Ranchi: The Jharkhand government met again with protesters on Saturday, after days of unrest over alleged cheating and irregularities in recruitment exams run by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).
Saturday’s meeting happened at the State Guest House in Ranchi, with a group led by student and Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) leader Devendra Nath Mahto. Mahto has been on an indefinite hunger strike for a week, and the protests as a whole have now stretched into their third week.
This meeting followed another round of talks on Friday, where government ministers and a senior bureaucrat sat down with a 10-person delegation from the JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch. Both sides said the discussion was positive, but nothing concrete came from it.
Protesters aren’t letting up. They want the government to cancel the 14th JPSC Civil Services Preliminary Exam and order an independent probe—either by the CBI or by a panel of retired High Court judges brought in from outside Jharkhand.
Their demands go further. They’re calling for scrutiny of other recruitment tests too, including the JSSC Combined Graduate Level exam. The Reforms Manch wants transparency—release cut-off marks and scorecards, show the OMR sheets, explain how marks are normalized, and publish a fixed exam calendar.
There’s also frustration with the heavy use of private agencies in running these exams. Protesters want the JPSC and JSSC overhauled, a better way to deal with complaints, and quick action on suspected paper leaks or cheating.
After the Friday talks, Higher and Technical Education Minister Sudivya Kumar said the government hears the students and will look at their demands with “sympathy.” Minister Dipika Pandey Singh said they’ve already informed Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
The government keeps saying it’s open to dialogue. Soren has said students get to voice their grievances, and that reform is on the table if the concerns prove valid.
But for the protesters, promises aren’t enough. Leaders of the Reforms Manch said the movement will go on until the government actually cancels the 14th JPSC exam and takes real action.
Tempers are rising. The protest leaders warned they’ll march to the Jharkhand Assembly on August 10 if nothing changes by Sunday. The fight has caught political attention, too. BJP opposition legislators have stalled the Assembly, demanding a court-monitored CBI probe into the exam mess.
Several student groups are involved. Friday’s talks had the Reforms Manch; Saturday’s involved the Mahto-led JLKM. By talking to both, the government seems to be casting a wider net, but with different groups at the table, agreeing on a solution only gets harder.
The hunger strike isn’t helping the government’s position. At least one protester has already landed in the hospital as tensions rise.
All the state has promised is to study the complaints and bring them to the chief minister. Protesters want action, not more waiting. If Jharkhand still refuses to make a clear call on the exams or order a credible inquiry, the standoff isn’t ending anytime soon.
