Cong cites household expenditure data to slam govt, says youth crying out for remedial action

Business To Business, New Delhi, 26^th July, 2026:    The Congress on Sunday said that while the recent protests at Jantar Mantar and elsewhere were triggered by alleged irregularities in the examination system, the frustration among students and their parents stemmed from deeper issues of accessibility and affordability in education.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the country's youth and their families were seeking meaningful policy measures to address these long-standing concerns.
Referring to an analysis by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) based on household expenditure data from 2014-15 to 2025-26, Ramesh claimed the findings highlighted growing financial pressure on families.
According to him, the analysis showed that education costs have risen substantially faster than household incomes, resulting in households allocating a significantly larger share of their earnings towards education.
Ramesh said the findings underscored the need for remedial action to improve both the accessibility and affordability of education, arguing that these structural issues have contributed to the widespread discontent expressed by students and parents in recent weeks.