Prasad ends Cabinet briefing amid posers on CBSE leak

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad abruptly drew curtains to a media briefing on Thursday as journalists shot a volley of questions at Ministers over the CBSE Class 10 and 12 exam paper leak.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar was also present besides Prasad, Minister of State for Labour Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Minister of State at PMO Jitender Singh at the media briefing about the Cabinet decisions.

The reporters started asking questions about the paper leak as soon as the Ministers finished their briefings. Prasad said they would first take questions about the Cabinet decisions.

Later, the Ministers did take a few questions on other issues including the CBSE paper leak and Facebook data breach.

Javadekar said those behind the leak would not be spared and an internal inquiry was on along with a police probe. He expressed helplessness as to why lakhs of innocent students suffer the pain of re-examination even as the fault lies at the CBSE's doorstep.

A number of reporters started speaking all at once, seeking answers to their questions. They also wanted to know what police were doing in the CBSE case.

Some mediapersons also asked questions about the Facebook data breach by Cambridge Analytica (CA) -- a British data analytics firm -- and its Indian connections.

Prasad said the government had already sent notices to Facebook and CA and would wait for their response.

When the din shot up, Prasad suddenly stood up saying "Bas ho gaya" (It's done now) and walked off. Press Information Bureau (PIB) official Sitanshu Kar then announced the end of the press briefing.

The reporters then gathered around the Ministers and kept firing questions.

--IANS

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