The Indian government has confirmed its readiness for a Lok Sabha debate on the ongoing student protests and police action, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah set to address the concerns, particularly those related to the NEET paper leak issue.
The BJP in Jharkhand has postponed its planned bandh (shutdown) to April 9, citing Good Friday and the JEE (Main) examination. The bandh was initially called to protest the state's law and order situation and demand justice in a rape and murder case.
Students and job aspirants in Jharkhand, protesting alleged irregularities in recruitment exams, have formed an 11-member delegation to engage in talks with the state government. This decision follows Chief Minister Hemant Soren's offer for dialogue to resolve the ongoing impasse, which includes demands for exam cancellation, an independent probe, and comprehensive reforms in the JPSC and JSSC.
As the agitation over alleged irregularities in Jharkhand recruitment examinations entered its 14th day, talks between the state government and student protesters on Friday failed to break the deadlock, with students deciding to continue their protest and hunger strike until their demands, including cancellation of the 14th JPSC examination, are met.
Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), emphasised the importance of young or Gen Z voices leading dialogues with youth, ahead of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's interaction with students in Mumbai. Dipke highlighted that youth protests, including those against the NEET paper leak, have compelled leaders to engage with Gen Z. He also expressed solidarity with students protesting alleged paper leaks in Jharkhand, criticising the government's handling of the issue.
Abhijeet Dipke, convener of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), has urged the BJP to align with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's stance on Gen Z protests, particularly regarding NEET examination irregularities, and to refrain from labelling protesting youth as 'anti-national'.
Education sector experts agree that using the "best technology" was essential to ensure students did not have to sit for an examination all over again because of a question paper leak.
Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut has made a significant U-turn, praising Gen Z as India's biggest strength and ambassadors of culture, days after controversially labelling them 'generation gutter.' Her new stance aligns with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's recent comments advocating for hearing out young protesters.
The BJP is significantly increasing its digital engagement with young people on Instagram, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers, in response to the NEET-UG paper leak controversy and subsequent student protests. This strategic shift aims to counter the narrative and communicate government actions on examination reforms.
Poor families, she said, cut corners on their own needs to pay for coaching and fees, and when their child clears JEE, it's the happiest day the family has had in years. So why, she asked, her voice already starting to climb, does the same system that we're told is the best in the country keep pushing those very students toward what she called 'institutional deaths'?
The top court said since the remit of the panel has been expanded, the committee would submit its report by September 30 on various measures to rectify deficiencies in the examination system.
The decision that came soon after the Bharatiya Janata Party's poll victory in four of the five states was taken after a high-level committee submitted its report to the Railway Board.
The Bihar Police's Economic Offences Unit, which is probing the alleged National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) paper leak case, on Saturday claimed to have obtained reference question papers of the test conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) and planned to compare these with documents recovered from a flat in Patna during a search operation last month.
A special CBI court in Godhra on Saturday granted the probe agency four-day custody of Jay Jalaram School's principal Purushottam Sharma, teacher Tushar Bhatt, and middlemen Vibhor Anand and Arif Vohra, all of whom are alleged to be involved in irregularities in the May 5 NEET-UG exam in Godhra.
The statement implicated members of the Mukhiya gang, accused of orchestrating multiple interstate paper leaks, as the source of the leaked answer sheet.
An analysis of data indicated that while the candidates who allegedly benefitted from the paper leak and other irregularities have not done well, some centres have a high concentration of well-performing students.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two persons including a key accused in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) paper leak case who allegedly stole the paper from a National Testing Agency's trunk in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, officials said Tuesday.
Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have decided to raise the NEET issue in both houses of Parliament on Friday and members will give notices in this regard, sources have said.
The Centre on Saturday night announced that the probe into alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam NEET will be handed over to the CBI for a comprehensive investigation.
The issue, which has been a matter of intense public discourse for past few months, has evoked contrasting views with many backing the holding of the tests fearing that it may lead to a zero academic year for students, and the Opposition and activists demanding their postponement in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, every state election -- first up, Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand later this year, then Delhi in January and Bihar in September next year -- will be seen by his followers for evidence of his recovery, and by rivals of sharpening decline, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Bihar education minister asked if the 'media person who posed queries to the topper is himself a great musician?'
'The Congress in the past backed the demand, but will not support it now since the SP opposes any division of UP.'
At a meeting convened by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on a range of issues ahead of Monsoon Session of Parliament, the seven chief ministers unanimously agreed to the need for filing a review petition urging the Supreme Court to reconsider its recent order rejecting the postponement of the competitive exams.
The review plea has been filed by ministers from West Bengal (Moloy Ghatak), Jharkhand (Rameshwar Oraon), Rajasthan (Raghu Sharma), Chhattisgarh (Amarjeet Bhagat), Punjab (B S Sidhu) and Maharashtra (Uday Ravindra Sawant).
Incidents of arson, firing and vandalism were reported from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab as protesters agitated against the dilution of the SC/ST Act.
Incidents like these are a wake-up call, says School Education Secretary Anil Swarup. 'Today, if a particular problem has been found, technology allows solutions to address it,' he says, suggesting alternatives such as printing and distribution of encrypted question papers on the day of the exam. Swarup wants electronic tracking to keep tab on who has access to and can, therefore, leak papers.
'I don't think I can go back home before the lockdown is lifted because Nitishji has said he will not allow students from Kota to return.'
Scores of students on Friday staged a protest outside the CBSE office in Delhi against the paper leak.
The Delhi high court was informed on Thursday that a trial court has ordered 'immediate release' from jail of Jamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha and Jawaharlal Nehru University students Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal who were granted bail on June 15 in the north-east Delhi riots case.
'Mr Kejriwal has played it cool in distancing himself from Delhi's hotspots, adroitly pandering to the BJP's Hindu vote.' 'He neither visited the scene of JNU violence nor has he dropped by at Shaheen Bagh,' notes Sunil Sethi.
'For the last 10 years the Congress made the RSS an idea of intolerance, anti-minority, especially anti-Muslim, and an idea of fascism.' 'That has been demolished now by Pranab Mukherjee.'
