3 min readRanchiAug 7, 2026 11:50 PM IST
Two weeks after students’ protest kicked off in Ranchi, the Jharkhand government, for the first time, held formal talks with representatives of the protesting students on Friday night.
The one-and-a-half hour-long meeting took place at the State Guest House, where a 10-member delegation from the JPSC-JSSC Reform Manch, one of the two factions of protesters, met four state ministers along with a senior bureaucrat.
The students have been protesting against alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).
Following the meeting, the students said the protest would continue, while the government said it would consider the demands and discuss them with Chief Minister Hemant Soren before taking a decision.
‘Protest will continue’
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Rajesh Prasad, one of the organisers of the JPSC-JSSC Reform Manch, said the government had sought time to examine the demands. “We will continue the protest till August 10. If our demands are not implemented on the ground by then, the movement will continue,” he said.
The government delegation comprised ministers Deepika Pandey Singh (of the Congress), Sudivya Kumar Sonu and Chamra Linda (JMM), and Sanjay Yadav (RJD), besides Additional Chief Secretary Ajay Kumar Singh.
The students reiterated their key demands, including the cancellation of the JPSC Combined Civil Services Examination-14, a CBI probe into the alleged recruitment scam, and the involvement of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) if financial irregularities are found during the investigation. They also demanded that all recruitment examinations allegedly linked to the main accused, Abhay Tiwari alias Manoj Tiwari, who has been arrested in the case, be cancelled.
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Following the meeting, which lasted from 8pm to 9.30pm, ministers told reporters that the government was considering the students’ demands.
‘No specific assurance given’
Binay Kumar, one of the organisers of the JPSC-JSSC Reform Manch, described the discussions as positive but maintained that the agitation would continue until a concrete decision was taken.
He said though the government delegation discussed all the demands of the students and promised to place them before the CM, it did not give any specific assurance on accepting any of them.
According to government sources, the initial list of 11 delegates submitted by the JPSC-JSSC Reform Manch was revised after the government asked the protesters to reconstitute it. Later, a 10-member delegation represented the students in Friday’s talks. It is not clear why the list was changed.
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The student delegation was brought to the State Guest House in three vehicles under the supervision of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate.
The delegation comprised Ravindra Paswan, Piyush Kumar, Rajesh Prasad, Neetu Kujur, Ankit Raj, Kartik Soren, Shalu Kumari, Ravindra Kumar Ravi, Anand Kumar and Ankit Kumar.
The talks also highlighted divisions within the student movement. While the government chose to negotiate with the JPSC-JSSC Reform Manch, another platform, the JPSC-JSSC Abhyarthi Nyay Manch, which had earlier announced a separate list of delegates, expressed dissatisfaction over being left out of the discussions.