35 Youth Unrest and Student Movement in India

Contents

1. Objective

2. Introduction

3. Learning Outcome

4. Factors leading to Student and  Youth Movements

5. The Psychology of Student & Youth Movements

6. Youth Movements in 21st century India

7. Features of Student Movements

8. Student Politics in India: An Outline History

9. Conclusion

1. Objective

Social movements may be defined as organized movements by a significant number of people to change or resist change in some major aspect or aspects of society. The term was first used by Saint Simon (Scott 2009: 704). The objective of this module is to introduce you to the study of youth and student movements in India.

2. Introduction

The term “Youth” in Sociology is regarded as an ascribed status or socially constructed label rather than the biological condition of being young. Youth is the stage of life between childhood and adulthood. Students in the present context refer to those who are studying in schools, colleges and universities. For our present purpose, we will define a student as a youth between the ages of 15-29 years studying in an educational institution. According to T. K. Oommen (1990), Indian youth have the following features:

1. It is an age group between 15-30 years

2. Youth is full of psychic energy;

3. Youth are neither progressive nor conservative in nature. The uniqueness of youth lies in their potential for a new start; their willingness to penetrate into a new world of experience;

4. Youth are ‘unattached to’ and ‘unsettled’ in society; they have not yet developed any vested interest in the maintenance of the status quo.

      In this module we are studying student and youth movements. Student and youth movements have played a major political role in our country. These movements have originated during the nineteenth century. At that time, the British introduced western education. Youths receiving this education became conscious of the major social factors that were keeping their society backward and they fought against superstitious beliefs and practices. They also played an important role in India’s struggle for freedom (1905-47) and as harbingers of radical social change in the seventies. In this module, we will first study the sociological and psychological factors common to student and youth movements. Then we will study youth movements and their role in society. Finally, we will study student movements and their role in society.

3. Learning Outcome

In this module, you would learn about,

1) the nature of youth and student movements in India,

2) common factors leading to these movements,

3) and the role of these movements in society.

4. Factors leading to Youth and Student Movements

Youth movements may be defined as political or religious or social reform movement or agitation consisting chiefly of young people (http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/youth/20movement). Youth movements have played a key role in social transformation. As Chock (2012) quite rightly pointed out, “Young people are key actors in powerful social movements that transform the course of human history. Indeed, youth have been deeply important to every progressive social movement, including the United States Civil rights movement, the transnational LGBTQ movement, successive waves of feminism, environmentalism, and environmental justice, the labour, anti-war, and immigrant rights movements and more”. She also points out that youth, and in particular coloured youth in US, are subjected to increasing surveillance. She argues that we have much to learn from young people who have already engaged in mobilising their peers, families and communities towards positive social transformation. Apart from Chock (2012) a number of other scholars, like Edmunds& Turner (2005), Feixia, Pereira and Juris (2009), Butt (2014), Chadha (2012) have studied youth and youth movements.

In this section, we will study the factors leading to student and youth movements at two levels:

a) socio-political and b) psychological.

The major sociological factors leading to youth and student movements are as follows:

i)  Quest for freedom

ii)  State policy

iii)  Unemployment

iv)  Deprivation and injustice

v)  Education system

vi)  Generation gap

vii)  Social background

viii)  Alienation

ix)  Use of quick information system like Internet, Now Let us discuss these in some detail.

i) Quest for Freedom

Students and youth have time and again stood for their quest for freedom. For instance, during the National Liberation Movements in India (and many other countries), participation of students and youth was seen in large numbers. Indian student and youth movements began on an anti-colonial note during the early twentieth century. During the Emergency in India (1975-77), students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University etc., played a major role in keeping the spirit of defiance alive in their quest for freedom (Banerjee 1998).

ii) State Policy

Government policy is to a large extent responsible for student and youth protest. The government policy in the education sphere, for instance, directly affects students. Similarly, absence of policy related to employment generation is a major agenda for many youth movements. So, any policy which adversely affects the students or youth is bound to lead to student and youth agitations. For example, the reservation policy pursued by the Government of India has time and again led to student and youth movements in 1990, 2006 and 2015.

iii) Unemployment

Unemployment often leads to student or youth unrest. As Rudolph Gyan D’Mello pointed out: “The unemployed, whatever their economic condition, are focal points of tension in society. When unemployment is fuelled by the educated, the situation can become potentially inflammable” (Quoted in Banerjee 1998: 103). Thus, on 29th October, 2014, The Telegraph reported that the students of Aliah University in Kolkata started an indefinite class boycott demanding job placements. The university runs job oriented courses, like B. Tech, MBA, MCA, etc. The students claimed that the job fair held by the university was a flop show. Of the 30 companies which were invited, only two turned up and they offered jobs with salaries of Rs.4000/- or Rs.5000/-, they alleged.

