Ranchi, India – August 10, 2026 – Protests intensified in Ranchi, the capital of India’s Jharkhand state, as students marched towards the state Legislative Assembly building today, demanding a comprehensive overhaul of the state’s examination system. The demonstration, met by riot police deploying water cannon and barricades, marks the latest escalation in a series of protests that began late last month over alleged irregularities in government recruitment examinations, including widespread test question leaks.
The demonstrators are calling for the cancellation of several disputed tests and a federal police investigation into the alleged misconduct. In response to the growing unrest, hundreds of police, backed by multi-tiered barbed-wire barricades and surveillance drones, were deployed around the assembly after repeated rounds of negotiations between student representatives and the state government failed to resolve the dispute.
As protesters attempted to breach barricades near Jagannath Mandir, approximately 3 kilometers from the assembly complex, security forces fired water cannon to disperse the crowd.
Among the protesters, at least six individuals are engaged in an indefinite hunger strike. Student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, 33, who has been fasting for nine days, joined the front line of today’s march on a stretcher. In a speech broadcast by Indian media, Mahto declared, "Despite being on hunger strike, the barbed wires will not be able to stop us."
Late Sunday, the Jharkhand state government agreed to cancel the 14th Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) preliminary exam and two backlog recruitment tests. Additionally, three JPSC board members submitted their resignations following questioning by state investigators. However, student groups have stated that their protests will continue until the government cancels the Combined Graduate Level examination and transfers the investigation of exam paper leaks to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
These protests in Jharkhand follow closely on the heels of the youth-led "cockroach" movement in New Delhi, which successfully pressured Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign two weeks ago over leaks of the national medical school entrance test. The New Delhi protests, organized by the online movement known as the Cockroach Janta Party, lasted for 36 days before Pradhan’s resignation.
