The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Monday struck down a Tamil Nadu government order granting government jobs on compassionate grounds to the family members of the persons who died in the Karur stampede, Live Law reported.

The stampede took place on September 27 at Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam chief Vijay’s rally in Karur district when he was addressing supporters from his campaign vehicle. Forty-one persons had died in the stampede.

Vijay went on to become the chief minister of Tamil Nadu on May 10 after his party became the single-largest party in the Assembly elections.

A division bench of Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel held that the appointments of the family members of the victims of the stampede violated constitutional provisions pertaining to the right to equality and the right to equal opportunity in matters of public employment.

The bench observed that many people were waiting for compassionate appointments in government departments.

“When there is a waiting list, it is not appropriate to overlook their needs and extend what is termed as succor to family members of the Karur incident,” Live Law quoted the court as saying.

The court also observed that allowing compassionate appointments in the stampede case could open the floodgates for claims in other cases, such as firework explosions and road accidents. The court said that even if the loss of lives in other incidents is caused due to state inaction, the victims’ families are typically given only ex gratia compensation and not government jobs.

The bench instead asked the government why it did not provide training in skills and entrepreneurship for deserving members of the families.

“The government would be creating leaders, entrepreneurs, self-sufficient individuals in each family who can later provide employment to others,” Live Law quoted the court as saying.

On July 10, the bench had allowed the Tamil Nadu government to provide government jobs to the families of those killed in the Karur stampede. However, it clarified that the appointments would be temporary and subject to judicial review.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Indian government has proposed to set up mega textile parks in challenge mode, even as similar programmes have, in the past, failed to meet their investment and employment generation targets.

India’s textiles sector contributes to 2.3% of the gross domestic product and with 45 million direct workers, is the country’s second largest employer, after agriculture. About 80% of its capacity lies in micro, small and medium enterprises.

When unveiling the 2026-’27 budget earlier this year, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed setting up mega textile parks in challenge mode. But she had made a similar announcement five years ago at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, for setting up seven textile parks with a three-year timeline.

In March, the government told the Lok Sabha that it has finalised seven textile parks under Pradhan Mantri Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel. Today, approach roads are being constructed in three of the proposed parks: in Dhar (Madhya Pradesh), Warangal (Telangana), and Kalaburgi (Karnataka), while two parks in Virudhunagar (Tamil Nadu) and Amravati (Maharashtra) are inviting potential allottees.

Two others, in Navsari (Gujarat) and in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), saw their bid documents being approved by the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee. The private developers awarded these projects will go on to create integrated textile parks under the Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer model.

India needs parks that meet targets. Without in-depth audits and remedial action, parks are unlikely to help push Indian manufacturing’s share in the gross domestic product from 15%-16% in 2014, to the targeted 25%, a target that has been eluding India since Make in India was launched.

IndiaSpend has asked the secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, how the acquisition of land, a factor that usually delays park development, is proposed to be sped up, and whether the private sector is intended to be roped in for the same purpose. We will update this story when we receive a reply.

The precursor programme

Two decades ago, the Union government launched the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks to provide “state of the art world-class infrastructure” to set up textile units and facilitate them “to meet international environmental and social standards”.

A 2016 analysis of the performance of the programme showed that, of the 50 parks sanctioned before 2014, 30 were functional – and even among them, only four parks were fully functional. The rest were still looking for investors, because of which this subset had achieved only 46% of its investment targets and 57% of its employment targets.

Eleven parks were cancelled due to delays in the conversion of land, land clearances, or sometimes, disputes surrounding the land or its non-availability. Sanctioning delays and differences between the implementing members also led to park cancellation. Two parks applied for cancellation because of poor market conditions.

In 2023, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India identified delays of one to more than 10 years in completion of the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks, cancellations of 43% of the sanctioned parks, and generation of 30% of the envisaged employment and 50% of the envisaged investments from the functional units.

Brandix India Apparel City, an export-oriented integrated textile park developed on 1,000 acres allotted by the government under the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, was originally planned to support employment of around 60 people per acre at full development.

“Today, it provides employment to approximately 22,000 people across the ecosystem spanning about 600 acres, with further growth expected as additional investments come on stream,” said Kushal Motiani, the head of business development and marketing at Brandix India Apparel City. “The pace of expansion has been influenced by broader global apparel market conditions, which have moderated investment in the last decade,” he said.

The CAG report questioned why “without ensuring successful completion of the parks sanctioned during the 10th Plan period by March 2007 as envisaged in the Scheme guidelines, the Ministry proceeded with sanctioning more parks in the 11th and 12th Plan periods”.

It is not just textile parks that see delays. Of 4,257 industrial parks mapped on the India Industrial Land Bank as of July 7, 2026, spanning 681,000 hectares, 134,000 hectares are still available. Yet, new industrial parks, apart from the mega textile parks, continue to be announced.

In March 2026, the Union government approved the Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojna, or Bhavya, scheme, allocating Rs 33,660 crore to develop 100 greenfield plug-and-play industrial parks across the country.

The Bhavya scheme, industrial policy expert Sharmila Kantha, a former principal consultant with the Confederation of Indian Industries, said, may suffer the same delays as previous industrial park schemes. In the years we prepare trunk infrastructure – such as internal roads, water supply lines and a power grid – for a park, Kantha said, “our competitor countries will have pulled themselves into advanced, strategic and high-tech industries”.

Remote locations, marketing gaps

Industrialisation has traditionally taken place in cities where workers, physical and social infrastructure are readily available, in the process, spreading their urban limits. But Indian metropolitan regions are already too large, and affordable land for new industrial plants is not readily available.

Consequently, Ajay Shankar, former secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India, pointed out, “state government agencies usually put together land and develop industrial parks at a distance from thriving cities”. That has its own problems. “When you develop parks in the middle of nowhere, no one wants to go there,” said Shankar.

Creating parks in far-flung regions with poor air connectivity is especially a put-off for international investors, said Motiani. “We’re expecting the new international airport in Visakhapatnam to help us attract more investment.”

“Many parks are located away from major urban centres, making labour access difficult,” agreed Prerna Prabhakar, fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress.

In the context of the mega textile parks, Varun Vaid, business director at Wazir Advisors, the firm behind the 2015-’16 analysis, pointed out that while their broad recommendations had been met, the exact location of parks needed to evaluated on a case-by-case basis, as not all are centrally located, and hence accessible.

Shankar, who was the CEO of Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority decades ago when the UP State Industrial Development Corporation had launched two new parks, reminisced that they hadn’t seen any movement for many years.

“Investors stay away until things start to happen, and at that threshold, everyone wants to enter so prices rise too much, which then becomes a deterrent to investments in sectors with thin margins,” he said.

Having assembled large tracts of land, Shankar said, “the state development agency can and should keep providing affordable land for new industrial units and resist the urge to profit from rising land prices like private developers”.

Low park occupancy is also an outcome of plug-and-play industrial hubs that don’t address issues such as logistic service gaps and supply chain fragmentation, which are meant to be resolved through the industrial clustering of firms in parks.

“Clustering is expected to generate efficiencies through access to common infrastructure, such as testing facilities, regulatory support systems, effluent treatment plants, and logistics services,” said Prabhakar. “In practice, many clusters lack these shared facilities, limiting productivity gains.”

In the absence of upstream and downstream linkages within the park, she said, firms continue to face high logistics costs for sourcing raw materials and intermediates, limiting the benefits of co-location.

“Getting an anchor investor can help new parks, and even planned cities such as those in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor acquire the critical mass they need to succeed,” said Shankar.

The Brandix Group itself was an anchor in the Brandix India Apparel City, and it pushed the development of world class park infrastructure spanning amenities for employees and ESG compliance features such as common effluent treatment plant and a water treatment plant, Motiani told IndiaSpend. Just the group employs about two-thirds of the park’s workforce.

But attracting anchor investors and related new units needs considerable outreach backed by the political leadership of the state and swift decision-making, land allotment and approvals, said Shankar, on the lines that the Dholera Special Investment Region in Gujarat has shown.

A more effective strategy to relying solely on greenfield park development, according to Prabhakar, would be to reassess and upgrade existing industrial clusters. Traditional textile manufacturing clusters, for instance, are typically located closer to labour pools, giving them a natural advantage in attracting workers. Sorting out their fragmented supply chains would strengthen the clusters, drive significant efficiencies, and enable the industry to scale effectively.

Wazir Advisors identified marketing as a big gap in the poor performance of the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks. “Very few have taken any pro-active steps to market their parks,” the report said. The authors proposed close monitoring of marketing, outreach by the ministry by way of road shows in India and overseas, and the creation of micro websites under ‘Make in India’ and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion to publicise park schemes.

Who is investing?

Ideally, “an industrial park should come up in 2.5-3 years,” according to Rajeev Vijay, executive director, Government and Infrastructure Advisory at Knight Frank India. “Beyond that the industry needs about 1.5-2.5 years to build their manufacturing facilities and start operations.”

Bringing in private players could help speed up the development of a park, agreed Vaid of Wazir Advisors. But, the mega textile park scheme, for instance, was not designed so.

“The central premise was that 1,000 acres for the textile sector would come from the state government; in any case private companies with so much land would prioritise other more profitable sectors,” he said.

Essentially, the government is supporting the textile industry because being labour-intensive, it has the potential to generate large-scale employment, explained Vaid. But the sector at the lower levels of the value chain – yarn production to garment making – is typically low to medium margin.

Vaid cited the example of Brandix India Apparel City employing 22,000 (of whom about 90% are women) and exporting $350 million worth of garments in 2024-25.

Vijay suggested “bringing in experienced business groups like Hiranandani, Embassy, Blackstone, Ascendas, etc. to speed up the creation of industrial parks” by “adopting a flexible model, involving incremental investments to build and operate quickly, then build further in phases as per market demand”.

But, Vaid pointed out, if the profit-driven private sector were to invest in a park, they would more likely choose a sector where the returns and addressable market are higher, such as automotives and renewable energy.

“Patient capital”, which Shankar listed as a core ingredient for the success of an industrial park, is not always forthcoming from the private sector.

Horizon Industrial Parks, one of India’s largest industrial and logistics infrastructure developers, backed by Blackstone Real Estate, has, for instance, specialised in automotive and auto components, logistics and supply chain, renewable energy, FMCG and retail, and other sectors.

By speeding up the establishment of industrial parks, private developers can “eliminate the foundational lead time that typically runs 18-24 months”, said Mahendra Waghule, the chief development officer of Horizon Industrial Parks.

“We help manufacturers move from allotment to operational readiness in a fraction of greenfield timelines by front-loading park-level clearances, master-planned utilities and Grade A plug-and-play infrastructure,” he added. “Our on-ground teams handhold occupiers through residual statutory approvals via dedicated liaison support, leveraging long-standing relationships with state authorities and single-window portals such as Maharashtra’s MAITRI and Karnataka’s KIADB.”

Despite all this, Waghule pointed out that “unit-level approvals, spanning environmental clearance, factory licensing, fire no-objection certificates, building plan sanctions, and labour registrations, remain a state-level reality that no private developer can sidestep”.

Vijay recommended the role of the government to be confined to providing trunk infrastructure and offering land to Master Developers who build parks ranging from 100-500 acres.

In the instance of five of the mega textile parks, the Master Developers are a Special Purpose Vehicle, made up by the Union and state governments, with no private players.

The CAG report had also found one park running with non-textile activities like engineering works, furniture works, seeds processing, etc. and another seized by a bank.

It had gone on to recommend that the ministry identify the reasons for non-achievement of the objectives of the scheme and take necessary action to complete the ongoing parks at the earliest in order to achieve the targeted employment and investment targets. A review of completed parks was also recommended to investigate their chance of achieving the desired targets.

“Making under-occupied existing parks a success hinges on a combination of urban and industrial planning,” observed Kantha.

Charu Bahri is a freelance writer and editor based in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.

This article first appeared on IndiaSpend, a data-driven and public-interest journalism non-profit.

The Delhi Police on Monday urged a city court to sentence former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain and four other convicts to death for the murder of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 riots in the national capital, Bar and Bench reported.

Sharma’s murder was cold-blooded and brutal, the legal news outlet quoted the Delhi Police counsel as saying. “Those who want mercy should also show mercy,” the counsel said. “They have no evidence to show that any mercy was shown by any person to carry this person [Sharma] to a hospital.”

The lawyer representing Hussain and the other convicts – Javed, Anas, Nazim and Kasim – opposed the plea, stating that the death penalty can be awarded only in the rarest of rare cases.

The verdict in the matter has been reserved and the order will be passed on Friday, Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying.

Sharma was killed by a mob during the violence, and his body had been dumped in a drain.

On July 13, a sessions court had convicted Hussain for murder, rioting, disobedience to an order promulgated by a public servant, promoting enmity between groups, rioting armed with a deadly weapon, unlawful assembly, and kidnapping or abducting with intent to secretly and wrongfully confine a person.

However, it cleared him of a criminal conspiracy charge.

The court said that the evidence before it showed that Hussain played the role of an instigator to kill Hindus and exhorted the mob to “not spare Hindus”, Bar and Bench reported.

The first information report in the matter had been filed by Sharma’s father.

In February 2020, communal violence broke out in North East Delhi between supporters of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it. The violence had left 53 dead and hundreds injured. Most of those killed were Muslims.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to India in connection with the attack on a commercial ship on July 18, in which one Indian was killed.

The attack took place when the vessel, MV OMORFI, was reportedly transiting through Russian territorial waters in the Black Sea, the ministry said on Friday.

The ministry said that it conveyed its “serious concern” about the attack to Ukrainian ambassador Oleksandr Polishchuk and condemned attacks on commercial shipping.

The ministry also highlighted the adverse impact of attacks on commercial vessels on maritime safety, freedom of navigation and international trade.

“The ambassador was requested to convey to the Ukrainian authorities India’s strong concerns over the targeting of commercial vessels”, the ministry said. It reiterated that actions which endanger the lives of civilian seafarers are “unacceptable” and must be avoided.

This comes after a ship with four Indians onboard was struck by a projectile at the port of Odesa in Ukraine on Saturday.

While two of the Indian seafarers are safe, “information is awaited regarding the other two”, said the Indian Embassy in Kyiv on Sunday.

On July 19, four Indians were killed and one critically injured after a cargo ship was attacked while it departed the port of Odesa. The five Indians were among the 17 crew on board the ship.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had accused Russia of attacking the vessel inside his country’s maritime corridor. The incident came amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

On Sunday, the Ministry of External Affairs advised Indians employed or planning to undertake employment in the Black Sea region to “carefully assess the security risks before accepting such assignments”.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Cockroach Janta Party said that there had been a “complete breach” of its agreement with the Union government that no police action would be taken against peaceful protesters. It called on Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states to immediately withdraw cases against protesters and release those in custody. It warned that if they did not do so, it would be “forced to sit on protest again”.

The campaign said that it was concerned by reports that demonstrators had been “targeted, detained or arrested” by state agencies in BJP-ruled Assam, Bihar and West Bengal.

The police in Bihar said that 144 persons were arrested on Sunday for allegedly assaulting security personnel during the demonstrations last week. In neighbouring West Bengal, 14 persons, mostly Muslims, were arrested for allegedly attacking police personnel and journalists during a protest against paper leaks in Kolkata on Friday.

The police in Assam have arrested six persons and detained at least 24 in connection with a demonstration held in Guwahati in solidarity with the protests in Delhi. Read more.

The Supreme Court has verbally observed that the right to protest peacefully is guaranteed by the Constitution and that excessive use of force by the police on agitators cannot be justified. “Just because there is an agitation does not mean there should be lathi-charge,” said Chief Justice Surya Kant.

The court was hearing a petition alleging that the police used excessive force against protesters who were marching to Parliament on July 20 as part of a demonstration called by the Cockroach Janta Party.

The petitioners also pointed out instances of the police in Bihar using excessive force against protesters who were demonstrating in solidarity with the youth agitation in Delhi. Read on.

The Union government introduced a bill to amend the anti-paper leak law in the wake of nationwide protests against alleged irregularities in competitive examinations. The draft legislation proposes imprisonment of five to ten years and a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh for those found using unfair means in public examinations.

If instances of paper leaks or other offences listed under the bill are found to be organised, the bill proposes a minimum sentence of seven years and a fine of up to Rs 10 crore.

A total of 15 illegal acts, including leaking question papers, tampering with optical mark recognition sheets, creating fake websites and issuing fake admission cards have been listed as offences under the bill. Read on.

The Ministry of External Affairs summoned the Ukrainian ambassador in connection with the attack on a commercial ship on July 18, in which one Indian national was killed. The attack took place when the ship was reportedly transiting through Russian territorial waters in the Black Sea, the ministry had said.

The ministry said that it conveyed its “serious concern” about the incident to ambassador Oleksandr Polishchuk and condemned attacks on commercial shipping.

This comes after a ship with four Indians onboard was struck by a projectile at the port of Odesa in Ukraine on Saturday. While two of the Indian seafarers are safe, “information is awaited regarding the other two”, said the Indian Embassy in Kyiv on Sunday. Read on.

The Bombay High Court has allowed Union minister Nitin Gadkari to file a civil suit against Meta, Google and X for allegedly defamatory content being circulated on their social media platforms linking him to a row about the government’s ethanol-blending programme. The E20 programme is a national initiative to blend 20% ethanol with 80% petrol.

The initiative has received criticism from vehicle owners who have alleged that E20 fuel was reducing mileage and damaging cars.

The Union minister of road transport and highways stated in his petition that the E20 programme was being administered by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and that he had no role in it. Read on.

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The Cockroach Janta Party political campaign on Monday remarked that there had been a “complete breach” of its agreement with the Union government with respect to its promise that no police action would be taken against peaceful protesters.

Cockroach Janta Party spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka demanded that all cases filed against protesters must be withdrawn and all those who have been taken into custody must be released, “failing which we will be forced to sit on protest again”.

The campaign said that it was concerned by reports that demonstrators had been “targeted, detained or arrested” by state agencies in BJP-ruled Assam, Bihar and West Bengal.

The agitation in Delhi started on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union education minister at the time, over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams. Pradhan resigned on Saturday.

The police in Bihar said that 144 persons were arrested on Sunday for allegedly assaulting security personnel during the demonstrations last week.

In neighbouring West Bengal, 14 persons, mostly Muslims, were arrested for allegedly attacking police personnel and journalists during a protest against paper leaks in Kolkata on Friday. Cases have been filed against 70 persons, it added.

The Assam Police had arrested six persons and detained at least 24 in connection with a demonstration held in Guwahati in solidarity with the protests in Delhi, The Indian Express reported.

In Goa’s capital Panaji, the police detained two persons on Saturday for holding a placard expressing support for jailed activist Umar Khalid during a demonstration held in solidarity with the youth protests in Delhi

CJP asks government to honour its promise

The Cockroach Janta Party said that it had on Saturday withdrawn its call for a nationwide protest only after the Union government assured it that “no punitive action would be taken against any protester, either now or in the future, in any BJP-ruled or NDA-ruled” states.

It urged the Union government, and ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh to “immediately honour the assurance given to us by ensuring the release of those detained and by directing that no coercive or retaliatory action is taken against any protester anywhere in the country”.

Nadda and Singh had represented the government during its talks with the campaign.

The Cockroach Janta Party said that it was reminding the Union government of its commitment to provide the campaign its written guarantee to this end by Tuesday.

“Our decision to suspend the nationwide protest was taken in good faith and solely on the basis of the government’s assurance that it would stand by its word,” the campaign said.

“Any departure from that assurance” would not only amount to breaching trust of the Cockroach Janta Party, but also be a “breach of public trust with lakhs of young Indians who chose dialogue over protests”, it added.

Such a breach of trust would be “completely unacceptable” to the youth, the campaign said. “The government…derives credibility not from just making a promise, but from the promises they honour,” the campaign said.

It also said that its legal team was coordinating with lawyers in the states to secure the release of the persons who had been detained and to provide legal assistance.

Arrests in Bihar

Apart from the 144 arrests on Sunday, the police have taken into custody hundreds between Wednesday and Saturday for the protests held in the state.

Nearly 450 persons have been arrested so far in Bihar, reported The New Indian Express.

Among them are Revolutionary Youth Association leaders Vishal Yadav, Arun Kumar, Vishwakarma Kushwaha and Pawan Kushwaha, stated the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation on Monday.

The Revolutionary Youth Association is the youth wing of the CPI (M-L) Liberation.

The CPI (M-L) Liberation stated that its MLA Sandeep Saurav also continues to be in jail, along with the party’s Divyam.

The police have also arrested former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Dhananjay, All India Students’ Association’s Bihar unit secretary Dipankar Mishra and Saba Afreen, the association’s president at Patna University.

Written by Nachiket Deuskar and Sneha. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava and Neerad Pandharipande.

Also read:

• Family of Muslim volunteer at Jantar Mantar protest released by UP Police
• Follow Scroll’s coverage of the youth protests here

The Bombay High Court on Monday allowed Union minister Nitin Gadkari to file a civil suit against Meta, Google and X for allegedly defamatory content being circulated on their social media platforms linking him to a row about the government’s ethanol-blending programme, reported Live Law.

