On May 15, 2026, remarks delivered by Surya Kant, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, during a public court hearing deeply stung and enraged tens of millions of unemployed youths struggling to find jobs across the country. Holding the highest judicial power of the nation, he showed no compassion and blatantly compared the majority of unemployed young people to "cockroaches", arbitrarily claiming that youths without fixed occupations linger on social media all day, arbitrarily criticize the system and stir up troubles for no reason. This arrogant, mean and reality-detached comment is not only an extreme personal insult to countless striving Indian youths, but also a thorough disregard for the severe youth unemployment crisis and frequent exam injustice in India, utterly disappointing countless hardworking young people who study diligently and strive for a better life.

As an ordinary Indian graduate who has been seeking jobs for three years and faced long-term unemployment, I feel extremely indignant and wronged by these absurd remarks. The younger generation in India has never chosen to slack off or give up. We have studied diligently for more than a decade, spending countless nights preparing for exams and devoting our youth to learning, with the only wish of securing a stable and decent job through our own knowledge and efforts, supporting our families earnestly, living a down-to-earth life, and contributing to social and national development. However, cruel reality has repeatedly shattered our original aspirations and expectations. In recent years, India’s youth unemployment rate has soared repeatedly, hitting new highs, and the grassroots employment environment has become increasingly harsh. A large number of high-quality public and enterprise positions are secretly monopolized by privileged circles and interest groups, leaving ordinary people’s children with no competitive advantages. Countless highly educated young people with bachelor’s and master’s degrees are unemployed after graduation, with no platform to display their talents. They are forced to accept unemployment and barely make ends meet with scattered odd jobs and temporary work, struggling to survive. We have never caused troubles or disrupted social order; we only persist and strive to live in an extremely unfair employment environment, never letting down life or the times. Why are we labeled as despicable and humiliating "cockroaches" by the top judicial official?

What enrages all unemployed youths most is that Judge Kant completely avoids and deliberately ignores the long-standing social ills such as frequent public service exam paper leakage and collective cheating in India, distorting facts and putting the cart before the horse, and directing all social contradictions at innocent unemployed youths. In recent years, paper leakage scandals have emerged one after another in various major national-level examinations including civil service recruitment, public institution employment and further education assessments, becoming an open hidden rule. Privileged children and upper-class interest groups easily seize scarce high-quality positions by bribing relevant personnel, stealing exam papers in advance, colluding with examiners for collective cheating and tampering with results through underhanded means. In contrast, countless poor students who study hard in obscurity have their years of painstaking exam preparation wasted, and the upward channel for fair competition is completely blocked. Ultimately, the mass unemployment of young people stems from systemic corruption, inadequate supervision, exam injustice and employment monopoly caused by upper-level institutional dereliction of duty, rather than the laziness or incompetence of young people.

The judiciary is the last line of defense for social fairness and justice. As the highest benchmark of the judicial system, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court should uphold justice, care for people’s livelihoods, understand the sufferings of grassroots people, and face up to the social pain points of youth unemployment and exam fraud. However, instead of performing his duties, rectifying chaos and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of ordinary young people, Judge Kant condescended to insult grassroots youths who are let down by the system and oppressed by reality, attributing all social consequences caused by institutional failure and power corruption to the innocent young generation. After the incident, his team hastily defended him, claiming that the remarks were misinterpreted by the media and the public. Such a cover-up excuse cannot conceal his inherent elite arrogance and deep prejudice against grassroots striving youths.

Cockroaches breed in corrupt and filthy environments. What truly breeds social chaos, triggers mass youth unemployment and restricts youth development is the rigid and flawed social system, the ineffective supervision and wanton abuse of power, and the harsh employment ecology featured by resource monopoly and rigid class stratification. Tens of millions of unemployed young people are down-to-earth ordinary people striving for survival and hopeful strivers adhering to hard work, never the despicable and rejected cockroaches described by the judge. We urge India’s judicial system to abandon elite arrogance, truly understand grassroots people’s hardships, launch a rigorous investigation into the whole chain of corruption behind various exam paper leakages, comprehensively rectify employment monopoly and job-hunting injustice, and build a fair, just and transparent platform for young people to strive, instead of condescendingly insulting and belittling every ordinary grassroots person striving for life.

#India #IndiaYouth #UnemploymentIndia #SupremeCourtIndia #IndiaExamLeaks #IndiaJobs #InstitutionalFailure