iv) Deprivation and Injustice

Social deprivation and injustice also provoke youths to launch social movements. Under the rule of the tribal king, in the 1930s and 1940s, the tribals of Tripura were suffering from a host of social evils. Starvation deaths were common, various superstitions and evils blighted the lives of the tribals. Land alienation occurred as a result of the dowry system. Some progressive youths in Tripura under the banner of Janasiksha Samity launched a literacy campaign that continued in spite of royal opposition. Two tribal youths, Rajkhiram Thakur and Oakhiram Thakur, set up tribal hostels so that tribal students would not have problems with their schooling (Roy 1998: 134). Jagat Jyoti Roy observed that social injustice and deprivation were the main factors that seriously provoked a section of tribal youths in Tripura who were affected by the modern way of life to launch movements to launch movements to modernise the tribals (Roy 1998: 136)

v) Education System

The education system naturally affects the students the most. In most countries, the education system is authoritarian and bureaucratic. Due to structural conditions prevailing in our education system, the teachers often deliberately distance themselves from students and becomes like a banker doling out knowledge (Freire 1986). The net result is that students become alienated from the teachers. At the same time, the education system introduces critical elements in the thinking of our students. This may induce them to become radicals or revolutionaries. Metta Spencer (1967) has observed that students in humanities and social sciences have the greatest potential to be radical or revolutionary. Those who study such subjects have greater chances of becoming critics of their societies.

vi) Generation Gap

A generation may be defined after Feuer (1969: 25) as “persons in a common age group who in their formative years have known the same historical experiences, shared the same hopes and disappointments, and experienced a common disillusionment with respect to the elder age group towards whom their sense of opposition is defined.” Since the sixties, many scholars have sought to explain virtually every student and youth movement in terms of generation gap. They range from the youthful bohemianism of the hippies in the sixties much more sophisticated ideology based movements like the New Left or Civil rights Movements in the sixties of the last century.

vii) Social background

The social background of students or youths greatly affects their chances of becoming an activist. Philip G. Altbach (1968) has drawn our attention to two types of leadership found in Indian universities. One is the respectable non-political leadership, from upper class families which gives leadership in the social and cultural organizations. On the other hand, the political leadership comes from the middle and lower class students. While the snobbish and sophisticated rich students enjoy all the good things in life, the middle and lower classes suffer from all the disadvantages – poor housing, lack of textbooks, etc. Naturally, they are discontented.

viii) Alienation

Alienation may be regarded as a major factor leading to youth movements. According to Oommen (1990: 199), “an overwhelming majority of Indian youth are in the clutches of the over organized social structure, are not aware of their role and consequently alienated from the wider society”. Reasons for such alienation could also be the fact that current system of education to a large extent fails to generate employment.

ix) Use of quick information system like Internet

The 21st century has seen extensive use of the social media in organizing protest movements. The Egyptian Revolution, which overthrew President Hoshni Mubarak, may be cited as an example. Linda Herrera, who studied the role of the Egyptian youth in the movement, made a case study of the role of social media by youth in organizing movements for political change. According to Herrera (2014: 23),

1)  youth in Arab countries live under authoritarian and militarised regimes which took power long ago and are still clinging on to power. 2) Youth unemployment is highest in Arab countries. 3) Young, educated Arabs, make an exceedingly disaffected group. According to Eid, “Wired youth in Egypt have been in the global vanguard when it comes to using communication tools as ‘a weapon of opposition” (Eid, cited in Herrera 2014: 24). The first uses of the term” Facebook Revolution” and “Twitter Revolution” in western media were in relation to Egypt in 2000. Herrera traced four phases in the emergence of Internet linked youth activism. In the first phase, which she termed” Opening Frontiers”, Egyptian youth started using the Internet for leaning or other activities, like gaming. In the second phase, the phase of “Cultural Revolution”, profound changes were noticed among the youth using the Internet. In the third phase, “Citizen Media”, scores of Egyptian youth were using computers, and mobile phones, exchanging photographs, passing on jokes and flirting. In this phase, youth also began to acquire political sensibilities. The fourth phase “Becoming a Wired Generation”, was the phase in which youth began to interact for political activism. This phase was marked by extensive use of social media (Shabab al-Face) for political organizing. Youths rallied around the cause of Mohammed El Baredei, who founded the national Association of Change in Egypt to advocate electoral reforms and pave the way for representative democracy. Using digital tools, members of the wired generation emboldened each other to challenge the status quo. Herrera concluded by saying that Egypt’s wired generation ‘contributed in no small measure to the success of the first stage of the revolution, namely toppling President Hoshni Mubarak (Ibid.: 34)

Indian youths have also extensively used the social media. Anna Hazare’s Movement and the Nirbhaya Movement may be cited as examples (See 6.2).

