India govt talks with youth protest leaders on July 25

The Indian government was scheduled to begin a fresh round of talks on Saturday, July 25, with leaders of a major youth-led protest movement, as demonstrators continued to press for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The protests, which have disrupted the capital for days, represent the most significant youth challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government since 2014.

Negotiations between senior federal ministers J.P. Nadda and Jitendra Singh and representatives of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, began on Friday, July 24. The government requested additional time until Saturday afternoon to formulate a response to the protesters' core demands. The CJP has stated its demands are non-negotiable, warning that protests could intensify if they are ignored. The protesters are demanding Pradhan's resignation, the dropping of police charges against participants, and compensation for families of students who died by suicide following exam paper leaks.

The demonstrations were galvanized by leaks of question papers for high-stakes medical school entrance examinations in May, which forced over two million candidates to retake...