The coaching industry is a multi-billion dollar enterprise in India. Training institutes hone the skills of everyone from IAS aspirants down to wannabe constables. Since government jobs are all about surviving a cut-throat competition, it is very natural that aspirants join coaching classes by paying lakhs of rupees. An IAS aspirant who moves to Delhi to get trained may spend about Rs 2 lakh for coaching in just one year. Many of them attend classes year after year. (Side note: And each IAS aspirant ends up spending double the coaching fee amount on lodging and eating expenses in Delhi)

The coaching industry has vastly fattened the guys who run institutes. The recent Agnipath scheme has been opposed by the coaching industry because it makes trainers irrelevant to an extent. Their business interests will be greatly affected if the scheme goes through. That's why they don't want any reform of the recruitment system. Trainers have instigated the recent violent protests in parts of India against the Agnipath scheme.

The other day, ANI quoted the Aligarh SSP as saying that four FIRs were registered in last week's Tappal violence in Uttar Pradesh. The directors of nine coaching institutes were also sent to jail for instigating aspirants there. Today, NDTV reported that all private coaching institutes in the Mahendragarh district in Haryana have been closed until further orders.

In an article about the negative influence of coaching institutes in the ongoing Agnipath violence, OpIndia wrote, "Influential Youtubers and coaching institutes in Bihar are adding fuel to the fire of unrest and chaos over the Agnipath scheme, weaponising misinformation and inciting aspirants to take to the streets in protest."

The rot is widespread. Columnist Satish Viswanathan is of the opinion that the Armed Forces recruitment coaching industry is very lucrative. "Coaching institutes are run by ex-servicemen. Poor aspirants pledge their lands/houses to get into these institutes. With Agnipath, many of these coaching institutes become redundant. Similarly, civil service coaching institutes are run by ex-babus. When the Nigvekar committee report on Civil Service reforms was tabled, the protests were fuelled by the coaching institutes," he adds.