From better roads to gaps in education: What Bengaluru 'Gen Z' students are protesting

Nepal’s Gen Z movement proves youth have power. Metrolife speaks to young activists in the city.

Nepal’s Gen Z protests, which toppled its government, are proof of the power of youth-led movements, Bengaluru-based student groups say. In India too, the nationwide anti-CAA-NRC agitations were sparked by college students, they note.

They argue this is because it is the youth that is most adversely affected by government failures — from gaps in education to lack of jobs and rising inflation.

Metrolife looks at some causes student groups in Bengaluru are fighting for, and the impact they have made.

Common school system

Headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka Vidyarthi Sanghatane (KVS) has about 2,000 members, 80% of them college students. It campaigns for a common school system to ensure equitable education for all children, while also addressing issues faced by college students.

The group has protested against poor hostel facilities, and fee hikes. According to its president Sarovar Benkikere, they have also intervened to secure long-pending PhD fellowships at Kannada University, and to get withheld marks cards of SC/ST students at Ballari University.

The KVS has also demanded farm loan waivers, and social security for contract workers.“We also won compensation for a family whose child died of electrocution in a government hostel,” he says.

Better roads

Our Mobility Our Voice, started by students of an international school in Whitefield, focuses on road infrastructure. It mapped 139 potholes on a 650-metre stretch of Sarjapur-Varthur Road.

It also analysed GPS data from 61 school buses plying the route to show long commute times for students. Its cofounder Lasya Mohan Varma, a Class 12 student, says the aim is to expand the initiative into a citywide federation of schools for sustainable commute by year-end.

Roster violation in recruitment

The Dr B R Ambedkar Student Association at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), GKVK, Bengaluru, will turn 50 next year. Rooted in Ambedkar’s call to ‘Educate, Agitate, Organise’, it works on education, employment, and social justice.

In 2023, its protests led the government to admit violations in assistant professor recruitment at Shivamogga’s agriculture university, though corrective action is still pending in court, says Rahul C R, its president. They also recently pushed the government to reschedule recruitment exams for agriculture officers and assistants at UAS Bengaluru and Raichur until “internal reservation rules are applied”.

The group continues to oppose the privatisation of agricultural education, which it calls the “biggest injustice against rural students”. Rahul says about 80% of its members are first-generation learners from farming families. He believes the seats should be given to deserving candidates and not to those who can simply afford them. The association is also campaigning for the Rohith Vemula Act to end caste- and identity-based discrimination in higher education.

Stood up for Devanahalli farmers

Students For People’s Democracy (SFPD), formed in 2024, describes itself as a non-partisan collective against fascist and anti-people policies. It has opposed the alleged forced eviction of the Jenu Kuruba tribe from Nagarahole, and taken up campus issues such as fee hikes and dress-code policing.

They also backed Devanahalli farmers opposing land acquisition, a plan the government scrapped after three years of protest. It was a landmark moment, says Shree, an SFPD member.

Last year, it organised a pride event. It was to challenge pressures exerted by other events on queer members to remain apolitical. Its members have also faced detention.

In February, a few of them were held for holding a press meet condemning the participation of Israel in the Global Investors Meet in Bengaluru. This was a joint protest with other groups.

‘RTE survey in 153 schools’

The Karnataka chapter of the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), active for 43 years, has over 800 members ranging from school students to PhD scholars. Its main focus is education. They have been conducting residential summer camps in rural Karnataka to develop soft skills and leadership among students.

“We have also surveyed 153 schools on Right to Education (RTE) implementation and will release the findings in 2026,” says public relations secretary Mohammed Hayyan. 

The group also holds data privacy workshops, mobilises students on human rights violations in Palestine, and is campaigning for the Rohith Vemula Act.

Challenges and curbs

Students say the biggest hurdle is restrictions on protest. In Bengaluru, demonstrations are limited to Freedom Park, and even there, permissions are hard to get. “When youth in Nepal wanted to protest, they hit the streets. Here, that’s not even possible,” rues Rahul. Shree recalls waiting at police stations for hours for approvals, sometimes denied without explanation or passed up in favour of events or “less threatening” protests.

Rahul says unless forums for dissent and dialogue, like the freedom to protest and campus elections, are created, future leaders will not emerge and nepotism in politics will continue. “Many politicians rose from student movements. Our association was founded by G Parameshwara, the current home minister," he says.

The general urban apathy and pressure from families and colleges to remain apolitical is another obstacle. “In a neoliberal city like Bengaluru, students are pushed to be apolitical by families and college administrations. This creates a vacuum in their worldview and a disconnect from social realities. We know of colleges expelling students arbitrarily. They cite attendance shortages or dress code violations, when in one case the real trigger was posters critical of authorities outside the college wall,” says Shree.