The E20 programme is a national initiative to blend 20% ethanol with 80% petrol. The initiative has received criticism from vehicle owners who have alleged that E20 fuel was reducing mileage and damaging cars.

Apart from the technology companies, Gadkari has named the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications as respondents to his plea.

The Union minister of road transport and highways stated in his petition that the E20 programme was being administered by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and that he had no role in it, reported The Indian Express.

He alleged that the social media content linking him to the programme consisted of “profane and abusive language” directed at him, which cannot be considered “legitimate political criticism or satire”.

The minister also claimed that the content unlawfully uses his personality and publicity rights without his consent.

Unknown persons have been circulating posts claiming that Gadkari and his family profited from the E20 initiative, said the plea. It has described the claims as “false and defamatory”.

Earlier this month, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Nagpur city social media cell convener had filed a complaint against several social media content creators for allegedly running a defamatory online campaign against Gadkari.

Consumer concerns about E20

An opinion poll by LocalCircles published on July 5 showed that 53% of the surveyed petrol vehicle owners said that they believe that the government’s handling of the E20 rollout was “disastrous” or “ineffective”.

Sixty-six percent of the respondents said that they were experiencing a more than 10% drop in mileage with E20. Forty-five percent of the surveyed users said that their cars had suffered a moderate to major increase in wear and tear, or needed repairs, according to the polling conducted in June.

A report in October, which analysed government and industry data, said that only about 20% of new petrol vehicles sold in India in the last 15 years were compliant with the E20 fuel blend.

Gadkari has claimed that while the average mileage of vehicles may have marginally reduced because of blending petrol with ethanol, the claims made online about damage to cars are “overblown” and part of a “false narrative”.

Edited by Sneha.

The Union government on Monday introduced a bill to amend the anti-paper leak law in the wake of nationwide protests against alleged irregularities in competitive examinations.

The 2026 Public Examinations Prevention of Unfair Means Amendment Bill was introduced by Union minister Jitendra Singh as Opposition MPs shouted slogans criticising the police for using excessive force against protesters in Delhi on July 20.

Subsequently, the House was adjourned till 5 pm.

What does the bill say?

The legislation proposes imprisonment of five to ten years for individuals found using unfair means in public examinations. The maximum fine for such persons would increase from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.

If instances of paper leaks or other offences listed under the bill are found to be organised, the bill proposes a minimum sentence of seven years and a fine of up to Rs 10 crore.

A total of 15 illegal acts, including leaking question papers, tampering with optical mark recognition sheets, creating fake websites and issuing fake admit cards, have been listed as offences under the bill, reported The Indian Express.

Optical Mark Recognition is a system that reads answers marked by candidates by detecting filled bubbles or marks on an answer sheet.

One of the key provisions of the bill empowers the Union government to set up a Special Task Force to investigate offences of paper leaks. The probe by police, central investigating agencies or the task force would have to be completed within two months, it says.

The bill would also require state governments and Union Territory administrations to set up special fast track courts. Pending cases under the Act would also be transferred to these fast track courts and disposed of within three months of transfer.

Youth protests against exam irregularities

The bill came following nationwide protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union education minister on account of the alleged mismanagement of a series of competitive exams. Pradhan resigned as the education minister on July 25, after which the Cockroach Janta Party withdrew its agitation.

The Cockroach Janta Party had begun its protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on June 6.

On July 20, thousands joined the protest two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.

Written by Sneha. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the youth protests here.

IKEA, declared a placard at the student protests in Delhi, had a better cabinet than the Narendra Modi government. Another claimed that the protester’s ex had ignored them less than the government had. In Bengaluru, pop singer Taylor Swift appeared on a sign to note that theIndian exam papers had leaked– but photographs of her recent wedding had not.

The same zany spirit infused online reels and memes. Videos of demonstrators running from the police were edited to the soundtrack of the mobile game Subway Surfers. Others shared their Strava maps and celebrated meeting their daily step targets during marches.

This internet-native language drew from dating terminology, work, gaming, anime, celebrity culture and several layers of previous jokes. It assumed an audience that has spent enough time online to recognise the template before reading the words imposed on it.

The unfamiliar language had done little to weaken the political force of the protest. That was obvious on Saturday, when the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was announced. As the protestors achieved their main demand, celebrations broke out at Jantar Mantar and the movement declared victory before ending its agitation.

For someone outside that audience, a placard or meme of this sort can seem silly or obscure. Familiar words are used ironically, an insult becomes a badge, a relationship joke carries a complaint about public administration. Several references can be packed into one sentence, with little assistance for anyone arriving late to the party.

The political demands, however, required much less interpretation: protesters had asked for the resignation of the education minister, compensation for families of students who died by suicide, protection against criminal cases, transparent investigations into examination failures and broader reform of the system.

By Saturday, the principal demand had been met and the government promised that the others would be honoured. The humour was opaque but the demands carried into the negotiating room were straightforward.

This difference is important because protest language serves several purposes. It tells the state what people want, it explains a grievance to the wider public and it allows participants to develop a sense of belonging as they communicate in a language that only they seem to share.

A single placard does not need to perform all three tasks equally well.

The protests speak especially fluently to the third function. Someone who understands the reference also understands that it was made specifically for them. Sharing the joke becomes a small act of participation. A person can reproduce it, change the text, add a local reference, send it back into circulation.

A formal slogan asks to be repeated but a meme often asks to be altered.

In fact, the Cockroach Janta Party itself emerged through such an act of alteration. A disparaging comparison involving unemployed young people was taken up by the very people it described. A social media post asking what might happen if all the cockroaches came together eventually gave the protests a name, a symbol and an organising identity.

The insult became useful once its meaning passed into other hands.

Political movements have always used humour and popular culture. India has a long history of political cartoons, street theatre, adapted film songs and slogans that acquire meanings beyond their literal words. The current form moves faster and depends less on a central organisation. A joke can begin on an anonymous account, reach a protest site and return online as part of a reel within a few hours.

This has changed the direction in which political communication travels. Citizens seeking a hearing once relied on petitions, memoranda, elected representatives and coverage in newspapers or television. These forms still matter, especially when a movement begins negotiations with officials.

But online networks now allow protesters to build an audience and set the terms of a public conversation before an institution agrees to recognise them.

The 2026 youth movement speaks sideways as much as it speaks upwards. It builds solidarity among people who share a grievance and a cultural vocabulary. The state remains the audience with the power to concede the demands, but it is no longer the only audience that gives a protest public meaning.

In this case, horizontal communication helped create the degree of public pressure required to produce a vertical response. The same language that puzzled some officials and television anchors or audiences also helped the movement find the audience that made it difficult to ignore.

There are of course limits to what can be inferred from the most widely shared placards. Algorithms and photographers favour clever signs, particularly those written in English or Hinglish. But many students affected by examination failures would have had little interest in fandoms or internet humour.

Many officials will miss the allusions, irony and deliberate absurdity. Older commentators interpret the new language for television audiences that often share their bewilderment, while young protesters reply on platforms those audiences rarely use. Each group discuss the other without speaking to it.

This time the loop was eventually broken: the online public became a street movement large enough to force formal talks, where their demands needed little translation.

At protest sites, memes of this sort have appeared alongside older political slogans such as “Jai Bhim” and “Inquilab Zindabad”, portraits of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar, lines from Faiz, national flags and direct calls for the minister to resign. The movement used several political languages at once.

Several forces produced the outcome – street mobilisation, negotiations, Opposition support, Sonam Wangchuk’s fast and public anger over the brutal police response. The humour supplied a shared identity and unusual reach. Its contribution is easier to recognise now that the movement appears to have secured a result.

Even so, a wider shift in communicative power is visible. An official statement no longer arrives with an assured audience and a shared interpretation. It can be quoted, cut, parodied and returned to its author almost immediately, as was the case when Modi issued a midnight video about the protests. It was immediately parodied and mocked.

The prestige of an office may secure coverage but it does not guarantee attention on the terms the office would prefer.

The assumption that protest language should primarily aim to persuade those in power belongs to an earlier media environment. Today’s movements – as also seen in other countries recently – often begin by persuading one another. They build publics before they seek concessions. Governments remain the audience capable of granting demands, but they no longer determine whether a movement finds an audience in the first place.

The jokes at Jantar Mantar and its online mirrors represent a shift in where political communication begins: among protesters themselves, before it reaches those in power. They helped build the public that made a formal response necessary, even if the demands were eventually resolved in the older language of negotiations, resignation and official assurances.

The government did not have to understand the jokes. It has had to recognise what those jokes revealed, that the public conversation no longer unfolds entirely on institutional terms.

Rishiraj Bhagawati is a Bengaluru-based public health policy researcher and writer.

A case has been filed against a content creator in Madhya Pradesh’s Niwari district for using allegedly abusive language about former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Delhi Police in an Instagram post, The Hindu reported on Sunday.

Yashpal Soni was booked on Thursday and was questioned by the police following a complaint from BJP leaders, including the party’s block chief, the newspaper reported.

Soni was booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to obscene acts in public places that annoy others and intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace.

Niwari Superintendent of Police Ray Singh Narwaria told The Hindu that the video was “way out of the purview of freedom of expression”.

The content creator used allegedly objectionable words in the video, Narwaria said, adding that “this is in no way freedom of speech and should not be promoted”.

The police officer claimed that Soni had “realised his mistake” and apologised for it. He also removed the video from the platform.

The video came amid the youth protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign to demand the resignation of Pradhan over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams.

On July 20, thousands joined the protest in Delhi two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country and forced Pradhan to resign on Saturday.

More arrests in Bengal

Meanwhile, 14 persons, mostly Muslims, were arrested in BJP-ruled West Bengal for allegedly attacking police personnel and journalists during the protest against paper leaks in Kolkata on Friday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation said.

Cases have been filed against 70 persons, it added.

On Sunday, it was reported that 11 had been held under the recently-enacted 2026 West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Act, or the Goonda Act.

“Fearing the unity of people across religions that the student-youth movement has portrayed, and facing a challenge to its communal polarisation narrative, the BJP regime in the state has launched large-scale persecution of minorities and progressive activists,” the CPI(ML) Liberation said on Sunday.

Patna detentions

Nearly 200 protesters detained following protests in Patna between Wednesday and Saturday remained in police custody for more than 24 hours, The Times of India quoted lawyers as having alleged on Sunday.

The last batch of detainees were legally required to be produced before a magistrate by Sunday afternoon. Several persons detained are minors, the newspaper quoted advocate Akanksha Shahi as saying.

However, Patna Superintendent of Police Kartikeya K Sharma told The Times of India that 86 protesters arrested on Saturday had been remanded to judicial custody a day later. Sixty others, including minors, were released on personal bonds.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read:

• ‘Open to work’: Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation fuels jokes on social media
• ‘Daddy, detain me’: The memes that humbled Modi
• Follow Scroll’s coverage of the youth protests here.

Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha has moved the Supreme Court seeking the registration of first information reports against police officers who opened fire at protesters in Bihar demonstrating against alleged irregularities in competitive examinations, reported Live Law on Monday.

The protests were held in solidarity with the youth agitation in Delhi to demand the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union education minister at the time. Pradhan resigned on Saturday.

On Saturday, three protesters were injured after the police opened fire during a demonstration in Bihar’s Siwan district after the demonstrators allegedly threw stones at security personnel.

The police had also opened fire during violent protests in Jehanabad on Thursday.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the youth protests here.

In his petition, Jha sought directions from the Supreme Court to state governments to initiate criminal and disciplinary proceedings against police officers involved in incidents of alleged excessive force against protesters.

He also sought compensation and cost of medical care for those injured in the police action, reported Live Law.

The Rajya Sabha MP urged the Supreme Court to direct state governments not to intimidate, threaten or detain students who participated in the protests.

He said that the states should disclose the number and details of FIRs that have been registered against the students for participating in protests between July 20 and July 25.

This came in the wake of reports that the Bihar Police had arrested nearly 450 persons who participated in the protests on Saturday.

Jha’s petition will be heard on Tuesday, along with a batch of pleas alleging that the police used excessive force against protesters who were marching to Parliament on July 20 as part of a demonstration called by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign.

The agitation in Delhi started on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Pradhan.

On July 20, thousands joined the protest two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.

Police officers suspended

Superintendent of Police Puran Kumar Jha said on Monday that the police officers who fired at the protesters with an AK-47 gun in Siwan during Saturday’s demonstration have been suspended, reported The Hindu.

The matter was flagged before the Supreme Court earlier in the day.

Additionally, Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah whether he had ordered the use of lethal force against students during the youth protests.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read: Delhi hospital reports show pellet wounds on journalist covering students’ protests

In the late 1830s, in north India, the artist and writer Emily Eden was fascinated by Sikhs – both royalty and commoners. She visited Sikh religious sites and experienced the hospitality of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Emily and her younger sister Frances (Fanny) accompanied their brother George, Lord Auckland, India’s newly appointed governor-general, on his progress across north India, from October 1837 to December 1838. Occasional mentions of Sikhs continue to appear in her correspondence till at least November 1839.

When Lord Auckland and his sisters met Ranjit Singh in December 1838, they probably knew little of the Sikhs’ distinctive religious and martial heritage.

Luckily there were interpreters, and Emily had a sharp intellect, acute powers of observation, liberal Whig values and a lively curiosity about people. She also had a keen sense of humour. She journalled and painted assiduously and prolifically.

Among nineteenth-century Western sources on Sikh history, historians have usually drawn on the more formal accounts published by male authors. The journals and letters of women, as well as their sketches and paintings, have been largely overlooked. So, consideration is overdue of Emily Eden’s insights into interactions between Sikhs and the British a decade before their annexation of Punjab.

In particular, for the encounters between Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the governor-general between 1838 and 1839, a time of crucial negotiations, her observations complement the only contemporary Indian record, in volume 3 of Sohan Lal Suri’s court chronicle, the five-volume Umdat- ut-tawarikh Daftar.

The Sikhs had a proud history of defending their faith against aggressors. In the eighteenth century, their persecutors were sacrilegious Afghan invaders. In response, the Sikhs had formed misls, armed bands, to protect their community. Indeed, one of these misls, the Sukerchakia misl, was headed by Ranjit Singh himself.

When the Edens visited Punjab, the most eye-catching Sikhs they encountered were Akali-Nihang warriors, with their extremely tall turbans, their war cries and an abundance of weaponry adorning their person.

During the nineteenth century, British-Sikh contact was increasing steeply: in the 1830s, the British East India Company was intent on expanding north-westward the area under its control, while the Sikh empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, too, was in the ascendant. Nonetheless, by 1838, when the Edens reached the Punjab, few Sikhs had encountered Westerners

Emily and Fanny were not the first British women to meet Sikhs. In Haridwar, a Hindu pilgrimage place, as early as 1809, Ann Deane had met with and described female members of the maharaja’s family and, in 1837, Isabella Fane similarly mentioned her Sikh encounters.

As neither Ann Deane nor Isabella Fane had visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Emily’s and Fanny’s descriptions of their visit in December 1838 are the first by any Western women, as opposed to male visitors. Thanks to Ranjit Singh’s patronage, the cladding of the upper part of the building with embossed sheets of gilded copper, had been completed just a few years before the Edens’ visit.

Emily reported how – remarkably – the maharaja personally took Lord Auckland, Fanny and her to ‘the famous Sikh temple where he had consulted the oracle about his present alliance with us.’ She commented, ‘This temple is the only thing that Sikhs are supposed to venerate in a religious way’ and reported:

The temple stands in an immense tank of holy water, and a narrow marble bridge leads to it. There is a broad walk all round the tank, and it is surrounded by palaces belonging to his principal sirdar[s], and by other holy buildings. The temple is of pure gold, really and truly covered completely with gold, most beautifully carved, till within eight feet of the ground, and then there are panels of marble inlaid with flowers and birds – very Solomonish altogether. There are four folding-doors of gold.

She noted that ‘large illuminated fish were swimming about the tank’ and, inside the temple, she saw ‘a large collection of priests, sitting in a circle, with the Grooht [i.e. Granth, as misread by her transcriber], their holy book, in the centre, under a canopy of gold cloth, quite stiff with pearls and emeralds.’ Indeed, so impressed was she that she declared that, despite the inconvenience and indignity of removing one’s footwear prior to entering, ‘I would have given up my shoes, and stockings too.’

Queen Victoria (in a diary entry dated 14 February 1839) appreciated Emily’s ‘most amusing account of Runjeet Singh.’ Regarding Ranjit Singh’s appearance, on her first encounter, she had famously noted, ‘He is exactly like an old mouse, with grey whiskers and one eye.’ Moreover, ‘Runjeet had no jewels on whatever, nothing but the commonest red silk dress. He had two stockings on at first, which was considered an unusual circumstance; but he very soon contrived to slip one off, that he might sit with one foot in his hand, comfortably.’

And confirming this initial impression, she wrote subsequently: ‘The old man himself wears a sort of red stuff dress with a little edging of the commonest grey squirrel’s fur, and a common red muslin turban.’

Importantly, Emily very positively summed up as follows the maharaja’s qualities as a ruler: ‘Still, he has made himself a great king; he has conquered a great many powerful enemies; he is remarkably just in his government; he has disciplined a large army; he hardly ever takes away life, which is wonderful in a despot; and he is excessively beloved by his people.’ More succinctly, Fanny observed, ‘I think we are all left with a great respect for Runjeet’s talents in the peculiar line of governing Sikhs.’

Emily’s journal contains testimony to the importance of horses to the maharaja. She quotes Webb, the Eden’s coachman, again on how ‘the old man was a-running about looking at ‘em, more like a coolie than a king,’ and Emily declared, ‘His strongest passion is still for horses: one of these hit his fancy, and he quite forgot all his state, and ran out in the sun to feel its legs and examine it.’ Her paintings bear out her observation that his finest jewels adorned his horses. She noted ‘quantities of their led horses trapped in gold and silver tissues, and all of them sparkling with jewels.’

Ranjit Singh’s interests were wide-ranging, and he had a reputation for interrogating whoever he met. So, Emily’s gift to him of her portrait of Queen Victoria in a jewelled frame met with a ‘volley of questions about the Queen’s costume, her orb and sceptre and her character.’ Emily mentioned Webb’s report that ‘Runjeet he asked me such a many questions.’ When hosting Lord Auckland in the Govindghur [Govindgarh] Fort, he ‘asked questions about cannons and shells, and mines, and forts in general.’

He was curious, too, about the religion of his English guests. On 21 December 1838: ‘Runjeet has got a fit of curiosity about our religion, from our having declined engagements for Sundays and for Christmas-day; and he has sent the fakeer [Azizuddin, the maharaja’s foreign minister] twice to Mr. Y. [their chaplain] to say he wants to have translations of what it is he says to the Lord Sahib every Sunday…’ On Boxing Day, Emily again referred to his inquisitiveness about Christianity: ‘Runjeet has been extremely curious about our Sundays and Christmas-days, and, ill as he was, he sent for Mr Y. to-day, to explain to him what it meant. Mr. Y. took him translations of the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the prayer for the Governor-General.’

Ranjit’s own religiosity was deeply imbued with his Indic heritage, whether with regard to cow-slaughter or to bathing in auspicious rivers before embarking on a new venture. From Simla, on 1 July 1839, Emily recorded what happened the day before Ranjit Singh died: ‘The Maharajah sent for all his famous jewels, his horses with their splendid trappings, the surpêche [jewelled turban ornament] and pearls given him by G. [Lord Auckland], and ordered them to be sent to different shrines with directions that the Brahmins should pray for him.’

What was more, ‘he ordered the Koh-i-Noor (the famous diamond) to be sent down to the temple of Juggernaut,’ but then yielded o his sirdars’ remonstrances that such a valuable diamond could never be repurchased.

This is an excerpt from the essay, “The Edens and the Sikhs”, from the book Princes & People of India: Portraits by Emily Eden, accompanying the eponymous exhibition at DAG, New Delhi on display till August 14.

The Supreme Court on Monday verbally observed that the right to protest peacefully is guaranteed by the Constitution and that excessive use of force by the police on agitators cannot be justified, reported Bar and Bench.

“Just because there is an agitation does not mean there should be lathi-charge,” said Chief Justice Surya Kant. “Self-evolved discipline is needed, which is essential to the democratic process.”

The court was hearing a petition alleging that the police used excessive force against protesters who were marching to Parliament on July 20 as part of a demonstration called by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign.

The petitioners also pointed out instances of the police in Bihar using excessive force against protesters who were demonstrating in solidarity with the youth agitation in Delhi.

On Saturday, three protesters were injured after the police opened fire on demonstrators in Bihar’s Siwan district.

Following this, a batch of petitions was filed in the Supreme Court, seeking nationwide guidelines to regulate police action during protests, including a ban on the deployment of plainclothes personnel for crowd-control duties, reported Live Law.

The petitioners also sought guidelines to regulate the use of prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. The provision grants the authorities the power to issue orders in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger.

Further, the petitioners urged the court to order an independent investigation into the police action during the July 20 protest in Delhi.

On Monday, a lawyer told the court that police personnel had also been injured in the demonstrations.

“Injury to individual, be it to policemen or [students], is of equal concern,” the bench was quoted as saying by Live Law. “We may call upon state to concern why adequate equipment not given to police to handle such...they should have helmets.”

