Sad today. Not because Dharmendra Pradhan is a friend. I don’t know the man. If anything, I’ve long believed he should have offered to step down. Sometimes, leadership demands taking a strategic step back for a larger, long-term objective. Not necessarily because one is personally culpable, but because institutions are always bigger than individuals.
The real tragedy is that the delay allowed a genuine grievance to snowball into something much bigger. It gave the movement time to attract unruly elements, opportunists and those with agendas far removed from the original issue. What began as a legitimate demand for accountability over alleged examination irregularities slowly got drowned in noise, violence and confrontation.
The students’ cause deserved answers. Instead, it risked being hijacked by those who seemed more interested in creating perpetual unrest than seeking justice. Once that happens, the original issue disappears behind an engineered cacophony.
Politics, frankly, is not what worries me. Governments and oppositions will continue to fight. Democracies are meant to accommodate political contestation.
What concerns me is the larger impact on India’s growth story.
One of India’s greatest strengths has been the perception of being a stable democracy with predictable institutions. That stability has inspired confidence among investors, businesses and governments across the world. It has helped fuel a growth story that many nations admire—and, in some cases, envy.
It would be naïve to believe everyone wants India to succeed. Every nation pursues its own interests. A rapidly rising India inevitably alters existing geopolitical and economic equations. Some countries would prefer India to remain distracted by internal instability rather than emerge as a stronger global competitor. China has little strategic interest in seeing India emerge as a comparable economic power. Nor would every country that has enjoyed geopolitical or economic dominance necessarily welcome another major competitor. In our own neighbourhood too, there are forces only too willing to exploit our internal fault lines.
That is precisely why prolonged domestic unrest carries consequences beyond politics. We live in a difficult neighbourhood and in an intensely competitive world. Governing a country as vast, diverse and aspirational as India is never easy.
Our greatest strength is also our greatest vulnerability: our youth. They are energetic, idealistic and deeply emotional. When they feel wronged, they deserve to be heard. But that same idealism can also make them vulnerable to narratives crafted by those pursuing entirely different objectives. Emotional slogans, selective outrage and performative empathy can become powerful tools to channel genuine frustration towards ends that may not serve the students—or the country.
Every student has the right to protest peacefully and demand accountability. Equally, every government has the responsibility to respond swiftly, transparently and decisively before legitimate anger is allowed to fester.
But every crisis also presents an opportunity.
If there is one lesson to emerge from this episode, it is that India can no longer afford to postpone the reforms that will define the future of this generation.
The government now has an opportunity to focus on perhaps the single most consequential reform of all—our education system.
Artificial Intelligence and rapidly evolving technologies are transforming the world of work at an unprecedented pace. Yet much of our curriculum and pedagogy continue to prepare students for a world that is rapidly disappearing. We are still teaching yesterday’s skills for tomorrow’s economy.
This is no longer merely an education issue. It is an economic imperative. It is a national imperative.
If we begin reforming our curriculum, pedagogy, teacher training and methods of assessment today, the real dividends will probably be visible only 10 to 15 years from now. That is precisely why these reforms cannot wait. The longer we delay, the further behind we fall.
There is another reform that is just as critical.
If we are serious about rebuilding faith in our institutions, meritocracy has to become non-negotiable.
Our universities and educational institutions must be led by individuals of unquestionable merit, academic excellence and integrity—leaders who understand where the world is headed and can prepare India’s youth for the challenges and opportunities of an AI-driven future.
The quality of leadership in our educational institutions will determine the quality of graduates they produce. And the quality of those graduates will determine whether India leads the 21st century or merely participates in it.
India’s demographic dividend is perhaps our greatest strategic advantage. But demographic dividends are not automatic. If we fail to equip our young people with the skills the future demands, that demographic dividend could well become a demographic catastrophe.
If the dream of Viksit Bharat is to become a reality, there is perhaps no reform more important than transforming the way India educates its children. Economic growth, infrastructure and manufacturing will all matter, but they will ultimately be driven by the quality of our human capital. And that quality will be determined by the choices we make in our classrooms today.
The students deserved justice.
India deserves reform.
Because if the nation itself becomes weaker, unstable or divided, whose future is ultimately being secured? And if we fail to prepare that future through education, no amount of economic ambition alone will ever be enough.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
