The Jharkhand government accepted key demands of protesting students on Monday, bringing a 24-day agitation over alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations to a major turning point.
Student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, who had been on hunger strike for 16 days, ended his fast after the government’s decision.
The government also announced a panel for reforms in the recruitment system. The government’s move addresses some of the protesters’ key demands, but it also creates uncertainty for candidates who had already cleared the JSSC-CGL examination. Jharkhand’s education spending has not increased as a share of its overall government expenditure over the longer term.
The state Cabinet decided to probe the JSSC-CGL examination and all recruitment tests conducted by TSR Data Processing Pvt Ltd (TDPL) since 2014, and ordered a comprehensive inquiry into alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations from 2014 onwards. Student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, who had been on hunger strike for 16 days, ended his fast after the government’s decision. Around 2,000 successful candidates now face uncertainty over their appointments following the cancellation. It accounted for 12.5 per cent of total expenditure in 2018-19 and is budgeted at 12.1 per cent in 2026-27.
He called the cancellation a victory for the student movement, but said the focus now must be on ensuring a transparent and reliable recruitment system.