5.   The Psychology of Student and Youth Movements

Student and youth activism is governed inter alia by a number of psychological factors. These are as follows:

i)  Desire for power;

ii)  Anti-establishment feeling;

iii)  Radical attitudes.

Now, let us have a look at these factors.

i)  Desire for power

Max Weber has defined power as the chance of men to realise their own will in a communal action even against those who are participating in this action (Scott 2009: 591). Students and youth have a great need for independence. Students and youth desire power, but not in the sense of gaining control of others or prestige. They value independence because adolescents normally go through a stage in which they try to become free and independent of the ‘control’ of their parents. The protest movements are an indirect way to find redress for psychological and educational gaps.

ii)  Anti-establishment feeling

Anti-establishment feeling is ubiquitous among students and youths. The educational institutions and social systems often appear as authoritarian to the youth/student population. The awakening of social and political consciousness of the educated youth is marked by critical reflection about the social and political order in which they live. They find much hypocrisy and corruption that is an anathema to them. The majority of the youth find it loathsome to compromise with the establishment. The ethical perception of the young people often prompts them to revolt against the establishment.

iii)  Radical attitudes

Radical attitudes are the third psychological factor in student and youth movements. In its sociological application, as Selden C. Menefee (1958: 247) has pointed out, “the term applies in general to those who believe in drastic measures for the improvement of social conditions, and in particular to those who believe in and/or advocate sweeping changes in the political and/or economic structure of society.” Egon Bittner (1968: 298) has divided radicalism into left wing and right wing varieties on the basis of the ideological postures adopted. While Left-wing radicalism is associated with Marxism and other left-wing ideologies which advocate the cause of the downtrodden and exploited masses, social and economic equality, right-wing radicalism seeks to serve the interests of the privileged few and to establish one form or another of human inequality in an elitist fashion. If Marxism and its variants represent the ideological stance of Left-wing radicalism, Right-wing radicalism is exemplified by such ideologies as Nazism and Fascism. Both left and right wing student movements are found in India.

6. Youth Movement in India Today

Throughout the world, scholars see youth movements as a major force for social change. Let us first look at youth movements from a global perspective. I present here two perspectives. Citing Eisenstadt, Edmunds and Turner (2005: 560) observe that youth movements have been critical in national liberation movements in Middle East India, Indonesia. They conceptualise generational shift as being from a passive cohort (‘generation in itself’) to an active cohort (‘generation for itself’) when they are able to exploit resources (political, educational, economic) to innovate in cultural, intellectual and political spheres (Ibid.: 562). They trace the history of generational rebellions from the 1960s which they regarded as the first global generation to the 21st century. All along, there have been generational shifts – the 1960s generation was the first to have a global consciousness. The war in Vietnam was the major focus of their protests. The seventies saw ecological concerns becoming a central theme. The eighties focussed on health and lifestyles. The 1990s marked the period of the use of electronic communication which played an important role in the creation of a radicalised youth movement alienated by the military strategy of the Bush administration (Ibid.: 569). The power of the Internet to bring about political change was demonstrated in case of Serbia when the country’s student youth used websites to communicate their dissatisfaction with the Milosevic administration and ultimately contributed to his fall (Ibid.: 569). Finally they observe that the attacks of September 11,2001 could create a 9/11 generation that would be conscious about the negative effects of terrorism on their life chances (Ibid.: 571).

Fexia, Pereira and Juris (2009), on the other hand, developed a new conception of social movements – new social movements. They claim that these movements were not regarded as specifically as youth movements. Citing Juris and Pleyers, they claim that the new social movements are intergenerational struggles. The anti-corporate globalization movements involve several features that facilitate participation by younger activists. Firstly, they are organized around informal networks. These are facilitated by new information and communication technologies (ICT). Secondly, they are global in reach and thematic in scope, as activists increasingly link their locally rooted struggles to diverse movements elsewhere. Thirdly, they involve non-traditional and highly theatrical direct action protests (Ibid.: 427) From an analysis of the global scenario, let us now discuss some movements which have acquired sociological and political importance in contemporary India.

