बिहार के एक छोटे से गांव की धूलभरी गलियों में 19 वर्षीय रामवती कभी ‘अछूत’ कहलाती थी। कुएं से पानी भरने जाओ तो औरतें पीछे हट जाती थीं। उसकी परछाईं तक मनहूस मानी जाती थी। मगर, ग्रेजुएशन के बाद,  अंग्रेजी भाषा सीखकर आज, गुरुग्राम के एक कॉल सेंटर में बैठी वही रामवती अपनी आवाज़ से महाद्वीपों के पार ग्राहकों से बात करती है। यहां कोई उसकी जाति नहीं पूछता। उसकी क़ीमत उसकी बोलने की रफ़्तार, विनम्रता और काम के प्रति लगन से तय होती है।

In the dusty lanes of a small village in Bihar, 19-year-old Ramvati was once branded an ‘untouchable’. Women would step back when she approached the well. Even her shadow was considered inauspicious. But after completing her graduation and learning English, that same Ramvati now sits in a call centre in Gurugram, speaking across continents to customers. Here, no one asks her caste. Her worth is measured by her clarity of speech, politeness, and dedication to her work.

India has witnessed a remarkable increase in the female workforce participation rate. Female Labour Force Participation Rate increased from 23.3 per cent in 2017-18 to 41.7 per cent in 2023-24.

Once, they played with the flames of revolution; they were the engines of social change. Today, the brave warriors of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, Youth Congress, and Students Federation are now playing flutes and tambourines. Attractive pay packages, new lifestyles, career planning, foreign trips, evening outings, and live-in relationships have trapped today's youth in a web—they no longer dream of revolution. Thinking about the nation and society? So outdated!!

The chalkboards are empty, classrooms lie abandoned, and instead of guiding students through lessons, teachers across India are marching through streets with placards and anger.

Millennials are more likely than Gen Z to turn down a job offer if they believe that the company’s ethics and sustainability practices do not align with their own personal values, according to new research by the Graduate Management Admission Council.