India, March 24 -- For decades, millions of Indian students have followed a familiar economic script: study hard, earn a college degree, and a stable job will follow. This belief, shaped by the 1990s era of economic liberalisation, evolved into an unwritten social contract between schooling and work.

Yet recent evidence suggests that this contract is rapidly weakening. A recent report by Azim Premji University reveals a striking reality: "around 67 per cent of India's unemployed youth today are graduates. In 2023 alone, roughly 1.1 crore unemployed young people were degree holders, a dramatic rise from 32 per cent in 2004". Over the same period, the proportion of graduates in the youth population rose sharply-from about 10 per cent in 20...