Congress cites household expenditure data to slam Govt, says youth crying out for remedial action
The Congress on Sunday (July 26, 2026) said the Jantar Mantar and other protests in recent weeks have had proximate causes in a rigged exam
The Congress on Sunday (July 26, 2026) said the Jantar Mantar and other protests in recent weeks have had proximate causes in a rigged exam system but the agony and anger of youth and their parents have more fundamental causes of both accessibility and affordability revealed by household expenditure data. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the youth and their parents are crying out for remedial action on accessibility and affordability. "The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has very recently done a detailed analysis based on its household expenditure data between 2014/15-2025/26.
The conclusions are stark. Education costs are rising substantially faster than household income. Households are allocating a considerably larger share of their income towards education.” "Private tuition has emerged as one of the fastest-growing components of household expenditure on education. School and college fees have recorded sustained growth throughout the last decade, consistently outpacing household income growth," Mr. Ramesh said, citing CMIE analysis. He further said spending on books is rising even faster that may reflect rising textbook and reference material prices, greater spending on competitive exam preparations, and on supplementary learning resources.
"The Jantar Mantar and other protests in recent weeks have had proximate causes in an unfair and rigged exam system put in place by the deadly duo of Pradhan Mantri and (e)Mantri Pradhan. But the agony, anguish, and anger of youth and their parents have more fundamental causes of both accessibility and affordability revealed by the CMIE household expenditure data," Mr. Ramesh said. "They are crying out for remedial action NOW," he added. His remarks come a day after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned amid mounting pressure over the NEET paper leak controversy, with the Centre conceding the principal demand of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)-led agitation after weeks of protests that spread from the national capital to several parts of the country.
Pradhan announced his decision in a statement, saying the developments of the past 10 days had "saddened" him deeply and that the issue was "not a matter of personal prestige".
The BriefWire