As the Jharkhand student protests entered their 24th day, the Hemant Soren-led government on Monday cancelled the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level (JSSC-CGL) exam—one of the key demands made by the protesters.
All recruitments conducted by the TSR Data Processing Private Limited (TDPL), the firm at the centre of the student protests in the state over alleged issues with the recruitment exams, have also been cancelled.
"Furthermore, a comprehensive inquiry will be conducted into all errors—minor or major—that have occurred since 2014," CM Soren said about the TDPL, adding that the state government was also going to discuss the Centre's amendments made to the MMDR Act.
"To drive these reforms, we have decided to constitute a committee chaired by IAS officer Amitabh Kaushal ... this committee will engage with various institutions, intellectuals, and experts to bring the reform process to fruition," he added.
However, he did not make any mentions of a CBI probe into the alleged recruitment exam irregularities, given that it has been a key demand of the protesters since day one of their protests.
Notably, the government had earlier tried to resist cancelling the CGL exams as well, with a minister claiming that it was out of their hands because the process was conducted under the monitoring of the Supreme Court and the High Court.
This comes on the back of talks between a government panel and the JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch, which is at the helm of the agitations and hunger strikes in the state that intensified recently.
Meanwhile, a group of successful JSSC-CGL candidates who were already recruited gathered outside the state secretariat and appealed to Soren not to cancel the examination.
"We are firm on two of our demands—a CBI probe into irregularities in recruitment exams and cancellation of the JSSC-CGL exams," JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch leader Ravindra Paswan told reporters, as per a PTI report.
With the CBI probe demand still unanswered, it is yet to be seen whether the Soren government will take a stand on it before August 18, which is the deadline that the protesters have placed before a planned gherao at the CM's residence on August 20.
Plans for the gherao are underway, should the protesters remain firm on the CBI demand, for which they have claimed that about one lakh people are being organised.
