Under soaring pressure after 'cockroach' movement protests, India's education minister promises reforms, debate

India’s education minister has said the government is committed to addressing student concerns over exam leaks and reforming the testing system, as protests by young people over a medical admissions scandal intensify across the country.

Dharmendra Pradhan made the remarks in a post on X late Tuesday, days after a youth-led movement that began as an online satire escalated into a major political challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The protests, organized by the self-styled Cockroach Janta Party, initially drew only a few hundred participants when they launched in New Delhi last month. This week, however, they expanded sharply, with tens of thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets of Delhi on Monday and clashing with police, who used tear gas and batons to disperse them.

The unrest centers on allegations surrounding the medical school entrance test, known as NEET, after paper leaks affected roughly two million students and were linked, according to the feed summary, to several student suicides. Protesters have called for Pradhan’s resignation, while also pressing for wider reforms to India’s exam system.

Pradhan said the administration of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party remained “100 per cent committed” to discussing NEET and other student concerns in parliament. He also said the government owed students “answers, reforms and accountability,” and criticized opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s protest efforts as using students as “props in a political campaign.”

The minister’s comments came after Modi himself spoke on the issue on Tuesday for the first time, promising punishment for those responsible for the exam leaks and urging lawmakers to help build a “foolproof” examination system. In another sign of engagement, Health Minister JP Nadda met with leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party on Monday and assured them their demands would be considered.

The protests gained additional momentum on Tuesday when Congress staged a sit-in near the route to Modi’s residence. Gandhi, along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and several senior opposition figures, was detained after refusing to end the demonstration, then released later in the day. In a video message recorded during detention, Gandhi questioned why India’s education system was “collapsing,” why exam papers keep leaking and why education remains so expensive. He called the issues legitimate and said they should be debated in parliament on Wednesday.

The movement has also drawn support from activist Sonam Wangchuk, who began a hunger strike on June 28 and was later moved by police to hospital. On Tuesday, he was transferred to a private hospital following a court order linked to a petition filed by his wife, who alleged he had been unlawfully detained.

Based on a monitored public feed, this report reflects the latest developments in a growing student-led protest wave that has put new pressure on Modi’s third-term government. Source attribution: Dawn Home.

Source: Dawn Home - https://www.dawn.com/news/2017492/under-soaring-pressure-after-cockroach-movement-protests-indias-education-minister-promises-reforms-debate