3 days ago
Youth Protests Expose India's Institutional Failures, Guruswamy Says
Menaka Guruswamy spoke in Hyderabad about young people protesting over education, exams and jobs.
She said protests are a sign that other institutions have not solved important problems.
Many families believe education should help children find secure work and build better lives.
She said this promise is becoming harder to achieve because graduate unemployment is high.
She also said education is becoming more expensive for families.
Guruswamy questioned whether working for only one hour in a week should count as having a job.
She said young people should not have to solve the entire journey from school to employment by themselves.
She also warned that democracy and the Constitution are weakened when Parliament and other institutions do not allow disagreement.
Menaka Guruswamy said youth protests over exams, jobs and education reveal failures that began before protests became visible.
She cited graduate unemployment of nearly 40% among people aged 15–25 and about 20% among those aged 25–29.
Guruswamy questioned employment figures that count someone as employed after at least one hour of work in a week.
She said rising private education costs have shifted financial pressure from the state to households.
Guruswamy argued that protecting the Constitution requires delivering opportunity, dignity, equality and a public voice to citizens.
- Who
- Supreme Court senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Menaka Guruswamy, with NALSAR University of Law Vice Chancellor Prof. Srikrishna Deva Rao.
- What
- Guruswamy argued that youth protests over education, examinations, jobs and livelihood expose institutional failures and raised concerns about Parliament and constitutional institutions.
- Where
- Hyderabad, at a lecture organised by the S. Jaipal Reddy Memorial Foundation and Manthan Foundation.
- When
- Saturday; the articles do not provide a specific date.
- Why
- She said institutions were failing to convert education into secure employment and constitutional promises into opportunity, dignity and participation for ordinary citizens.
Key facts
- Speaker
- Menaka Guruswamy, a Supreme Court senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP
- Lecture
- ‘Indian Constitution and its Protection’
- Graduate unemployment
- Nearly 40% among people aged 15–25 and about 20% among those aged 25–29, according to figures Guruswamy attributed to the State of Working India 2026 report
- Employment measure
- The Periodic Labour Force Survey’s current weekly status measure can count a person as employed after at least one hour of work on any day in the previous seven days
- Education costs
- Guruswamy said fees, coaching, transport, hostels, college expenses and education loans increasingly burden households
- Constitutional concerns
- She said reduced deliberation, limited disagreement and politicisation of institutions endanger the Constitution
- Collegium system
- Guruswamy said the system is not specified in the constitutional text and was created through judicial decisions
Quotes
Menaka Guruswamy
Supreme Court senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP speaking at a Hyderabad constitutional lecture
“When you have parliamentary traditions of deliberation that are not allowed or followed, your Constitution is endangered. When you have institutions, including courts, becoming politicised, then Parliament is endangered, then the Constitution is endangered.”
deccanchronicle.com
“A statistic can tell us that someone has worked. It cannot tell us whether they can plan, whether they can repay a loan, whether they can support their parents, whether they can rent a home, whether they can imagine having a family.”
deccanchronicle.com
Sources
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