Growing Fan Base of Cockroach Janata Party in India

by Riaz Haq

Jun 2

"Indians live like cockroaches and die like cockroaches", argued Jayant Bhandari in an X post in April this year. "They vote for bottom of the barrel cockroaches as rulers, who rightly treat them as cockroaches", he added, faulting the people of India for this state of affairs. More recently, Indian Supreme Court Chief Justice Surya Kant said during a hearing that certain unemployed youth were "like cockroaches" who enter professions with fake degrees or become social media and RTI activists attacking the system.  Abhijeet Dipke, a 30-year-old Indian graduate of the public relations program at Boston University, picked up on it. He posted on X on May 16: “What if all cockroaches came together?” Dipke created a political party, named it Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), a parody of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), and established a website that quickly gained tens of millions of followers, according to the New York Times. 

Cockroach Janata Party Logo. Source: CJP Website


Dipke embraced “cockroach” in the party’s name to reinforce the fact that the insect, which arouses visceral disgust in many people, is also nearly indestructible. “What was thrown at them as an insult, now they are carrying it with pride,” he said. 

The group of Indians described by the Indian Chief Justice as "cockroaches" is made up of over 100 million young people aged 15-29 years who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) as estimated by the World Bank. They make up the world's largest NEET population in any country. Such massive numbers threaten the country’s demographic dividend, risking long-term economic stagnation, widening gender disparities, and severe social instability. They represent a massive reservoir of untapped human potential that drains productivity. 
As a result of failed policies and lack of opportunities at home, India is driving its best and brightest to the West, particularly to the United States, at an increasingly rapid pace. A 2023 study of the 1,000 top scorers in the 2010 entrance exams to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) — a network of prestigious institutions of higher learning based in 23 Indian cities — revealed the scale of the problem. Around 36% migrated abroad, and of the top 100 scorers, 62% left the country, according to a report in the science journal Nature.  Nearly two-thirds of those leaving India are highly educated, having received academic or vocational training. This is the highest for any country, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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  • Riaz Haq

    India’s TCS chair says AI agents may equal headcount, dampen hiring | Reuters

    https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-tcs-chairman-expects-ai-...


    BENGALURU, June 9 (Reuters) - India's largest software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS), opens new tab expects IT companies to slow down hiring, as the company moves towards ​having an equal number of employees and AI agents in its workforce, Chairman ‌N Chandrasekaran said at the company's annual general meeting on Tuesday.
    India's $315-billion IT sector has been grappling with investor concerns that AI could disrupt its traditional, labour-intensive business model. The industry, one of India's ​largest private sector employers, has already slowed down hiring with geopolitical turmoil also denting client demand.


    Mumbai-headquartered TCS does not ​plan to downsize staff, but will hire less, Chandrasekaran said. Last July, ⁠it cut more than 12,000 jobs, while headcount fell by more than 23,000 on a net ​basis in the fiscal year ended March 2026.
    "If the company has half a million employees, ​the day is not far when the company will have half a million AI agents... The company's employees and AI agents will work together, and that will be the future."

    TCS shares have fallen ​more than 32% so far in 2026, compared with a 25% drop in the Nifty IT (.NIFTYIT), opens new tab ​index.
    Advanced AI tools have shaken up the way companies work across industries from Silicon Valley to media ‌and ⁠IT in the last few years as businesses seek efficiencies while staying on top of rapid technological changes.
    Chandrasekaran said increased usage of AI agents would curb the number of people hired by both TCS and the broader IT industry as tasks are automated. At the same time, he ​said new roles and ​opportunities would emerge ⁠as companies adapt to AI-driven ways of working.

    "Some of the work being done will go to AI agents. That will be the ​nature of the transition that we have to go through ​not only ⁠as a company, as an industry, and as a country," he said.
    Chandrasekaran's comments carry added weight as TCS is India's largest IT firm by both market cap and number of employees.
    The ⁠company's annualised ​AI revenue crossed $2.3 billion in the quarter ended March ​31. Chandrasekaran said 100% of TCS' revenue will have an AI component before the end of the decade.

