22 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleAnahita Sachdev,BBC News, DelhiandAnand Dutt,BBC Hindi, Ranchi
ANIProtesters in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand have called off their 26-day agitation over alleged irregularities in government exams after the state agreed to several of their demands.
Thousands of students and job seekers had been seeking an overhaul of the state’s recruitment system, with some also going on hunger strike.
The breakthrough came after the government cancelled 22 of these exams and ordered investigations into several others. On Wednesday, student leaders said they had given the government two months to fulfil its remaining promises.
The protest site in the state capital, Ranchi, where hundreds had been camped out since late July, has since been cleared.
Before leaving, protesters held celebrations, exchanging garlands and bursting crackers.
“This marks a major victory in the struggle that Jharkhand’s students have endured,” student activist Ravindra Paswan told news agency ANI.
But protest leaders stressed that the agitation had only been suspended and could resume if the government failed to act.
One issue that had prolonged the stand-off was the students’ demand for an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s federal investigative agency.
The state government had resisted that demand, instead ordering its Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate alleged irregularities. Several people have been arrested during the investigation, including the head of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC), which conducts many of these exams.
BBC HindiAfter weeks of deadlock, protest leaders said on Wednesday that they had agreed to a government proposal for a judicial inquiry instead of an immediate CBI investigation.
“If this is not done within two months, we will once again vigorously demand a CBI investigation,” Paswan said.
The government’s concessions, however, have created a new dispute.
Its decision to cancel some exams has triggered protests from successful candidates who had already cleared them and taken up government jobs.
It remains unclear what will happen to their appointments if the investigations uncover irregularities.
Some have approached the Jharkhand High Court, arguing that candidates who qualified on merit should not lose their positions because of alleged irregularities involving others.
Government jobs are highly sought after in India for the stability and security they offer. Millions of candidates sit recruitment exams every year, often spending years preparing for them.
But the system has repeatedly been hit by allegations of paper leaks, cheating and other irregularities. Recruitment can also drag on for years, leaving even successful candidates facing prolonged uncertainty.
ANIIn Jharkhand, the protests began after last month’s preliminary civil service exam results, with some candidates alleging that answer sheets shared online showed successful applicants had answered fewer questions than expected, fuelling suspicions of manipulation.
It came on the heels of a larger protest in Indian capital Delhi, which culminated in the resignation of the federal education minister, and hence put more pressure on Soren’s government.
The protests had put the government – an alliance which includes Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Congress and some other parties – on the backfoot. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in the opposition in the state, has been supporting the protesters.
Earlier this week, Soren said “many shocking facts are emerging” from the CID investigation. He also announced that exams conducted by private agency TSR Data Processing Private Limited (TDPL) would be cancelled and that recruitment exams held since 2014 would be investigated.
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