The Cockroach Janata Party

 According to the latest Indian Government stats, there are 45 million youth in higher education in the 18 -23 year age bracket and about 30 million youth in higher secondary education in the 17-18 year age bracket. There is a huge dropout after the higher secondary stage with the gross enrolment ratio dropping from 56% at the higher secondary level to 28% at the higher education level.

Thus, it is these 75 million youth that are most concerned regarding their uncertain future given the lack of jobs and other economic opportunities for the educated in the current scenario where the educated unemployment rate is between 20% and 30% according to various estimates. Add to this the population of educated youth in the age group 23 -30 years of which there are no reliable estimates and we have a population upwards of 150 million youth who are concerned with the burning issue that the education they are receiving, often at a high cost, is not resulting in gainful employment.

Under these woeful and frustrating circumstances, it is galling to be branded as cockroaches by no less than the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Consequently, there was a huge response to the Cockroach Janata Party and its first successful campaign for justice and action against the irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test.
The CJP followed this up with a campaign to improve school education which being a more broad based issue did not immediately get a similar mass support. So, the CJP picked up another burning one point issue, the problems arising out of the Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls which has removed close to 130 million electors from the draft rolls so far. One does not know what kind of mass support this campaign would have eventually got because the Government decided to nip it in the bud before it could gain momentum by using massive and unprecedented preventive measures.
Understandably, given the very short time in which it has come into being the CJP does not have a very broad programme of action. Its manifesto has five points as follows -
1. No Chief Justice shall be granted a Rajya Sabha seat as a post-retirement reward.
2. If any legit vote is deleted, the CEC shall be arrested under UAPA.
3. Women shall receive 50% reservation, not 33%, without increasing the strength of Parliament. Additionally, 50% of all Cabinet positions shall be reserved for women.
4. All media houses owned by Ambani and Adani shall have their licences cancelled to make way for truly independent media. Bank accounts of Godi media anchors shall be investigated.
5. Any MLA or MP who defects from one party to another shall be barred from contesting elections and from holding any public office for a period of 20 years.
While these are all excellent there is nothing mentioned about how the CJP will address the main problem facing the educated youth - lack of decent livelihoods. So it remains to be seen as to how it garners mass support in future by addressing the livelihood issue. Given the preponderance of modern technology and capital intensive development, which reduces employment opportunities for educated people, there is little possibility within the present paradigm of a solution of the deepening livelihood crisis. There are some part time opportunities on a cheap casual labour basis in manual occupations both in rural and urban areas, but for the educated there are limited opportunities which are mostly for those who are proficient in high tech. Currently, most of the people are self employed in one way or the other in low paying enterprises. Given this situation, as I have argued earlier, there is a strong case for the provision of a universal basic income to all adult citizens, funded by a tax on the rich. If the GST is simplified and made universal without any exemptions then all transactions can be tracked and so all incomes, which will facilitate better tax recovery which can then fund the universal basic income.