Journalists, Lawyer Dropped From Students' List For Talks After Jharkhand Objects

After days of student protests, the Jharkhand government reached out for talks. The protesting students prepared an 11-member team to represent them. Now, the government has raised objections over the proposed names as the protest against the alleged irregularities in recruitment exams in Jharkhand entered its 14th day on Friday.A five-member government panel, including ministers Dipika Pandey Singh and Sudivya Kumar, was likely to interact with the protesters, an official said."The government will only talk to students and their leaders. They raised objections on names of a journalist, lawyer and expert which was put in the delegation of students," a source told NDTV.The government underscored that it would hold talks only with the students.The students' team has now submitted a separate list of 10 people to the government.The demonstrators have been demanding cancellation of the 14th Jharkhand PSC Civil Services Examination and an independent probe into the alleged irregularities in the recruitment test either by the CBI or by a panel of retired high court judges from outside the state.They also stressed comprehensive reforms in the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).The protest, which began on July 25 under the banner of the JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch at Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium, emerged as one of the biggest student-led movements in the state in recent years.Five protesters, including two women, on Tuesday night joined Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) leader Devendra Nath Mahto in his hunger strike. He has been on fast for the past six days.Social activist Sonam Wangchuk, who recently observed a 26-day hunger strike in Delhi over the NEET paper leak issue, spoke to Mahto over the phone on Wednesday and urged him to at least drink water, following which Mahto started taking water.Wangchuk on Thursday made a fresh appeal to the Jharkhand CM to resolve the issue at the earliest.The protesters said they had been forced to adopt the extreme form of agitation after repeated appeals to the government "failed" to produce any concrete action.The investigation into the alleged irregularities has been conducted by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) so far, with the involvement of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), and at least 19 arrests have been made.