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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.

FDA braces for Tukaram Mundhe’s strong dose

Mumbai: An unyielding and upright IAS officer Tukaram Haribhau Mundhe was awarded with his 25th transfer order in 21 years’ service – as the new Commissioner of Food & Drug Administration.

 

The latest shunting comes barely a couple of months after his last assignment, Principal Secretary, Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation, which was stayed before he could take charge.

 

Mundhe, 50, holds the current ‘national record’ for being an IAS officer who has suffered maximum transfers; prior to him were two retired Haryana IAS officers holding a similar honour.

 

In an era when public confidence in institutions is wavering, examples of uncompromising and righteous officers like Mundhe shine bright and endear themselves to the masses.

 

Humble Family

Born into a humble farmer family of Beed, Mundhe’s childhood was bereft of luxuries and had to struggle even for bare necessities for which he disciplined himself, toiled and never faltered – strong qualities that help him stand ramrod straight even today.

 

A bright kid, Mundhe helped his parents in the scorching fields during the day and spent hours at night poring over books under the dim light of kerosene lamps, completed his schooling with distinction, plus earned his graduate and post-graduate degrees from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad.

 

With a burning desire to work for the welfare of the masses and society in general, Mundhe appeared for the UPSC exams and finally cleared his IAS in 2005 to enter public service.

 

As he plunged himself headlong to wield the power of his position for public benefit, he quickly became a villain in the eyes of many vested elements, including politicians of different hues.

 

No-nonsense Boss

Mundhe proved to be an inflexible no-nonsense boss, abhorred indiscipline, a stickler for rules, curbed malpractices, public-centric result-oriented – making him the darling of the masses and in constant media glare.

 

From his early years, he paid the price for his integrity, nature and working style. As per regulations, officers at certain levels are expected to serve for minimum three years in any post, but the much-feared Mundhe worked for barely a month in some of his postings, and hardly a few where he served for a year or more.

 

Over the years, the people who watched Mundhe and the antics of his opponents, saluted him with many labels – ‘Singham’, ‘Youth Icon’, ‘Fearless Officer’, ‘Peoples Hero’, etc.

 

Till May 26, in his 21-year long career, Mundhe has 25 transfer orders under his belt, ostensibly for refusing to bend rules or bending before the powers-that-be, irrespective of any political group or party in power.

 

What most would consider a punishment transfer, Mundhe grabbed it headlong, not only challenging the system but infusing fresh challenges in the assignment, converting it into a ‘hot seat’, setting new standards which the next incumbent was forced to follow or fall out.

 

For instance, after his appointment as Solapur Collector (November 2014), Mundhe cracked the whip on illegal mining operations and became a serious target of the powerful sand mafia there, but he was undeterred.

 

In his 8-month long but eventful tenure as Nagpur Municipal Commissioner, Mundhe launched a transparency drive, overturned entrenched administrative practices that had evaded scrutiny, dared to question unsanctioned expenditures from the civic body’s coffers and many came under the radar. However, he was shunted to Mumbai in a fresh assignment before there were casualties.

 

Lasting Impact

Probably, the most striking aspect of Mundhe’s bureaucratic journey is that in every posting, he managed to leave a lasting impact and set new benchmarks. As in Solapur, he contributed to making at least 7 municipal bodies defecation-free in a tenure of barely 18 months (Nov. 2014-May 2016).

 

A retired civil servant described Mundhe as “a champion of citizen-centric governance, ensured that the administration connected to the last man, treated his work not with authority but as a responsibility and worked not merely efficiently but empathy for the masses – who adored him”.

 

Shattering traditions even at home
In April 2026, while on election duty in West Bengal, Tukaram Mundhe learnt that his mother Asarabai breathed her last at 90 in Pune. He rushed back for the last rites held in his native village, Tadsona in Beed district.
 
Breaking conventions, Mundhe and his brother skipped all the traditional rituals, and instead of immersing her residue in a holy river, they planted a Banyan sapling on her ashes as a dual tribute to her and the environment.

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