6.1 Youth Protest in Kashmir

Kashmiri youth have played a major role in political conflict with armed forces prevailing in that part of the state for the last two decades. Ahmed Dar (2015) feels that the counterinsurgency offensive by Indian troops has resulted in more than 70,000 killings and around 8000 enforced disappearances. But the opposite view of young militants being trained and supported by Islamic fundamentalist organization and even Pakistan is equally aired. Interestingly, in all insurgent mobilization, like those led by the Maoists, youth participation is seen as an important strategy to fight the repressive forces of the state.

Researchers have however pointed out that only a small percentage of youths have been attracted to radical Islamic ideologies and that the majority of Kashmiri youths do not depend on Pakistani channels. Chadha’s (2012: 33) research suggests that despite growth in radical influences, 75% of the Kashmiri people have indicated their preference for peaceful protests, while 75% decidedly rejected the option of the gun. To him, the main factor behind youth protests is the demand for azadi or Independence. But most Kashmiri youths view azadi as extension of political and civic rights, not separation from India. They are also disillusioned with Pakistan. They have seen through the ISI strategy that views Kashmir as part of a larger game plan. We also find that a large chunk of Kashmiri youths are educated and modern in their outlook and depend extensively on social media for information and mobilising for protest movements. These findings have great sociological and strategic implications. The sociological significance of the findings is that despite the tilt of a minority towards radical Islamic ideologies, the majority of Kashmiri youth view themselves as integral components of Indian society.

6.2 Youth Protests over sexual violence and corruption

Two youth movements in recent past have highlighted the role of the youth: 1) youths joined Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption, and 2) the Nirbhaya protests. Both these movements involved 1) large scale participation of middle class youths, and 2) extensive use of the social media by the activists. Social media played an important role in Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption. Sitapati (2011) observed: “The foot soldiers of the Anna Hazare movement were educated and urban. The methods used – Twitterupdates, SMS campaigns, candlelight vigils and media management – also suggest that Hazare was able to fire the idealism of the 21st century India’s burgeoning middle class (Ibid.: 39).

Dasgupta (2013) observed that 2012 witnessed the awakening of Indian youth in the post-liberalization era and gave a clear message to the political establishment – that the distance between them and the young generation is increasing, and 2) the political establishment will face the anger of the youth. The Nirbhaya Rape and murder case not only ignited youth protests throughout India, internationally, it also gave a bad reputation to India. The Nirbhaya case forced the government to make draconian laws on sexual violence and sharply increase the quantum of punishment for various offences. Bose (2013) saw in these protests a rare hope in the younger generation that often forces political establishment to come to its senses. The Nirbhaya Movement also involved extensive use of the social media. Narang (2012) correctly observed that that the Nirbhaya protests were the expression of middle class angst rising out of a collapse between them and the liberal state (Ibid.: 1212). There was no leader in this movement. No common ideology was shared by the participants. Narang supports Gladwell’s thesis that there is a Generational Paradigm shift from a notion of social organization, hierarchy and expertise to a social organization around a network (Ibid.: 1217).

6.3 Patidar Protests

The Patidars of Gujarat are a farming caste having considerable landed property. But, their position has declined due to economic reasons. In August 2015, they started a movement demanding OBC status. However, the government, till now, not responded to their demands. The movement was led by 23 year old Hardik Patel under the banner of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samity (Mallet 2015).

7. Features of Student Movements

A student movement is distinguished from the youth movement by the fact that it is led by incipient intellectuals. Intellectualism is a major component of these movements. Student movements are mostly built around ideal issues. All people belonging to a certain age group (15-30) are youths. But all youths are not students. School, college and university students form a fraction of the total youth population of a country. Students occupy a very important place in the youth population of every country. They are the most organized and enlightened section of our youth. College and university students mainly spearhead such movements. But today, school students also actively participate in such movements. The main features of student movements are as follows:

First, student movements deal with ideal issues. Second, student movements are elitist in character because students comprise only a microscopic minority of the total population. Third, student movements are international in outlook. Fourth, all students are not activists. In 1903, the Russian newspaper, The Student, identified four groups of students in the campus. They are 1) the indifferent crowd-persons completely indifferent to the student movement; 2) the ‘academics’ – those who favour movements of a purely “academic” type; 3) opponents of student movements in general-nationalists, anti-Semites, etc; and 4) the “politically minded” – those who were fighting to overthrow the Tsarist despotism. It is the politically minded students who participate in movements to bring about radical social change (Banerjee 1998: 1-3). Fifthly, political parties play an important role in fomenting student unrest, on and off campus.

8. Student Politics in India: An Outline History

In this section, you will learn about the history of the student movement in India. The history of Indian student activism is more than one hundred and fifty years old. At the outset, let us first examine the main features of student movements in India.

