India's Education Minister Resigns Amid Sustained Student Protests

India's Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi following weeks of sustained student protests demanding his removal.

Pradhan announced his decision on Saturday in a post on social media platform X, saying he had sent his resignation to the prime minister. In his resignation message, he said the move was intended to safeguard students' interests and prevent the ongoing unrest from being exploited for other purposes.

The announcement came just hours before the third round of formal talks between the central government and the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), the youth-led movement that has spearheaded the nationwide protests.

For more than a month, students had been staging demonstrations at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar, with Pradhan's resignation remaining their primary demand. The protests were triggered by allegations of irregularities, including the NEET-UG examination paper leak, and later expanded to include broader demands for accountability and reforms in the education system.

Pradhan's resignation marks a significant concession by the Modi government and is widely viewed as a major victory for the student-led protest movement.