Protests by candidates alleging paper leaks and irregularities in recruitment examinations in Jharkhand are ongoing. Against this backdrop, the state government held a series of discussions on Saturday with various student organizations and protesters. However, these meetings failed to resolve the deadlock; the protesters made it clear that they would continue their agitation until all their demands were met.
A five-member committee appointed by the government first met with a group of protesters led by Devendranath Mahato of the Jharkhand Lok Janshakti Morcha. Mahato’s hunger strike over the paper leak issue has entered its seventh day. Subsequently, the committee held separate discussions with representatives from the Congress-backed NSUI, Adivasi Chhatra Sangh, and Jharkhand Chhatra Morcha. The government had also held talks with a 10-member delegation on Friday night.
Following the series of meetings, state minister and government committee member Sanjay Prasad Yadav acknowledged that the protesters’ demands were legitimate and stated that they would bring the matter to the attention of Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The Jharkhand Chhatra Morcha (JCM) the student wing of the ruling JMM presented five demands to the government, including a call to cancel the 14th Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) Civil Services examination. Meanwhile, the NSUI, affiliated with the Congress party, placed six demands before the government. It called for a CID investigation within 90 days into all JPSC and JSSC examinations that are under suspicion. It also demanded the establishment of a ‘Jharkhand Testing Agency’ modeled after the National Testing Agency.
Speaking on the occasion, Adivasi Chhatra Sangh leader Kartik Oraon stated that they had demanded the inclusion of tribal and regional languages as qualifying papers in recruitment examinations. He also revealed that they had called for the cancellation of exams where irregularities were detected. The government committee initially held a meeting lasting nearly two hours with the student group led by Devendranath Mahato. The forum leader mentioned that the government had assured them of a quick decision to resolve their issues. However, he made it clear that protests would continue until all their demands including the cancellation of the 14th JPSC examination were met.
