Jharkhand student leader Devendra Nath Mahto ended his 16-day hunger strike at Sadar Hospital in Ranchi in the presence of ministers Dipika Pandey Singh and Irfan Ansari after the state government announced the cancellation of the JSSC-CGL examination and all recruitment tests conducted by outsourced agency TDPL since 2014.
Mahto had been on hunger strike as part of a student-led agitation over alleged irregularities in various recruitment examinations in the state.
Mahto thanked Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for supporting the students' demands. He also called for stringent laws and reforms to strengthen the monitoring of recruitment examinations and prevent paper leaks.
“I thank the Jharkhand government for showing the courage to make such a significant decision. Cancelling an examination was a massive challenge. It was not an easy call, given that the recruitment process for the JSSC-CGL examination had already reached the joining stage and many students had likely already secured their positions,” he said.
“Today marks a huge victory for Jharkhand. While I am now suspending my protest, my struggle for reform will continue. I envision an education system where paper leaks and irregularities do not occur—a system that ensures that children currently in primary or secondary school will not have to make such sacrifices or fight such battles when they eventually appear for JPSC or JSSC examinations,” he added.
However, the government's announcement failed to end the ongoing agitation, with protesters maintaining that their key demand for a CBI probe into the alleged examination irregularities had not been accepted.
The JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch, which has been spearheading the agitation, said it would continue the protest until the government agreed to a CBI investigation.
Minister Dipika Pandey Singh termed the protesters' demand for a CBI probe as “stubbornness” and claimed that the central agency had failed to deliver concrete results in cases related to paper leaks since 2015.
“We have accepted all the points raised. However, there must be a limit to stubbornness—demands should be such that the government can actually meet them,” she said.
The minister assured the protesters that the ongoing investigation would be impartial and that those found guilty would not be spared.
Earlier, Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced the government's decisions after chairing a marathon Cabinet meeting at the state secretariat.
Besides cancelling the examinations, Soren announced the formation of an exam reforms committee headed by senior IAS officer Amitabh Kaushal to recommend measures to strengthen the recruitment examination system.
“The government has decided to cancel the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission-Combined Graduate Level (JSSC-CGL) examination, which was one of the major demands of the protesting students. We have also decided to cancel all tests conducted by outsourced agency TSR Data Processing Pvt Ltd (TDPL) and the results published by it,” Soren told reporters after the meeting.
