{"text":[[{"start":9.65,"text":"India’s education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on Saturday in a major concession to student protesters whose growing demonstrations have posed a serious challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi."}],[{"start":21.25,"text":"Pradhan posted news of his resignation on X shortly before protest leaders were due to meet ministers for another round of talks. He said he took the decision “to ensure that anti-national forces do not take advantage of the situation”."}],[{"start":34.25,"text":"Modi, 75, has struggled to find an effective response to the students’ anger, which erupted after questions were leaked from a national medical exam taken by 2.2mn students in May, causing the test to be cancelled. "}],[{"start":48.5,"text":"India’s premier directly addressed protesters for the first time in a selfie-style video posted around midnight on Thursday but his concessions did not satisfy the students. Their anger had increased after a heavy-handed police response to a big demonstration in Delhi on Monday, when protesters were repeatedly tear-gassed and beaten with wooden sticks."}],[{"start":69.4,"text":"Abhijeet Dipke, leader of the Cockroach Janta Party which spearheaded the protests, heard the news of Pradhan’s resignation while camped at the main protest site in central Delhi and immediately responded. “We have done it!” he exclaimed in a video posted on Instagram."}],[{"start":86.15,"text":"A former postgraduate student in Boston, USA, Dipke founded the CJP online in May in response to a comment from India’s chief justice, who compared unemployed young Indians with cockroaches. "}],[{"start":98.5,"text":"Dipke returned to India in June to lead demonstrations pressing for an overhaul of the national exam system, which has been plagued for years by questions being leaked, and for the education minister’s resignation."}],[{"start":111.25,"text":"The authorities this week tried to curb the protests in the capital by closing 17 metro stations serving the city centre, blocking mobile data and even warning drivers from food delivery apps not to enter the main protest area at Jantar Mantar, an 18th-century observatory."}],[{"start":127.85,"text":"But the demonstrators’ anger only grew, with protests spreading to other cities around the country including Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad."}],[{"start":136.54999999999998,"text":"Modi remains broadly popular and has won a string of regional elections in the past two years, giving him a degree of political dominance not seen in India since the 1980s. But after 12 years in power, his critics accuse him of becoming out of touch and intolerant of criticism. "}],[{"start":154.64999999999998,"text":"The premier has promised the country rapid economic development but stagnant wages and a worsening job market for graduates have fuelled discontent among the world’s largest youth population. India has 370mn people between the ages of 15 and 29. "}],[{"start":170.89999999999998,"text":"Pradhan was a key operative of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and had served in several ministerial roles in Modi’s government, taking the education portfolio in 2021. He had been mostly dismissive of the protesters, at one point calling them the “B-team of terrorists”."}],[{"start":187.54999999999998,"text":"The CJP had demanded from the outset that Pradhan take personal responsibility for the failures in the education system by resigning, but the government had resisted such a move, fearful of triggering further demands."}],[{"start":199.89999999999998,"text":"Shortly after the news of the minister’s resignation, the CJP updated its demands. It now wants 10mn rupees ($100,000) compensation to be paid to the families of students who took their lives after the botched medical exam, an apology from riot police for mistreating demonstrators and a guarantee that no student protester will be prosecuted."}],[{"start":230.34999999999997,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1784980202_7916.mp3"}