Pune: A large group of students preparing for competitive exams staged a sit-in protest in Pune's Navi Peth area on Tuesday (August 20) night, demanding the inclusion of agricultural service posts in the upcoming Maharashtra Gazetted Civil Services Combined Preliminary Examination (MPSC Exam), scheduled for August 25.

The protest began at 9 PM, with hundreds of students voicing their dissatisfaction over the exclusion of these posts from the exam.

Earlier in the day, the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) issued a circular stating that it was not possible to include the agricultural service posts in this year's exam, sparking frustration among the candidates.

The protesting students raised slogans against the MPSC and called for the immediate publication of an advertisement for 258 approved posts in the Agriculture Department's Group A and Group B. They demanded that these positions be added to the August 25 exam.

Police arrived at the scene to maintain order, advising the students to protest peacefully and warning them not to take the law into their own hands.

Despite the students' demands, the MPSC has maintained that the inclusion of these posts in the upcoming exam is not feasible. The students have threatened to escalate their protest to a statewide level if their demands are not met.

Earlier, the announcement of MPSC regarding Social Welfare Officer exam on August 18, and the Civil Services Combined Preliminary exam on August 25, had meant that millions of students faced a scheduling conflict, as the dates for the IBPS Clerk exam and the MPSC exams coincide.