RANCHI: Indian students marched towards the state assembly in Jharkhand on Monday, intensifying protests over alleged irregularities in government recruitment examinations, while several demonstrators continued hunger strikes.
Protests in Ranchi, the capital of the eastern Indian state with a population of more than 33 million, began on July 29, following a youth-led movement in New Delhi that had earlier resulted in the resignation of India’s national education minister.
At least six protesters are currently on hunger strike, including student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, 33, who has been fasting for more than a week.
“We want the whole system to change,” Mahto said, according to Indian media reports, while calling for an end to the use of a private company responsible for conducting examinations for the state civil service.
Hundreds of police personnel were deployed around the state assembly on Monday, with the building surrounded by barbed-wire barricades. The security arrangements came after repeated talks between student representatives and the state government failed to produce an agreement.
Large groups of students marched towards the assembly while chanting slogans as they demanded action over the examination process.
The protesters are calling for the cancellation of several examinations conducted by a private company on behalf of the state government. They are also demanding a federal police investigation into the company’s conduct.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has attempted to ease tensions by accepting some of the protesters’ demands, while several members of the civil service body responsible for overseeing the examinations have resigned.
“Every problem can be resolved through dialogue,” Soren said in a speech on Sunday.
The protests in Jharkhand follow a 36-day demonstration in New Delhi organised by the online Cockroach Janta Party over alleged failures in India’s examination system. The movement gained national attention after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan stepped down, giving the protesters an unusual political victory and placing examination integrity at the centre of wider political debate.
The Jharkhand protests reflect broader frustration among young Indians, for whom government examinations are considered an important route to employment in a country where millions compete for a limited number of public-sector positions.
While the New Delhi protests directly challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Jharkhand demonstrations are targeting the state government, which is politically opposed to the BJP.
