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NEW DELHI: Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday took a dig at leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, saying he should have travelled to Ranchi, where students are protesting over alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations.In a post on X, Rijiju said, “Rahul Gandhi ji should have gone to Ranchi instead of Prayagraj.”The remarks came after Rahul, during his address at the event, attacked the government over what he described as a lack of jobs, expensive education, paper leaks, poor access to credit and the growing use of artificial intelligence, which he said were holding India’s youth back.“You are told to watch as many reels as you like, send as many WhatsApp messages as you wish, and browse or create content on Instagram. This is the addiction of the 21st century, and then you are told to work for Blinkit or Uber, or to do manual labour. You can indulge in this 21st-century addiction, but you cannot get a job; you cannot find employment in this country,” Rahul said.He also criticised the government’s economic policies, arguing that demonetisation and what he called “wrong GST” had damaged India’s manufacturing sector.“The first door is manufacturing. Today, in the world, you’ll see ‘Made in China’, ‘Made in Vietnam’, ‘Made in Bangladesh’, but you won’t see ‘Made in India’. The reason is that demonetisation and the wrong GST have destroyed our manufacturing system. Small businessmen who used to provide employment, and industries like leather, textile, and automobile that used to manufacture in India… all that has been finished. The first door is closed,” he added.Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the state government held talks with several student groups amid protests over alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations but failed to break the deadlock, with the protesting aspirants deciding to continue their agitation until their demands are met.A five-member government panel, comprising state ministers, first met a faction of protesters led by JLKM leader Devendra Nath Mahto, whose hunger strike over the issue entered its seventh day. The panel then separately met delegations of the Congress-backed NSUI, Adivasi Chhatra Sangh (ACS) and Jharkhand Chhatra Morcha (JCM).
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On Friday night, the government had held similar talks with a delegation of the JPSC/JSSC Reforms Manch.The ruling JMM’s student wing, JCM, placed five demands before the panel, including cancellation of the 14th Jharkhand PSC Civil Services Examination.The NSUI submitted six demands, including a CID probe into all JPSC and JSSC examinations under suspicion within 90 days and the establishment of a Jharkhand Testing Agency (JTA) on the lines of the National Testing Agency, its spokesperson Sanjiv Shah said.Another round of talks between the government and the students is scheduled for Sunday.
