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After the recent student movement led by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) over failures in the examination system, Delhi’s Jantar Mantar has housed another andolan: the Reservation Hatao Andolan. An online campaign that reportedly crossed 5.6 million Instagram followers has brought anti-reservation frustration into public view. Some protesters have said they are not against reservation as such, but believe eligibility should be determined by people’s financial condition. The movement, however, has broadly campaigned for the removal of caste-based reservations.

The demand raises a familiar question: who should get a scarce opportunity? But the more important question here is why opportunities have become scarce enough for their allocation to generate such intense group competition.

India’s reservation debate is partly a debate about scarcity. When limited jobs, educational seats, and public resources are allocated through socially salient categories, competition can acquire a zero-sum character in which one group’s gain is perceived as another’s loss. The answer is neither to dismiss redistribution nor to assume that growth will resolve the problem. It is to address historical discrimination while expanding the institutions and opportunities over which citizens compete.

More students, limited mobility

India’s higher education has expanded considerably. Total enrolment rose from 3.42 crore in 2014-15 to 4.46 crore in 2022-23, while the gross enrolment ratio for 18-23-year-olds rose from 23.7% in 2014-15 to 30% in 2023-24. SC enrolment increased by about 50% and ST enrolment by about 75% between 2014-15 and 2022-23. 

But more students do not automatically mean more pathways to secure employment. A degree from a well-resourced institution with strong faculty, networks, and placement opportunities is not equivalent to a degree from a poorly equipped college.

The labour market reflects this gap. The 2025 PLFS puts unemployment among 15-29-year-olds at 9.9%, rising to 13.6% in urban areas. Only 23.6% of workers were in regular wage or salaried employment, while 56.2% were self-employed. 

These numbers tell a more specific story than a simple job shortage. They show something more specific: education is expanding faster than access to the secure and........

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