Did “uncertainty and the meaninglessness of life” fuel student protests?

Did "uncertainty and the meaninglessness of life" fuel student protests?: Prof. Suhas Palshikar, Chief Editor, Studies in Indian Politics, to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

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How should we assess the outcome of last week’s student protests? Is there a wider message that they have signalled? For the government? For the country? And how should we view the future of the Cockroach Janata Party and Abhijeet Dipke? Those are some of the key issues I will explore today with the Chief Editor of Studies in Indian Politics, Prof. Suhas Palshikar.

Prof. Palshikar argues that the student protests sent out two loud and clear messages to the government as well as the country. The first was about the education system. It has, as he puts it, become “boring time-pass” or a “creche for young adults”. It needs to be more than just overhauled. It needs to be re-thought through ab initio.

The second message is in a sense deeper. Prof. Palshikar argues that the protests and the striking energy behind them “represent the utter meaninglessness of life that confronts (India’s) youth”. Life has become precarious at multiple levels and that uncertainty has created angst, deep concern and a sense of hopelessness. As he puts it “life is precarious, irrespective of whether you belong to low-income groups or the so-called middle class”.

I will stop there. You should hear Prof. Palshikar directly. His analysis and understanding of the recent protests is both revealing and disquieting. It’s the second because we don’t have credible answers to the message the protesters sent out.

Here is the link: