Grand Tamasha: Decoding the Economic Drivers Behind Gen Z’s Protests and India’s Jobs Debate

India’s Gen Z protests began with demands for sweeping higher-education reforms, but quickly opened into a broader revolt over jobs, economic opportunity and the future. The movement was catalysed by the Cockroach Janta Party, a satirical meme page that grew into a national campaign.

Economist Vidya Mahambare says the country’s jobs debate rests partly on assumptions that the data does not support. The familiar story describes too many people in agriculture, too few manufacturing jobs, an economy tilted too heavily toward services and persistently high youth unemployment. Mahambare examined those claims during the season premiere of Grand Tamasha, a podcast on Indian politics and policy co-produced by Hindustan Times and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

One apparent contradiction stands out: India’s richest states have some of its highest youth unemployment rates. “In prosperous states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, unemployment among young people is high, which seems counter-intuitive. In these states, education levels are higher, and more men and women are looking for jobs, so the labour force is simply larger. Second, educated people want a specific kind of job, so they wait for it. To wait, you need a kind of privilege,” Mahambare said.

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In prosperous states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, unemployment among young people is high, which seems counter-intuitive. In these states, education levels are higher, and more men and women are looking for jobs, so the labour force is simply larger. Second, educated people want a specific kind of job, so they wait for it. To wait, you need a kind of privilege.

Poorer states show lower unemployment for a different reason, she argued. Fewer people, especially women, are seeking work. Men often cannot wait for a preferred position and must accept whatever job becomes available because their families cannot support them while they search.

Mahambare also questioned the idea that India simply needs to move more young people out of agriculture. Among Indians aged 20 to 29, she said, only 13% currently work in agriculture. Her discussion also covered education-linked unemployment, the supposed manufacturing-versus-services divide, young people leaving farming, misleading headlines about female labour-force participation and India’s severe shortage of urban housing.

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In poorer states, unemployment is low, but it’s because fewer people, especially women, are looking for work. Men there can’t wait long; whatever job comes up, they have to take it quickly because there’s no family support.