top of page

By:

Rajendra Joshi

3 December 2024 at 9:20:26 am

The Warning Beyond NEET

The Jantar Mantar protests exposed the widening gap between education, employment and growth. The month-long protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar may have formally ended, but the political and economic questions it raised will linger. Triggered by the NEET paper leak, the movement became a major expression of youth discontent. What began as a demand for a fair examination system became a broader indictment of an economic model that promises opportunity but increasingly fails to deliver...

The Warning Beyond NEET

The Jantar Mantar protests exposed the widening gap between education, employment and growth. The month-long protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar may have formally ended, but the political and economic questions it raised will linger. Triggered by the NEET paper leak, the movement became a major expression of youth discontent. What began as a demand for a fair examination system became a broader indictment of an economic model that promises opportunity but increasingly fails to deliver employment. The government initially treated the protests as a law-and-order issue. That changed when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the ruling establishment, publicly criticised police action and expressed solidarity with the students. The subsequent resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, withdrawal of criminal cases and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's endorsement of the integrity and aspirations of India's Gen Z transformed the political narrative. The issue had moved beyond examination reform to whether India's development model is serving its young citizens. The NEET paper leak was merely the spark. The fuel had accumulated through rising educated unemployment, declining confidence in public institutions and growing frustration among millions of young Indians. Education is increasingly seen as an uncertain investment rather than a guaranteed pathway to opportunity. Every examination scandal reinforces the perception that merit alone is insufficient, while recruitment delays deepen the belief that the system is failing those who have done everything expected of them. India has celebrated its demographic dividend for nearly two decades, projecting its young workforce as its greatest competitive advantage. But demographic dividends are never automatic. They generate prosperity only when education is matched by employment, productivity and rising incomes. Otherwise, they become demographic liabilities that breed frustration rather than growth. The evidence suggests India is approaching that inflection point. GDP has expanded impressively over the past two decades, yet employment has failed to keep pace. Employment elasticity has weakened sharply. During the 1980s, every percentage point of GDP growth generated roughly half a percentage point increase in employment. Today the ratio is estimated at about 0.16, among the lowest for major emerging economies. Growth continues; jobs do not. This disconnect reflects India's growth strategy. Public policy has increasingly favoured capital-intensive industries through subsidies, tax incentives and investment support. Such sectors contribute to output and productivity but generate relatively fewer jobs. Agriculture continues to suffer from incomplete reforms and low productivity. Manufacturing has not expanded fast enough to absorb new workers, while artificial intelligence and automation are reducing opportunities in occupations once regarded as gateways to middle-class prosperity. India thus faces a paradox: it is producing more graduates while creating fewer opportunities to absorb them. The comparison with Asia is instructive. Vietnam and Bangladesh have pursued manufacturing-led growth that has generated substantially higher employment relative to economic expansion. Vietnam's employment-to-population ratio is estimated at nearly three-fourths, compared with about one-half in India. Vietnam has also moved into the upper-middle-income category, while India remains a lower-middle-income economy. These comparisons do not diminish India's achievements. They highlight the urgency of correcting structural weaknesses before they become politically destabilising. History demonstrates the risks of prolonged youth unemployment. The Arab Spring showed how educated but unemployed youth can transform political landscapes. More recently, political instability in Bangladesh and Nepal has reflected frustration among younger populations facing shrinking opportunities. India's democratic institutions are stronger, and its circumstances are different. Yet no democracy can indefinitely ignore the aspirations of its largest demographic group. The significance of Jantar Mantar lies here. India's Gen Z is organised, digitally connected and politically conscious. Social media transformed local grievances into a national movement within days, while traditional political parties largely responded after the sentiment had acquired independent momentum. The RSS intervention further complicated the government's challenge. Once protesting students found resonance within the ideological ecosystem closest to the ruling establishment, the issue ceased to be a partisan confrontation. It became an internal warning that India's youth expect credible institutions, transparent examinations and, above all, meaningful employment. The Centre's examination reforms are necessary but insufficient. Restoring the credibility of competitive examinations addresses only one symptom. The larger challenge is to redesign India's growth strategy around employment. Labour-intensive manufacturing, support for small and medium enterprises, investment in skills, higher-education reform and greater attention to employment outcomes must become central to economic planning. The Jantar Mantar agitation should not be remembered simply as the NEET protests. It marked a moment when India's youngest generation questioned the assumptions underlying the country's development model. Governments can manage protests and reform examinations. But unless economic growth translates into broad-based employment, similar movements will return. India's demographic dividend remains its greatest opportunity. It could equally become its greatest challenge. The warning has been delivered. The question is whether policymakers are prepared to listen.

