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A child holds a placard during a gathering in solidarity with Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) to celebrate the resignation of India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Mumbai on July 26 as protests over the alleged NEET exam irregularities were called off.PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP/Getty Images
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Sunday the creation of a task force headed by tech entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani to overhaul India’s examination system, following days of youth protests about exam paper leaks.
“Our examination system should be trustworthy, should be transparent and the system should make maximum use of technology,” Modi said on Instagram, adding that new legislation to deal with paper leaks would be introduced in parliament on Monday.
The measures would tighten the law and toughen the penalties for culprits, Modi added.
It was Modi’s first public comment since Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on Saturday following the protests by youth activists, who demonstrated for weeks demanding he quit over exam paper leaks in May.
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Modi did not mention Pradhan in his 30-second video statement.
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Protesters react after India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned following nationwide protests as part of the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest movement in Mumbai, India, Saturday.Rafiq Maqbool/The Associated Press
The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, which spearheaded the demonstrations, called off its protests on Saturday after its demands were met.
The government also accepted the protesters’ demands for reforms in the exam system, dropping police cases filed against protesters and compensating families of students who died by suicide after the exam paper leaks.
Nilekani is an entrepreneur best known for leading the creation of India’s digital identity system Aadhaar and co-founding software major Infosys.
