Agitating Jharkhand students have formed an 11-member team to hold talks with the state government to resolve the issue. The agitation over the alleged irregularities in the JPSC and JSSC recruitment examinations has entered a crucial phase in Ranchi.

Akashvani correspondent reports that the protest against the alleged irregularities in the JPSC and JSSC recruitment examinations entered its fourteenth day today in Ranchi, with six students continuing their hunger strike. Last evening, the aspirants took out a flashlight protest march from Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium in Ranchi.

Later, Ranchi Sadar SDM Rajat Kumar and ADM Dhananjay Kumar met the protesting students at the stadium. Speaking to reporters, SDM Rajat Kumar said the administration had come to interact with its younger brothers and discuss how it could assist them in their preparations for the future. Student leaders said no formal invitation for talks had been received from the state government till yesterday evening. However, following Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s statement that the doors of the government were open for dialogue, the students constituted an eleven-member delegation for talks with the government.

The protest, which began on July 25 under the banner of the JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch at Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium, has emerged as one of the largest student-led movements in the state in recent years. The protesters are demanding cancellation of the 14th JPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination, an independent probe into the alleged irregularities, and comprehensive reforms in the JPSC and JSSC. The issue also echoed in the Jharkhand Assembly, where Opposition NDA legislators demanded a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has said he will join the students’ hunger strike if the state government fails to take a decision by August 13.