A Waiver in Name Only

Maharashtra’s ambitious 100 percent tuition fee waiver for girls risks becoming another well-meaning policy undone by poor implementation.

On July 8, 2024, the Maharashtra state government issued a circular that should have signalled a transformative moment in women’s education. In an election-season flourish, the ruling Mahayuti government had announced a full, 100 percent tuition fee waiver for girls enrolled in undergraduate vocational courses. The promise was bold and the intention noble: to raise female representation in higher education from a meagre 36 percent to an aspirational 50 percent. It was also meant to be universal and inclusive, covering all castes and categories. With Rs. 905 crores earmarked annually, the state appeared serious about righting a long-standing gender imbalance.


But a year later, like many sweeping government schemes in India, this one too risks being choked by bureaucratic sluggishness and institutional indifference. A closer look reveals an initiative that is more cosmetic than concrete, undermined by red tape, confusion and poor communication. The promise may have captured headlines, but for most girls trying to claim their rightful place in lecture halls, the fee waiver remains out of reach.


To begin with, the scheme’s scope is far narrower than publicised. It applies only to undergraduate students enrolled in 543 specified vocational courses. Postgraduate students are excluded. So are those enrolled in private or deemed universities. Girls from families earning more than Rs. 8 lakh a year don’t qualify, nor do those already benefiting from other government scholarships. And critically, no separate application exists. Students must navigate the standard, convoluted scholarship portal in a process that is both opaque and discouraging.


This would not be as problematic if the waiver were applied at the time of admission. But it is not. Students are asked to pay tuition fees upfront, with the vague promise of a refund later. In the meantime, they are subject to pressure from college administrations, some of whom bar students from sitting exams unless fees are paid in full. The result is a Kafkaesque situation where a ‘free education’ policy demands payment first and clarity never.


The psychological toll of this ambiguity is substantial. For working-class families balancing precarious incomes, the prospect of shelling out tens of thousands of rupees with no guaranteed reimbursement is daunting. Some abandon the process entirely. Others, believing the government’s grand announcements, approach social organisations for help, only to be turned away as these NGOs assume the state has taken care of it. In some cases, girls have dropped out altogether.


Adding insult to injury is the near-total absence of outreach. With SSC and HSC results freshly released and admissions in full swing, there has been no meaningful publicity campaign. There have been no campus circulars, no targeted media outreach, no community-level engagement. Confused parents are left relying on rumours and half-truths.


If this is what implementation looks like in year one, the outlook for the future is grim. Last year, officials from the Higher Education Department reported a paltry 5,720 applications under the scheme. Refunds have not yet materialised even for these. What is the point of allocating hundreds of crores if the machinery to disburse it is rusted and unresponsive?


There is still time to salvage the promise of the scheme. But for that to happen, two things must change. First, the policy must be made automatic. No girl eligible under the scheme should be asked to pay fees upfront. The onus must shift from families to institutions. Second, there needs to be a concerted awareness campaign, especially in rural areas and marginalised communities. Girls and their families must know what they are entitled to and how to get it.


The deeper malaise is one of political will. Too often, social welfare in India is about optics with schemes designed more for headlines than for impact. Maharashtra’s tuition fee waiver risks becoming yet another example of this phenomenon. Unless the government follows through with rigour, transparency and empathy, the scheme will remain what it increasingly looks like today: a paper promise, floated in good faith but doomed by poor execution.


Education is too vital to be left to fall prey to bureaucratic inertia. The state must do better because the girls, on whose shoulders rest the ambitions of an equal future, deserve better.


(The writer is a lawyer and president, Student Helping Hands. Views personal.)

Comments

bottom of page