New Delhi announced the task force a day after the federal education minister quit following protests
India set up a task force to suggest exam reforms a day after student protests over an exam paper leak led to the ouster of the federal education minister.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi constituted the panel, headed by technocrat and founder of Indian tech major Infosys, Nandan Nilekani.
Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan quit on Saturday after weeks of intense protests by young people demanding his resignation over an exam paper leak that allegedly drove dozens of students to suicide.
“The Government of India is continuously taking various measures for the future of students. Those who tampered with the students’ future are languishing in jail,” Modi said in an Instagram post on Sunday.
Modi’s preferred platform for communication used to be X, but as the protests gathered pace he advised his ministers to engage with the youth on Instagram through reels and interactive sessions – an acknowledgement of the fact that Gen Z, who came out on the streets across the country, is more active on Instagram than WhatsApp or other platforms.
As the world’s most populous country with 1.4 billion people, India also has the largest cohort of youth, with an average age of 29.
The panel’s chief, Nilekani, was the founding chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, which issues Aadhar identity cards. He was also involved in the roll out of the Unified Payments Interface, which revolutionized the digital payments ecosystem in the country.
The 6-member panel also includes the chief of India’s space agency S. Somnath and the director of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai, V. Kamakoti.
Modi said that fast-track courts had been established and legislation would be introduced to ensure strict punishment for malpractice. A reliable and transparent exam system tapping the potential of technology is needed, he added.
His government also moved a new bill in parliament to amend an existing law from 2024 to make the punishment for irregularities and malpractice in examinations more stringent.
A key leader of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), India’s youth-led satirical movement that spearheaded the protests, claimed Monday that agitators were being harassed.
“Deeply concerned by multiple reports reaching us of students and other protestors being targeted, detained, or arrested by various state agencies, particularly in Assam, West Bengal, and Bihar,” Saurav Das, the spokesperson of the CJP, posted on X.
Meanwhile, a policeman in the northeastern state of Bihar was reportedly suspended after a video of him using an AK-47 rifle to fire at protesting students went viral.