The bench listed the petitions to be heard on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court refused to urgently hear a petition alleging that the police used excessive force against protesters in Delhi. “Don’t waste our time and don’t waste your time,” Kant had said then.

The agitation in Delhi started on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union education minister at the time, over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams.

On July 20, thousands joined the protest two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country and forced Pradhan to resign on Saturday.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the youth protests here.

The Delhi Police has ordered social media platforms to remove purportedly objectionable posts about Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared during the youth protest, The Indian Express reported on Monday.

The newspaper quoted an unidentified police officer as saying that notices have been issued to three platforms directing them to take down the content.

The posts were being identified by the police’s social media monitoring team.

The Delhi Police had identified 450 social media accounts that shared alleged deepfake videos and content generated using artificial intelligence during the protests, The Indian Express reported.

The police are also examining whether the content had the potential to disturb public order, PTI quoted an unidentified officer as saying.

The content was posted online during the youth protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign to demand the resignation of Pradhan over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams.

On July 20, thousands joined the protest in Delhi two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country and forced Pradhan to resign on Saturday.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read:

• Opinion: The Modi government doesn’t understand Gen Z’s protest memes – but that doesn’t matter
• ‘Daddy, detain me’: The memes that humbled Modi
• Follow Scroll’s coverage of the youth protests here

A stark and urgent crisis has been unfolding in Indian society over the years. The dream of education as a guaranteed path to upward mobility has been crumbling. The “GenZ” protests we are witnessing in India today has brought the crisis into sharp relief but millions of families have long been suffering its consequences. Some of the aspects of the problem are still not fully acknowledged in public discourse.

For generations, Indian families have treated education as the surest ticket to upward mobility. Even the poor scraped together whatever they could, sometimes at devastating personal cost, in the belief that a degree would lift their children, and therefore the family, into the economic stability and respectability of the middle class.

Education was an investment strategy, a form of social insurance and a retirement plan for parents who sacrificed everything for their children’s success.

However, recent trends indicate that the privatisation of education, rising costs of coaching and a shrinking job market have disrupted this conventional wisdom.

The gamble

Acquiring education has always been a powerplay. In post-colonial India, it also became a psychological anchor for families in an economy with no safety nets. Education promised not just employment but also dignity to the poor and a shield against social humiliation for the sections forced at the bottom of the society due to caste prejudice and discrimination.

Even parents who could barely afford three nutritious meals a day poured everything into tuition fees, coaching classes and other expenses related to preparing for entrance exams.

In the Indian public sphere, to question this logic remains unthinkable even today. Those who top various exams are celebrated and to reject the underlying injustice could amount to abandoning hope itself.

But a cruel realisation has been setting in for some time. In the last decade, the betting on education is yielding losses for families. Degrees no longer guarantee jobs. Not just blue-collar wages but even middle-class wages are stagnant. Most highly educated youth are stuck in underpaid and insecure employment, if not unemployed. Families who went into debt to finance higher education are now staring at financial ruin.

How did this happen? The destruction of public education has been underway for quite some time in India. Over the decades, the state has systematically withdrawn funding from public schools and universities, forcing students into an expensive and exploitative private education market.

Schemes such as the Right to Education have funnelled students from government schools to private institutions, fattening the private sector while public schools collapse from neglect, defunding and now rampant closures.

Simultaneously, the job market has been crushed under the weight of privatisation, labour informality and a ruthless proliferation – even valourisation – of the gig economy. Beyond financialisation, the Indian economy is now largely structured around precarious, low-wage work, where degrees are often meaningless.

Desperation economy

Defying all formal (but discredited) logic of rational markets, a massive parasitic industry has flourished in this new landscape, namely, the coaching-private knowledge industry. Coaching centres, some of which are openly exploitative, others predatory in their false promises, feed off parental desperation.

The costs are astronomical, but families, trapped in the psychology of “one last attempt” to keep spending. They go into debt for exams their children may never clear and degrees that lead nowhere.

Families once believed that even if they had nothing else – no land, no wealth, no connections – their children’s education would be their safety net. Instead of stability, many educated youth are unemployed or earn so little that they cannot support themselves, let alone their families.

The burden of intergenerational support, once expected to flow from educated children to parents, no longer holds.

The full weight of disappointment for the Gen X and late millennials is sinking in. They are taking care of their aged parents but despair at seeing their children flounder economically, socially, and emotionally.

Policy gaslighting

From the gaslighting about affirmative action in education using identity-based notions of merit, the coaching industry has shifted the goalpost further. We find ourselves now in an education model where success is contingent on financial investment rather than merit, bringing back the additional barrier of class with a vengeance.

Competitive exams themselves have proliferated with the policy shift in which newly established organisations such as National Testing Agency have dragged into the coaching industry even those students and families who do not aspire for medical and engineering seats.

This nexus of testing policy and coaching industry is reshaping student aspirations, leading to psychological distress and financial burdens on families. The industry’s growth has been undercutting formal schooling even for middle class children. This will further undermine even educational institutions run by non-government entities, such as minorities, charitable organisations and educational societies.

Top industrialists and CEOs have gone viral for suggesting untenable work hours, at the same time gaslighting jobseekers by repeatedly suggesting that their education and job preparedness is deficient. If such claims were true, where are the private-sector jobs languishing unfilled due to a lack of qualified personnel?

Earlier this year, young factory workers in the National Capital Region protested inhuman work conditions and below subsistence wages. There is little debate in the public sphere about consistent and rampant wage theft in India, which has made life unsustainable for the majority of Indians – leave alone education.

What is the future?

India must have the difficult conversation about whether higher education leads to better employment outcomes, given that wage stagnation and job insecurity persist even among highly educated professionals.

The issue is not only about delays and leaks in competitive examinations. India needs to prioritise heavy public investment in school education, followed by correcting the lopsided diversion of public funds in engineering and management schools considered elite within the public higher educational institutions.

We must sound alarm also at the unfettered growth of the private higher education bubble being facilitated through policy acrobatics.

Following this trajectory, we have reached a point where families buried in debt are having to question themselves about whether they can keep their children in school and if they should send them to a university. They are haunted by an ever-widening chasm between the rich, who can afford elite education, and everyone else, who are left with nothing but unfulfilled promises.

But even the elite are now haunted by a system degraded to an extent that they can no longer rely upon it to protect their social and economic standing. It was about time that someone sounded the alarm.

The cruel truth is that in today’s India, spending on education has become an unreliable investment. Most young people are set up to fail by the Indian examination system. But today, even if they succeed, investing in costly degrees by taking on crippling debt without job prospects is financial self-sabotage.

The level of youth unemployment in India is worrying. This is not where India should be (see chart). This is hurting the future of middle class youth & needs policy change. India has many strengths but denying the weaknesses is a recipe for failure. pic.twitter.com/NIdKRLdE40

— Kaushik Basu (@kaushikcbasu) October 25, 2023

Until public education is revived and secure employment is restored as a viable reality, parents need to realise that investing heavily in coaching for BTech, MBBS, or even degrees like LLB and MBA is a high-risk gamble.

As a society, we need to understand that the stranglehold of gig work will only increase if labour protections and social security cover is not expanded, and if parents are forced to depend solely on their children for post-retirement survival.

They must demand affordable public education at school and higher levels, instead of joining the coaching bandwagon.

Pushing for systemic change is not utopian thinking. Rather than adapting to this broken system, we must demand accessible public education and secure employment. If we do not sound the alarm now, we are heading towards creating an entire lost generation.

We already have a large permanent underclass of underemployed and underpaid citizens.

Ghazala Jamil is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is the author most recently of What to Do with Political Sadness: And other Essays on Death, Destruction and Hauntology (Simon and Schuster India).

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah whether he had ordered the use of lethal forces against students during the youth protests in Delhi on July 20.

In a letter to the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Gandhi also asked whether the persons wearing plain clothes, seen assaulting students with lathis in videos widely shared online, were police personnel or volunteers. “Who authorised their deployment?” the Congress leader asked.

The agitation in Delhi began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union education minister at the time, over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams.

On July 20, thousands joined the protest two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country and forced Pradhan to resign on Saturday.

In the letter made public on Sunday, Gandhi demanded accountability for the “barbaric assault” on the protesters, saying that the security forces deployed in the national capital report to Shah.

“Most shocking has been the use of lethal pellet guns,” Gandhi said. “Reports in the media and social media clearly show people who have suffered grave injuries, including a journalist.”

The Congress leader’s letter came as the Opposition is expected to raise the assault on the protesters in Parliament as both Houses reconvene on Monday.

While withdrawing the agitation on Saturday, the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign, which led the protest, said that a public apology from the Rapid Action Force and the Delhi Police were pending.

Gandhi has also repeatedly demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologise to the protesting students and take action “against those guilty of violence against students”.

The Central Reserve Police Force had set up an inquiry into whether pellet guns had been used by its Rapid Action Force personnel on July 20.

On Monday, The Indian Express quoted unidentified officials as saying that a person from the force deployed in Connaught Place fired at least seven rounds from his pellet gun. While five rounds hit protesters, two struck the ground, the newspaper reported.

Written by Nachiket Deuskar. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the youth protests here.

The police in Goa’s Panaji detained two persons on Saturday for holding a placard expressing support for jailed activist Umar Khalid during a demonstration held in solidarity with the youth protests in Delhi, reported PTI.

Khalid has been in jail since September 2020 for his alleged involvement in the communal violence that broke out in North East Delhi in February 2020 between supporters of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it. The violence had left 53 dead and hundreds injured. Most of those killed were Muslims.

On Saturday, demonstrations were being held in Panaji’s Azad Maidan against the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive examinations when a person identified as Danish displayed a poster in support of Khalid.

When he was questioned by reporters, Danish said that he supported Khalid’s release from prison, reported PTI.

Following this, the police detained him.

Some of the demonstrators at Azad Maidan then marched to the police headquarters demanding Danish’s release. As the group continued to shout slogans in his support, the police detained another person, Sudin Dalvi, when he too expressed support for Khalid, an unidentified police official was quoted as saying by PTI.

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha held a demonstration outside the police station demanding stringent action against Danish and Dalvi.

Tushar Kelkar, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha’s Goa unit president, demanded that the police register a case with non-bailable offences against them.

Case against Khalid

The police have claimed that the violence in February 2020 in North East Delhi was part of a larger conspiracy to defame the Narendra Modi government and was planned by those who organised the protests against the amended Citizenship Act.

Khalid is facing charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, the Arms Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code.

He has spent nearly six years in jail, without trial. His petitions for regular bail have been rejected repeatedly.

On January 5, the Supreme Court denied bail to Khalid and former Jawaharlal Nehru University student Sharjeel Imam in the case. A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria had, however, granted bail to Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Shadab Ahmed and Muhammad Saleem Khan.

On May 18, another bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan criticised the January order, observing that “bail is the rule and jail is an exception” even in prosecutions under the anti-terror law.

Also read: Umar Khalid’s five years of incarceration: ‘Do I even know the world any more?’

Youth protests against exam irregularities

The protests against alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive examinations had spread across the country in the last week.

The youth protests began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign started its demonstration at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union education minister, alleging that he was responsible for paper leaks in national competitive examinations.

On July 19, thousands joined the protest in Delhi after the police forcibly shifted activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike, to hospital.

A march to Parliament on July 20 was met with heavy police action. Dozens of protesters were injured in lathi charges and had to brave tear gas. The police action widened the support for the agitation, which soon spread to other cities.

Pradhan resigned on Saturday. Hours later, the Cockroach Janta Party called off its protest at Jantar Mantar, stating that “all demands have been accepted” following talks with the Union government.

Edited by Sneha.

Also read:

• What if Dharmendra Pradhan resigns?

• Why a generation brought up on pro-Modi propaganda turned against the PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced that the Union government has constituted a “high-powered task force” under the leadership of Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani to look into examination reforms.

“Based on its report, steps will be taken to ensure the credibility of upcoming examinations at the earliest,” said the prime minister in a video posted on social media.

The announcement came a day after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as the Union education minister following weeks-long protests that spread across the country.

Pradhan’s resignation was the core demand of protesters led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign. The protesters had been calling on him to quit on account of alleged mismanagement of a series of competitive examinations.

HIGH POWERED TASK FORCE on examination reforms under the leadership of Shri Nandan Nilekani constituted.@NandanNilekani pic.twitter.com/mMpmPdIEL5

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2026

On Sunday, the prime minister said that the Union government will also move “towards making a new law with tough provisions” in Parliament on Monday.

He was referring to the 2026 Public Examinations Prevention of Unfair Means Amendment Bill. The legislation proposes imprisonment of five to ten years for individuals found using unfair means in public examinations. The maximum fine for such persons would increase from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.

The bill says that investigations into the cases should be completed within two months and that a Special Task Force should be established to probe serious offences related to public examinations.

It also increases the minimum punishment for organised exam-related offences from five years to seven years in prison, and raises the minimum fine from Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore.

Youth protests against exam irregularities

The youth protests began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign started its demonstration at Jantar Mantar to demand Pradhan’s resignation.

On July 19, thousands joined the protest in Delhi after the police forcibly shifted activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike, to hospital.

A march to Parliament on July 20 was met with heavy police action. Dozens of protesters were injured in lathi charges and had to brave tear gas. The police action widened the support for the agitation, which soon spread to other cities.

After Pradhan resigned on Saturday, the Cockroach Janta Party called off its protest at Jantar Mantar, stating that “all demands have been accepted” following talks with the Union government.

Edited by Sneha.

When Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, Kiran was a Class 4 student.

She grew up in a rural household of Rajasthan’s Bikaner district where child marriages are common. But Kiran was lucky. Her family supported her education.

“I am the only girl in my extended family to have left home for education,” said Kiran, 20, who lives in Delhi.

As a child, Kiran said, she did not have much political awareness. It hardly mattered who ruled the country. “My parents aren’t so privileged and educated to have a political preference,” said Kiran, whose father retired from the Army. “But they did vote for Modi. For a long time, I also felt that everything was fine and the Modi government is good.”

The doubts began when Kiran came to Delhi to study for an undergraduate degree in political science two years ago.

She was not only introduced to a more cosmopolitan world, but also to the experiences of other people. She read about marginalised groups, for whom little has changed in the past decade. She also came to know how the ruling government had villainised the Muslim community in the country.

“In our class of 72 students, only one was Muslim,” Kiran said. “Whenever I spoke to her, she would always say it would be better if she studied in Jamia [Millia Islamia]. She felt really uncomfortable.”

When she heard Bharatiya Janata Party supporters “talk numbers”, that this or that scheme “benefited so many people”, she realised they were missing an important point.

“What they don’t say is that this government is not afraid of anything,” Kiran said. “They don’t care about human rights or fundamental rights of the citizens.”

But most frustrating was her experience with the National Education Policy that was implemented in 2022 across universities. “It’s crazy how there’s little alternative perspective in the NEP,” she said. “We are studying the philosophy of Kautilya every semester. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

With all this discontent jostling inside her, Kiran said she did not think twice when the Cockroach Janta Party satirical student outfit announced a protest in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar last month. She soon became a regular at the protest site.

Her parents phoned her every night, she said to ask if she was headed there. She did not tell them that she was. “I ask myself if there are people fighting for a cause, how can I sit in an air-conditioned room and do nothing?” said Kiran.

Like Kiran, thousands of young people who turned up in Central Delhi for the Cockroach Janta Party protest with their trusted phones, memes and fierce irreverence, grew up in Modi’s India – in homes devoted to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the prime minister, surrounded by a mainstream media that silenced all questioning of the government.

And yet, they demanded accountability from the BJP government – and forced the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to finally resign on Saturday afternoon.

For each of them, the journey to political awareness began with doubts, acrimonious arguments with parents and learning to think for themselves with the help of social media.

As Girisha, a 20-year-old who grew up in an orthodox Hindu family, told Scroll during a protest in Pune: “Asli protest to ghar pe ho raha hai.” The real protest is at home.

‘For my parents, the government can do no wrong’

Subodh Gaikwad has been on the frontlines of that agitation for years now. The 24-year-old has been trying to show the “reality” to his parents, for whom the government can do no wrong.

“They say, ‘Everything is good’, but I tell them that I can see clearly that everything is wrong,” Gaikwad told Scroll at the protest outside the district collector’s office in Pune on Friday evening.

Gaikwad and his friends had joined nationwide demonstrations demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, responding to the call of the Cockroach Janta Party.

Among the central issues raised by the CJP and other student organisations was the leak in May of the question paper for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, or NEET-UG, forcing lakhs of medical college aspirants to reappear for the exam in June.

Some of Gaikwad’s friends are NEET aspirants and some are pursuing their MBBS. “We are all in the same situation; we [want to know why] the question of accountability does not even arise,” said Gaikwad, who is studying to become a chartered accountant. “But my parents still think the students are in the wrong.”

Gaikwad said his friends, too, say their parents do not listen to reason. He squarely blamed the media for this. “They mostly watch TV and TV only tells them that the government is right and students are wrong,” he said.

It was not this way, always. When they were younger, Gaikwad and his peers heard dinner table conversations that criticised the bekaar, or “terrible” Congress government, “which did nothing for the country”.

“Now, we are being told that a lot is being done for the country, and that the previous government looted the country,” he said.

Gaikwad said he has pointed out to his parents that institutions like the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences and the Indian Institutes of Technology were built before the Modi government. “It is not like they have built new colleges and hospitals,” he said. “They have only made [the Ram] mandir.”

Social media helped Gaikwad realise that TV news was not telling him the full story. “My parents don’t even know what ethanol is, who is producing it and whose company is benefitting from it,” he said, referring to the widespread claims that the ethanol-blended petrol is damaging vehicles and affecting mileage. “We have all got knowledge from social media, which has opened our eyes.”

‘Instagram has no filters’

Puneet Hindlekar, a 21-year-old resident of Mumbai, had a similar experience.

In the days leading up to July 20, he been following the updates of the Cockroach Janta Party protest in Delhi on television and social media.

“I usually consume news first on TV and then I go to Instagram to check both sides – what the right wing has to say and what the left wing offers – before I reach my own conclusion,” he said.

When the police cracked down on the students’ march to Parliament, Hindlekar, an engineering graduate looking for a job, found the gap between the two versions troubling.

The television channels showed protestors were assaulting Delhi police. “But on Instagram I saw that even the police beat up the protestors and they did so terribly. See that is the thing: Instagram has no filters.”

The images of the police brutality, he said, finally drove him to his first protest at Mumbai’s iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Park along with his friends. Even the fact that the police had detained over 1,400 protestors and filed several FIRs did not prevent them.

“What pushed me was the unfairness in handling protestors at Jantar Mantar,” said Hindelkar. “I saw videos of women and kids being beaten up,” he said. “Abhi to jana padega, ab nahi gaye to kya kar rahe hai phir hum?” he told himself. If we don’t protest today, then what are we doing?

Hindlekar’s decision did not please his parents, who are staunch BJP supporters. “They are religious,” he said. “They vote for BJP because they support the Hindu cause. But for me development comes before religion.”

Other young protestors learnt from those around them to question the consensus.

Take Ujjwal Kelkar, 29, who grew up in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district and joined the protest in Pune.

Through his childhood, he has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of the BJP, taking part in festivals and blood donation campaigns it organised.

When Kelkar began his engineering studies in Amravati, he inadvertently got cut off from TV news channels. He was also surrounded by friends who were studying for public service examinations and were reading various newspapers every day. “I compared all the news and everyone had their own perspective,” he said. “So, if the news is the same, why is it different?”

It also helped having friends he could constantly debate with, and who did not label him as “anti-national” for having different opinions.

Girisha, the 20-year-old from Pune, credited her teachers and friends for the maturity in her political opinions. “I've been lucky my entire life to study under educators who do not shy away from radical opinions,” she said. “You have to rely on your peers. You have to rely on those who are educating you and not just WhatsApp forwards and social media.”

She said having discussions with her friends and constantly educating herself has been important in shaping her beliefs. “We have discussions in college, our friends groups, sitting outside the juice centre. I am wrong in several places, but at least I’m aware of where I'm wrong.”

Many of the protestors said they were worried about the unchecked power in one party and person. “There is no MP left in Parliament to raise their voice against the PM,” Kelkar said. In Maharashtra, he said, all parties are becoming a part of the ruling BJP. “If there will be just one party, that will be a dictatorship.”

He said he saw an echo of 2013 in the Narendra Modi government. “The Congress was then at the peak of egoism. They were like, ‘we don’t need to do anything. We will just get elected’,” said Kelkar. “The BJP is doing the same thing.”

Maybe in 2029, any other government that is elected may also behave similarly, said Kelkar. “But we need to give them a chance. It’s high time. We need change.”

Another change of guard in Downing Street has triggered a renewed bout of concern – and sniggers – over the fragility of British politics and its democracy. Not for the first time, as the country gets its seventh prime minister in 10 years. Four years ago, openDemocracy reported “Boris Johnson has quit, but Britain’s democracy is still broken.” This time, when Keir Starmer put in his papers paving the way for fellow Labour leader Andy Burnham to take over as prime minister, The Economist asked “Is British politics broken?”

In many ways, it is. Repeated leadership upheavals have caused persistent government dysfunction. It’s a sign of the growing transience of voters’ loyalties to parties, making politics inherently volatile. Support for Labour, which won a landslide just two years ago, ebbed, and Keir’s ratings as prime minister plummeted, forcing his hand.

