RANCHI: Jharkhand’s capital is bracing for a major showdown on Monday after protesting job aspirants decided to go ahead with their planned assembly gherao, rejecting government appeals to call off the agitation despite a third round of talks on Sunday.The deadlock persisted over two key demands — a CBI probe into alleged recruitment irregularities and cancellation of JSSC-CGL 2024 examination.In a dramatic development, all three remaining JPSC members resigned on Sunday night ahead of their scheduled CID questioning on Monday over alleged irregularities in the 14th JPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination. Their resignations came days after the JPSC chairperson stepped down. CID has so far arrested 19 people in the case.Earlier, hundreds of protesters took out a nearly one-km ‘Tiranga Yatra’ on Sunday from Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium, the epicentre of the 16-day-old agitation, to Albert Ekka Chowk.Seeking to defuse the standoff, CM Hemant Soren urged youths not to fall prey to “political patronage”. At Morabadi, he said, “Your demands are your right. The government is with you. Every legitimate demand will be addressed with transparency. Justice will not only be done; it will also be visible.”He also announced a dedicated portal on exam reforms and appealed to students to engage directly with the government.Minister Sudivya Kumar said the government had accepted most demands, including cancellation of the 14th JPSC exam and its 2023 and 2025 backlogs, and a probe into private agency TDPL’s role in all exams conducted by it. It also proposed structural reforms through IIM Ranchi, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad, and XLRI.“The students, however, remain adamant on cancellation of JSSC-CGL and a CBI probe. The examination was conducted under court monitoring and several selected candidates have already joined service. The government cannot cancel it arbitrarily without legal backing,” Kumar said, adding that a time-bound judicial inquiry was rejected.On the CBI demand, Kumar said, “CBI is already probing the 1st and 2nd JPSC exams but there has been no outcome in two decades. However, we had offered an ED probe to investigate financial irregularities, if any, while CID will continue with its parallel probe. They denied this too.”
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JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch member Kunal Pratap Singh said, “The govt has agreed to several demands, but we cannot compromise on the two core issues,” he said. Hunger striker Devendranath Mahto said talks were positive “to some extent”, but the agitation would continue until all TDPL-linked exams were cancelled and cases handed to CBI.In the wake of the march from 11 am on Monday, many schools are expected to close early or observe a holiday on Monday.For Monday, Ranchi administration has imposed prohibitory orders under section 163 of BNS within 750 metres of the assembly. DC Manjunath Bhajantri said, “So any demonstration and dharna in the area is illegal.”“Barricades, police force along with magistrates would be deployed to implement the order. The routes leading to Vidhan Sabha would be videographed. The district has also received additional force in this regard,” the DC said.Police have been asked to exercise restraint. SSP Rakesh Ranjan urged students to keep anti-social elements out. The administration warned violence could affect academic records, job prospects and police verification.
