Jharkhand job seekers plan assembly gherao as talks stall over exam probe and cancellation

On Monday, thousands of Jharkhand job seekers will try to gherao the state assembly, ignoring the chief minister’s call to end the agitation after three rounds of talks failed. Their core demands remain a CBI investigation into alleged recruitment fraud and the scrapping of the JSSC-CGL 2024 examination. In a related development, all three remaining members of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission resigned on Sunday night before scheduled CID interrogation concerning irregularities in the 14th JPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination; the commission’s chairperson had already stepped down and CID has so far detained 19 suspects.

Protesters earlier staged a near-kilometre “Tiranga Yatra” from Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium to Albert Ekka Chowk, while Chief Minister Hemant Soren appealed for restraint and unveiled a dedicated portal for exam reforms. Minister Sudivya Kumar said the government had agreed to cancel the 14th JPSC exam and address backlogs, and proposed structural reforms involving IIM Ranchi, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad and XLRI, but maintained that the JSSC-CGL exam could not be cancelled arbitrarily and dismissed a judicial inquiry. Authorities have imposed a 750-metre prohibition zone around the assembly, deployed additional police and magistrates, and warned that any violence could jeopardize students’ academic records and future employment verification.