community. They said they had been excluded following verification before the publication of the final gazette.
For appointments to the education cadre through the 49th Special BCS, the BPSC had provisionally nominated 668 candidates.
However, the notification issued by the Ministry of Public Administration appointed 611 candidates. In other words, the notification did not include the names of 57 candidates nominated by the BPSC.
Meanwhile, at a press conference held in the conference room of the Ministry of Home Affairs at the Secretariat on 1 October, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said, “The government gives an assurance that no one will be excluded on the basis of political identity.”
Contact with several candidates dropped from the 45th BCS gazette revealed that 56 candidates met State Minister for Public Administration Md Abdul Bari on Saturday and submitted a memorandum. In the memorandum, they requested the authorities to reconsider their exclusion.
Shubhra Debnath said the state minister had assured them that the government would reconsider the matter if any of the candidates excluded from the 45th BCS gazette had been treated unfairly.
The minister also advised them to submit individual applications. The 56 candidates submitted separate applications to the Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration the following day, Sunday. In their applications, they urged the government to reconsider their exclusion.
All 56 candidates held a sit-in protest in front of the Raju Memorial Sculpture at Dhaka University from noon until 6:00 pm on Monday. They continued their sit-in protest on Tuesday. One of the protesters, Md Mehedi Hasan, said they would begin an indefinite hunger strike from Wednesday, if their demands were not met.
“I did not go to Australia hoping for a BCS job”
At least nine candidates excluded from the gazette notification for the 45th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination belong to the Hindu community.
They are Shubhra Debnath, Kushal Das, Buddhadev Kar, Sourav Moni Sarkar and Subrata Talukder from the health cadre; Srikrishna Chaitanya Nandi and Partha Sarkar from the livestock cadre; Chandan Biswas from the agriculture cadre; and Chinmoy Barman from the police cadre.
Partha Sarkar completed his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in veterinary medicine at Bangladesh Agricultural University in Mymensingh.
Before receiving a recommendation in the 45th BCS, he had secured an opportunity in 2024 to study at an Australian university with a scholarship. However, he gave up the opportunity to go abroad and waited to join the health cadre. When the gazette notification was published on 14 October, he was devastated.
Partha Sarkar told Prothom Alo, “I have never felt this bad in my life. I had also given up the opportunity to go abroad. Now I have lost everything. Everyone in my family and circle of friends wants to know what happened and why I was dropped. I do not know what to tell them.”
Chinmoy Barman, who studied in the Department of Criminology at the University of Dhaka, was recommended for the police cadre. He said he had ranked 76th on merit. His father works as a fisherman, and Chinmoy grew up in a financially struggling family. His parents were delighted when he received the BCS recommendation. However, the family is now devastated after finding his name missing from the final gazette.
Chinmoy said, “I do not know whom to approach or how to console my family. My wife has fallen ill. My parents are devastated. We cannot even celebrate Puja now. My family cannot cope with this trauma. Everyone is emotionally shattered.”
“I cannot show my face”
HM Ferdous Khan said the candidates excluded from the gazette were now facing social humiliation. Ferdous, who completed his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the Department of Islamic History and Culture at the University of Dhaka, had been recommended for the education cadre in the 45th BCS.
He said, “After being excluded from the gazette, I cannot even show my face in society or to my family. Everyone looks at me with suspicion, as if I have actually committed a crime.”
Moniruzzaman, who studied at Bangladesh Agricultural University, had been recommended for the fisheries cadre in the 45th BCS.
After his exclusion, he told Prothom Alo, “My family is devastated. They never imagined that I would face discrimination like this. I have done nothing wrong. So why was I dropped for no reason? We wanted a discrimination-free country. What kind of policy is this, then?”
Like Moniruzzaman, several candidates excluded from the 45th BCS gazette studied at Bangladesh Agricultural University.
One of them, Md Mehedi Hasan, had been recommended for the agriculture cadre. He said he had no idea why the authorities had dropped him or what offence he had committed.
He said, “I have never been involved with any political party. I have no criminal record either. If anyone can prove that I have committed any offence, I will withdraw of my own accord.”