Ranchi: After the Gen-Z agitation at Jantar Mantar, led by Cockroach Janta Party, emerged ‘victorious’ over the Central government, it’s the turn of student protesters in Ranchi to celebrate ‘win’ over the Jharkhand government after a 24-day agitation.
The Hemant Soren-headed government on Monday announced cancellation of the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level (JSSC-CGL) examination and all recruitment conducted through the TDPL.
Soren also said all exams conducted by TDPL since 2014 will be investigated by the CID, and a committee headed by a retired judge will conduct a separate enquiry into the irregularities.
The results published by TDPL will also stand cancelled.
Talks between the state government and protesting students remained inconclusive after several round of discussion.
On Monday, Soren said his government was serious about the concerns raised by the protesters and was committed to addressing those issues.
“For the last 24 days, students have been agitating. The minister’s panel has attempted to address the issues of protestors,” Soren said, adding that many of their demands had already been conceded.
The chief minister said CID and SIT investigations had revealed several “incriminating facts”, and people recruited through JSSC were being arrested in connection with alleged fraud and rigging in examinations.
Soren said the government had enacted a law against paper leaks, and was committed to bringing further reforms with transparency.
He claimed the government already had a standard operating procedure (SOP) for conducting exams, but it was not followed properly.
“We already have the SOP. But the SOPs were not abided by. That’s why irregularities were seen in exams conducted in the recent past,” he said.
Protesters had burned effigies of Soren and Rahul Gandhi a day earlier, alleging that they were not serious about the demands put forward.
Rahul had said earlier in the day that the students’ demands were genuine, and urged Soren to meet the protesters for further talks.
The Congress is a major alliance partner of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party in Jharkhand.