India’s Gen Z Protests Intensify |
By Ivana Saric
Digital Editor, Council on Foreign Relations |
An Indian court on Wednesday issued five-day jail sentences to two leaders of the Gen Z protest movement led by the satirically named Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). The movement has orchestrated nationwide demonstrations that represent some of the largest civil mobilizations in India in decades, and challenges Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s grip on power.
The protests have put “tremendous pressure on the Modi government already,” and are particularly potent because they are youth-led, CFR’s Manjari Chatterjee Miller told the Daily Brief.
The movement first emerged this year over youth frustrations with the country’s education system, leading to the ouster of Modi’s education minister. Mass protests began again following a September report by the Indian Express newspaper that India’s election commission had pursued a voter roll revision despite misgivings by two of its members. That revision has reportedly expunged 130 million names from the rolls, with critics arguing the changes benefit Modi’s ruling party.
The government in recent days has detained thousands of demonstrators and dozens of journalists. Parts of New Delhi were placed on lockdown this weekend.
India’s youth have taken to protesting due to a lack of opportunities. As Miller said: India “produces about five million graduates a year but barely 60 percent of them find jobs.” Although they may be unlikely to topple the government like student protesters did in neighboring Bangladesh, they nevertheless pose a challenge for a ruling party in India that has “long billed itself as pro-business, market-oriented, and investor-friendly,” she added.
CFR’s Alyssa Ayres also pointed to the importance of the country’s youth. “As India has become more powerful, Indian youth are ambitious for their country on the world stage, and they also want to see ambitious opportunities for themselves at home,” she told the Daily Brief. The movement’s leaders have vowed to continue protesting. The Daily Brief will continue bringing you the latest on the Cockroach movement’s effect on Indian politics as it comes. |
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U.S. bond yields recently hit a more than two-decade high. This week four CFR experts—Benn Steil, Rebecca Patterson, Sebastian Mallaby, and Brad Setser—dove into the ongoing sell-off. They weighed in on why the Treasury Department’s interventions haven’t worked, how rising U.S. yields are affecting other countries, and the effects of the AI boom and elevated oil prices. As Steil wrote:
“What can we conclude from these two failed interventions? The U.S. Treasury market is now so vast that only fundamental changes in the supply of, and demand for, U.S. debt can durably lower interest rates. Ad hoc government gimmickry merely burns credibility. Changes that would make a meaningful difference include a falling fiscal deficit, lower inflation, lower AI infrastructure borrowing, and less aggressive U.S. financial sanctions—which encourage de-dollarization. None of these, however, appears to be on the horizon.”
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Last week, CFR hosted the Hoover Institution’s Dan Wang for a lecture on China in partnership with the Council’s China Strategy Initiative. Wang has spent years studying China’s technological development, and his trip on Amtrak’s Acela train to Washington made him draw a stark comparison. Check out the full anecdote in this YouTube Short.
“I feel like the United States used to be an engineering state—when I’m walking around cities like New York, it really feels like we’re walking through the ruins of a formerly great industrial civilization that our grandparents’ generation built. I hope that we can do a little bit more thinking about, How do we build better?” |
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Every day, the Daily Brief brings you a curated list of the top stories from around the world. |
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Mauritius Institutes Curfew Following Unrest Over Police Shooting Death. The government announced the measure yesterday in major population centers, after widespread demonstrations broke out Monday after the killing of a twenty-seven-year-old woman. The curfew was extended today for two more nights.
- Kenya Confirms Second Ebola Case. The health ministry said that a relative of the person who was the country’s first confirmed case and fatality had also contracted the disease. Contact tracing efforts are ongoing and more than one hundred people are under quarantine.
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Colombia Restores Ties With Israel, Opens Embassy in Jerusalem. New Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella has reversed his country’s policy toward Israel by restoring diplomatic ties, including a trade deal and opening an embassy in Jerusalem, which Israel considers its capital. (Most countries maintain embassies in Tel Aviv.)
- Jamaica Begins Receiving Third-Country Deportees From the United States. The island nation received a first flight of deportees from the United States with no connection to the Caribbean country. It is part of an agreement with Washington in which Jamaica serves as a transit stop for U.S. deportations.
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China and North Korea to Open Delayed Bridge. The two countries are set to inaugurate the long-delayed New Yalu River Bridge tomorrow, in a sign of closer ties between Beijing and Pyongyang.
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Saudi Arabia Overturns Sri Lankan Man’s Death Sentence for Social Media Comment. Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has reversed a death penalty sentence for a Sri Lankan migrant worker. The man had been sentenced to death last month after being convicted for blasphemy over a Facebook comment.
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Trial Underway for Suspect in Nord Stream Explosion. An ex-Ukrainian military officer appeared in court in Germany to be tried over alleged involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline blasts in the first year of the Russia-Ukraine war. Defense lawyers asked for all charges to be tossed out.
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Pope Leo Diagnosed With Lung Cancer. The pope’s diagnosis was announced after he underwent surgery for a mass in his lungs, the Vatican said. He is reportedly recovering, though his upcoming travel schedule—including a visit to Latin America—is in question.
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Houthis Strike Aramco Headquarters as Conflict Continues. An administrative building owned by the Saudi energy company was among several targets hit by the Iran-backed rebels in recent days. The group reported a Saudi strike in Sanaa, Yemen’s Houthi-held capital, yesterday.
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Host: Ivana Saric
Editor: Xian Chiang Waren
Email Operations: Eric Rojas
Editorial Director, News: Phil McCausland
Editor-at-Large: Robert McMahon
Chief Digital Content Officer: Millie Tran |
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