8.1 Features of Indian Student Activism

i)  Indian student activism has a strong anti-colonial stance.

ii)  An anti-establishment stance is also the hallmark of Indian student activism.

iii)     The Indian student movement generally has a progressive stance, though conservative or reactionary tendencies are also present. The student movement has always championed the cause of democratic rights and fundamental freedoms of the people. Let us cite an example here. Recently, the Manipur Assembly passed three bills – the stated purpose of which was to protect the rights of the indigenous Manipuris. But tribal people strongly protested against these bills as they claim that these seek to curb their freedom. Within hours of the bills being passed, tribal student’s organizations launched violent movements questioning the motive behind the amendment of the Manipur Land Revenue and land Reforms Act 1960 (Laithangbam 2015: 38).

Philip G. Altbach’s (1974) distinction between ‘norm oriented’ and ‘value oriented’ movements applies to Indian students. A norm oriented movement is concerned with achieving specific goals. Thus, the recent student movement in Manipur is concerned with undoing the laws, which the students think are anti-people. A value oriented movement, on the other hand, is concerned with ideological issues. Thus, the Indian Red Guard Movement, which formed part of the Naxalite Movement in the seventies, was a value oriented movement because it was concerned with ideological issues. The ongoing student movement at the Pune Film and Television Institute is both a norm oriented and value oriented movement. It is norm oriented because it seeks removal of the Director who is unacceptable to them. It is value oriented because it seeks to resist the imposition of the right wing ideology of the government on the organization.

8.2 Phases in the history of Indian student activism

The history of Indian student activism may be divided into three parts.

1. The Proto-Historical Stage. At this stage the movement was in a dormant form. This period embraces the entire 19th century and continues till 1905.

2. The Stage of the Freedom Struggle. In this stage, the students joined hands with the masses and contributed to the national effort to overthrow colonialism.

3. The Post-Independence Phase. In this phase, the students joined and supported mass movements which were concerned with resisting the anti-student and anti-people policies of the Central and State Governments (Banerjee 1998).

I. The Proto-Historical Stage (1801-1905).

This stage begins with the introduction of British rule in India. Ancient and medieval India was said to be a land ‘without’ youth. Young Indians passed from an extremely permissive childhood directly to the economic and social responsibilities of adulthood. There was an indigenous education system for Hindus and Muslims. For Hindus, there were pathsalas, tols and chatuspatis. For Muslims, there were maqtabs and madrasas. The system maintenance functions of the education system was evident in that the education imparted aimed at making the children staunch Hindus or Muslims. As Desai has argued, “Neither individuality nor a rationalist outlook could develop among the pupils in these schools of pre-British India” (Desai 1984: 138).

The reason behind the decision of the colonial administration to introduce western education was to 1) to train sufficient manpower for the needs of British administration, and 2) politically socialise the youth to accept the legitimacy of the colonial rule. Among the Indians, Raja Rammohan Roy played a leading role in the spread of western education, because he believed that this will benefit Indians.

The 19th century has been termed as the period of “Bengal Renaissance” and student radicalism was found to be an important component of it (Sarkar 1985). The Young Bengal Movement grew around Derozio in the then Hindu College in mid-19th century. They were encouraged to rebel against the prevalent orthodox Bengali society. But Young Bengal had failed to build up a sustained movement and develop ideology (ibid.: 111). Yet, its most important positive aspect was “a fearless rationalism and a candid appreciation of the regenerating new thought from the West”. But Susobhan Sarkar (ibid.) laments that much of this was drowned in traditionalism, mysticism and religiosity which became fashionable in the later part of the 19th century. Apart from the Young Bengal movement, there were several other student movements during the nineteenth century, some of them supported by nationalist leaders like Surendranath Banerjee.

II. The Stage of the Freedom Struggle (1905-1947)

In the early twentieth century, organized movement started in response to the anti-Indian policies of the colonial power and formed part of the Swadeshi Movement (1905-11). The Swadeshi Movement started in response to the partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon. He claimed that for administrative reasons, Bengal had to be partitioned. But Bengalis saw in this decision a nefarious ploy to divide them and destroy the fledgling national movement. Bengalis decided to launch decided to launch the Swadeshi Movement which had two components – complete indigenization of production, and educational systems, and boycott of all British manufactured goods and the colonial educational system. The college and university students of Bengal took an active part in this movement. To counter this trend, the British government issued a circular prohibiting participation of students in politics. In defiance of this order, the Bengali students formed the Anti-Circular Society (1905). It was the first student political organization in Bengal with a specific political agenda. Rabindranath Tagore presided over the first meeting which was attended by 5000 students. In this manner he personally led the student rebellion against British rule. The Anti-Circular Society was a secular organization. It kept out of the Shivaji Utsav (1906) to which the organizers had imparted a blatantly Hindu tone by introducing the image of Bhavani. This secular outlook was in sharp contrast to the Hindu revivalist tone of the Swadeshi Movement (Sarkar 2011: 51). It was at this time that indigenous experiments in education started. Apart from the National Council of Education, which was founded among others by Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Rabindranath Tagore also started his educational experiments at Santiniketan.

