Indian police use force to disperse youth protesters calling for exam overhaul

Demonstrators accuse authorities of failing to tackle irregularities in exams for sought-after civil service jobs

Thousands of angry young job-seekers clashed with police in Jharkhand, one of India’s poorest states, on Monday as a weeks-long protest over alleged irregularities in recruitment drives for coveted government jobs escalated into a march on the state legislature.

Police fired water cannon and teargas and swung batons as they tried to stop flag-waving demonstrators from clambering over barricades and surging towards the assembly in Ranchi, the state capital. Some of the protesters responded by dancing and cheering as jets of water drenched the crowd.

The unrest comes just weeks after the Cockroach movement , a youth-led protest campaign – which began as an online joke and grew into a nationwide outcry over leaks in a national medical entrance examination – put the BJP-led national government under heavy pressure and led to the resignation of the education minister.

Both protesters and police officers were injured in the Jharkhand clashes, local media reported, although no official figures were released.

“The baton charge was barbaric. We were protesting peacefully, but the government used batons against us,” protester Piyush Kumar Soni told the Press Trust of India.

The demonstrators are demanding an investigation by the CBI, India’s premier investigative force, saying only an independent inquiry can get to the bottom of alleged wrongdoing in government recruitment examinations.

They accuse authorities of failing to prevent irregularities in public service exams, including test paper leaks and cheating, and say the alleged scandals have deprived young people of a fair chance.

Jharkhand has long struggled with high unemployment, making government jobs highly sought after. Competition is intense for civil service and other public sector posts, which offer job security, health and pension benefits.

Government recruitment drives routinely attract hundreds of thousands of applicants, and many young people spend years preparing for examinations. In one recent Jharkhand recruitment exercise, nearly 640,000 applications were received for 2,025 posts. In another, more than 322,000 candidates competed for 510 vacancies.

The state government, led by a regional party allied with the opposition Congress, has sought to defuse the crisis through talks. Officials say most of the protesters’ demands have been accepted and that they are open to more negotiations.

The Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, condemned the use of force. “Students have a right to peaceful protest, and only dialogue can yield solutions,” he said.

The row has already toppled senior figures. The former Jharkhand public service commission chair was arrested over alleged exam irregularities, while three commission members have resigned.

The protests underscore mounting frustration among young Indians over corruption in public examinations and recruitment systems, a shortage of good jobs and fears that opportunities are being lost to cheating and political influence. Nearly two-thirds of Indians are under 35.

Official data shows unemployment fell to 9.9% last year, but a 2026 study by Azim Premji University found that nearly 40% of graduates aged 15 to 25 were unemployed.