Ranchi, August 10: Police deployed water cannons in Ranchi after job aspirants breached security barricades while marching toward the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly, where thousands gathered from multiple districts to demand recruitment examination reforms following recurrent paper leaks.
The march proceeded despite heavy security measures, district border checkpoints, and local school closures. Demonstrators continued past major intersections toward the legislative grounds, reacting to water jets by remaining on site in scenes reminiscent of recent competitive exam protests in neighboring states.
Political activity escalated concurrently outside the capital, where Bharatiya Janata Party leaders organized a demonstration near the official residence of Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The administration maintained that those responsible for compromising state competitive examinations would face stern action, but an official consensus on an independent probe remains pending.
The mobilization followed six rounds of dialogue between student representatives and an executive committee. While state authorities declared that agreements covered ninety-eight percent of the submitted demands, student representatives under the JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch stated that official consensus applied to canceling only three out of thirteen contested recruitment drives. Agitators maintained that a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into both state commissions remains an essential requirement.
We are protesting peacefully, and we urge everyone to help us maintain that peace, student leader Devendra Mahto affirmed from an ambulance while continuing an indefinite hunger strike. The student advocate, who reached the site alongside five fellow hunger strikers, urged demonstrators to avoid confrontations with law enforcement and proceed through alternative routes in an orderly fashion.
Administrative developments accompanied the ongoing movement, as three Jharkhand Public Service Commission members resigned after receiving summonses from the Crime Investigation Department regarding paper leak inquiries, following the earlier resignation of former chairman L Khiangte.