Since then, the Bengali students provided the leadership to the student movement all over the country during the freedom struggle. Associations like All Bengal Students Association (1928), Bengal Presidency Students Association (1929) guided the student movement in Bengal during the thirties. Many students and youth joined the revolutionary movements like Anusilan Samity and Jugantar. As Gautam Chattopadhyay pointed out, “…almost all the cadres of the revolutionary movement in Bengal, including martyrs like Khudiram, Kanailal were mostly teenaged students” (Chattopadhyay 1974: 515). Ranjit Kumar Ray (1991) showed that from Swadeshi to Civil Disobedience, Bengali students participated enthusiastically in political movements. But the leadership of these movements was in the hands of middle class Hindus. The Muslim students dissociated themselves from those.

The students of Bengal also played an important role in the Quit India Movement (1942) and the post Quit India phase. It was estimated that nearly 15,000 students participated in the Quit India Movement (Altbach 1974: 147). Nearly a score of students laid down their lives in Bengal (Chattopadhyay 1974: 521). They played a major role in bringing succour to the victims of the Bengal Famine (1943). During the INA trials, the students of Bengal launched a mass movement to pressurise the British to withdraw charges against the three officers. Finally, the British were compelled to give in to the pressure of Indian nationalists and free the convicted INA officers. Prior to Independence, when the country was torn asunder by communal riots, the student activists worked tirelessly for communal harmony. In the last phase of the freedom movement, Bengali students also demonstrated solidarity with the people of Vietnam. On 21st January, 1947, students demonstrating in support of the Vietnamese people were fired upon by the police resulting in the deaths of two students – Dhiranjan and Sukhendu Biswas (Sehanavis 1987: 209-10).

At the national level too, students made their presence felt. The formation of All Bengal Students Association in 1928 was an attempt to consolidate the student movement at the regional level. The thirties witnessed the growth of socialist ideas and the entry of the Leftists in the Indian national movement. The Meerut trials added to the prestige of the Communists. It was under these circumstances that the decision was taken to establish a student organization at the national level. On 12-13th August, 1936, an All India Student Conference met under the leadership of Mohammed Ali Jinnah. It was inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru. The All India Student Federation (AISF) was then born. The formation of the AISF was a historic achievement. The AISF was an umbrella organization of students, accommodating Gandhians, socialist, communists and other elements. Its journal, The Student, provided a radical viewpoint on many social and political issues.

The objectives of the AISF were as follows:

1. Equal encouragement should be given to all students from different provinces for exchange of ideas and cultural exchanges should be encouraged;

2. To give suggestions for the improvement of the present day education system;

3. To preserve the rights of the student community.

4. To prepare the students for future citizenship responsibilities and arouse social, economic and political consciousness so that they might contribute their mite to the freedom struggle (Banerjee 1998: 89).

III. The Post-Independence Phase (1947-the present)

The attainment of Independence did not solve India’s problems. As Desai (1973: 70-71) pertinently observed, the Congress had aroused the hopes of the masses who had dreamt for decades that Independence would bring solutions to their fundamental problems. But in the attempt to assure both capitalism and democracy, the Congress created a contradictory situation and opted for curtailing the democratic rights of the masses. In this context, it is claimed that the character of the student movement also changed. Altbach (1974: 261) remarked: “Students have not ceased to participate in politics but there has been a dramatic transformation of their movement. The nationalist fervour of the pre-independence period has been replaced by generally unorganized and sporadic agitations usually aimed at specific grievances”.

The factors that contributed to student activism in independent India were different those faced during the freedom movement. Organized student activism in independent India arose out of the problems India faced. These factors were:

• Increasing pauperization of the masses;
• Concentration of wealth in a few hands;
• Growth of massive unemployment;
• Food crisis and industrial recession;
• Uneven development of different regions;
• An expanding and ever expensive education system.  

