India, June 2 -- It was, by any measure, a remarkable day for a 17-year-old. Sarthak Sidhant began it as a student-blogger from Ranchi, Jharkhand, who had gained attention after investigating the board 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 ...