    Jun 9

  • Riaz Haq

    An excerpt from ‘India Out of Work: Rethinking India’s Growth Story’, by Santosh Mehrotra and Jajati Parida.
    Santosh Mehrotra & Jajati Parida
    May 29, 2026 · 08:30 am



    https://scroll.in/article/1092862/this-book-re-examines-indias-econ...

    Manufacturing employment fell in India after 2015, while it had been consistently stabilised at or around 17% of GDP ever since the economic reforms began in 1991. However, self-inflicted wounds upon the economy by the government did not help. The most labour-intensive sectors, including textiles, wood products, food processing and leather/footwear, struggled until 2018 and did not recover after Covid-19 – except apparel and food processing.

    Manufacturing contribution to GVA (gross value added) fell consistently from 2016 onwards, did not begin to recover until 2022 and did not reach its pre-demonetisation level by 2024. The same is observable in manufacturing as a share of total employment, although in absolute terms, by 2023, the absolute number of employees in manufacturing had finally caught up to the 2012 level and exceeded it.

    ———

    India’s Jobs Crisis Explained: 121 Million Youth, 80 Million Back to Farming & the Growth Paradox

    https://youtu.be/pjXAvOTgqkI?is=9Z8DcPK3mmmAvW3z


    In this episode, economist Santosh Mehrotra joins the conversation to examine one of the most important questions facing India today: if the economy is growing, why are employment concerns continuing to dominate public debate?



    Drawing from his book India Out of Work, Santosh Mehrotra challenges several widely accepted assumptions about growth, jobs, formalisation and economic development. The discussion explores why India's demographic opportunity may be narrowing faster than many realise, and what that could mean for the country's future.



    Among the issues discussed:

    • Nearly 121 million young Indians are estimated to be neither employed, in education, nor in training.

    • India's demographic dividend window is projected to narrow around 2040, creating urgency around job creation.

    • The economy may need to generate 10–12 million non-farm jobs every year to absorb new entrants into the workforce.

    • Between 2020 and 2024, roughly 80 million workers returned to agriculture, reversing a long-term structural trend.

    • Unemployment among graduates and degree holders remains a major concern despite rising educational attainment.



    The conversation also examines the future of manufacturing, the role of MSMEs, formalisation, inequality, and whether India can create enough opportunities to fully realise its economic ambitions.



    Watch till the end for a data-driven discussion on growth, jobs, productivity and the future of India's workforce.

    Jun 11

  • Riaz Haq

    Has higher education in India kept its promise?

    By Dr. Uppu Rao

    These issues may become even more important as artificial intelligence assumes a larger role in research, education, health care, industry, and other sectors. If AI increasingly performs routine analytical and information-processing tasks, the value of human creativity, scientific judgment, originality, and the ability to ask important questions may become even more important than technical proficiency alone. Educational systems will need to prepare students not only to use new technologies but also to contribute in ways that technology cannot easily replace.

    I should acknowledge that these observations are based largely on personal experience and may not fully represent the diversity of educational institutions and student experiences across India. Having lived outside India for nearly four decades, my perspective comes primarily from interactions with students, trainees, junior faculty, and colleagues with whom I have worked over the years. Through these interactions, I have observed significant changes in educational culture and student expectations, not all of which I view positively.

    One trend that concerns me is what I perceive to be a decline in intellectual engagement among some students, including at the doctoral level. Many students remain highly motivated, hardworking, and exceptionally talented. Nevertheless, I increasingly encounter students who view advanced education primarily as a pathway to migration. There is nothing wrong with seeking opportunities abroad, and many have gone on to make important contributions internationally. However, when geographic mobility becomes the principal objective, scholarship, intellectual growth, and the pursuit of excellence can become secondary considerations.

    These observations may not be representative of India as a whole, and I readily acknowledge that limitation. Nonetheless, they raise questions that deserve discussion. India has demonstrated a remarkable ability to broaden educational opportunities. The next challenge may be ensuring that educational quality, research capacity, and career opportunities develop in a manner consistent with the nation’s educational ambitions.

    India has made extraordinary progress over the past several decades. The question now is not whether the country can produce large numbers of graduates. It clearly can. The more important question is whether India can build an environment in which those graduates can realize their full potential and contribute meaningfully to the nation’s future.

    Jun 14