E-Paper
How Gen Z is reshaping policy, governance, and accountability
This article is authored by Gunwant Singh, scholar, international relations and security studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
India is experiencing a profound demographic transformation where Generation Z, born roughly between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, is shifting from passive recipients of governance to active architects of democratic discourse. Representing a vital share of India’s over 600 million young citizens under 35, this cohort does not merely inherit the socio-economic outcomes of policy decisions; they experience the friction of outdated systems first-hand. The emergence of Gen Z as an assertive political and civic force challenges traditional, top-down policymaking. Unlike preceding generations who may have operated through rigid political affiliations or union hierarchies, Gen Z mobilises rapidly around specific, lived grievances ranging from transparent examinations to climate stability and workplace safety. Recognising and integrating their perspectives is no longer an optional gesture of youth outreach, but a constitutional and economic necessity for any administration seeking long-term stability and sustainable growth.
Recent protests against irregularities, administrative malpractices, and leaks in critical competitive examinations, such as national medical entrance tests and various state-level recruitment commissions, revealed a deep-seated demand for institutional integrity. For millions of aspirants coming from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, competitive examinations are the primary vehicle for upward social mobility. When these systems falter, the resulting unrest is not merely an economic grievance; it is an assertion of dignity and meritocracy against structural neglect. Similarly, nationwide student-led demonstrations following systemic safety failures in workplaces and academic institutions, alongside sustained youth-driven campaigns around environmental degradation, exhibit an uncompromising demand for accountability. These mobilisations demonstrate that India’s Gen Z is hyper-connected, horizontally organised, and capable of converting localised frustration into national debates within hours.
Policymakers must understand why Gen Z perspectives are indispensable in modern statecraft. As true digital natives, this generation perceives governance through the lenses of transparency, real-time feedback, and operational efficiency. While legacy systems frequently rely on opaque bureaucracy, young citizens expect the state to function with the responsiveness and accessibility of modern digital platforms. Furthermore, Gen Z possesses a distinct set of priorities that differ markedly from older generations. Issues such as mental health support, climate resilience, the gig economy, gig-worker protections, gender equity, and digital privacy are not theoretical talking points to them; they are fundamental baseline expectations. When policy formulation ignores these nuances, governments risk designing schemes that are misaligned with market realities, resulting in persistent youth underemployment, skill mismatches, and civic alienation.
The contribution of Gen Z to public policy and civic progress is already visible across India. In the civic and environmental spheres, youth-led coalitions in metropolitan areas have driven pivotal movements, such as the grassroots campaigns to protect the Aarey urban forest in Mumbai and community-led climate action groups across the Himalayan and coastal belts. In the technology and innovation arena, young Indian entrepreneurs and developers have made vital inputs into regulatory sandboxes, spearheading innovations in financial technology, green energy, and the indigenous spacetech ecosystem. During crises and policy debates, young citizens have created open-source tracking tools, fact-checking initiatives, and digital resources that helped bridge informational gaps in public healthcare and educational delivery. Following the intense scrutiny brought by student protests on exam integrity, government bodies were compelled to introduce stringent national legislative frameworks to curb unfair practices in public examinations.
This Indian experience mirrors a worldwide wave of youth-driven policy transformation. Globally, Gen Z has demonstrated an unmatched capacity to redefine international priorities. The global school climate strikes initiated by Greta Thunberg fundamentally reshaped climate diplomacy, compelling international bodies and sovereign governments to set more aggressive decarbonization targets. In the US, student activists leading the March for Our Lives movement mobilised millions to pass comprehensive federal gun-safety legislation. Across diverse regions, from Kenya to Latin America and parts of Southeast and South Asia, young citizens have utilised open-source digital tools and civic assemblies to resist opaque fiscal policies, challenge systemic corruption, and demand constitutional accountability. These international examples reinforce a clear lesson: When legitimate avenues for dialogue are constrained, youth mobilisation inevitably finds expression on the streets; when embraced, it drives structural renewal.
To transition from reactionary crisis management to proactive governance, Indian policymakers must institutionalise mechanisms for continuous youth engagement. A foundational step is the creation of statutory Youth Advisory Councils across central ministries, state departments, and local municipal corporations. These councils should not serve as symbolic or ceremonial bodies; they must be endowed with a formal consultative mandate to review draft policies on education, employment, urban planning, and environmental protection before legislation is enacted. By embedding youth delegates directly into pre-legislative consultative committees, lawmakers can identify critical blind spots early in the drafting cycle, ensuring that policies reflect the ground realities of the demographic that will live with their consequences the longest.
In parallel, policymakers should leverage civic technology to democratise citizen participation. While initiatives like digital consultation portals represent positive progress, they often remain text-heavy, inaccessible, and bureaucratic. Transforming these portals into interactive, user-friendly platforms with open-source dashboards and real-time grievance tracking would allow young people to submit crowd-sourced data, propose policy amendments, and vote on local civic priorities. Establishing transparent, youth-led participatory budgeting at the municipal and panchayat levels would also grant young citizens a tangible stake in urban governance, whether in deciding the allocation of funds for public libraries, sporting facilities, or sustainable public transport networks.
Institutionalising dynamic fellowship pipelines within legislative and civil service frameworks is another essential strategy. Expanding structured policy fellowships and legislative research internships to candidates from varied socio-economic, regional, and institutional backgrounds ensures that policy design draws from India’s genuine diversity. Pairing young researchers, data analysts, and grassroots organisers with senior lawmakers bridges the generational divide, combining the disruptive analytical capabilities of digital natives with the administrative wisdom of experienced administrators. Furthermore, universities and higher educational institutions must be treated as crucibles of democratic training rather than depoliticised spaces; reviving transparent, autonomous student representation fosters responsible civic leadership and cultivates a constructive relationship between student bodies and state institutions.
Gen Z possesses the creative energy, technological fluency, and moral conviction necessary to propel India toward its long-term socio-economic aspirations. However, realising this potential requires policymakers to abandon paternalistic approaches in favor of collaborative governance. By opening formal doors to youth participation, listening with genuine humility, and crafting forward-looking policies that guarantee transparency and dignity, India can turn the restless energy of its young population into the driving engine of a vibrant, resilient, and inclusive democracy.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by Gunwant Singh, scholar, international relations and security studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
