Every year, up to 50,000 to 1,00,000 UPSC aspirants move to Delhi
The death of three UPSC aspirants in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area after the basement of a building got flooded following heavy rains last week has brought attention to the students preparing for competitive exams.
The Civil Services aspirants, who travel to the national capital from across the country, are forced to pay exorbitant rents for tiny rooms where they spend most of their time.
And now a video shared by Deputy Superintendent Of Police Anjali Kataria sheds light on what the room looks like. For a "10x10" room, a student reportedly pays Rs 12,000-15,000 per month, only to live and study in cramped conditions.
The footage shows a room barely enough to accommodate a study table, chair and cupboard. Clothes were drying on a makeshift arrangement, with garments hanging from a rack and hooks on the wall. The room had an AC and a plastic chair that hung from the curtain rod, doubling as a makeshift clothesline due to the limited space. A rope stretched across the room also bore wet clothes. One corner of the room is occupied by a cupboard piled with books.
As the camera panned across the room, it showed a study table and chair squeezed into the limited space. Above the table, we see a whiteboard, covered with notes and study materials, affixed to the wall. The table had a lamp, a laptop and an open notebook, indicating the aspirant was in the middle of a study session.
The surrounding walls were plastered with pages of notes, study guides and reference materials. A short book rack near the table overflowed with more books, and an additional chair occupied the remaining space, leaving barely enough room for the occupant to move comfortably.
आप दिल्ली में 10×10 फुट कमरे का ₹12-15 हज़ार किराया भरते हैं, जहां मकान मालिकों का कार्टेल किराया बढ़ाए रखता है। और फिर वहां पढ़ते रूम पर बैठकर ऑनलाइन वीडियो से ही हैं!
केवल घर से दूर जाने भर के लिए दिल्ली मत जाइए और घरवालों के पैसे मत बर्बाद करिए#RajendraNagar#UPSCaspirantspic.twitter.com/79L76J9L6H
Mr Kataria's message is clear, "Don't go to Delhi just to get away from home, and don't waste your family's money". She stated that the "cartel of landlords" keeps increasing the rent, leaving aspirants to study in cramped rooms through "online videos."
Every year, up to 50,000 to 1,00,000 UPSC aspirants move to Delhi from various parts of the country to prepare for the exams. Of the roughly 4,00,000 candidates who appear for the exams annually, only a tiny fraction - about 0.01 per cent - make it to the final list.