The instability, now a chronic feature of British politics, undermines the prime minister’s authority, raising questions about the country’s governability and the quality of its democracy. Germany’s Der Spiegel compares Downing Street to a transit station. It’s a situation apparently bad enough for Russia’s state broadcaster RT to call – without any sense of irony at all – an “illusion of democracy”.

But is it really that bad? After all, when did stability become a marker of democratic quality? Undemocratic regimes are actually far better at providing stability because they eliminate the uncertainties that are part and parcel of competitive democracy.

Unlike authoritarian regimes, where outcomes are more predictable – leaving aside sudden ruptures such as coups and purges – because competition is constrained, uncertainty is intrinsic to democracy. In the formulation of the political theorist Adam Przeworski, democracy is in fact a system of “organised uncertainty”. Is it even a democracy if it is anchored in predictable stability?

Electoral autocracy

Take the world’s largest democracy, India, where the government is super-stable, the prime minister commands authority – a bit too much – and the democracy is questionable. Sweden-based democracy tracker V-Dem Institute now classifies it as an “electoral autocracy”.

Like many endangered democracies, India is characterised by its captured media and governing institutions that help Prime Minister Narendra Modi tighten his grip on power. The checks and balances to arbitrary power now barely work. The judiciary is happy to be the executive’s handmaiden, looking away from his government’s excesses and even chipping in on its projects to cement his power.

The strength of his party and its allies in Parliament make the legislature a rubber stamp of executive will. The cabinet bows to him in unquestioned submission, an extension of the cult of personality that his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has created around him.

As major democratic institutions, the party and the cabinet are supposed to provide the first level of internal checks on arbitrary or personalised rule. In the cabinet system, the prime minister is not the boss, only the first among equals (primus inter pares) in the cabinet, based on the principle of collective responsibility in executive decision-making.

Similarly, the governing party isn’t just supposed to be the vehicle for power, but also the primary mechanism that constrains how that power is exercised by the executive. These are a far cry from the fan-boy-like behaviour that is de rigueur for Modi’s cabinet colleagues and party members.

Robust guardrails

The Indian right-wing ecosystem has been gloating at Britain’s newest leadership change to underscore the stability that Modi’s rule supposedly provides. But the fact is that in Britain, from where India borrowed this system of government, the party and the cabinet still provide enviably robust guardrails of institutional checks – as evident from the regular party revolts that have unseated prime ministers in the past decade.

Fellow ministers and party leaders aren’t just lackeys of the chief executive, but zealous watchdogs and competitors looking for the tiniest slip to pounce. Many troubled democracies across the world today would envy this in-house scrutiny to which the two main British parties subject their leaders when they sense voter discontent. It’s a minor miracle that they manage to do so in this time of worldwide disconnect between parties and people.

With growing atomisation of society, the decline of mobilising party organizations such as unions and associations, and the emergence of dark money as the prime determinant of electoral outcomes, politics feels increasingly remote and elite-captured. This hollowing out of political parties lies at the heart of the ongoing crisis of popular democracy.

Increasingly functioning less as social organisations and more as appendages of the state, parties have lost their ideological distinctiveness, party loyalties have waned, and popular withdrawal from political life intensified. “Party-voter differences have become more stretched as a result, party-party differences have shrunk,” Peter Mair argues in ‘Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy’.

It’s no accident that Labour and the Tories increasingly look indistinguishable – pushing voters towards Reform and the Greens in search of authentic representation; it is symptomatic of larger trends in democracies everywhere as catch-all parties dilute their ideologies to chase the median voter. By early this year, 25% of Labour voters complained that Labour and the Conservatives had become similar – nearly double the share immediately after the 2024 election (13%).

What sets British politics apart is the alacrity with which its parties still manage to respond to shifts in public mood. From the viewpoint of many democracies elsewhere, that British parties can do so with leadership change – even while in – feels like yet another minor miracle.

Gen Z movement

In India, even parties that lose elections cannot question their leaders, let alone those in power. Ruled by cliques, devoid of internal democracy, and absent an ideologically charged cadre base, they have little strength to break the despot’s hold.

For weeks now, capital New Delhi has witnessed a budding Gen Z movement of students and activists frustrated by the government’s failure to deliver, and the opposition’s failure to make it. The movement has successfully tapped the mountain of resentments in a way the opposition parties could not, and has succeeded in making the government concede its key demand of the education minister’s resignation over a raging examination paper leaks scandal.

The so-called cockroach movement that began with an online meme fest and snowballed into a full-fledged mass movement resonating across India, is an expression of a deeply felt crisis of representation, with people ceasing to connect with political parties across the board.

It took a nationwide movement to dislodge a low-level minister in India. In Britain, a bye-election result was enough to send a prime minister packing. If party responsiveness to public mood is a core measure of democratic health, Britain’s democracy is alive and kicking. Its newest change of leader is a testimony to the high standard of public accountability of its leading parties.

Ignore the naysayers: compared to many polities elsewhere, its democracy is actually thriving. Downing Street is far better off with the “revolving door” than the thrones that elected despots are carving out in failing democracies.

This article first appeared on the Toda Peace Institute website.

Debasish Roy Chowdhury is a journalist, researcher and author based in Hong Kong, having recently co-authored To Kill A Democracy: India’s Passage to Despotism, OUP/Pan Macmillan.

A ship with four Indians onboard was struck by a projectile at the port of Odesa in Ukraine on Saturday, said the Indian Embassy in Kyiv on Sunday.

While two of the Indian seafarers are safe, “information is awaited regarding the other two”, added the embassy.

“Search and rescue operations are under way,” it stated. “The embassy is in constant touch with the concerned authorities.”

Point of Contact, Embassy of India, Ukraine
cons.kyiv@mea.gov.in
cons1.kyiv@mea.gov.in
Our Emergency contact no. - +380933559958 Mr. Aji Kumar, SS ( Consular) @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/2XolkORrcu

— India in Ukraine (@IndiainUkraine) July 26, 2026

The incident came days after four Indians were killed and one critically injured after a cargo ship was attacked while it departed the port of Odesa on July 19. The five Indians were among the 17 crew on board the ship.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had accused Russia of attacking the vessel inside his country’s maritime corridor. The incident came amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

On July 21, the external affairs ministry said that it had summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires to convey “India’s grave concerns and unequivocal condemnation” of the attack on the vessel.

Three days later, the ministry stated that an Indian seafarer was killed in an attack on a cargo ship in the Black Sea on July 18. The incident occurred when the merchant vessel Omorfi was transiting the sea and was reportedly in Russian territorial waters.

New Delhi did not say who it believed had attacked the ship.

MEA issues advisory

Stating that vessels in and around the Black Sea are facing significant security risks, the Ministry of External Affairs on Sunday advised Indians employed or planning to undertake employment in the region to “carefully assess the security risks before accepting such assignments”.

It also asked those who choose to work on vessels operating in conflict zones to obtain information from employers regarding the vessel’s intended route, ports of call, security arrangements, insurance coverage and emergency response procedures.

The ministry further asked seafarers to keep their family informed about their itinerary and maintain regular contact with them.

It urged Indians to follow the advisories released by the Directorate General of Maritime Administration.

On July 23, the authority had asked Indian seafarers to report any security incident or suspicious activity on the DGCOMM Centre, which is the Directorate General of Shipping’s maritime communication, coordination and crisis response portal.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Sneha.

The toll in flood-related incidents in Assam rose to 66 on Saturday with four more deaths reported from two districts, said the state disaster management authority.

While three persons died in Sivasagar, one death was reported from Charaideo.

More than 6.5 lakh persons in 10 districts have been affected by the floods. The districts are Golaghat, Charaideo, Kamrup, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Nagaon, Sonitpur, Hojai, Kamrup Metropolitan and Sivasagar.

The number of affected villages came down to 810 on Saturday from 900 on Wednesday.

Sivasagar was the worst-affected district, with 255 villages being inundated and more than 2.9 lakh persons impacted. This was followed by Charaideo, where 1.9 lakh persons have been affected by the floods and Jorhat, where over 1.3 lakh persons are reeling under the deluge.

The Dikhou and Dhansiri rivers continued to flow above the danger level in Sivasagar and Numaligarh.

Crops on 34,970.8 hectares of land have been damaged.

The disaster management authority said that the administration was operating 274 relief camps and aid distribution centres in six districts, sheltering 18,902 persons displaced by the floods.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the Bharatiya Janata Party will provide clothing to children and women from two lakh flood-affected families.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Sneha.

A court in Bihar’s Patna remanded Janshakti Janata Dal chief Tej Pratap Yadav to 14 days’ judicial custody on Sunday after he was arrested in connection with violent protests against alleged irregularities in competitive examinations, reported The Indian Express.

The demonstration in Patna was held on Saturday in solidarity with the youth agitation in Delhi to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged paper leaks. Pradhan resigned later on Saturday.

During the protest in Patna, demonstrators allegedly threw stones at police personnel and vandalised vehicles.

Tej Pratap Yadav, the son of former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav, had joined demonstrators near Gandhi Maidan. He was detained from the protest site and released later.

However, in the evening, the police arrested him from a mall in central Patna, reported The Indian Express.

Tej Pratap Yadav was produced before a judicial magistrate shortly after midnight, according to the newspaper. Following the remand order, he was shifted to Beur Central Jail.

“We would file a regular bail application on Monday,” the newspaper quoted Tej Pratap Yadav’s lawyer as saying.

In the first information report registered against him, Tej Pratap Yadav has been accused of rioting, assaulting police personnel, damaging a police vehicle, obstructing public servants from discharging their duties and injuring a station house officer, The Indian Express reported.

He has also been charged under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section relating to attempt to murder.

Meanwhile, hours after Pradhan resigned, the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign called off its protest at Jantar Mantar, stating that “all demands have been accepted” following talks with the Union government.

Edited by Sneha.

Also read: Centre proposes tougher anti-paper leak law with longer jail terms, faster trials

The family of a Muslim man, who had been serving food and water to protesters at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, was released after being detained in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district, their lawyer confirmed to Scroll.

On Saturday, Muhammad Junaid also posted a video on social media saying that he was “completely safe and my family members are also completely safe”.

Junaid told digital news outlet Lallantop on Friday that the police came to his home in Ghaziabad a day earlier and took his father away, before releasing him late at night. He alleged that officers returned the next morning and again took his father into custody.

Junaid also alleged that the police detained his sister’s father-in-law and brother-in-law in Meerut and took them to the Masoori Police Station in Ghaziabad district.

He told Lallantop that police confiscated the bank passbooks of his parents and siblings, as well as Aadhaar cards belonging to family members, and told them they would be released only if Junaid was brought to the police station.

Junaid said he was not wanted in any criminal case and had committed no offence.

The Meerut Police denied taking any action against Junaid's family. Senior Superintendent of Police Avinash Pandey told PTI on Saturday that “no such matter has come to my notice”. Superintendent of Police Vinayak Gopal Bhonsle said police had verified the claims with all station house officers and found that no member of Junaid’s family had been detained in the district.

Junaid has alleged that personnel from the Ghaziabad Police carried out the detentions, including in Meerut, where his relatives live. Senior Ghaziabad police officers could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.

Junaid said that he had been volunteering at the Jantar Mantar protest since protests against exam irregularities began. He said he started by distributing water before volunteers gradually expanded the effort to provide food and other essentials.

The agitation began in Delhi on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the education minister’s resignation.

The minister resigned on Saturday afternoon, saying that he took the step so that “anti-national forces” do not take advantage of the ongoing protests. Hours later, the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign called off its protest at Jantar Mantar, stating that “all demands have been accepted” following talks with the Union government.

On Monday, thousands joined the protest after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read:

• Why a generation brought up on pro-Modi propaganda turned against the PM
• Cockroach protest was the boy who yelled about the emperor’s new clothes
• ‘Now Modi should go’: Jantar Mantar erupted in celebration after Pradhan’s resignation

The Uttar Pradesh government has reconstituted the Special Investigation Team probing the alleged embezzlement of donations made to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, inducting three senior Indian Police Service officers into the panel, ANI reported.

This came after the Supreme Court, on July 13, directed the Uttar Pradesh government to constitute a fresh SIT under the leadership of a senior Indian Police Service officer. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, also directed the state to submit a status report on July 27.

The new SIT is headed by Inspector General Kiran S, with Deputy Inspector General Somen Verma and Senior Superintendent of Police Gaurav Grover as members. It replaces the earlier panel headed by Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, an Indian Administrative Service officer. Kiran S was also a member of the previous SIT, the Hindustan Times reported.

On July 20, the court asked the state government to consider placing the ongoing police investigation under the supervision of the same three-member SIT that had first uncovered prima facie evidence of the alleged fraud, the newspaper reported.

The original three-member SIT was formed on June 13 at the request of the temple trust after Opposition leaders and a whistleblower raised questions about how donations were being handled at the temple.

In its preliminary report, submitted to the Uttar Pradesh home department on June 23, the SIT found 70 instances of counting staff hiding bundles of notes and loose cash in their clothes, pockets and shoes. Scroll has seen a copy of the report.

The report alleged that offerings were stolen during the counting process with staff routinely hiding cash on their bodies and walking out with it, as systems meant to stop this were not enforced. It also flagged serious lapses by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and the State Bank of India, the banker to the trust.

The report held trustee Anil Mishra, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader, responsible for the dilution of security protocols in the counting room but did not recommend any action against him.

While it did not name Champat Rai, the trust’s general secretary, one of his aides was among the eight staffers it recommended the police investigate. The eight persons were also named in a first information report registered on June 25.

Mishra and Rai have resigned from their positions in the trust.

Edited by Anamika Pathak.

Also read:

• What the SIT report on Ram temple donation theft does and does not say

• In Ayodhya, it’s Sangh Parivar vs Sangh Parivar as Ram temple fund ‘theft’ charges blow up

In his memoirs, the Tuzuk-i Jahangiri, Jahangir is represented as the quintessential aesthete. This is exemplified in his miniature portraits, often featuring a host of luxurious objects, such as jade wine cups, jewel-encrusted daggers, and finely woven textiles.

In one such painting, where he is depicted in his typical resplendent regalia, two overlapping textile sashes or patkas gracefully wind around his torso – one bearing a distinctive bandhani tie-dye design, emblematic of Rajputana culture, and the other displaying intricate Islamicate geometric designs.

These twin sashes depict a carefully crafted visual manifesto of the emperor’s filial identity – as the son of both his Muslim father, the Mughal emperor Akbar, and Hindu mother, Rajput princess Harkha Bai.

This kind of multicultural sartorial sensibility reached refined heights during the reign of Akbar and his successors but did not originate in Mughal courts. Art historian Finbarr Barry Flood in his book Objects of Translation argues that between the 10th and 12th centuries, medieval elites engaged in “cultural cross-dressing” at cosmopolitan zones of contact around mercantile hubs in northern India.

Muslim elites adopted luxury items of ornamentation and dress favoured by rich Hindu and Buddhist rulers while Buddhist and Hindu elites reciprocally took to “fashionable” Turko-Persian wear as a sign of their sophisticated, worldly tastes. Such exchanges revealed a “complex interplay between sameness and difference, self and other,” according to Flood. Ultimately, such syncretic dressing practices was a way for cosmopolitan medieval elites, across both cultures, to best position themselves vis a vis the dominant social and class structures at play.

With the ascent of the Delhi Sultanate (r 1206-1526), Indic centres of power began participating more visibly in cultural “code-switching”. For instance, by the 14th and 15th centuries, Hindu Vijayanagara rulers, started wearing the Islamicate kabayi (tunics) and kullayi (caps) to assert their equality with neighbouring Muslim rulers, presenting themselves as the “Hindu Raya Suratrana” ie. “Sultans among Hindu kings”. However, this type of dressing was restricted to public events as a deliberate political strategy. There was never any actual shift away from Indic dress codes, especially in more private settings.

In contrast, the Mughals’ engagement with Indic dress codes and textiles was not limited to strategic diplomatic posturing. Rather, the Indic permeated their most intimate vocabularies of self-expression through clothing.

Culture shock to assimilation

There is a remarkable painting of Jahangir that depicts him bare-chested, sitting in the padmasana – the lotus position – drinking wine with a female member of the royal household in a domestic setting. Just a few decades before that, Jahangir’s great-grandfather Babur had sneered at how the general populace of Hindustan “go about naked,” referring to how the people in the newly conquered territory dealt with the scorching tropical heat by leaving their upper bodies bare.

Islamic culture saw the unclothed body as an affront to God and upheld dressing modestly. Babur was therefore, unsurprisingly, shocked by Indic cultural values that celebrated bodily beauty as proof of inner virtue, and the use of draped textiles as a way to accentuate and display a person’s physical attributes.

But, by the time Jahangir ascended the throne, hybridity and syncretism of form and expression was firmly embedded in Mughal fashion. So, not only do we get the Mughal emperor posing bare-chested in a private setting but also during a very public jharokha darshan – a kingship practice involving the public appearance of the king before his subjects from a palace balcony at sunrise. Jahangir is shown wearing layers of pearl necklaces, earrings, a turban, and a dhoti, giving his subjects a glimpse of his body – much like the holy darshan of the deity in Hindu temples.

Jahangir’s sartorial choices did not emerge in a vacuum – they were preceded by his father’s experiments. Akbar was the first Mughal emperor to wrestle with the question of how not to alienate his predominantly non-Muslim subjects while also not losing his identity as a Muslim emperor. His solution was embracing a modified, cotton version of heavy Persian robes, drawing on the design of the jhaggā – a garment indigenous to the Rajput kingdom of Mewar. Colloquially referred to as jama, Akbar would officially name this new design “sarabgati”, literally meaning “that which covers the whole body” – bridging Hindu and Islamic ways of dressing.

The typical Mughal jama – a side-fastening coat-frock with a nipped waist – soon became a staple durbar (court) style. The near-transparency of cotton muslin was combined with the jama’s tight, body-hugging bodice and flared skirt falling to below the knee or to the ankle, and worn with a tailored lower garment – either loose fitting “paijamas” or more tapered “churidaars”. The final look was an ideal balance of Islamic modesty and Indic aesthetics around showcasing the body.

Akbar’s court historians wrote of how the emperor’s body “glowed” in simple, white jamas, ascribing his radiance to the “nur” (Divine Light) he had inherited from the Mongolian matriarch Alan Gua, the mythical ancestor of Akbar’s forebear Genghis Khan. Such testimonies strengthened Akbar’s position as the rightful ruler of “Hindustan”, not just within his own empire, but also the larger Islamicate world.

As a daily wear item, the cotton jama also achieved two more objectives. One, it was infinitely better suited to the warm tropical weather than natural fabrics like silk and wool used in traditional Persian robes. Two, it became a form of virtue-signalling as popular Sufi texts often mentioned cotton as a fabric that embodied Islamic piety and humility.

Even the Rajputs were not immune to the updated jama’s charms. But, while Muslim nobles had the side fastenings of their jamas on the right, Hindu Rajputs would tie them on the left side – a small but significant detail that revealed the wearer’s religion. Changes in Rajput dressing styles – from the use of turban ornaments (sarpech), jewelled daggers, embroidered jamas with paijamas, instead of dhotis – all became synonymous with their proximity to Mughal power. They also, in turn, inspired variations to standard Mughal designs, such as the chakdar jama with four to six pointed edges at the hem. The signature silhouette, favoured by Mughal courtiers because it allowed agile movements, may have been inspired by Rajput’s courts’ takauchiah garment with slits (chaks) at the hem.

The politics of style

Surpassing the jama as a codified instrument of politics was the khil’at (Robe of Honour). The Arabic origin of the word means “cast off garment” – pointing to the practice of a sovereign handing his expensive robe to a subordinate as a mark of appreciation. Such a “gift” emphasised the superior status of the sovereign but also symbolised the imperial goodwill bestowed on a loyal vassal or courtier. The khil’at, typically decorated with jewels and other precious ornamentation, also held monetary value. But a “robe of honour” could take other forms and deliver other messages.

For instance, Jahangir would personally invent the Nadiri hunting coat drawing on Persian, Chinese, and European design elements, reflecting Mughal cosmopolitan culture. The exclusive design was meant primarily for his own personal use and to create khil’ats for a select few. So when Prince Khurram (Shah Jahan) emerged victorious in the Deccan, Jahangir sent him an astoundingly elaborate Nadiri to express his happiness, an acknowledgement that the young prince was entering the exclusive club of elites who the emperor held in high esteem.

Similarly, Jahangir was known to hand soft pashmina shawls to Rajput rulers to communicate volumes about the warmth of their partnerships. But at the same time, such shawls, previously rebranded as “Paramnarm” by Akbar, alluded to a lingual play on the Persian phrase “Ragi gardan narm kardan”, which meant renouncing pride and learning to obey. The gift of the shawls, therefore, was Jahangir’s way of sending the hard message to his vassals to stay loyal but couched in the softest of materials.

The concept of the khil’at was used by Jahangir in another unusual context to define his relationship with another powerful Persianate kingdom – Safavid Iran. Undoubtedly, the Mughal dynasty owed a debt of gratitude to them for supporting Humayun and helping him reclaim his kingdom. But, at the same time, the Mughal empire had, in the succeeding decades, become a competing and important centre of Persianate political and cultural power. This paradoxical situation was depicted in Abu’l-Hasan’s painting, Emperor Jahangir embraces Shah Abbas.

