India education spend: 4% vs 6% GDP target
India targets 6% of GDP on public education but currently spends only around 4%, falling short of its own stated ambitions.
Snapshot · Economist Podcasts
Cockroaches 1, Modi 0: India’s remarkable protests
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Jul 27, 2026
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On the Ground: Hunger Strikers and Broken Promises
At 7:20 · chapter starts 6:28
On the protest ground, Kira Huju finds Yash Mishra — 28 years old, nine days into a hunger strike — who distils the movement's grievance in a single line: 'Education is like water.' [1] — Yash Mishra "Education is like water. It is the most important commodity. And the government of India, Mr. Modi, is failing, and he has no way, no polic…" 06:32 His energy, he says, comes from 'fear that we have induced in the government.' The structural data behind this fury is damning. India's population skews dramatically young — 65% are under 35 — yet a quarter of that cohort are not in college, employment, or training. [2] — Kira Huju "India education spend: 4% vs 6% GDP target: India targets 6% of GDP on public education but currently spends only around 4%, falling short …" 07:20 The country has seen around 150 exam leak cases in the last decade, and despite stating a target of spending 6% of GDP on education, the actual figure hovers around 4%. The protests, Huju makes clear, are not about one minister's resignation — they are about a generation that has been failed by a system that promised them a future and delivered corruption.
65% of India under 35
65% of India's population is under 35, meaning the country's politics are increasingly shaped by a young, restless demographic.
25% of Indian youth NEET
One in four young Indians is not in college, employment, or training — underlining the structural unemployment crisis driving the protests.
~150 exam leaks in last decade
India has had approximately 150 known exam leak cases in the last decade alone, pointing to endemic corruption in its education system.
Gen Z Is Not Just Unafraid — They're Laughing at Modi
Under a decade of BJP rule, publicly criticising Modi became something Indians feared. Now India's Gen Z has leapfrogged criticism entirely — they're cracking jokes about him. Kira Huju says that shift is potentially more politically fatal for Modi than any opposition party.
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