Gen Z protesters have taken to the streets in mass numbers in South Asia in recent years — particularly in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, leading to regime change in those countries. These protests are part of a broader, global Gen Z movement.

Experts suggest these youth movements are fuelled by economic precarity, exclusion from power and corruption. Young people are also often facing state repression.

But India, the world’s biggest democracy, has largely seemed impervious to such Gen Z movements. That is no longer the case.

In July, thousands of students, parents and youth gathered near Jantar Mantar in Delhi to protest the cancellation of a medical entrance exam after the questions were leaked — a scandal that drove some young people to take their own lives.

There are other underlying grievances and anxieties in India related to rising unemployment, the inability of university graduates to find jobs and an increasingly commercialized yet dysfunctional higher education system.

Police used bamboo sticks, pellet guns and tear gas against young protesters, causing injuries that resulted in public outrage. The uproar forced Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give into their demands for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The power of social media

While the protests may not immediately lead to job opportunities for Gen Z — that would require sustained reforms in the economic and educational........

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