Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on Saturday amid mounting pressure from the “Cockroach Movement,” which demanded major government reforms—starting with his departure. Student activists accused Pradhan of failing to safeguard a competitive medical school exam, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), after authorities concluded that its contents had been leaked online.
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) started as a parody account on social media after Indian authorities invalidated the annual medical school entry exam in May. Its name alludes to a comment made by Chief Justice Surya Kant during an unrelated hearing the same month, in which he compared young unemployed people to "cockroaches” and “parasites.”
However, the CJP quickly established itself as a formidable movement as anti-government sentiment erupted in the wake of the NEET scandal. The page gained millions of followers, and its founder began organizing protests in late June.
Read More: What Is the Youth-Led ‘Cockroach Movement’ Staging Mass Protests in India?
Over 2 million prospective students had taken the three-hour exam, according to the BBC. However, an exam coach noticed that a “guess paper”—or practice test—being circulated online seemed to closely match the exam itself, prompting an investigation. Police ultimately concluded that the questions had been leaked. They also discovered that some individuals paid as much as 5,000 rupees (about $52) to access the “guess paper” on WhatsApp, the Indian Express reported.
News that the exam results had been voided distressed many of the test-takers. The medical school system in India offered fewer than 130,000 slots for the undergraduate medical program this year, according to India’s National Medical Commission, making the selection process extremely competitive. The stakes are considerable, especially for those with limited financial resources. After the exam was discredited, at least 2