Obviously, the focus of the student movement changed from fighting the colonial ruler to fighting for democratic rights and freedom of the people, to combat authoritarian onslaughts of the central and state governments on the rights of the people, and to support the genuine demands of the oppressed.

a) Conflict between the State and the people

In a changed situation, students started increasingly targeting the state and its institutions for its failures on different fronts. The AISF organ, The Student, estimated that there were at least 60 police firings during the one year period of 15th August, 1948 and 15th August, 1949 (Bharater Chattra Federation 1986: 40). The student movement at this stage devoted itself to several key issues including 1) the problem of refugees; 2) the problems of workers and peasants, and 3) the problems of education. The AISF, in spite of bring a proscribed organization, gave good leadership to the student movement during this period.

Among the major student movements during the 1950s were the protest against tram fare increase in 1953; solidarity with Goan freedom fighters in 1956; and dismissal of Kerala government in 1959. But the most significant event during this period was the students’ participation in the food movement of 1959. On 1st September, 1959, police opened fire on students protesting against food crisis, killing 4 students. From this time onwards 1st September is observed as Students Martyr Day (Banerjee 1998: 94).

The sixties witnessed the stormiest period of student activism. Altbach (1970) estimated that during this period, 2206 student demonstrations took place in 1966 alone, of which 403 were violent. Issues like imperialism, language policy, corruption, Chinese war were the agenda of many student movements in the country. Students also supported a host of movements of tram workers and factory workers of Kolkata, teaching and non-teaching staff of educational institutions in West Bengal.

b)   The Naxalite Movement and Student Power

In the history of Independent India, the Naxalite Movement stands out as the first attempt to usher in socialism through armed revolution. Initially, Charu Majumdar tried to mechanically copy the tactics of peasant war, so successfully used by Mao-Dze Dong in the Chinese Revolution, and usher in armed revolution in India. Later, it relied heavily on the student and youth power. Charu Majumdar was heavily influenced by the Cultural Revolution of Mao and tried to build up a cadre of ‘Red Guards’ to spread the revolution in the countryside. He soon found recruits to his ideology in the extreme section of the student movement, the BPSF(L), which had become extremely popular among the students, capturing 65% of the student unions (Democratic Student Centre 1986: 26). But Majumdar’s order to boycott the student unions was suicidal as it alienated the revolutionary student leaders from the mass of students and enables the State to effectively throttle the revolutionary student movement.

The mid-seventies witnessed an organized student movement that went hand in hand with a wider political movement that sought to dislodge the Indira Gandhi government from power. The opposition movement was led by Jayaprakash Narayan, the Sarvodaya leader. A number of factors led to the student movements: food crisis, rising prices and corruption, and the like. Throughout India, student organizations, irrespective of ideological inclinations, rebelled against the government. In Gujarat, the Navnirman Samity, in Bihar, Chattra Sangharsh Samity, in Delhi University, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and in Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Student Federation of India led the resistance movement. According to Jayaram (1981: 215), it was only in 1974 that the student agitations started manifesting the characteristics of an articulated movement. The movement originated in Gujarat, spread to Bihar and engulfed the whole country (Banerjee 1998: 101).

In the eighties, right wing radical movements prevailed. The origin of both the right wing and left wing movements lies in a number of factors. One of them is unemployment. Secondly, the fanning of religious fanaticism by politicians for their political gains can become counterproductive, as it happened in case of the Khalistan Movement. Thirdly, the porous border between Assam and Bangladesh, which resulted in alleged migration of a large number of Bangladeshis led to a fear in the mind of the Assamese that they will be swamped by Bengalis. This fear, among other factors, precipitated the Assam Movement. We will first briefly study the Assam Movement and then the Khalistan Movement.

c)   The Assam Movement (1979-1985)

The Assam Movement had originated in the context of issues like i) low economic development; ii) presence of a culturally superior minority, i.e., the Bengalis; iii) the foreign hand, which has been suspected of fomenting the movement (Banerjee 1998: 104). It was led by two organizations namely, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the All Assam Ganasagram Parishad (AAGSP). The two important features of this movement were: i) wholesale pogroms of minorities at Mongoldoi and Nellie on the eve of the 1983 elections, and ii) economic blockade (picketing the installations of Indian Oil and blocking the movement of major and minor forest products to the rest of India). The Assam Accord of 1985 did not satisfy the student leaders of the movement. Yet, it paved the way for the assumption of power by the Asom Ganaparishad which emerged out of the alliance of leaders affiliated to AASU and AAGSP. Prafulla Mahanta, one of the main leaders of the movement, became the Chief Minister. It was the first student led government in India. Prafulla Mahanta was technically a student when he assumed the mantle of the Chief Minister.

d)   The Khalistan Movement (1980-1990)

The origin of Khalistan Movement may be traced to factors like i) desire of Congress leaders to cling on to power; ii) open patronage of religious fundamentalists like Bhindranwale; iii) economic frustration of middle class Sikh youths .

