According to the BBC, student activist Devendra Nath Mahto ended a 16-day hunger strike in India's eastern Jharkhand state after the government agreed to cancel a controversial recruitment exam. The fast ended at a hospital in Ranchi, where he had been admitted last week after his health worsened.

The state government had already agreed to cancel a preliminary civil service exam and said its Criminal Investigation Department was probing alleged irregularities, including claims of leaked question papers and unfair means. On Monday night, Chief Minister Hemant Soren said the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission-Combined Graduate Level (JSSC-CGL) examination would also be scrapped, and that all exams conducted by TSR Data Processing Private Limited (TDPL) would be cancelled.

Soren also announced an investigation into recruitment exams held since 2014 and said a committee would be formed to recommend reforms to the state's examination system. Protesters said they would continue demonstrations until India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) begins a probe into alleged malpractice in other recruitment exams.