CBSE ‘tender investigator’ Sarthak Sidhant's big day in Delhi: Two meetings, and a govt action spurred by his blog

IT was, by any evaluate, a singular daytime for a 17-year-old. Sarthak Sidhant began it as a student-blogger from Ranchi, Jharkhand, who had gained attending after investigating the room that administered his exams. By Tuesday night he had deposed before a parliamentary committee, watched the government move against the CBSE's top brass, and received a poetic word of encouragement from the Leader of the Opposition.That last came when Congress MP Rahul Gandhi met Sarthak Sidhant and his family members, and posted on X: "Sarthak, stay firm on your principles ('sidhant')," tagging it #TenderInvestigator — a nod to the teenager's trawl through tender documents.It was the second exam whistleblower Gandhi had backed in three days, after meeting Vedant Shrivastava, who was sent the wrong answer sheet by CBSE. Meeting with Standing Committee, then actionHours earlier, the government had acted on the CBSE scandal. Board chairman Rahul Singh and secretary Himanshu Gupta were transferred amid mounting scrutiny of the procurement for the board's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. Prashant Lokhande was named the new chairperson.Separately, the government set up a one-member committee of Capacity Building Commission chief S Radha Chauhan to inquire into the OSM procurement. This is what Sidhant had also probed.The Congress saw a clear sequence in the day's events, and a convergence with the youth, Gen Z in particular. Anshul Trivedi, the party's youth and student wing coordinator, noted that the after Sarthak Sidhant met the Parliamentary Standing Committee chaired by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh in the morning; by the evening the Modi government was “forced to act”. Trivedi added a handshake emoji between “Gen Z power” and the INC or Indian National Congress.Party comms head Jairam Ramesh said, "Justice requires that the Mantri Pradhan be sacked," referring to education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge went further: “The transfer of CBSE Chairman and Secretary is a mere eye-wash. Modi ji should immediately sack Dharmendra Pradhan. Nothing less than that would provide a sense of justice to 18.5 lakh CBSE students… 'Big Breaking' is not this whitewashing — the real news is Pradhan's continuation despite all this.”At the meeting early afternoon at the Parliament House Annexe, Sarthak Sidhant presented a seven-page set of findings to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education. Reports said his presentation was made in the presence of officers who were removed hours later.Sidhant in his blog late last month alleged the CBSE rewrote its tender rules to favour Coempt EduTeck, the firm running OSM. "There were at least 15 discrepancies as per my blog," he said to news outlets. He stressed he was not against the system: "I think OSM is a good change, but there should be wide rollouts first and good demo pilots."The OSM contract, HT has reported, went to Coempt on December 5, just 74 days before exams began February 17.The CBSE has denied wrongdoing, as has the company, with the board saying the tender followed General Financial Rules and went to the lowest bidder.Teenagers take up issuesSidhant is one of three teenagers driving the scrutiny of CBSE, amidst a wide environment of concern around exam systems.Other than him are Vedant, whose viral post forced CBSE to admit a scanning error, and 19-year-old Nisarga Adhikary, an ethical hacker who flagged a vulnerability in the OSM portal, and whose claim the board first rubbished and then said had been “contained” with gratitude.The three cases have since been picked up by the Cockroach Janta Party, an online movement seeking Pradhan's resignation that plans a Jantar Mantar protest on June 6. The outfit takes its name from a remark by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, who likened some unemployed youth to "cockroaches" — a slur CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke reclaimed with a viral “What if all cockroaches came together?” post.On Tuesday, the CJP drew a notable backer in climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who said he would join the June 6 protest if there was no action by the government on exam controversies by June 5.Wangchuk was freed in March after six months of NSA detention over Ladakh statehood protests. The Centre had told the Supreme Court he tried to instigate Gen-Z agitations “like in Nepal and Bangladesh”.On Tuesday, he said, “If not now, when? If not us, who?”. And urged PM Modi to act.The Opposition has tied the CBSE row to a wider run of failures. That includes the cancelled NEET-UG 2026, headed for a June 21 re-test after a paper leak; the SSC-GD Constable exam, which descended into chaos at some UP and Bihar centres; and CUET-UG, delayed at several centres on May 30.Pradhan has said he takes "full responsibility" and promised no further lapses.