The entrance examination for the positions of Agriculture Officer and Assistant Agricultural Officer in Karnataka was postponed just one day before its scheduled date. The recruitment for 128 Agriculture Officer (AO) positions and 817 Assistant Agricultural Officer (AAO) positions under the Department of Agriculture was moved from August 8 and 9.
Despite the suddenness of this decision, it was not made due to a leak of examination materials or administrative violations, but as a result of active protests by students studying agriculture.
The main reason for the disagreement was the recruitment rules and the established eligibility criteria. The government allowed participation in this competition not only for graduates of agricultural universities (B.Sc Agriculture) but also for students from other higher education disciplines. Agricultural students strongly opposed this rule, arguing that technical agronomist positions should be exclusively available to graduates of relevant specialties.
Students intensified their actions, demanding the cancellation of the exam. On August 4, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Minister Priyanka Hargre visited the Gandhi Centre for Agricultural Sciences (GKVK) to meet with the protesting students and assure them that the issue would be reviewed. However, the students remained dissatisfied with the assurances received and refused to back down, staging an indefinitely long sit-in strike at Freedom Park in Bengaluru.
Under pressure from the ongoing movement, Minister Priyanka Hargre met with the students at Freedom Park and announced the government's decision via social media. The state issued an order withdrawing the old notifications for the recruitment of 128 AO positions and 817 AAO positions. A special expert committee was formed to resolve the situation and will submit its report within 15 days. Necessary changes to the 'Cadre and Recruitment' (C&R) rules will be made based on the recommendations of this committee.
H. Prasnan (IAS), the Working Director of the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA), officially confirmed that the written exam scheduled for August 8 and 9 is temporarily suspended. New exam dates will be announced after receiving the expert committee's report and completing the review process.
