Jharkhand paper leak row: Talks fail to end protests

The Jharkhand government on Saturday held talks with various student and aspirant groups over the alleged paper leaks in recruitment examinations, but failed to break the deadlock as protesters decided to continue their agitation until all their demands are met.

A five-member government panel, including state ministers, first met the faction of protesters led by JLKM leader Devendra Nath Mahto. His fast over the issue entered its seventh day on Saturday.

The panel later held meetings with delegations from the Congress-backed NSUI, Adivasi Chatra Sangh (ACS) and Jharkhand Chhatra Morcha (JCM).

The government had also held talks on Friday night with a 10-member delegation of the JPSC/JSSC Reforms Manch.

“Demands of protesting aspirants are genuine; we will place these before Chief Minister Hemant Soren,” state minister Sanjay Prasad Yadav, who is a member of the panel set up by the government, said after the meetings.

The ruling JMM’s students’ wing, Jharkhand Chhatra Morcha (JCM), placed five demands before the government panel, including cancellation of the 14th Jharkhand PSC Civil Services Examination.

The NSUI submitted six demands, including a CID probe into all JPSC and JSSC examinations under doubt within 90 days and the establishment of a Jharkhand Testing Agency (JTA) on the lines of the National Testing Agency, its spokesperson Sanjiv Shah said.

Adivasi Chatra Sangh leader Kartik Oraon said, “We demanded inclusion of tribal and regional languages as qualifying papers in the recruitment examinations, besides cancellation of the tests in which irregularities were found.”

State minister Chamra Linda said, “This was probably the last meeting with the students’ bodies, which included members of various tribal groups. They raised two more concerns, including recruitment backlog and conservation of tribal languages.”

The first meeting of the government panel was with Mahto’s grouping, JPSC JSSC Candidates’ Forum. It lasted around two hours.

“The government assured us of a quick decision to resolve the issues raised by us. However, our protests will continue until all our demands, including cancellation of the 14th JPSC exam, are met,” a leader of the forum said.

State minister Dipika Pandey Singh said the talks were held in a positive atmosphere and that recruitment discrepancies explained by students would be resolved soon.

Higher and Technical Education Minister Sudivya Kumar said the government has issued an email ID, jpsc.jssc.feedback@gmail.com, seeking suggestions from aspirants on reforming the recruitment processes.

The government held the talks as the protest over the alleged paper leaks entered its 15th day.

“We have been demanding immediate cancellation of the 14th Jharkhand PSC Civil Services Examination, and all exams conducted by that agency,” Mahto told PTI.

He said since the students have been protesting peacefully for over two weeks, the state government should fulfil their demands immediately.

“They should not procrastinate on it. How the government responds to the demands will be interesting to see. If the government had fulfilled the demands on Friday after the talks they held with the 10-member delegation of students, there would be no need for the meeting today, because our demands are almost the same,” Mahto said.

“My health condition is deteriorating day by day. Blood pressure and sugar levels are dropping. The doctor informed me about a chest infection and advised hospital admission. If these conditions continue, it will be dangerous for me. I am only able to listen, think, and speak slowly,” he added.

The protesters are seeking an independent probe into the alleged irregularities, either by the CBI or by a panel of retired high court judges from outside the state.

So far, 19 people have been arrested in connection with irregularities in the JPSC exams. The agency’s former chairman, L Khiangte, has been questioned four times since July 28.