Following the nationwide “Sansad Chalo” march from Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to protest against the NEET paper leak and recruitment irregularities, another major student demonstration is expected to take place on Friday in Jharkhand. Students in the state are about to march to the State Assembly on Friday as they start to escalate their agitation against the alleged irregularities and systemic problems in the recruitment examination conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission.
This march is scheduled to start at 11 am, and student leaders and organisers are actively calling on young job aspirants and students from every region of the state to join in. The main demand for this mass movement is to have an extremely transparent and corruption-free recruitment process in the JPSC and JSSC. Participants have always said that the entire protest is the result of safeguarding the future of thousands of deserving job aspirants in Jharkhand who have been affected by repeated administrative delays and examination controversies.
The movement is gaining traction, entering its fourteenth consecutive day on Friday, and is supported by a large number of students and civil society. The main site of this protest is Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium in Ranchi, and students from many regional and student groups are coming together to show solidarity with the demonstrators and also demand more accountability, transparency, and structural changes in the recruitment system in the state of Jharkhand. In previous weeks, the protesting groups had already declared that they would gherao the Jharkhand Assembly during the Monsoon Session to press their demands. They have also stated that their core demand is not for any government leader to quit, but for an immediate suspension of recruitment tests and for a thorough judicial investigation of the whole problem.
The student leader Devendra Mahto has continued to keep up his indefinite hunger strike, and many of the committed protesters continue to stay overnight at the demonstration site, despite heavy and relentless rain. They have assured that even in spite of weather conditions, the demonstrators are not going to let their protest go off, and they will keep up demonstrations until the state government takes action to address their grievances. The students insist that the protest is not only non-political but also entirely non-political. The grassroots movement is being supported by local citizens, local temples, and other social organisations who are taking care of the protesters and providing essential supplies, food, and daily necessities.