The Khalistan Movement was the first terrorist student movement in India. Its ideology was religious fundamentalism. It was avowedly anti-India. The militants had their bases in foreign countries like USA, UK and Canada. They usurped the Golden Temple, and sowed the seeds of dissention among the Hindu and Sikh masses. The typical terrorist was a male, aged 20-30 years, with at least a partial university education, with an affluent middle class family background and motivated by frustration and nihilist notions, says E. A. Vas (Cited in Banerjee 1998: 108). The All India Sikh Students Federation (AISF) played a big role in the movement.

e)   Student Movement in Globalised India

Since economic globalisation in India, one could notice changes in the issues of student movement in India. The ideologically committed active student movement became a matter of the past. The focus rather on the issues directly affecting the student community: facilities provided by the institution, higher rates of tuition fee charged, poor examination result, training and placement facilities of the students and the like. The term ‘business unionism’ referred to identify trade unions relating themselves only with bread and butter issues might also be applied to characterise student movement of this period. In most instances, these movements remained confined within the four walls of the academic intuitions. Absence of political and ideological agenda of these movements also resulted in bright students shunning politics. This is despite the fact that most of the known organisations of the students had open or secret link with political parties. Political affiliation of the student bodies also resulted in violent classes among students belonging to rival organizations for the control of union.

Another interesting turn in student (and youth) politics of this period is the use of ethnic and caste affiliation to organise young people. Thus, in Assam and the entire North-Eastern Indian states, student including disaffected youths were seen engaged in terrorist activities and violent conflict. While the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was openly anti-national, having independence of Assam as its single point agenda, the Bodos were divided about the path to be followed-secessionism or a separate state within India. Ethnicity also played a major role in agitations led by All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union and All Manipur Students Union. Recently, we found that Indian youth are taking increasing interest in terrorist organizations abroad, like the Islamic State.

The use of casteism as a facilitating factor in the student and youth movement was also seen in North India in the 1990s. The acceptance of the recommendations of the Mandal Commission (27% reservations for Other Backward Classes), led to a political storm among the upper caste educated students and youths. Such agitation was also marked by demonstrative self-immolations, which cost the lives of some young people. Interestingly, the role of ‘free media’ at that point of time became critical in either popularising or criticising a movement. It is worth noting here that in a period of ‘media led globalization’, television, newspaper and computer network have gradually allowed students and youth greater access to information and allowed them to see an extensive variety of forms of life than previously possible (Ghosh 2011).

One of the direct consequences of this is that organized, broad based student activism, with a specific goal or set of goals, is nearly missing now. Most of the movements are sporadic and based on local issue. The ongoing movement by the students of Film and Television Institute of India shows that students are resisting the attempt on the part of the central government to foist its ideology through its nominee, the Director. This is not to deny that use of electronic communication has made it possible for the students to build up broad based unity on wider issues. For instance, in 2006, under the banner of Youth for Equality, the upper caste students, studying professional courses like medicine or engineering, tried to garner support to protest against reservation granted to Other Backward Classes (OBC) in admission to professional educational institutions. It may therefore be argued that even local college/university based student movements of today try to draw support from wider public at large. This may appear contradictory, yet real that ‘local’ issues are now becoming ‘global’. Like other neo-social movements like environmental and women’s movement, student and youth movement of today draw sustenance from media reports, social media campaign and opinion of people at large. In a global network society, we should not lose sight of this aspect of social movement.

9. Conclusion

In this module, we have studied the main factors leading to youth unrest and student movements and reviewed the major trends in student and youth activism. A student movement differs from a youth movement in that it is based mainly on ideal issues, rather than bread and butter ones. While students remain mostly concerned with educational issues, the demands of the youths include wider issues like employment or development that also affect the students. Youth movements are therefore more broad based and more inclusive than student movements. In India, we often find that student and youth movements are closely linked. Student and youth activism had their roots deep in the western education system introduced by the British. Organized student activism took a definite shape during the Freedom Struggle in the first half of the 20th century. It also exhibited a more or less progressive role, fighting for the rights of various sections of society. Feuer (1969) termed this trend as the ‘back to the people spirit’ of student movements. But from the eighties onwards, we find student and youth activism in India taking a right wing turn. But students and youths have always protested against any form of injustice taking place in society. Despite changes in the issues of student and youth movement in contemporary India, there is increasing use of internet and social media to popularise a local issue to garnet wider support. As a constituent of neo-social movement, both student and youth movements today reflect the social, economic and political tension of modern living.