Modi names Nandan Nilekani to lead exam-reform task force after CJP protest

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appointed Infosys co-founder and Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani to chair a high-powered task force mandated to overhaul India’s entrance-examination architecture — a decision that comes within 24 hours of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan stepping down under sustained pressure from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) sit-in at Jantar Mantar.

The 34-day protest, led by students and supported by Sonam Wangchuk’s 26-day hunger strike, had demanded Pradhan’s resignation, the quashing of FIRs against protesters, compensation for families of NEET aspirants who died by suicide, and a structural rewrite of the National Testing Agency’s processes.

What we can verify

• The Prime Minister’s Office announced the task force on 26 July 2026; Nilekani was named chairperson with a mandate to submit recommendations within 90 days.
• Pradhan tendered his resignation on 25 July after the CJP’s core committee met Union Ministers J.P. Nadda and Jitendra Singh for a third round of talks.
• The Cabinet had already cleared the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2026, proposing fast-track courts and up to 10-year jail terms for paper leaks — a legislative response the protesters called “necessary but insufficient without administrative reform.”

What remains unverified

• Exact composition of the task force beyond Nilekani — the PMO statement listed “eminent experts” but did not name them.
• Whether the panel will recommend scrapping the NTA altogether, as CJP’s charter demands, or restrict itself to procedural safeguards.
• Timeline for implementing the panel’s report; the government has not committed to a parliamentary debate before the winter session.

Protesters’ response

CJP spokesperson Saurav Das welcomed the appointment as “a first step” but reiterated that the sit-in would not be fully vacated until written assurances on FIR withdrawal and compensation are gazetted. “Nilekani built Aadhaar; we need him to build an exam system that cannot be gamed,” Das said at a press briefing late Saturday.

The Jantar Mantar site, cleared by NDMC crews early Sunday, still hosted a few dozen volunteers cataloguing protest memorabilia — placards, donation registers, and a hard drive of live-stream footage — for what they describe as a “people’s archive of the 34 days.”

Sources cited

1. Indian Express, “PM Modi Appoints Nandan Nilekani to Lead High-Powered Exam Reform Task Force”, 26 July 2026 (YouTube).
2. Indian Express, “CJP Protest Ends After Pradhan Resignation”, 25 July 2026 (site reporting).