In reality, the Safavid shah, known as “Abbas the Great”, had never visited the subcontinent or met Jahangir in person. In the painting though, based on a dream that Jahangir supposedly had, the two rulers are shown embracing each other while standing on the globe. While Abbas wears a Persianate-style robe of brocaded silk in a style typical of a gifted khil’at – symbolising subordination – Jahangir is shown wearing a simple cotton jama beneath a green Nadiri vest. In this painting and others, Jahangir would visually assert that he wore no one’s robes but his own, and owed no form of political submission to the Safavids.

One of the reasons why Mughal statecraft was so intertwined with clothing was the subcontinent’s booming textile economy. Akbar’s court historian, Abu’l Fazl, documented Akbar’s keen interest in regional textiles and their production, given that they were a significant source of revenue.

Portraits of Akbar would frequently spotlight textiles from recently conquered territories and the A’in-i-Akbari lists around 30 types of cotton fabric, 39 varieties of silk, and 26 kinds of wool. Among them, mashru, a cotton-silk blend, was promoted by Akbar at court because the cotton-silk blend gave Muslim elite the chance to enjoy the regality of silk while adhering to Islamic strictures against ostentatious dressing.

Regional textiles would often be incorporated into patka sashes – a regional garment with roots in Western India. Typically measuring about 11 feet in length and 1.5 feet in width, these fabric strips were cinched around the waist. They were the easiest “vehicle” for imperial messages to be presented in courtly settings, conveying the emperor’s alliances, patronage, and dominance, all at once.

A crucial example of this is the painting that depicts Akbar receiving the news of victory at Gogunda in Rajasthan. He is painted sitting on his throne, donning a red and black bandhani patka over a gold-brocaded silk one. As the victory was over a Rajput kingdom, Mewar, the patka symbolised both Akbar’s power over the defeated Sisodias of Mewar, and his friendship with the Kachchhwahas at Amber.

Under Jahangir and then Shah Jahan, cosmopolitan craft hubs continued to flourish in Lahore, Kashmir, Dilli/Shahjahanabad (now Delhi), Agra, Ahmadabad (now Ahmedabad), Fatehpur and Burhanpur. The finest silks – satin, kimkhah, katan, and tassar sourced from Banaras, Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Persia, and China; delicate cottons, including the famed muslins of Bengal; and rich velvets from Gujarat flowed through these nodal cities where royal karkhanas (workshops) were located.

Decline and dispersal

However, imperial patronage of the arts steadily declined during Aurangzeb’s reign, beginning with the royal atelier being disbanded. The Mughal karkhana system, which had underpinned the state-led economy of textile crafts in the subcontinent for decades, saw a rapid decline in the late 17th century, coinciding with the gradual weakening of the Mughal empire following Aurangzeb’s death in 1707.

Artisans working at imperial karkhanas began migrating to smaller regional hubs, seeking protection and patronage under smaller courts of Rajput kings, the Nawabs of Awadh and the Nizams of Hyderabad. Others set up smaller, independent workshops in areas where European trade was expanding.

The resultant dispersal of artisans spread the craft techniques perfected in the workshops under the Mughals far and wide, across geographies, but with localised variations. The artisans of Kinari Bazar (Chandni Chowk) relocated to Awadh, leading to the emergence of zardozi embroidery while the intricacy of the kinkhwab brocade continued to thrive in Varanasi. Shisha embroidery, where small mirrors are stitched into a fabric’s weave, became prevalent in northwestern India and Balochistan (in present-day Pakistan). What was once the exclusive design language of the imperial “centre” diversified into various “regional” dialects.

Even today, the silhouettes and embellishments on garments such as the anarkali, angarkha, pyjama and churidaar carry the imprint of pluralistic Mughal courtly styles from a time when politics in the Indian subcontinent favoured syncretism over division.

Yashvardhan S Sihag is a final year student of History at St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. His research interests include performance art with a focus on theatre traditions and the politics of artistic consumption. He has a keen interest in medieval Indian art and craft traditions.

This article was originally published by Impart, an online platform encouraging greater engagement with South Asia’s art and cultural histories.

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday arrested former Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission chairperson Taman Singh Sonwani in connection with an alleged money laundering case linked to irregularities in the state’s 2020 and 2021 civil services examinations, PTI reported.

The development came a day after the Union Cabinet approved amendments to the 2024 Public Examinations Prevention of Unfair Means Act, following nationwide protests against the alleged irregularities in competitive examinations. The proposed amendments, which will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday, provide for stricter punishments, a two-month investigation deadline and a Special Task Force to probe serious examination-related offences.

In the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission case, the Enforcement Directorate launched its investigation based on a 2024 Central Bureau of Investigation first information report. The FIR was registered following a complaint by the Chhattisgarh Police after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the state in 2023.

Sonwani was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2024.

On Saturday, he was taken into custody in Raipur by the Enforcement Directorate after being questioned, PTI quoted unidentified officials as saying. They alleged that he was “evasive” in his replies.

The agency alleged that Sonwani leaked question papers and manipulated selections in exchange for bribes, favouring his relatives and candidates who paid money.

It also claimed that the commission’s recruitment rules were amended in 2021 to remove the word “nephew” from the definition of family, allegedly to facilitate the appointment of his relatives.

The agency said that part of the alleged bribe money was laundered through a family-controlled society in the guise of corporate social responsibility donations for a “non-existent” college, PTI reported. It alleged that about Rs 45 lakh was routed through this way by a private company in return for securing the selection of two deputy collectors.

Alleged main accused in Maharashtra teacher exam paper leak held

The police in Maharashtra have arrested the alleged prime accused of the state Teacher Eligibility Test paper leak case from Bihar, The Hindu reported on Saturday. Brijendra Gupta was taken into custody along with another person.

On June 27, the Maharashtra government postponed the Teacher Eligibility Test 2026 after parts of the question paper were allegedly leaked a day before the examination. Around six lakh candidates were affected.

The Maharashtra Special Task Force and the Special Investigation Team probing the case had raided a cyber cafe in Bihar’s Vaishali district on July 1. Three persons, including the cafe operator, Sonu Kumar, were detained and questioned. The probe reportedly found a link between Gupta and Kumar.

Earlier, the police had arrested Pawan Kumar from Delhi and Hariom Panu from Haryana, alleging that both were Gupta’s associates.

On July 1, a joint team of the Bihar Special Task Force and the Bhiwandi Police from Maharashtra’s Thane district also arrested Gupta’s wife, Suman Kumari, from Patna, PTI reported. It was alleged that call records and financial transactions linked her to the paper leak conspiracy.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Three protesters were injured after the police in Bihar’s Siwan district opened fire on demonstrators on Saturday as protests against alleged irregularities in competitive examinations turned violent in several parts of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state, The Hindu reported.

The protests were held in solidarity with the youth agitation in Delhi that began on June 6 to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged paper leaks. Pradhan resigned on Saturday. Hours later, the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign called off its protest at Jantar Mantar, stating that “all demands have been accepted” following talks with the Union government.

In Siwan on Saturday, the police initially used tear gas and mild force to disperse the protesters but later opened fire after they allegedly began throwing stones at security personnel, the newspaper reported.

Siwan Superintendent of Police Puran Jha and several other officers were injured during stone throwing.

On Thursday, the police in Bihar’s Jehanabad opened fire as protests against alleged irregularities in competitive exams turned violent.

Seven FIRs in Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday said that 70 persons allegedly involved in attacking police personnel and journalists during Friday's paper-leak protest in Kolkata had been identified and would face action under the recently enacted West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Act, 2026, commonly referred to as the Goonda Act, The Telegraph reported.

If invoked, it would be the first time the law has been used since it was passed by the BJP government. The law allows for preventive detention of “anti-social” persons for up to a year. A petition challenging the constitutional validity of the law has been filed before the Calcutta High Court.

In Delhi, the Union government has announced that no action would be taken against participants in the nationwide examination protests and said that first information reports filed against them in all National Democratic Alliance-ruled states would be withdrawn.

On Saturday, Adhikari said that seven FIRs have been registered in the incident on Friday and the “new Goonda Act will be invoked to punish the offenders”, the newspaper reported.

The police have arrested 11 persons, ten of them Muslims, from Kolkata and neighbouring areas for allegedly assaulting police personnel and journalists during Friday's march.

The protest march, organised by Left student organisations with support from the Kolkata unit of the Cockroach Janta Party, began around 4 pm from Sealdah and headed towards Dorina Crossing amid heavy deployment of police, the Rapid Action Force and central security personnel.

Around 6 pm, some participants allegedly hurled slippers and sticks at police personnel and attacked journalists, following which the police used lathis and fired tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.

Adhikari said he had instructed the police not to use force unless the rally disrupted law and order.

He alleged that the 70 persons identified were not students but individuals “supplied” by Opposition parties. Left student organisations accused BJP “goons” of attacking peaceful protesters and targeting journalists in an attempt to disrupt the demonstration.

Six arrested in Guwahati

At least six persons have been arrested in connection with a protest in Assam’s Guwahati held in solidarity with the demonstrations at Jantar Mantar, The Indian Express reported. More than two dozen others were detained on Saturday while on their way to attend another protest.

The Students' Federation of India had organised a demonstration at the designated protest site in Chachal on Friday, which was attended by a few hundred people and was largely peaceful, the newspaper reported.

The police later registered a case at Dispur police station under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including charges related to acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India, promoting enmity between groups, criminal conspiracy and assault or use of criminal force against a public servant.

An police officer said that six persons were arrested over Friday and Saturday and remanded to police custody, The Indian Express reported.

One of the persons was arrested as he was “allegedly found leading, instigating and influencing the protest gathering” and that he was “allegedly involved in arguing with and obstructing the on-duty police personnel deployed for the maintenance of law and order”, the newspaper reported.

“There are reasonable grounds to suspect that he was acting pursuant to a common design and in furtherance of a pre-planned conspiracy with other known and unknown persons,” the newspaper quoted the person’s arrest memo as stating.

The Students Federation of India had called another protest at Chachal on Saturday. The police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel blocked access to the protest site, detaining more than two dozen protesters as they arrived. They were taken to three police stations and most were released by the evening.

Dispur police station officer-in-charge Bhaskar Malla Patowary said the organisers had not obtained permission for Saturday’s protest, The Indian Express reported. He also alleged that participants in Friday’s demonstration had taken out a procession outside the designated site and blocked roads while chanting slogans.

400 booked in Mumbai

The Mumbai Police have registered 13 first information reports in connection with protests held in the city at various locations, The Hindu reported.

The cases, registered since July 18, invoke provisions related to unlawful assembly, violation of prohibitory orders and wrongful restraint, among others. Around 400 persons have been named as accused.

Police said that the demonstrations were held without permission at several locations, including Shivaji Park, Chaityabhoomi, Chembur and outside Shiv Sena Bhavan.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read: Centre proposes tougher anti-paper leak law with longer jail terms, faster trials

August 5, 2026, shall mark the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and the downgrading of Jammu and Kashmir to Union territory status. In anticipation of the anniversary, the ruling party in J&K, the National Conference, organised a protest in New Delhi on July 20 to press for the restoration of statehood.

The National Conference’s initiative was not supported by the Peoples Democratic Party (which is influential in the Valley), and got only lukewarm support from other members of the INDIA bloc. Besides, it was ill-timed, since July 20 was the day of the students’ march on Parliament organised by the Cockroach Janta Party.

The news cycle was therefore dominated by the massive numbers that showed up for the Cockroach Janta Party march, and its savage suppression by the Delhi Police.

Contrary to the hopes of the National Conference, its protest of July 20 did not bring the issue of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir back into the public conversation. Nonetheless, it remains a vital and unresolved question. A full seven years after the abrogation of Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir remains a mere Union territory, to the shock and dismay not just of those who live there but of democratically-minded Indians everywhere.

In April 2024, the independent website, Kashmir Times, published a timeline of promises made to restore statehood by the Union government which had remained unfulfilled. In October 2019, a mere two months after the abrupt downgrading of Jammu and Kashmir to Union territory status, the home minister, Amit Shah, told a group of police officers that statehood would be restored once “normalcy” returned.

In December of the same year, Ram Madhav, then the national general-secretary of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, said statehood would be restored “soon”.

“We have come here to demand our rights, but we are not allowed to protest peacefully.

Democracy is being strangled.”

- J&K CM Omar Abdullah at Jantar Mantar protest to demand statehood pic.twitter.com/vySUEFD4Tz

— News Arena India (@NewsArenaIndia) July 20, 2026

A year and a bit later, in February 2021, the home minister claimed that the Union government would “grant full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir at an appropriate juncture”. Then, in October 2021, while visiting Jammu and Kashmir, the home minister said statehood would be restored after the assembly elections were held.

Next, in January 2022, the home minister was quoted as saying: “Delimitation has commenced, and elections will follow soon. I have assured the Lok Sabha that once normalcy returns to Jammu and Kashmir, statehood will be reinstated.”

A year and a month later, the home minister once more affirmed (this time in an interview to a pro-government television channel) that “I had clearly said that statehood in J&K would be restored after elections are held in J&K.”

In 2022, the delimitation of constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir was carried out, with six assembly seats being added to the Jammu region, and only one to the Kashmir Valley. Elections were scheduled for September 2024; campaigning in Udhampur-Doda in April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Union government would restore statehood after the polls.

Evidently, Modi and Shah hoped that the gerrymandering of seats and the splitting of votes among the Valley-based parties would lead to a fractured verdict, allowing the BJP to capture power through its tested methods of threats, intimidation, blandishments and seductions. In the event, these machinations could not prevent the INDIA bloc from getting an overall majority in the assembly elections, winning 49 seats out of 90 all told, with the National Conference alone winning 42.

Omar Abdullah was sworn in as chief minister.

The Kashmir Times timeline of failed promises of statehood (appropriately titled “The Promised La La Land”) brings the story up to April 2024, with Modi’s speech in Udhampur-Doda. Then came the assembly elections, and the squashing of the hopes of the ruling party to have a Bharatiya Janata Party-dominated government elected in Jammu and Kashmir. Even so, in March 2025, Amit Shah said at a meeting in Delhi that statehood would be restored, and made the same claim again in October of that year, saying this would be done at an “appropriate time”.

What started in Kashmir is now reaching every corner of India. Peaceful protests silenced with lathis. Constitutional promises broken. Institutions weakened.

Today, minority rights are under threat. Tomorrow , no citizen’s voice or vote will matter. The unity seen at Jantar… pic.twitter.com/2FZmL7WzOu

— J&K PDP (@jkpdp) July 25, 2026

Studying the language used in the making of these unhonoured promises, one is struck by the deliberate vagueness and equivocation, as witness the terms, “normalcy”, “soon”, “appropriate juncture” and “appropriate time”? How is one to judge when any or all of these moments have finally arrived? These phrases are intended to push the can down the road, to further delay granting Jammu and Kashmir the full statehood that is its due.

In all that its has done (and not done) in Jammu and Kashmir since August 2019, the Modi-Shah regime has displayed its arrogant contempt for the democratic rights of the people of the region. The most recent manifestation of this contempt is the arrest of as many as 2,500 people in the Valley in the wake of the killing, in a terrorist attack, of a police constable in Anantnag earlier this month. In which court of law, by which interpretation of the Constitution, could so many Indian citizens be suspected of the murder of a single individual?

Meanwhile, as the prime minister and the home minister disregard the democratic rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the wider Hindutva ecosystem continues to demonise the people of the region and of the Kashmir Valley especially. Consider the recently released trailer of a film called Chauhaan, which mocks and diminishes the violence suffered by ordinary Kashmiris at the hands of the police and the security forces over the years.

The trailer has sparked outrage in the Valley, for apparently suggesting that, if Kashmiris were to ask afresh for their democratic rights they should be subjected to even more brutal violence by the state.

The voter turn-out in the assembly elections of 2024 was a record 64%, signalling a deep commitment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to the idea of multi-party democracy. It is now a little less than two years since the National Conference came to power, yet the Union government, in a mockery of the democratic process, has still refused to restore statehood.

Earlier this month, Jammu and Kashmir’s deputy chief minister, Surinder Choudhary, spoke of how in the absence of statehood, the elected government had few powers. A report in The Print quoted him as saying: “We want to deliver for the people. There is unemployment in every household, yet we cannot even appoint a single daily wager.”

Between 1950 and 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was a full-fledged state of the Union of India. In that time, as many as nine other Himalayan territories within India found themselves upgraded to a statehood that was hitherto deemed unfeasible. They are Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tri­pura, Manipur, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Notably, all these states have fewer inhabitants than Jammu and Kashmir, indeed in most cases far fewer inhabitants. How then is it that all these territories can qualify as states, whose elected governments have real powers, but not Jammu and Kashmir, where since August 2019 an unelected lieutenant-governor rules as a de facto Viceroy sent by the Imperial Government in New Delhi?

I think that the answer is not hard to seek. It is that none of those other states has a majority Muslim population. And the ideology of Hindutva to which the prime minister and home minister subscribe tends to view Muslims as subjects and supplicants, not as full-fledged citizens of the Republic.

The continuing, unconscionable, denial of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir is consistent with the pernicious majoritarianism that is rending asunder the Indian Republic.

This article first appeared in The Telegraph.

Ramachandra Guha’s latest book, Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism, is now in stores. His email address is ramachandraguha@yahoo.in.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday resigned from his post following weeks of nationwide protests over alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams.

Hours later, President Droupadi Murmu accepted the resignation and assigned Cabinet Minister Prahlad Joshi the charge of the ministry of education, in addition to his existing portfolio.

Joshi is currently the minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and new and renewable energy,

The Cockroach Janta Party political campaign, which had been leading the demonstrations at Jantar Mantar, described the development as a victory for democracy.

Hours later, Cockroach Janta Party Chief Spokesperson Saurav Das said that the campaign was withdrawing its agitation “in good faith, with the understanding that the agreed-upon terms will be executed within the agreed-upon timelines”.

Pradhan said he submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi so that “anti-national forces” do not take advantage of the ongoing protests that have spread across the country, and so that no student “gets embroiled in legal battles”.

"We have done it," says Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke.

"Democracy won," says the CJP as they celebrate #DharmendraPradhan's resignation.

Video Credit: @Cockroachisback /X pic.twitter.com/iXdM9b2Lc2

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) July 25, 2026

Also read: What if Dharmendra Pradhan resigns?

"There's no bound to our happiness; this is one of our greatest joys."

Protesters react as Union Education Minister #DharmendraPradhan resigned.@sighyush & @raghavKakkar30 report from #JantarMantar pic.twitter.com/iSbh9lhnGt

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) July 25, 2026

Here’s more on this and other updates:

Other demands pending, says CJP

• The Cockroach Janta Party said that its other key demands – Rs 1 crore compensation for the families of undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test aspirants who died by suicide, no police action against student protesters, and an apology from the Rapid Action Force and the police – are pending.
• The political campaign said that the protesters at Jantar Mantar, as well as the rest of the country, are “still waiting on the rest of the demands”.
• Activist Sonam Wangchuk said that Pradhan’s resignation was a “victory of peace, patience and perseverance”. He said in a social media post that the time had come to move ahead from accountability to reforms.
• “Congratulations CJP, Gen Z of the nation and thank you all citizens for shedding fear and the fear of fear and rising up from every corner of the nation,” Wangchuk said.

‘Modi’s stubbornness defeated’: Congress

• Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Pradhan’s resignation is a “huge step towards reshaping our education system”. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to the protesting students and take action “against those guilty of violence against students”.
• Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that the development marked “the victory of truth and the defeat of Modi ji’s stubbornness”. Kharge said that it was also a defeat for a united opposition, “who raised their voices from Parliament to the streets in the interest of the students”.

धर्मेंद्र प्रधान का इस्तीफा हमारे education system को फिर से संवारने की दिशा में बहुत बड़ा कदम है।

शाबाश देश भर के छात्रों, आप सभी पर गर्व है।

सड़कों पर आ कर लोकतंत्र, संविधान और अपने भविष्य की रक्षा में डट कर खड़े होने वाले हर एक युवा, हर छात्र को बहुत-बहुत बधाई।

2 मांगें… pic.twitter.com/Uc2cEOCVKA

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 25, 2026

Students heading to Jantar Mantar detained

• Several students heading to the Jantar Mantar protest site were detained by the Delhi Police on Saturday morning.
• The Delhi Police was seen checking vehicles at the Safdarjung tomb intersection for persons looking like students. If the students were heading to Jantar Mantar, they were being detained in a police bus. Since 6 am, about 25 students had been detained in one bus.
• The police personnel on the ground told Scroll that the students were being taken to the nearest police station, which is Lodhi Colony. The police was also noting down where the students had travelled from.

