For Jharkhand’s Adivasi youth, competitive exams are about finding a voice in the system that governs them

Published 9 August 2026 · india

For 26-year-old Sarita Munda, the struggle to get a government job has stretched across years, exam cycles and disappointments. She came to Ranchi from a

For 26-year-old Sarita Munda, the struggle to get a government job has stretched across years, exam cycles and disappointments. She came to Ranchi from a village near Latehar with a familiar plan among young Adivasi youth in many parts of Jharkhand: study, prepare for the State recruitment examinations, find a government job and build a life that guarantees a place in the system that governs them, visibility and ways of income other than agricultural work or daily wage labour. But preparation costs money. Ms. Sarita has been doing domestic work in Ranchi to support herself while studying. Her brother and sister have also spent years preparing for the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) examinations. Jharkhand student protests: Follow LIVE updates on August 9, 2026 She appeared for an examination in 2024, only to see it cancelled. The following year brought another round of uncertainty and allegations of irregularities. Now, in 2026, she finds herself once again in the middle of a student movement demanding that the recruitment process be made credible. For her, the dispute is not simply about an examination. It is about whether the years spent preparing for it will lead anywhere.

That is the question that has brought students to the streets of Ranchi, where a protest over recruitment examinations has entered its 16th day. Secure job, recognition For many, JPSC and JSSC represent perhaps the clearest route to secure employment in a State where the private sector offers limited opportunities, particularly for young people from rural and Adivasi communities. The choice, as several aspirants describe it, is stark: continue tilling the land that often provides enough to sustain a family but little surplus or spend years studying for a competitive examination that can potentially change the family’s economic circumstances. “Either it is agricultural work, not for profit, but to sustain ourselves on our own land or we study somehow and try to get these government jobs,” is how one aspirant described the calculation. ‘Core Adivasi issue’ Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000 after a long political movement built around questions of identity, land, resources and self-determination. More than two decades later, many young Adivasis say the promise of social and economic inclusion remains unfulfilled. According to the 2011 Census, Scheduled Tribes account for roughly 26% of Jharkhand’s population.