Students in Jharkhand protesting irregularities in recruitment examinations on Wednesday suspended their 26-day agitation and gave the state government two months to address their demands and ensure a fair investigation.
“We are now suspending the stir and giving a two-month ultimatum to the government to resolve the issues and conduct a fair probe into recruitment exam irregularities,” a leader of the JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch said.
The decision came a day after the state government issued notifications cancelling 22 recruitment examinations and ordering probes into 23 others conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and an outsourced agency since 2014.
Job aspirants had been staging a sit-in protest in Ranchi, demanding investigations into irregularities in the 14th Jharkhand Public Service Commission Civil Services Examination, the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level examination and other recruitment tests.
The Manch said three protesters, Rupesh Kumar Pal, Savita Kumari and Rahul Kranti, ended their 15-day hunger strike on Wednesday.
Manch spokesperson Piyush Kumar Singh urged Chief Minister Hemant Soren to take stringent measures to prevent further irregularities in recruitment examinations. He also demanded withdrawal of FIRs against protesters who participated in the August 10 march to the Assembly and the reinstatement of whistleblower Santosh Kumar Mastana in the finance department.
Student leader Devendra Nath Mahato ended his hunger strike on Tuesday after meeting ministers and MLAs who visited him at Ranchi’s Sadar Hospital.
Mahato thanked the government and said the ongoing probe was targeting those involved in examination irregularities. He added that students would continue supporting efforts to address corruption in the recruitment examination system and cooperate with the government in the reform process.