CJP urges police to stop detaining protesters

• Noting that citizens were being detained while trying to travel to the protest site, the Cockroach Janta Party said on Saturday that the Delhi Police “appears to have chosen the path of intimidation” and its actions were “nothing short of laying siege” to Jantar Mantar.
• “Drinking water is being prevented from reaching the protesters,” the campaign said in a statement. “Medicines and other essential supplies are being obstructed. Even the free movement of citizens is being curtailed.”
• The campaign urged the police to cease unlawful detentions and stop obstructing the supply of essential items.
• Meanwhile, 18 Delhi metro stations were closed at 7.30 am on Saturday till further instructions. The stations include Patel Chowk and Janpath that are near Jantar Mantar, and Lok Kalyan Marg, which is near the prime minister’s residence.
• Meanwhile, entry gates at Rajiv Chowk, Mandi House and Central Secretariat metro stations were reopened on Saturday afternoon, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation after more than three days of closures.
• Earlier in the day, 18 Delhi Metro stations had been closed from 7.30 am until further instructions as a security measure. The affected stations included Patel Chowk and Janpath that are near Jantar Mantar, and Lok Kalyan Marg, which is near the prime minister’s residence.
• The other stations were Rajiv Chowk, Ramakrishna Ashram Marg, Barakhambha Road, Supreme Court, Central Secretariat, Seva Teerth, Mandi House, ITO, Delhi Gate, Indraprastha, Khan Market, Jor Bagh, Shivaji Stadium, Jhandewalan and New Delhi. However, the interchange facility was available at Rajiv Chowk, Mandi House and Central Secretariat.

Lathi charge, tear gas in central Delhi

• The police fired tear gas and lathi-charged protesters during a fresh clash in central Delhi on Saturday afternoon.

Lathicharge and tear-gas at the intersection of Sansad Marg and Tolstoy Marg. Videos from around 2 pm. @scroll_in pic.twitter.com/4Pczz6pdkg

— Supriya Sharma (@sharmasupriya) July 25, 2026

• In Bihar’s Patna, protesters vandalised a traffic police booth and police vehicles during clashes with security personnel. The police resorted to firing tear gas to disperse the crowd, ANI reported.
• Janshakti Janata Dal president Tej Pratap Yadav joined students protesting at Gandhi Maidan and was later detained by police, the news agency reported.
• Violence was also reported in Bihar’s Chapra during the statewide strike in support of the youth protests, when demonstrators allegedly threw stones at police personnel.

Sonam Wangchuk rejects claims of deal with government

• Activist Sonam Wangchuk on Friday night rejected allegations that he had cut a deal with the Union government to end his hunger strike a day earlier.
• In a video message on Friday night, Wangchuk said that he did not press for Pradhan’s resignation because it had become inevitable because of the ongoing protests. “Instead, I focused on getting justice for the students and young people against whom FIRs [first information reports] have been registered,” he said.
• The activist had ended his fast after midnight on Friday in the presence of Union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh. Wangchuk said that he wanted Opposition MPs and members of the Cockroach Janta Party to meet him in hospital but that they had not been allowed.

‘Consensus needed, not orders,’ says RSS chief

• Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said that there needs to be a conversation with the young generation and orders cannot be dictated to them. They ask questions and they need to be given reasons, Bhagwat said at an event. The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
• “We need to give them a lot of affection,” ABP News quoted Bhagwat as saying. “They need to be given time. There’s a need for a conversation. Discussion, not dictation. Consensus, not [giving] order.”

More security personnel deployed in Delhi

• The Central Reserve Police Force on Friday deployed 10 additional companies in Delhi amid the protests at Jantar Mantar, according to reports. A company comprises about 100 personnel.

The #DelhiPolice is using #AI-powered facial recognition technology at #JantarMantar.

As the law enforcement agency has deployed 'Ikshana' vans for real-time surveillance, are the protesters scared? @priyali_dhingra finds out

Additional video credit: @ila_kazmi pic.twitter.com/f5FIfmMiM2

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) July 24, 2026

Bengal CM meets injured journalists, police personnel

• West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday night met the police personnel and journalists injured in an “attack by miscreants” at Kolkata. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said that he condemns the attack.
• The injured journalists are being treated at a hospital in Kolkata. “Strict legal action will be taken against all the culprits involved,” Adhikari said.
• On Saturday, the chief minister said that seven FIRs had been filed under the Goonda Act in connection with the violence, ANI reported. He added that 70 persons had been identified, adding that they were not students but “miscreants” not part of the Cockroach Janta Party.
• On Friday, Left student organisations and members of the Cockroach Janta Party held a rally from Sealdah to Esplanade demanding Pradhan’s resignation, the dissolution of the National Testing Agency and action against the police crackdown in Delhi.
• Clashes broke out after some protesters blocked the Dorina Crossing intersection, PTI reported. Protesters allegedly threw shoes and water bottles at the police, who responded with a lathi-charge and tear gas, the news agency quoted an unidentified police officer as having alleged.

The agitation in the national capital began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party began a protest at Jantar Mantar.

On July 19, thousands joined the protest in Delhi after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike, to hospital. A march to Parliament on Monday was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which soon spread to other parts of the country.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar, Sara Varghese and Neerad Pandharipande.

Also read: Why India’s streets have become the new floor of the House

The Centre will introduce an amendment to the Public Examinations Prevention of Unfair Means Act in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The 2026 Public Examinations Prevention of Unfair Means Amendment Bill proposes stricter punishments, a two-month investigation deadline and a Special Task Force to investigate serious offences related to public examinations, The Hindu reported.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh will move the bill in the House, according to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

The draft legislation was circulated among MPs on Saturday, the same day that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.

Under the proposed amendments, individuals found using unfair means in public examinations would face imprisonment of five to ten years, compared with the current punishment of three to five years, The Indian Express reported.

The maximum fine for such persons would increase from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.

The bill also increases the minimum punishment for organised exam-related offences from five years to seven years in prison, and raises the minimum fine from Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore.

The bill proposes empowering the Union government to set up a Special Task Force to investigate offences under the proposed legislation when required. Investigations by police, central investigating agencies or the task force would have to be completed within two months, The Indian Express reported.

It also proposes the creation of Special Fast Track Courts by state governments and Union Territory administrations for cases under the proposed law. Pending cases under the Act would also be transferred to these fast-track courts and disposed of within three months of transfer.

The developments come following nationwide protests demanding educational reforms and the education minister’s resignation. On Saturday, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned from his post, after which the Cockroach Janta Party, which had been leading the movement, withdrew its agitation.

The protest in the national capital began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party began a protest at Jantar Mantar.

On July 19, thousands joined the protest in Delhi after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike, to hospital. A march to Parliament on Monday was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which soon spread to other parts of the country.

Wangchuk ended his hunger strike after 26 days in the early hours of Friday at Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital in the presence of Singh and Union minister JP Nadda.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

Also read: As Modi promises fast-track courts, where do the 2024 paper leak cases stand?

The Cockroach Janta Party on Saturday evening announced that it was withdrawing its protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar after talks with the Union government, saying that “all demands have been accepted”.

Cockroach Janta Party withdraws its nationwide agitation with immediate effect

All demands of the Cockroach Janta Party have been accepted by the government:

1. Maximum possible compensation for families of NEET paper leak-related suicides

2. All FIRs by Central govt and…

— Cockroach is Back (@Cockroachisback) July 25, 2026

The campaign’s spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka asked demonstrators to return home peacefully, ANI reported.

The announcement came hours after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced his resignation.

Immediately after his resignation, however, the campaign had said it was “still waiting on the rest of the demands”, including compensation for families of undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test aspirants who died by suicide, withdrawal of police cases against protesters and action over the police crackdown.

Following talks with the government later in the day, Ranka asked protesters to return home peacefully.

“We will inform you of our future strategy or any other issues,’ he said. “But we request the protesters to withdraw immediately.”

Another spokesperson of the campaign, Saurav Das said the organisation was ending the agitation “in good faith”, with the understanding that “the agreed-upon terms will be executed within the agreed-upon timelines”.

Ranka said the government had agreed in principle to the demand for Rs 1 crore compensation for the families of NEET aspirants who died by suicide, adding that it would provide “an honorary compensation... under whatever rules and regulations allow”.

He added that the CJP had presented a five-point charter to the Union government on broader education and examination reforms and would meet the government again in about four weeks to discuss it further, ANI reported.

Das said the government had also accepted the demand to withdraw FIRs filed against protesters. “The government has assured that it will share copies of all the FIRs filed... within three to four days,” he said, adding that it had also assured the withdrawal of the cases and would receive written guarantees by Tuesday.

After the meeting, Union minister JP Nadda said the government had “sympathetically considered all the demands they had made and has also accepted them”.

He said the government would “think deeply” about the CJP’s five-point charter on examination reforms after discussions with the delegation.

Protesters say the movement not over

Some protesters told Scroll that the withdrawal of the agitation did not mark the end of their demands, and called wider reforms in the education system.

“Resignation is not the ultimate solution, so I believe that the education system should be more uplifted,” a protester said.

Another demonstrator warned that they would return with “double the numbers” if any of their demands were not met.

Minutes before the Cockroach Janta Party said that it is withdrawing its agitation "in good faith", Scroll spoke to protesters in central Delhi to know whether they would go home.

Here's what they told @sighyush & @raghavKakkar30. pic.twitter.com/mnYTRKbbbR

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) July 25, 2026

The protest

The agitation in the national capital began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party began a protest at Jantar Mantar.

On July 19, thousands joined the protest in Delhi after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike, to hospital. A march to Parliament on Monday was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which soon spread to other parts of the country.

Wangchuk ended his hunger strike after 26 days in the early hours of Friday at Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital in the presence of Union ministers Jitendra Singh and JP Nadda.

The activist on Saturday said that Pradhan’s resignation was a victory for peace, patience and perseverance.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

• Follow updates about the youth protest here.

• Also read: What if Dharmendra Pradhan resigns?

The Opposition on Saturday described Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as “a huge step towards reshaping our education system”, and that it constituted the defeat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “stubbornness”.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to the protesting students and take action “against those guilty of violence against students”.

The leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha extended his congratulations “to every young person, every student who took to the streets and stood firm to protect democracy, the Constitution, and their future”.

Pradhan said he submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi so that “anti-national forces” do not take advantage of the ongoing protests, and so that no student “gets embroiled in legal battles”.

Pradhan resigned after weeks of youth demonstrations at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign, with protesters demanding his removal over alleged irregularities in competitive examinations.

धर्मेंद्र प्रधान का इस्तीफा हमारे education system को फिर से संवारने की दिशा में बहुत बड़ा कदम है।

शाबाश देश भर के छात्रों, आप सभी पर गर्व है।

सड़कों पर आ कर लोकतंत्र, संविधान और अपने भविष्य की रक्षा में डट कर खड़े होने वाले हर एक युवा, हर छात्र को बहुत-बहुत बधाई।

2 मांगें… pic.twitter.com/Uc2cEOCVKA

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 25, 2026

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the “voice of students” had finally “reached the threshold of arrogant power”.

Calling it “the victory of millions of youth”, he said it was also “the defeat of Mr Modi’s stubbornness”, and renewed the demand for the prime minister to apologise to students and act against those responsible for the police crackdown.

भारत के ‘छात्रों की गूँज’ आख़िरकार अंहकारी सत्ता की दहलीज़ तक पहुँच गई।

ये हमारे करोड़ों युवाओं की जीत है जिन्होंने देशभर में शिक्षा व्यवस्था को दुरुस्त करने के लिए सड़क पर आवाज़ उठाई।

ये सत्य की जीत है और मोदी जी के हठ की हार है।

ये उन सभी परिवारों की जीत हैं जिन्होंने…

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) July 25, 2026

Former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal described the resignation as a “big win for democracy” at a time when many believed that governments don’t listen to citizens.

Congratulations to the entire country on Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. Big win for democracy. pic.twitter.com/whzjhwSjOs

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 25, 2026

Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia said Pradhan “did not voluntarily submit his resignation” but was forced out by students’ protests, ANI reported.

“Modi had to bow before GenZ,” he said in a subsequent social media post.

#WATCH | Delhi | On the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, AAP leader Manish Sisodia says, "Dharmendra Pradhan did not voluntarily submit his resignation. The nation's children, the nation's students, secured Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. If this had… pic.twitter.com/83HbU6gdgQ

— ANI (@ANI) July 25, 2026

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reiterated her support for the student movement, saying students from several states had taken to the streets and that she had joined the protest “to express solidarity with the students”.

She alleged that the authorities had cracked down on peaceful demonstrators because they were “afraid after seeing the students’ and young people’s movement”.

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee said that those in power “must realise that the power of the people is greater than any office or authority”.

“One can love their country deeply without having to love the government of the day,” he said.

The people in power must realise that the power of the people is greater than any office or authority.

One can love their country deeply without having to love the government of the day.

— Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) July 25, 2026

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav remarked: “This is not a resignation, it’s a revolution!”

He said the protests had forced the Bharatiya Janata Party “to bow down”, calling the resignation “a major victory for the youth”, PTI reported.

Yadav added that examinations must be made more robust to prevent paper leaks and that young people should have clear pathways to employment.

ये इस्तीफ़ा नहीं, इंक़लाब है!

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 25, 2026

Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Sharad Pawar described the resignation as “a major victory for the unity of the youth power in the country”, saying the students' month-long protest had demonstrated “the power of democracy”.

NEET पेपरफुटीप्रकरणी दिल्लीत जंतर-मंतरवर सलग २८ दिवस तरुणाईने दिलेला लढा आणि दाखवलेली जिद्द वाखाणण्याजोगी आहे.

आंदोलकांच्या आग्रही मागणीनुसार आज अखेर केंद्रीय शिक्षणमंत्र्यांनी राजीनामा दिला. दडपशाहीला न घाबरता अन्यायाविरुद्ध ठामपणे उभे राहून सरकारला नैतिक जबाबदारी स्वीकारायला…

— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) July 25, 2026

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary MA Baby congratulated students and youth, but said the resignation was “only the first step”. He called for the National Testing Agency to be disbanded, cases against protesters to be withdrawn and action against police personnel involved in the crackdown.

Congratulations to India's students and youth on this major victory! @dpradhanbjp's resignation is only the first step. Now the @NTA_Exams has to be disbanded and the anti-student, commercial and communal NEP 2020 has to be rolled back as well.

Cases foisted on the protesters…

— M A Baby (@MABABYCPIM) July 25, 2026

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav called it the “victory of truth, rights, struggle and justice”, adding that “many questions remain unanswered”. Uddhav Sena MP Sanjay Raut said the resignation showed that “Modi-Shah are not invincible”.

Former Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik congratulated “the young people of India, especially Gen Z” on their victory.

“Accountability and sensitivity to public opinion are integral values of a strong democracy,” he said. “Nobody is above the will of the people.”

I congratulate the young people of India, especially the Gen Z for this victory. Accountability and sensitivity to public opinion are integral values of a strong democracy. Nobody is above the will of the people. Voices of our people especially of the youth, deserve to be heard.…

— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) July 25, 2026

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

• Follow updates about the youth protest here.

• Also read: What if Dharmendra Pradhan resigns?

A Muslim man who has been serving food and water to protesters at the ongoing demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar has alleged that the Uttar Pradesh Police detained members of his family in Ghaziabad and seized personal documents in an effort to locate him, digital news outlet Lallantop reported.

Muhammad Junaid told the news outlet that the police came to his home in Ghaziabad on Thursday evening and took his father away before releasing him late that night. He alleged that officers returned the following morning and again took his father into custody.

He further alleged that the police detained his sister’s father-in-law and brother-in-law in Meerut and took them to the Masoori Police Station in Ghaziabad district.

Junaid further told Lallantop that the police confiscated the bank passbooks of his parents and siblings, as well as Aadhaar cards belonging to family members.

He claimed officers told his family that they would be released only if they brought Junaid to the police station.

He said he was not wanted in any criminal case and had committed no offence.

According to Junaid, he has been at the Jantar Mantar protest since it began on June 6 after noticing that demonstrators were struggling to access drinking water in the summer heat.

He said he started by distributing water before volunteers gradually expanded the effort to provide food and other essentials.

The Cockroach Janta Party criticised the action and said the Uttar Pradesh Police was “wasting its time” by targeting a volunteer instead of criminals.

“Our team is in touch with him and we will never let them victimize him or his family,” the campaign said.

It added that legal action would be taken to challenge any unlawful police action.

Separately, a spokesperson of the campaign condemned the action and called on the Uttar Pradesh Police to end the “illegal, arbitrary, inhumane crackdown against Junaid’s family” and release those detained immediately.

However, the Meerut Police has denied taking any action against Junaid's family, PTI reported.

Senior Superintendent of Police Avinash Pandey told the news agency on Saturday that “no such matter has come to my notice”.

Superintendent of Police Vinayak Gopal Bhonsle told PTI that the Meerut Police had verified the claims with all police station heads and found that no member of Junaid’s family had been detained in the district.

Junaid has alleged that personnel from Ghaziabad police carried out the detentions, including in Meerut, where his relatives live.

Senior Ghaziabad police officers could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts, PTI reported.

The agitation began in Delhi on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the education minister’s resignation.

The minister resigned on Saturday afternoon, saying that he took the step so that “anti-national forces” do not take advantage of the ongoing protests.

On Monday, thousands joined the protest after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

• Follow updates about the youth protest here.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday resigned from his post in the wake of the ongoing protests in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar seeking his ouster.

Pradhan said he submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi so that “anti-national forces” do not take advantage of the ongoing protests, and so that no student “gets embroiled in legal battles”.

Pradhan’s resignation was the core demand of protesters led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign, who have been holding demonstrations in Delhi since June 6. The protesters had been calling on him to quit on account of alleged mismanagement of a series of competitive examination.

pic.twitter.com/VSArqS98OJ

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) July 25, 2026

Minutes after the minister made the announcement on social media, the Cockroach Janta Party asserted: “Cockroaches won…democracy won! Jai Hind.”

However, it said that its other key demands – Rs 1 crore compensation for the families of undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test aspirants who died by suicide, no police action against student protesters, and an apology from the Rapid Action Force and the police – are pending.

Celebrations begin at Jantar Mantar! pic.twitter.com/3cTeEuW2eJ

— Cockroach is Back (@Cockroachisback) July 25, 2026

The Cockroach Janta Party said that the protesters at Jantar Mantar, as well as the rest of the country, are “still waiting on the rest of the demands”.

Cockroach Janta Party chief Abhijeet Dipke was quoted by PTI as telling protesters in Delhi: “This is the proof that if you don’t get scared, if you don’t bow down in front of this government, you can take anyone’s resignation. Don’t be scared in democracy.”

VIDEO | Delhi: As Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan posts a letter, saying he has sent his resignation to PM Modi, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke says, “Dharmendra Pradhan has resigned. This is the proof that if you don’t get scared, if you don’t bow down in front of this… pic.twitter.com/ztgGjB21uu

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 25, 2026

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Pradhan’s resignation is a “huge step towards reshaping our education system”. He said in a social media post that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to the protesting students and take action “against those guilty of violence against students”.

Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that the development marked “the victory of truth and the defeat of Modi ji’s stubbornness”. Kharge said that it was also a defeat for a united opposition, “who raised their voices from Parliament to the streets in the interest of the students”.

The protest

The agitation in the national capital began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party began a protest at Jantar Mantar.

On July 19, thousands joined the protest in Delhi after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike, to hospital. A march to Parliament on Monday was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which soon spread to other parts of the country.

Wangchuk ended his hunger strike after 26 days in the early hours of Friday at Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital in the presence of Union ministers Jitendra Singh and JP Nadda.

The activist on Saturday said that Pradhan’s resignation was a victory for peace, patience and perseverance.

“Congratulations CJP, Gen Z of the nation and thank you all citizens for shedding fear and the fear of fear and rising up from every corner of the nation,” Wangchuk said, adding that the time had come to move ahead from accountability to reforms.

IT'S A VICTORY OF DEMOCRACY
direct democracy... straight from the streets.
It's a victory of peace, patience & persévérance.
Congratulations CJP, Gen Z of the nation and thank you all citizens for shedding fear and the fear of fear and rising up from every corner of the nation.… pic.twitter.com/rSLOfvba2R

— Sonam Wangchuk (@Wangchuk66) July 25, 2026

Recent events caused deep pain: Pradhan

Pradhan, in a letter posted on social media on Saturday, said that events from the past ten days caused him “deep pain”, and maintained that this was “not a matter of personal ego” for him.

“I hope that anti-national forces do not exploit the situation at Jantar Mantar and across the country, that national unity is maintained, that the future of even a single student in India is not caught up in legal complications, and that our children can dedicate their time to studies and focus on building their careers,” the BJP leader said in the letter.

Pradhan said that when “irregularities” were detected in the NEET-UG examination held on 3 May 2026, the Union government handed over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation, cancelled the examination and announced a new examination date.

The re-examination was “successfully conducted” on June 21, he said.

“From the very first day, I accepted responsibility for this matter and never shied away from the situation,” Pradhan said. “I was determined that the future of any deserving student should not be harmed because of the examination mafia, and that no student should face injustice.”

Written by Neerad Pandharipande. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read: What if Dharmendra Pradhan resigns?

On June 6, I wrote in this newsletter that many were watching the advent of the Cockroach Janta Party with caution even as it rapidly garnered a massive social media following – mostly comprising the young. The scepticism was based on the political campaign’s amorphous positions on the key problems India faces and a concern that the youth movement could get co-opted by forces beyond its control.

