NDA, CDS exams held peacefully amid Ram Navami celebrations in Jharkhand Ranchi

RANCHI: The examinations of the National Defence Academy, Combined Defence Services and Naval Academy were held peacefully, amid Ram Navami celebrations here on Sunday, officials said. The tests conducted by the Union Public Service Commission took place at 54 centres in the Jharkhand's capital Ranchi and around 50 per cent of candidates appeared for the examinations.

"The examinations passed off peacefully. The attendance in the first sitting was around 50 per cent. The report for the second one is not yet received. But, it remains more or less the same. There were around 29,000 candidates enrolled for all the three exams," the city commissionerate undersecretary Sushil Kumar told PTI. He said the competitive examinations were conducted in three sittings in nine centres and two in other venues.

Asked whether the Ram Navami festival was the reason behind the relatively low turnout of candidates for the examinations, Kumar said, " The overall attendance remains around 50 per cent in the UPSC-conducted examinations on normal days in the city." Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Chhavi Ranjan had appealed to puja organisers to ensure that candidates do not face problems reaching examination centres. Candidates also said they did not face any difficulty reaching venues in the morning but experienced some problems related to transport while returning to their homes.

Vinit Kumar, an NDA aspirant who came from Patna in Bihar, had no option but to walk to reach Ranchi railway station in the evening. "I reached my examination centre at Nirmala College in Doranda in the morning safely. But there was no passenger vehicle in the evening that might be due to the festival of Ram Navami," he said. Another candidate Priyanshu Raj, who came from Dhanbad district, said lack of transportation in the evening caused inconvenience to him. His examination centre was at Vivekananda Vidya Mandir in Dhurwa.

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Meanwhile, Ram Navami was celebrated with fervour across the state with people taking out religious processions after a gap of two years due to COVID-19. The Jharkhand government allowed religious procession with certain restrictions this year. Braving searing heat, devotees came out with colourful flags, drums and martial art displays on the streets for Ram Navami, celebrated as Lord Ram's birthday. The city wore a festive look on the occasion with flags bearing images of Lord Hanuman and posters of Shri Ram with Hanuman at several places like Albert Ekka Chowk, Main Road, Lalpur and Kokar. Devotees thronged temples like Hanuman Mandir at Main Road to offer their prayers. Hundreds of akharas, groups involved in practising wrestling, took out processions in the evening with participants raising slogans like "Jai Shri Ram and "Jai Hanuman". Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais and chief minister Hemant Soren greeted people on the occasion. The Ranchi administration made an elaborate security arrangement across the city to avoid any untoward incident. More than 3,000 security personnel were deployed to maintain peace in the city.