Osmania and Jawaharlal Nehru Technical Universities (JNTU) on Monday announced that exams scheduled for December 8 will be postponed to later dates owing to the Bharat Bandh. The JNTU university registrar said all exams scheduled for Tuesday, December 8 at the JNTU has been postponed to December 10.
Osmania University, which was to have the common postgraduate entrance tests (CPGET-2020) on December 8, has also postponed the exam to a yet undecided date. The new exam date will be made available on the CPGET-2020 website.
The exams have been postponed owing to the nationwide farmer protest against the three agricultural laws that were passed by the Union government. The University expects the Bharat Bandh will disrupt transport services, impacting students’ commute. The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TRSTC) bus services will be impacted for the day of the Bharat Bandh until noon.
The Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had on Saturday issued a statement extending the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party’s support towards the farmers’ cause. KCR had appealed to his party workers and also the public to support the farmers’ protest. Farmer associations say the three new acts are not in the best interest of farmers and favours agricultural food businesses owned by corporate firms.
Telangana had voted against the laws in Parliament saying they were harmful to farmer interests, said KCR, asserting that the fight needs to continue till farm laws are repealed.
TRS expects that all trade, business and transport unions will join the call for bandh. The TSRTC unions have also extended their support to the farmers and will be actively taking part in protests.
Farmer associations in Telangana, however, have been saying that the TRS government should also look at how states such as Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh rejected the farm laws through amendments at the state level. Farmers are presently entering their sixth round of talks with the Union government that are scheduled for Wednesday. The Union government is expected to place a new proposal before the farmers’ associations.