I did not imagine then that the movement would, in a matter of weeks, force Prime Minister Narendra to sack Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and take responsibility for the alleged irregularities in competitive examinations under his watch.

Through June, the Cockroach Janta Party had held events in cities across India to demand the resignation of Pradhan. It made few headlines. But that changed on July 18 when the police forced activist Sonam Wangchuk into hospital, three weeks into his hunger strike in support of the students’ demands.

The movement got turbocharged.

On July 20, as protesters gathered to march to Parliament, security personnel fired tear gas and lathi-charged them in central Delhi. Several were injured. The police also used dangerous pellet guns against the demonstrators. Four people were hit. One may lose an eye.

The action of the police, which reports to the Narendra Modi government, was widely condemned. Support for the protesters from the Opposition parties was ramped up.

A day later, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi lent his voice to the agitation by holding a surprise sit-in outside the prime minister’s residence, demanding that Pradhan be sacked. He and several Opposition politicians were briefly detained by the police.

Images of Gandhi being dragged away made the front pages of newspapers and got visibility on news channels that otherwise gave the Opposition little airtime.

The factors that led me and others to feel sceptical about the Cockroach Janta Party seven weeks ago remain. But they are no longer relevant.

The undercurrent of anger among India’s youth that brought the Cockroach Janta Party to life evidently transcended the movement’s leadership. The anger went from memes and reels to the street.

The demonstrations by young people across India over the past week have been less about fixing accountability for paper leaks and more about challenging what the protesters view as the Modi government’s arrogance in dealing with problems.

The youth protests channelised the broad discontent against the Modi government that has long been stifled, often brutally. The anger against the prime minister cuts across class and religious backgrounds, my colleagues Anant Gupta and Ayush Tiwari wrote this week.

No matter what happens to the Cockroach Janta Party – whether it grows or fizzles out – it has helped prepare a critical mass of youth for something bigger in the times to come. The movement is the little boy from The Emperor’s New Clothes who yelled out what their elders had had feared to.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the youth protests here.

A version of this newsletter was sent out to Scroll’s members before Pradhan resigned on Saturday afternoon.

Here is a summary of last week’s other top stories.

Assam floods. The toll in flood-related incidents this week in Assam crossed 40. More than 6.4 lakh persons in over 900 villages, spread across 11 districts, were affected by the floods. Sivasagar was the worst-affected district, with 328 villages inundated by Thursday.

Sikkim tunnel deaths. Twenty-five workers were killed following a blast in a tunnel that was being constructed in Sikkim’s Namchi district. The four-day search and recovery operation concluded on Thursday. Twenty-seven persons were trapped inside the tunnel after the blast on Monday.

BJP’s UCC push. The Madhya Pradesh Assembly passed the Uniform Civil Code Bill to ban polygamy and introduce strict conditions for live-in relationships. Adivasi communities have been exempted from the bill to safeguard their customs and traditions.

With this, Madhya Pradesh became the fourth Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state to pass a Uniform Civil Code bill. Congress MLAs opposed the legislation and demanded that it be sent to a select committee for review.

During the discussion on the bill, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that the Opposition party was trying to appease the Muslim community and accused its legislators of being “anti-tribal”.

Also on Scroll last week

• Delhi hospital reports show pellet wounds on journalist covering students’ protests
• How Mumbai Police is using surveillance to stop youth from protesting
• ‘People’s sympathy is now with the youth’: BJP workers worry about crackdown on protests
• Watch: What next as youth storm Delhi
• Why tree cutting on Dehradun highway could upend the life of a community
• Gandhi to Wangchuk, what history says about the success of hunger strikes in India
• Delhi protests: Constitution demands that India’s judiciary check police excess
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Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation on Saturday triggered a wave of reactions online, with supporters of the protests celebrating the move through memes and political commentary.

Pradhan resigned after weeks of youth demonstrations at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign, with protesters demanding his removal over alleged irregularities in competitive examinations.

Minutes after Pradhan announced his resignation, the CJP wrote on social media: “Cockroaches won…democracy won! Jai Hind.”

Over the past week, dark humour has been one of the defining features of the protests with young persons turning moments of confrontation with security personnel into memes.

Cockroaches won.. Democracy won!

Jai Hind! 🇮🇳✊🏼

— Cockroach is Back (@Cockroachisback) July 25, 2026

Some users joked that Pradhan’s LinkedIn profile would now show the “Open to Work” banner.

Dharmendra pradhan linkedin: Open To Work...

— Chinmoy Mishra (@ChinmoyAIH) July 25, 2026

View this post on Instagram

Others posted videos of themselves dancing and celebrating after the resignation.

Some comedians joked that Nitin Gadkari, the Union transport minister, could be the next focus of protests, referencing recent criticism of the Union government’s ethanol-blended petrol policy.

View this post on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

Others posted parody videos imagining what Prime Minister Narendra Modi might say next, referring to his social media messages from the past two days addressing young people.

View this post on Instagram

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

• Follow updates about the youth protest here.

• Also read: What if Dharmendra Pradhan resigns?

At around midnight on July 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted an Instagram reel, in which he acknowledged that the problem of paper leaks was a “very painful” one for lakhs of students.

Modi said that the government had taken many steps to tackle the problem, including putting guilty individuals in jail, and swiftly conducting a retest to ensure that students did not lose a year. He also noted that the government would establish a fast-track court to hear the cases involving paper leaks. These courts, he had said earlier that day on X, would “ensure swift and stringent punishments” for those responsible for the leaks of exam papers.

The prime minister’s response has not dampened the protests that continue to rage on across the country.

In fact, his assurance of quick trials in the paper leak cases has raised questions about the progress that has been made in earlier cases, such as connected to the 2024 leak of the NEET paper.

Many were sceptical, not least because the same day, the Central Bureau of Investigation had cleared the name of a key accused in that case, Sanjeev Mukhiya, stating that it had not found evidence against him.

Politicians were quick to seize on the irony. “You’re saying you’ll make a fast-track court, what will the fast-track court do?” Aam Aadmi Party member of parliament Sanjay Singh said to reporters. “If the CBI won’t even give evidence, you’ll save thieves, then what will happen?”

He added, “Fast-track courts are just drama, a distraction.”

VIDEO | Delhi: Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video message on the paper leak issue, AAP MP Sanjay Singh says, "Sanjeev Mukhiya, who was arrested in connection with the 2024 NEET paper leak case, was the subject of an affidavit filed by the CBI in court just… pic.twitter.com/qnKNmLfz0d

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 24, 2026

The 2024 leaks

In May 2024, trouble broke out after the NEET exam had been held. Allegations emerged on social media that the paper had leaked before the exam, along with reports of failures of execution – some takers, for instance, received papers in a different language than their chosen one, while others were given less than the allocated time to write the exam.

At first, the government dug its heels in. As late as June 14, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was denying that the paper had leaked. But within two days of this, he admitted that there had been “irregularities” in some places, and that some candidates would have to write the exam again.

Meanwhile investigations proceeded, and details of leaks and irregularities began to emerge, centred around Patna in Bihar, and Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, as well as an incident in Godhra, Gujarat. Cases that were being investigated by local police were subsequently transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The CBI traced the leak in Bihar and Jharkhand to a school in Hazaribagh, where papers had been stored. In a press release, the agency stated that “trunks containing the NEET UG 2024 question papers were brought to the school” on the morning of the exam and “the Principal and Vice Principal unauthorisedly and illegally allowed access to the room” where the papers were stored.

It noted that “a set of solvers” were given access to the papers, after which the solved papers were sold to students who had enrolled for the exam. “All the solvers, who are MBBS students from reputed colleges, have been identified and most of them arrested,” the CBI said.

By November 2024, the CBI had filed chargesheet against 45 individuals.

Two years later, the trials in the case have not begun. An analysis by Bhaskar English noted that 44 of the chargesheeted individuals are out on bail. According to the publication, one individual, Amit Prasad Maharana, who was linked to a coaching centre in Odisha, remains in jail.

The CBI also stated that it had given a list of names of students who accessed the leaked paper, as well as individuals who appeared as impersonators, to the National Testing Agency and the education ministry.

After news of the leaks emerged, several students approached the Supreme Court, some seeking a retest for all candidates. The court rejected this demand, noting that the leak was not “systemic” in nature.

The fast-track court

The lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara represented several students who took the NEET in 2024. He said he was unsurprised at the lack of progress in the cases. “I have cases from 2006 that have still not come to the trial stage,” he said. “So it is not unusual that the trial has not yet started in this case.”

Nedumpara was optimistic about Modi’s announcement of fast-track courts. “The momentum will definitely pick up,” he said.

But some research has shown that such courts struggle to meet targets – one analysis from 2024, for instance, found that as of May that year, Delhi’s fast track courts had “only disposed of 1,049 cases out of a total of 4,369 pending cases which indicates a significant lag in meeting the target”.

While acknowledging that these courts helped with faster disposal of certain categories of cases, such as those involving petty offences, it noted that the system had a weak design. “Inadequate infrastructure and low disposal rate lead to overburdened judges who are assigned other categories of cases in addition to their existing workload without the necessary support staff or infrastructure,” the report observed. “Consequently, the disposal rate of cases in these special courts slows down.”

Nedumpara, despite his optimism, also argued that Modi’s announcement missed the point of the protests. “What young people are demanding now is systemic changes in the education system,” he said.

The 2026 leaks

In the 2026 NEET leak case, the CBI has so far arrested 13 individuals, according to news reports. These include two teachers who were associated with the National Testing Agency, the head of a large coaching network in Maharashtra, and a family associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Even as pressure mounts on the government to respond to protestors’ demands, which include that Pradhan resign, activists have been pointing out that the problem needs more far-reaching and systemic solutions.

Dr J Amalorpavanathan, a doctor and activist from Tamil Nadu, argued for instance that the NEET itself was fundamentally flawed, and that it had advantaged privileged students who can pay for coaching classes. He argued that as long as exams were centralised and the coaching industry swelled, and large masses of students wrote the exams, leaks were inevitable.

“What we need is for the exam itself to be cancelled,” he said. “It filters out bright students just because they don’t have the money to pay for coaching classes.”

He noted also that the protests had expanded beyond their initial focus on NEET. “The protestors are not just MBBS aspirants, students from all walks are protesting. This means there has been large-scale failure in the education system at large.”

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation MLA Sandeep Saurav was arrested on Friday for allegedly inciting violence during a youth protest in Patna over the irregularities in the conduct of undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, PTI reported.

The police said that Saurav took part in the demonstrations organised by the All India Students’ Association on Wednesday that turned violent.

The authorities alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were assaulted and their vehicles damaged during the protests.

Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Kartikeya K Sharma told the news agency that Saurav had been remanded to judicial custody.

The protests spread to several districts, including Jehanabad, Darbhanga, Katihar and Begusarai on Thursday.

The police alleged that demonstrators threw stones, breached barricades and vandalised government property while demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

At least 146 persons were detained in several districts on Thursday and Friday, PTI reported.

Following his arrest, Saurav said that the movement would continue until Pradhan resigned, ANI reported.

“Until then, the youth of the entire country will not stop raising their voice,” he was quoted as having said. “This fight should continue until Dharmendra Pradhan resigns and the children who committed suicide in the NEET paper leak get justice.”

#WATCH | Patna, Bihar: On being arrested over Patna NEET protest violence, CPI(ML) MLA Sandeep Saurav says, "We have to fight and win, and we will take Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. Until then, the youth of the entire country will not stop raising their voice. This fight… pic.twitter.com/0wWaS6Y0Bh

— ANI (@ANI) July 25, 2026

Ahead of a state-wide strike called on Saturday by student organisations, security was tightened across Bihar, with additional police personnel deployed at key locations, including Patna’s Gandhi Maidan, ANI reported.

CPI(ML) Liberation condemned what it described as large-scale arrests of its leaders, activists, students and other protesters ahead of the bandh.

“Arrests, fabricated cases, and intimidation will not silence the voices of students and youth demanding justice and accountability,” the party said.

The protests in Bihar came amid nationwide demonstrations over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams.

The agitation began in Delhi on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the education minister’s resignation.

On Monday, thousands joined the protest after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

• Follow updates about the youth protest here.
• Also read: What if Dharmendra Pradhan resigns?

The illegal and disproportionate use of force by security personnel against youth protesters exercising their democratic rights is unacceptable, a group of former bureaucrats said on Friday.

The Constitutional Conduct Group said that it was shocked by the “brutal police action against peaceful student protesters ventilating legitimate nationwide grievances” during their protest on Monday.

The agitation in the national capital began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams.

On Monday, thousands joined the protest after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.

In an open letter on Friday, the group of retired bureaucrats said that it was “deeply disturbed to note that the use of police repression and state violence is increasingly becoming the norm to counter any public protest or agitation”.

“This is especially reprehensible when the protesters are students as young as thirteen and fourteen years, many of them girls,” it added.

The groups said that a “meaningless dialogue” had been initiated under public pressure, with photo-op visits to the injured in hospitals. It added that the list of persons arrested has not been released.

“These young citizens deserve empathy, dialogue, protection and solutions, not pellets and lathis,” the group said.

It added that orders issued on Thursday to close offices and shops in central Delhi, besides the disruptions to public transport, “make it difficult for citizens to reach the protest site”.

“Facial Recognition Vans were deployed to live-scan peaceful protesters, constituting a violation of the citizen’s fundamental right to privacy, enunciated by the Supreme Court…which could be weaponised as tools of intimidation and suppression of fundamental rights,” the former civil servants said.

Former bureaucrats’ demands

The former bureaucrats demanded that an independent judicial inquiry be set up into the police’s actions on Monday, including the use of pellet guns and shock batons. They also demanded the immediate suspension of and departmental action against the officers responsible.

The detained students must be released unconditionally, they said, adding that persons injured must be provided medical care and compensation.

The retired civil servants said that the government must begin a structured dialogue with student representatives and withdraw all police cases against the protesters.

“The government must remember that its primary duty is to serve the people, especially the youth who represent India’s demographic dividend,” they added.

The 93 signatories to the letter include Punjab’s former Director General of Police Julio Ribeiro, Delhi’s former Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, former Indian ambassador Gautam Mukhopadhaya, Former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, Former Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and former Indian Administrative Service officer and activist Harsh Mander.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava and Nachiket Deuskar.

• Follow updates about the youth protest here.
• Also read: What if Dharmendra Pradhan resigns?

Solidarity demonstrations in support of the youth protests in Delhi over alleged irregularities in the conduct of nationwide examinations continued in several states on Friday.

The protests in the national capital began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign began an agitation at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for the alleged mismanagement of competitive exams.

On July 19, thousands joined the protest in Delhi after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike, to hospital. A march to Parliament on Monday was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which soon spread to other parts of the country.

On Friday, three Muslim men were arrested in Assam for allegedly creating a WhatsApp group to mobilise support for the demonstrations. Meanwhile, the police carried out a lathi-charge at a demonstration in Kolkata.

A spider man, young girls, masked boys, office goers. pic.twitter.com/sjlMOmLfAo

— Tabassum Barnagarwala (@tabassum_b) July 24, 2026

Assam

In Assam’s Lakhimpur district, the three men had created the WhatsApp group to mobilise support for the protests and allegedly urged members to create a “Nepal-like situation”, a senior police official told Scroll.

In September, youth-led anti-government protests in Nepal had led to violence and ended with the collapse of the KP Sharma Oli government in Kathmandu.

The three men arrested in Assam were identified as 21-year old Ashraful Islam, and Manjur Rahman and Abdul Kasem who are 23-years-old.

They have been booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita pertaining to criminal conspiracy, criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging duty and offences related to endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.

One of the arrested men told reporters that they had done nothing wrong and were being held only for creating the WhatsApp group. “We would have protested only if we were given permission,” he said.

West Bengal

In Kolkata, Left student organisations and members of the Cockroach Janta Party held a rally from Sealdah to Esplanade demanding Pradhan’s resignation, the dissolution of the National Testing Agency and action against the police crackdown in Delhi, The Telegraph reported.

Clashes broke out after some protesters blocked the Dorina Crossing intersection, PTI reported.

Protesters allegedly threw shoes and water bottles at the police, who responded with a lathi-charge and tear gas, the news agency quoted an unidentified police officer as saying.

Thousands of supporters fill the streets of Kolkata’s Sealdah area as the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest march moves through the city in a massive show of support.

📹 @Shrabanawrites https://t.co/kpz1YBvQ2r pic.twitter.com/10jdq3rOmG

— The Hindu (@the_hindu) July 24, 2026

Maharashtra and Goa

The Cockroach Janata Party’s protest in Pune drew a large crowd that marched from the historic Shaniwar Wada fort to the collector’s office despite spells of heavy rainfall.

Students and supporters carried placards mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pradhan, and shouted slogans about both. There was heavy police deployment along the route as well.

Some of the protesters also submitted a memorandum to the district administration, Divya Marathi reported.

The youth of Pune have united like never before, calling for Dharmendra Pradhan to resign. @abhijeet_dipke @Cockroachisback @dpradhanbjp pic.twitter.com/r8JrEtTPdH

— Vaibhav Kokat (@ivaibhavk) July 24, 2026

Bhiwandi, Maharashtra protest - the entire country has come out on the streets today! pic.twitter.com/6nggakP1E2

— Cockroach is Back (@Cockroachisback) July 24, 2026

Huge protest in Mapusa, Goa

India Stands United against Dharmendra Pradhan pic.twitter.com/B6vjvkE2WG

— Cockroach is Back (@Cockroachisback) July 24, 2026

Student towns

Demonstrations were also held in Rajasthan’s Kota, a major coaching hub, and in the university town of Manipal in Karnataka.

कोटा की सड़कों पर युवा शक्ति... pic.twitter.com/y1diM6POjE

— Dinesh Dangi (@dineshdangi84) July 24, 2026

Manipal is a university town. Students from all over India study here. It's usually a party friendly, quiet town. Not today though. Manipal students decided to join the nation wide protests. And they had a few things to say. Thread. pic.twitter.com/BSAYKMmjKl

— G Vishnu (@geevishnu) July 24, 2026

Written by Sara Varghese. Inputs from Rokibuz Zaman and Divya Aslesha. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava and Nachiket Deuskar.

• Follow updates about the youth protest here.

• Also read: Delhi hospital reports show pellet wounds on journalist covering students’ protests

One Indian seafarer was killed in an attack on a cargo ship in the Black Sea, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday.

The incident occurred on July 18 when the merchant vessel Omorfi was transiting the sea and was reportedly in Russian territorial waters, the ministry said.

There were 10 crew members on board, including three Indians. While one Indian had died, the two others were reported to be safe.

“India unequivocally condemns such attacks targeting commercial shipping and placing the lives of innocent civilian crew members at risk,” it said. “​It is a matter of serious concern that the freedom of navigation and international commerce is facing increasing threats.”

New Delhi also called upon all stakeholders to uphold their international obligations “to ensure the safety and security of maritime navigation and uninterrupted flow of global commerce”.

The ministry expressed its condolences to the family of the seafarer who had died. New Delhi said that the Indian diplomatic mission in Russia had reached out to the authorities and was making efforts to extend assistance to the family.

New Delhi did not say who it believed had attacked the ship. The incident came amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

On July 19, four Indians were killed and one critically injured after a cargo ship was attacked while it departed the port of Odesa in Ukraine.

The Guinea-Bissau-flagged vessel Golden Leo had been attacked as it left the port. The five Indians were among the 17 crew on board the ship.

On July 21, the external affairs ministry said that it had summoned Russian chargé d’affaires to convey “India’s grave concerns and unequivocal condemnation” of the attack on the vessel.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had accused Russia of attacking the vessel inside his country’s maritime corridor.

Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

The Union government on Friday sacked 47 officials of the National Testing Agency amid nationwide youth protests against the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams, The Hindu reported.

The agency did not disclose the ranks of the officials whose services were terminated.

The National Testing Agency is an autonomous body that reports to the Ministry of Education. It conducts several competitive exams such as the undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for medical college admissions and the Common University Entrance Test.

The authorities will initiate “legal and criminal action” against the officials to send a “strong message”, The Indian Express quoted unidentified persons aware of the matter as saying on Friday.

More “reformative actions” will be taken, The Hindu quoted officials as saying.

In response, a spokesperson of the Cockroach Janta Party said that “it’s from top”, adding that Pradhan must resign.

This came as the Union Cabinet on Friday cleared a proposal to amend the 2024 Public Examinations Prevention of Unfair Means Act. The draft legislation proposes to add tougher penalties and time-bound trial mechanisms to the anti-paper leak law.

Youth protesters in Delhi led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and several cities have been demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in the matter.

On Wednesday, the government told Parliament that 15 of the 39 permanent posts in the National Testing Agency were vacant.

In 2026, the agency has so far conducted 12 exams for which 65 lakh candidates had registered.

In the financial year 2023-’24, the National Testing Agency had an income of Rs 1,116 crore and an expenditure of Rs 1,040 crore, the education ministry told the Rajya Sabha.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Follow updates of the youth protest here.

Every democracy has two arenas of politics. One is formal: legislatures, courts, committees, elections and party offices. The other is informal – streets, campuses, public meetings and citizens’ movements. The health of a democracy depends on the relationship between these two spaces.

