Protesters rally in India’s Jharkhand over alleged exam irregularities

Students have marched towards the state Legislative Assembly building in India’s Jharkhand, escalating protests over alleged irregularities in government recruitment examinations as riot police deployed water cannon and barricades to disrupt the demonstration.

Monday’s protest in Ranchi, the capital of the eastern state, is the latest in a series of demonstrations that began late last month over alleged wrongdoing in state public service recruitment examinations, including test question leaks.

The protesters are demanding an overhaul of ‌the state’s examination system, cancellation of some tests and an investigation by the federal police.

Hundreds of police guarded the assembly behind multitiered barbed-wire barricades and deployed surveillance drones after repeated rounds of talks between student representatives and the state government failed to resolve the dispute.

Security forces fired water cannon as protesters began climbing over barricades near Jagannath Mandir, about 3km (nearly 2 miles) from the assembly complex.

At least six protesters remain on an indefinite hunger strike, including student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, 33, who joined the front line of Monday’s march on a stretcher after fasting for nine days.

“Despite being on hunger strike, the barbed wires will not be able to stop us,”  Mahto said in a speech to the crowd broadcast by Indian media.

The Jharkhand state government agreed late on Sunday to cancel the 14th Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) preliminary exam and two backlog recruitment tests while three JPSC board members submitted their resignations after questioning by state investigators.

However, student groups said their protests will continue until the government cancels the Combined Graduate Level examination and hands over the investigation of exam paper leaks to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The protests come two weeks after the youth-led “cockroach” movement in New Delhi forced the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over leaks of the national medical school entrance test.

The New Delhi protests, organised by the online movement calling itself the Cockroach Janta Party, were held for 36 days before Pradhan stepped down.