The “cockroaches” have left Jantar Mantar after the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the education minister. Their successful movement brought back memories of vintage Indian youth politics where students weren’t mere voters but also the first line of resistance against injustice and oppression. These youngsters have shown that they aren’t a crowd but a wave that has the capacity to bring about huge change.

What’s the permanent solution to the pressing issue riling the youth? There are no easy answers. The problem is buried under impenetrable layers of difficulties.

“It was the beginning of summer in 1975…”

Let me take you five decades earlier to make my point clearer. It was the beginning of summer in 1975. I reached the examination centre at an Inter College in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, to appear for the Class X board exams. I saw about a dozen boys trying to break bricks into small pieces right outside the room where I was to give my examination. They stuffed their pant pockets with those broken brick pieces and entered the room. As soon as the question papers were distributed, they tied theirs to those brick pieces and threw these outside. After some time, the same pieces landed back in the college premises. The papers attached to them contained the answers to the........

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