In a functioning republic, parliament absorbs public anxieties and converts them into debate, legislation and accountability. Movements outside parliament push institutions when they become complacent. The two are part of the same democratic ecosystem.

India’s present crisis lies in the weakening of that relationship.

Social scientist and activist Yogendra Yadav recently argued that the Opposition must stop viewing elections as the beginning and end of politics and rediscover the tradition of democratic resistance. It is an argument with deep roots in Indian political history.

The freedom movement was not a parliamentary exercise. The movements against the Emergency were not conducted through legislative procedure. Many of India’s most significant democratic gains came when citizens stepped outside formal institutions and demanded that those institutions live up to their constitutional promises.

The question before the Opposition today is whether it can recover that political imagination.

Delhi: Pictures of Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, protesting with Opposition leaders and workers at Lok Kalyan Marg being detained by Delhi Police.

(ANI photos by Naveen Sharma) pic.twitter.com/Y9mSANwbdt

— ANI (@ANI) July 21, 2026

Parliament remains India’s highest democratic institution in theory. In practice, however, its ability to scrutinise power has weakened considerably. The suspension of an unprecedent 146 Opposition MPs in 2023, the shrinking role of parliamentary committees and the ease with which elected representatives defect to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have damaged public confidence in legislative politics.

A parliament that does not adequately represent disagreement cannot expect citizens to confine their democratic frustrations within its walls.

This is why the street has acquired renewed importance. It has become a place where citizens make visible what institutions fail to acknowledge. Student protests, workers’ movements, farmers’ demonstrations and civil society campaigns have historically acted as reminders that democracy is more than the periodic act of voting.

The Opposition’s mistake has been to approach such movements as opportunities instead of obligations. Parties arrive with cameras, statements and flags, only to return to their familiar electoral routines.

But movements do not exist to consolidate parties. Parties exist, at their best, to give political expression to democratic demands already emerging from society.

This does not mean opposition parties should abandon elections or dissolve their ideological differences. A democracy requires and depends on disagreement. Congress, the Left parties and regional organisations will continue to disagree over economic policy, federalism and social questions.

That is healthy.

But there are moments when democratic survival expects a temporary suspension of ordinary competition. The defence of free expression, institutional independence and the right to dissent belongs to that category.

Based on witness accounts & verified videos, @hrw calls on the #Indian govt to promptly & impartially investigate unnecessary & excessive use of force during the #DelhiProtest, allow peaceful protests, stop arbitrarily suspending mobile internet serviceshttps://t.co/HyDqHWO8O7

— meenakshi ganguly (@meeganguly) July 23, 2026

The challenge is that political parties are not naturally designed for such moments. They are organisations built around elections, alliances and calculations of power. Movements inherently require a different operational model. It needs patience, sacrifice and a willingness to stand beside citizens without immediately asking what electoral benefit can be gained.

Student protests have thrown a lifeline to a dying opposition. If this movement is allowed to wither, Narendra Modi’s India will offer no second chance.

Democratic resistance has always carried costs. Those who entered the streets during the freedom struggle, the Emergency, and later movements against corruption and authoritarian tendencies understood that politics outside institutions can invite repression.

The students protesting today are confronting that reality. The issues that brought them onto the streets are only the beginning. At stake is the ability of citizens to question power and expect accountability.

Our institutions have lost their ability to hear. Our democracy must find other ways to speak.

Pius Fozan is a photojournalist and an advisor at the Political Tech Summit.

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the Centre of misleading the country by denying that security personnel had used pellet guns on protesters during the march to Parliament on Monday.

The Congress leader addressed the media alongside a 19-year-old protester who sustained multiple wounds and lost vision in one eye after being hit by what doctors are reported to have confirmed were pellets.

“When this young man was peacefully protesting with the tricoluor of Hindustan in his hands, he was shot with a pellet gun,” Gandhi said. “The government says that pellet guns were not used during the protest, but the truth is right in front of you.”

He alleged that “thousands of such youths” had been hit with pellet guns and lathis while protesting against alleged irregularities in competitive examinations.

On Monday night, the Cockroach Janta Party also claimed that the police had fired pellet guns at the protesters. The Union government classifies pellet gun as a “non-lethal” weapon for crowd control. Its cartridge contains pellets made of rubber or plastic, which can damage sensitive parts like eyes when fired from a short range.

The Delhi Police has denied using pellet guns against the protesters. However, these weapons are reportedly carried by the Rapid Action Force, a unit of the Central Reserve Police Force that was also deployed at the protest, as part of its riot-control equipment.

Here’s more on this and other updates:

Allegations on use of pellet guns

• On Thursday, Scroll found medical records from Safdarjung Hospital that showed that a journalist covering Monday’s protest had 26 small, round wounds that doctors described as “consistent with pellets striking” the right side of his body. The journalist told Scroll that he saw security personnel deploying pellet guns and was hit while trying to move away.

Also read: Delhi hospital reports show pellet wounds on journalist covering students’ protests

• The Central Reserve Police Force was “verifying media reports” about the alleged use of pellet guns by the Rapid Action Force, The Hindu quoted an unidentified official as saying.

Union government, CJP meeting

• The Union government and Cockroach Janta Party political campaign held talks on Friday at the Constitution Club of India after the Centre agreed to the demand for a “neutral venue”, PTI reported.
• Union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh represented the government at the meeting, while the Cockroach Janta Party was represented by its spokespersons, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka.
• After the meeting, Das said the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan remained their “non-negotiable” demand, PTI reported. “The government has sought time till tomorrow afternoon to respond to this demand,” Ranka added.
• Nadda said the two sides would meet again on Saturday for further discussions, PTI reported.
• The government’s talks with the the Cockroach Janta Party followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement in a video late on Thursday night that a bill providing for fast-track courts and stricter penalties for exam paper leaks will be discussed in a Cabinet meeting on Friday.
• Efforts will be made to make sure that the bill is passed in Parliament as soon as possible, Modi said. The prime minister said that several government departments “worked tirelessly late into the night” and submitted a draft proposal to him. On Thursday, Modi had said that the government has decided to set up fast-track courts to ensure swift punishment for those involved in paper leaks.

More strict actions against paper leaks to come in tomorrow’s Cabinet! pic.twitter.com/NRysBukk5U

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 23, 2026

• Modi made the statement even as young protesters continued their agitation against alleged irregularities in competitive examinations at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
• Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi called Modi’s statement a “pathetic midnight video”. He asked Modi not to “insult the intelligence” of the students and put forth three demands: “Sack Pradhan, punish those who beat students and apologise.”

"This is just another empty promise," says a student protester, reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's midnight video announcing a new law on paper leaks.

Report by @priyali_dhingra #Pmmodi #jantarmantarprotest #dharmendrapradhan pic.twitter.com/KxFwOAqgwr

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) July 24, 2026

Delhi metro stations partially reopen, Police issues advisory

• The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation reopened the entry gates at Mandi House and Central Secretariat stations on Friday evening. However, 16 stations in central Delhi remained shut for the third consecutive day because of security arrangements around the protests.
• New Delhi Metro station was shut on Friday afternoon. The station is connected to the New Delhi railway station and is used by thousands of passengers arriving in and departing from the national capital.
• It was added to the list of 17 stations that have remained shut since Thursday. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said that it is being done for “security reasons”.
• On Wednesday, when the restrictions were first announced, the stations had reopened in the evening before being shut again the next morning. However, on Thursday night, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation announced that the closures would continue on Friday “till further instructions”.
• The affected stations were Lok Kalyan Marg, which is near the prime minister’s residence, Rajiv Chowk located at Connaught Place, and Patel Chowk and Janpath near the Jantar Mantar protest site.
• Central Secretariat, Seva Teerth, Mandi House, ITO, Ramakrishna Ashram Marg, Barakhambha Road, Supreme Court, Delhi Gate, Indraprastha, Khan Market, Jor Bagh, Shivaji Stadium and Jhandewalan were the other stations.
• The Delhi Traffic Police on Friday evening advised residents to avoid “unnecessary travel” to the notified protest area and use alternate routes, citing prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.
• The advisory also asked app-based mobility, ride-hailing, food delivery, logistics and e-commerce platforms to regulate operations in the restricted area during the period of the restrictions.

🚨 Traffic Advisory

In view of the prohibitory orders under Section 163 BNSS, 2023, citizens are advised to avoid unnecessary travel to the notified area and use alternate routes wherever possible.

App-based mobility, ride-hailing, food delivery, logistics and e-commerce… pic.twitter.com/k3mYGU0I52

— Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) July 24, 2026

Jamia urges students to stay away from unlawful activities

• Jamia Millia Islamia on Friday urged students and stakeholders to “refrain from any activity that is not in keeping with the law”, saying they should “act responsibly and exercise caution” and “stay focused on your studies and academic responsibilities”.
• The university also referred to Modi’s assurance that students’ interests would be safeguarded and that “stern action will be taken against those who have played with the future of the students”.
• Jawaharlal Nehru University on Friday asked its students and staff to refrain from participating in the protests at Jantar Mantar. “Please exercise responsibility on social media,” the university stated. “Violations may invite legal consequences under applicable laws as well as disciplinary action under the University’s code of conduct.” The institution also told the students and staff to “uphold the values of academic responsibility”.
• This came a day after Delhi University urged students and faculty to “stay away” from demonstrations at Jantar Mantar. On Friday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked on social media how the university could “dare to threaten students for exercising their democratic rights”. “Please note, you are the ones that will be held accountable when the time comes,” the Congress leader added.

Higher Education Secretary replaced amid protests

• The Union government on Thursday shifted Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, The Indian Express reported. Naresh Pal Gangwar has been appointed as the new Higher Education Secretary while TK Anil Kumar will be the secretary of Department of School Education and Literacy.

Written by Anamika Pathak and Sara Varghese. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande and Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read:

• With elections perceived to be rigged, do Indians see protests as the only option?
• Delhi protests: Constitution demands that India’s judiciary check police excess

The Union Home Ministry on Thursday asked software platform GitHub to remove the repositories for Bitchat, a Bluetooth-based messaging application that can function without internet, citing security concerns, according to a notice shared by application developer Jack Dorsey.

Dorsey is a tech entrepreneur and the co-founder of Twitter, now known as X.

The notice came against the backdrop of reports that youth demonstrators at Jantar Mantar – who have been protesting against the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive examinations – have been using such applications amid temporary internet restrictions in parts of central Delhi since Monday.

Dorsey shared the notice on social media on Friday, a day after it was issued, saying that “the government of India does not like technologies like Bitchat and wants it taken down”.

The Union government has yet to comment on the matter.

Bitchat is an open-source, decentralised messaging application that allows nearby users to communicate without mobile data, Wi-Fi, phone numbers or centralised servers. It uses Bluetooth Low Energy to connect nearby phones, with each device capable of relaying messages to others and thereby extending the network’s reach. Private messages are end-to-end encrypted, and the application does not require users to create accounts or provide persistent identifiers.

In its notice, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre said that “such decentralised communication platforms” could be exploited for “coordinating unlawful assemblies, violent protests, dissemination of misinformation, radicalisation, criminal conspiracies, and other activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India”.

The order was issued under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. It directed GitHub to disable access to three repositories linked to Bitchat within three hours.

The provisions require intermediaries to remove or disable access to content after receiving government directions, failing which they risk losing the legal immunity or “safe harbour” protecting it from liability for user-uploaded content.

the government of india does not like technologies like bitchat and wants it taken down pic.twitter.com/gjzMg1NGCi

— jack (@jack) July 24, 2026

Tweet does not exist

Digital rights organisation, the Internet Freedom Foundation condemned the directive and said it stands “with the developers and the young protesters whose speech this order seeks to silence”.

The organisation noted that the government had not made the notice public and that its contents became known only after Dorsey shared it.

It argued that the order did not identify any specific unlawful content in the repositories and instead objected to the application’s ability to function during internet restrictions.

The organisation also questioned the legal basis of the action, arguing that the government’s concerns about possible misuse of the technology could not by themselves justify blocking access to the code.

Statement : The blocking of BitChat's code on GitHub is unconstitutional and authoritarian.

New Delhi, 24 July 2026

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) condemns the order issued by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home Affairs, directing GitHub… pic.twitter.com/s3wdJEOPK7

— Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) July 24, 2026

Youth protests

The protests began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign began an agitation at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for the alleged mismanagement of national competitive exams.

On Sunday, thousands joined the protest in Delhi after the police forced activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike, into hospital.

A march to Parliament on Monday was met with a brutal crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured by police lathis and had to brave tear gas.

The police action widened the support for the agitation, which soon spread to other parts of the country.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

• Follow updates about the youth protest here.

• Also read: Delhi hospital reports show pellet wounds on journalist covering students’ protests

Amidst a rise in electricity demand driven by warmer conditions in June, hydropower generation has declined, increasing India’s reliance on coal-fired power. The trend could intensify if El Niño conditions strengthen during the southwest monsoon.

An analysis published by S&P Global, an energy market intelligence firm, on July 3 said that India’s average hydropower generation in June declined by 6.3 aGW (average gigawatt) from a year earlier, even as average electricity demand increased by 24.3 aGW. The shortfall was largely offset by a 20.7 aGW increase in coal-fired generation, while solar and wind generation rose by a combined 9.4 aGW.

The trend is not confined to India.

According to the S&P Global analysis, Japan, South Korea, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Malaysia have also witnessed lower hydropower generation. However, India and Vietnam together accounted for nearly 80% of the regional decline in hydropower generation, making them the most affected countries in Asia.

“The June decline (in hydropower generation) is consistent with the expected impact of El Niño on rainfall patterns and reservoir inflows across Asia,” the analysis said and added that hydropower generation could remain below normal if El Niño conditions persist through the summer months.

The India Meteorological Department and several international weather agencies have projected the development of El Niño conditions during the southwest monsoon season.

During a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister’s Office on July 6, meterological officials said weak to moderate El Niño conditions are expected in July and August. Meanwhile, prolonged heatwave conditions across several parts of the country in recent months have already pushed electricity demand to record levels.

The decline in hydropower generation is significant because hydropower is among the most flexible sources of power generation. Unlike solar and wind, hydroelectric plants can rapidly adjust output to meet fluctuations in demand and variable renewable generation, helping maintain grid stability during peak demand periods, the analysis has said.

Another analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, an independent research organisation, said that El Niño will pose a double challenge. It will increase electricity demand due to warmer temperatures and reduce renewable power generation, particularly from hydropower and wind.

It estimated that India could face a generation gap of nearly 18 terawatt-hours due to reduced renewable output and higher electricity demand. It projects that the gap would largely be met by coal-fired generation, leading to an additional 17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

This article was first published on Mongabay.

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi accused the Union government of misleading the country by denying that security personnel had fired pellet guns at protesters during their march to Parliament on Monday. The Congress leader made the statement while speaking to reporters alongside a 19-year-old protester who lost vision in one eye after being hit by what doctors are reported to have said were pellets.

Meanwhile, Union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh met with representatives of the Cockroach Janta Party at Delhi’s Constitution Club of India. After the meeting concluded, Saurav Das, a spokesperson of the political campaign, said that the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan remained a non-negotiable demand. Ashutosh Ranka, another spokesperson, said that the Centre had sought time until tomorrow.

This followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement in a video late on Thursday night that a bill providing for fast-track courts and stricter penalties for exam paper leaks will be discussed in a Cabinet meeting on Friday. Follow updates about the youth protests here.

Also read Ayush Tiwari’s report about pellet wounds on a journalist covering students’ protests

After Modi’s announcement, the Delhi and Bombay High Courts designated special fast-track courts to hear cases related to question paper leaks and other malpractices in public examinations. The special court in Delhi will function from the Rouse Avenue Court Complex and will be presided over by Judge Anu Grover Baliga.

In Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court has designated two special fast-track courts in Aurangabad and Nagpur to conduct trials under the 2024 Public Examinations Prevention of Unfair Means Act. The law mandates that trials must be completed within three months. Read on.

The Delhi High Court dismissed a petition seeking an inquiry by the National Investigation Agency into the youth protests in the national capital and the July 20 march to Parliament over alleged examination irregularities. The court said that any decision to transfer a case to the agency must be taken by the Union government.

The petition, filed by a former office bearer of the Hindutva organisation Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, alleged that the protests were part of a “larger conspiracy” involving “external funding”.

The court said that under Section 6 of the National Investigation Agency Act, only the Union government can decide whether a case should be transferred to the agency. “You are asking us to form an opinion that this is a fit case,” it said. “This job has been entrusted to the central government…If you want to refer investigation to NIA you can do so.” Read on.

The Delhi High Court questioned the Election Commission for deploying government school teachers for duties related to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in the national capital. “Taking shade of Article 324, you do whatever you like?” asked the bench.

Article 324 empowers the Election Commission to supervise, direct and control elections for Parliament and state legislatures.

The court was hearing a petition alleging that the poll panel had deployed all regular teachers of some government schools as booth-level officers for the voter roll revision. While the poll panel countered this by saying that teachers have been told to do voter roll revision work after school, the bench asked if they “don’t need rest”. Read on.

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The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking a probe by the National Investigation Agency into the youth protests in the national capital and the July 20 march to Parliament over alleged examination irregularities, Live Law reported. The court said that any decision to transfer a case to the agency must be taken by the Union government.

The petition, filed by a former office bearer of the Hindutva organisation Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, alleged that the protests were part of a “larger conspiracy” involving “external funding”.

On Friday, a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said that under Section 6 of the National Investigation Agency Act, only the Union government can decide whether a case should be transferred to the agency.

“You are asking us to form an opinion that this is a fit case,” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying. “This job has been entrusted to the Central government.”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, urged the court to issue notice in the matter, saying it involved questions under “public law”, Live Law reported.

However, the court said the government had the authority to take a decision if it considered an NIA investigation necessary.

“If you want to refer investigation to NIA you can do so,” the court said. “We are not curtailing your powers.”

The petitioner's counsel argued that the "gravity of the offence" and the alleged disruptions such as road blockages and Metro station closures, warranted an investigation by a specialised agency.

The court said that it was examining only the legal question before it and would not draw conclusions “merely by going through photos and videos”, Live Law reported.

It also declined a request to direct the Delhi Police to file a status report, noting that first information reports had been registered only a few days earlier and that the authorities were already aware of the allegations.

The plea was subsequently withdrawn.

The protests began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign began an agitation at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for the alleged mismanagement of national competitive exams.

On Sunday, thousands joined the protest in Delhi after the police forced activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike, into hospital. The protests soon spread to other cities.

A march to Parliament on Monday was met with a brutal crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured by police lathis and had to brave tear gas.

The Delhi Police has said it registered 10 first information reports in connection with the Parliament march.

The petition had sought directions for the National Investigation Agency, or another specialised agency, to investigate the protests and take over all FIRs registered by the Delhi Police in connection with the demonstration. It also sought the identification and prosecution of those allegedly responsible for violence, vandalism and obstructing emergency services.

The petition also referred to media reports about Wangchuk’s alleged links to foreign organisations and argued that these claims should be investigated by the competent authorities.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

• Follow updates about the youth protest here.
• Also read: Delhi hospital reports show pellet wounds on journalist covering students’ protests

The Delhi High Court on Friday questioned the Election Commission for deploying government school teachers for duties related to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in the national capital, reported Bar and Bench.

“Taking shade of Article 324, you do whatever you like?” a bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia asked the poll panel while hearing a petition challenging the move.

Article 324 empowers the Election Commission to supervise, direct and control elections for Parliament and state legislatures.

The poll panel is carrying out the special intensive revision exercise to revise electoral rolls through house-to-house enumeration and verification of old voter data.

On Friday, the court was hearing a petition filed by advocates Rajesh Kumar Gogna and Ashok Agarwal, who alleged that the poll panel had deployed all regular teachers of some government schools as booth-level officers for the voter roll revision.

Classes in such schools have been left to guest teachers or those who may not be familiar with the subjects, claimed the advocates. They submitted that the voter roll revision work was not confined to holidays or non-teaching hours, reported Bar and Bench.

The advocates also said that the practice was discriminatory, as only teachers from government schools, municipal schools and government-aided schools had been pulled out for the voter roll revision work.

Appearing for the poll panel, lawyer Sanjay Vashishtha told the court that the Election Commission had told the teachers to do voter roll revision-related work after school hours or on their holidays, reported Live Law.

“The exercise is almost over,” said Vashishtha. “All endeavour has been made to ensure that no regular assignment or teaching is hampered.”

However, the court asked the poll panel why teachers were not entitled to their holidays. “Don’t they need rest?” asked the bench.

It directed the Election Commission to file an affidavit by July 27 and posted the matter for July 28.

On July 15, the Election Commission extended the deadline for the house-to-house verification of voters in Delhi by 10 days. The process, which began on June 30, was scheduled to conclude on July 29, but will now continue till August 8.

Voter rolls are being revised in the national capital in the third phase of the special intensive revision exercise. With this phase, the exercise will cover the entire country except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The Election Commission said that the schedule for the revision in these regions will be announced later, considering the Census exercise and the adverse weather.

In 2025, the first phase of the voter roll revision exercise was conducted in Bihar and the second phase in 12 states and Union Territories.

Concerns have been raised that the exercise could remove eligible voters from the roll.

Several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court against the voter roll revision.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.