Student Protests Erupt in Modi’s Home State Following Allegations of Irregularities in Gov't Exams

Thousands of students took to the streets in the capital city of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat, protesting alleged irregularities and paper leaks in the last 10-12 state government-level examinations. Students demanded the cancellation of the examination conducted on 17 November.

The recruitment examination was conducted by the Gujarat Subordinate Services Selection Board (GSSSB) for 3,910 vacancies of Non-Secretariat Clerks and Office Assistants. More than 600,000 candidates attended the examination.

Kaushik Zankat, a student who attended the examination, said: “The examination was at 12pm and the paper had gone viral by 11am and was being shared in WhatsApp. The proofs have been submitted but the government is not ready to take any action or cancel the exam.”

The Gujarat government has formed a special investigation team to look into the matter, which will submit reports in 10 days but the students are protesting against it, demanding the immediate cancellation of the exam. 

On Wednesday, following protests in the state capital against the exams, police detained about 800 students.

Zankat said: “In municipal corporation exam of Ahmedabad, five-six members of the same family cracked the exam. Such thing is not possible without fixing. Similar incidents have occurred in other exams also.”

However, minister of state Pradeepsinh Jadeja said: “Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board has received 39 complaints and 26 WhatsApp messages of irregularities from five districts. All the complaints are being looked into while referring to the CCTV footage of the concerned centres. It is a huge task and will take a day or two to finish. Necessary action will be taken against those guilty.”

Independent member of the legislative assembly Jignesh Mevani has called on youths to come to the Gujarat Assembly on 9 December in protest, alleging that the question paper was leaked.

Jadeja said they received reports from one centre where a person who appeared for the exam carried a mobile phone and sent pictures of the question paper to one of his accomplices on WhatsApp, who then sent back the answer key to the candidate. Both were booked under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.

#SaveGujaratStudents and #Cancelbinsachivalayexam is trending on Twitter and students are demanding national media to cover the protests for uncovering the alleged irregularities in the government exams.

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