Dear reader,
In the hit song “The Kids Are Alright”, The Who confidently proclaimed that the youth were doing just fine. Written by Pete Townshend, and featured on their 1965 debut album My Generation, this was one of The Who’s most popular songs and considered an anthem for the British mod movement of the mid-1960s.
The Who was one of the leading bands of Britain’s mod subculture, a modernist (hence “mod”) movement of the 1950s characterised by its youthful energy, stylish fashion, and love of music and scooters. “The Kids Are Alright” served as both a celebration and a critique of the youth culture of the period, airing a mix of optimism and cynicism about youth. While it suggested resilience in the face of societal challenges, it also hinted at the struggles of transitioning to adulthood.
Fast forward to 2024, and we might need to add a “not” to the title of that song. From Bombay to Berlin, Seoul to São Paulo, today’s young people are facing a number of challenges that would make even the most optimistic boomer pause. (Disclosure: this writer is a millennial and so is licensed to bash them all!)
Let’s start with some mind-boggling figures. According to the United Nations, there are currently about 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years in the world. That’s roughly one in every six people on earth. In India alone, the youth population (ages 15-29) stands at a staggering 345 million—more than the current population of the United States.
But here’s the kicker: while these numbers are celebrated as a “demographic dividend” by India, in reality many young people find themselves without a seat at the table when it comes to jobs, opportunities, and decision-making.
In India, the situation is particularly dire. As Peter Ronald deSouza notes in his lead article for Frontline’s latest cover package, the desperation for stable employment is palpable. In 2024, a whopping 12.8 lakh youth applied for just 52,000 positions in the armed forces under the controversial Agnipath scheme.
The job crunch isn’t unique to India. Globally, the ILO reports that young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults. For those who do find work, it’s often in the gig economy—a world of precarious employment that promises flexibility but often delivers instability. NITI Aayog estimates that India had between 8 million and 18 million gig workers in 2022, a number expected to balloon to 30 million by 2030.
Have you seen Ken Loach’s 2019 film Sorry We Missed You? If you have, you’d know how this new work reality plays out. The movie follows a UK family struggling to make ends meet in the gig economy, showing how the promise of being your own boss often translates to being at the mercy of algorithms and ratings.
As one character in the film aptly puts it: “You don’t work for us, you work with us.” It’s a line that could have been lifted straight from a Silicon Valley pitch deck, but in practice often means all the responsibility with none of the benefits.
On the flip side of the gig economy are the digital nomads, those tech-savvy youngsters who have figured out how to work from Goa for a company in Toronto with nothing more than a good Wi-Fi connection. These modern-day explorers are redefining what it means to “go to work”. But digital nomadism is often a privilege reserved for the elite, having in-demand skills, upper-class connections, and the right passports.
You might be thinking: “Surely education is the answer?” Well, yes and no. While education remains a crucial pathway to opportunity, many young people are finding that their degrees don’t necessarily translate to jobs.
In his controversial book The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?, the slightly controversial philosopher Michael J. Sandel argues that the promise of education as a great equaliser has turned into a sorting mechanism that often reinforces existing inequalities. He writes, “The meritocratic ideal is not a remedy for inequality; it is a justification of inequality.”
The disconnect between education and employment is leading to some truly surreal situations. In India, for instance, there have been cases of PhDs applying for jobs as street sweepers.
All these pressures are taking a serious toll on young people’s mental health. The World Health Organization reports that depression is one of the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents and young adults globally.
In Japan, the phenomenon of “hikikomori”—young people who completely withdraw from society—has become so prevalent that it is considered a national health crisis. The 2013 anime film The Garden of Words (my kids watch a lot of anime these days, and I with them) hauntingly depicts this isolation, showing how even in one of the world’s most densely populated cities, young people can feel utterly alone.
In India, deSouza identifies two groups of Gen Z as the “Cosmos” (cosmopolitans) and the “Bhakts” (cultural nationalists) and talks of the growing divide between them, while Mathangi Krishnamurthy and Rama Bijapurkar talk about the study they carried out, where young people emerged as unstable subjects who expended enormous energy in navigating economic, social, and political obstacles.
Clearly, the youth crisis is very real and will require concerted effort from policymakers, educators, employers, and society at large to be settled. Indeed, the challenges facing today’s youth are formidable but not insurmountable. Perhaps the solution lies not in trying to make “the kids alright” according to old standards, but in empowering young people to redefine what “alright” means for their generation. As Bob Dylan sang, “The times, they are a-changin’.”
With that thought, I welcome you to the latest edition of Frontline, where we have put together a bouquet of articles on India’s demographic dividend and how it has been squandering the advantage. The lineup includes public intellectual Peter Ronald deSouza, economists M. Suresh Babu of MIDS and Sujoy Chakravarty of JNU, and market researcher Rama Bijapurkar writing with anthropologist Mathangi Krishnamurthy.
To all the young people out there feeling disconnected from the world, take a look at what these writers have to say. If nothing, the articles could show that you are not alone, that your struggles are valid, and your voice matters. Maybe to find the answers, we have to start talking about the problems first.
Wishing you a lovely week ahead,
For Frontline,
Jinoy Jose P.
We hope you’ve been enjoying our newsletters featuring a selection of articles that we believe will be of interest to a cross-section of our readers. Tell us if you like what you read. And also, what you don’t like! Mail us at frontline@thehindu.co.in
