Two rounds of talks between protesting students and a government-appointed panel have failed to yield a breakthrough, with the aspirants insisting that their agitation will continue until their key demands are addressed.
BY PC Bureau
Ranchi: With protests by government-job aspirants entering their third week, the Jharkhand government has opened a fresh channel for students and other stakeholders to submit complaints and suggestions, even as two rounds of talks with protesting groups failed to produce an immediate breakthrough.
The government has set up a dedicated email address—JPSSC.feedback@gmail.com—through which students, individuals and other stakeholders can send their views on alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations. The administration says the feedback will be considered while framing a broader policy on reforms in the state’s recruitment system.
The development followed a second round of discussions between representatives of the protesting JPSC-JSSC Aspirant Nyay Manch, led by student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, and a government-appointed committee in Ranchi on Saturday.
An eight-member student delegation met government representatives at the State Guest House. The meeting came a day after another group of 11 aspirants held discussions with the panel.
The students have been protesting in Ranchi for around 15 days over alleged irregularities in examinations conducted for recruitment to government posts. Among their principal demands is the cancellation of the 14th Civil Services Preliminary Examination, conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) on July 2.
🚨 JPSC-JSSC आंदोलन | वार्ता खत्म
सरकार और छात्र प्रतिनिधिमंडल के बीच वार्ता समाप्त।
बैठक के बाद छात्रों ने क्या कहा? जानिए इस रील में।#JPSC #JSSC #Ranchi #JharkhandNews #StudentProtest pic.twitter.com/pOPyaocOrk— Jharkhand Updates (@JhUpdate) August 8, 2026
Government Opens Feedback Channel
Although Saturday’s meeting failed to resolve the dispute, the government indicated that discussions would continue.
Jharkhand Minister Sudivya Kumar Sonu said the administration would engage with different groups of students and other stakeholders before finalising a reform framework.
“We will continue to meet with various student groups and stakeholders. Additionally, we are releasing an email ID: JPSSC.feedback@gmail.com. Any student, individual, or stakeholder can send suggestions to this address,” Sonu said after the meeting.
🚨 JPSC-JSSC आंदोलन | वार्ता खत्म
सरकार और छात्र प्रतिनिधिमंडल के बीच वार्ता समाप्त।
बैठक के बाद छात्रों ने क्या कहा? जानिए इस रील में।#JPSC #JSSC #Ranchi #JharkhandNews #StudentProtest pic.twitter.com/pOPyaocOrk— Jharkhand Updates (@JhUpdate) August 8, 2026
He said the government intended to use the responses to formulate a recruitment reform policy and arrive at a collective decision.
“The government will take their concerns into account based on the emails received,” the minister said.
The student representatives, however, said they had been assured that the government would take an early decision on the issues raised by them. They made it clear that the protests would continue until their demands were addressed.
Minister Dipika Pandey Singh said the aspirants had presented their concerns over alleged discrepancies in the state’s recruitment process in detail during the discussions.
Mahto Says Protest Will Continue
Mahto, who led a separate delegation of aspirants, said the demands of the protesting students had not changed.
He has been on hunger strike for about a week, seeking action over alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations.
“If the government had agreed to our demands when the other students met them, there would have been no need for us to meet them separately. It does not matter how many of us go to the talks. We all have the same demands, and those demands should be fulfilled,” Mahto said.
The continuing agitation is centred at Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium in Ranchi, where students have been pressing the government to address what they describe as systemic problems in the recruitment process.
What the Protesters Want
The students have put forward a series of demands, including:
- Cancellation of all JSSC CGL, JSSC JE and PGT examinations conducted after 2019.
- A CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in the recruitment examinations.
- Strict action against alleged examination “mafias” and agencies found to have been involved in wrongdoing.
- Publication of category-wise cut-offs for UR, EWS, BC-I, BC-II, SC and ST candidates.
- Disclosure of OMR sheets and response sheets to improve transparency.
- A comprehensive recruitment calendar on the lines of the systems followed by the UPSC and SSC.
The protesters argue that greater transparency and an independent investigation are necessary to restore confidence among candidates preparing for government recruitment examinations.
READ: US Senate Passes Russia Sanctions Bill, Paving Way for 100% Tariffs on India
High Court Questions Delay in Jharkhand TET
The recruitment controversy comes alongside a separate dispute over the prolonged delay in conducting the Jharkhand Teachers Eligibility Test (TET).
The Jharkhand High Court has taken a serious view of the fact that the TET has not been conducted in the state for nearly nine years and has issued a show-cause notice to Umashankar Singh, Secretary of the School Education and Literacy Department.
The court has sought an explanation as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against the secretary for failing to comply with an earlier judicial direction to conduct the examination.
During an earlier hearing, Singh had assured the court that the TET would be held within three months. That deadline subsequently expired without the examination being conducted.
The High Court has now sought a clear explanation from the department over the delay.
The two developments—continued protests by government-job aspirants and judicial intervention over the prolonged TET delay—have placed Jharkhand’s recruitment and examination system under renewed scrutiny.
For the protesting students, however, the government’s newly opened feedback channel is unlikely to end the agitation unless it is followed by concrete action on their demands.
