Young people in India — 40 percent of the world’s biggest country — have been taught that they are inheriting a country that is shining brightly, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. Their disillusionment, with a lack of jobs and a troubled education system, now poses one of the biggest challenges to his popularity in 12 years in power.

印度的年轻人——占这个世界人口第一大国总人口的40%——一直被灌输这样的观念：得益于总理莫迪的领导，他们继承了一个光芒四射的国家。如今，由于缺乏就业机会和教育体系问题重重，他们如今的幻灭感对莫迪执政12年来的支持率构成了最大挑战之一。

These long-simmering frustrations have spilled into the open in recent days, with thousands of people from around the country protesting on the streets of New Delhi, the capital.

这些长期积压的不满情绪近日终于爆发，来自全国各地，数以千计的人在首都新德里街头抗议。

The demonstrations were triggered by the canceling of medical school entrance exams after a question paper leaked, but they are about something much deeper: holding the government to account.

游行示威的导火索是医学院入学考试因试卷泄露而被取消，但背后是更为深刻的原因：要求政府承担责任。

Ignoring their demands brings political risk for Mr. Modi, because India’s largest single demographic is under 25 years of age — a voting bloc too big to ignore.

忽视他们的诉求会给莫迪带来政治风险，因为印度最大的单一人口群体是25岁以下人群——这是一个大到不容忽视的票仓。

But the protests aren’t like the Gen Z uprisings that shook India’s neighbors, Bangladesh and Nepal, where joblessness was also a common underlying cause. The two smaller countries underwent uprisings that quickly spiraled into bloodshed and violence, but toppled governments and installed new leaders; Indian protesters have been deliberate and clear about taking a peaceful approach. Also, in a country as large and diverse as India, with multiple states, political parties and agendas, overarching issues rarely unify enough people to bring that kind of threat.

但这些抗议活动不同于震撼了印度邻国孟加拉国和尼泊尔的Z世代起义，在那些国家，失业也是共同的根本原因。这两个较小的国家经历了迅速演变成流血和暴力的起义，但最终推翻了政府并任命了新领导人；印度的抗议者则明确且坚定地采取了和平方式。此外，印度是一个幅员辽阔的多元化国家，拥有多个邦、政党和政治议程，全局性的议题很少能团结足够多的人，从而构成孟加拉国和尼泊尔那种程度的威胁。

Thousands of protesters remained camped out in Delhi on Wednesday with a list of demands for the government, which has made no concessions so far. Here’s what to know.

周三，数以千计的抗议者继续驻扎在德里，并向政府提出了一系列诉求，但政府迄今尚未做出任何让步。以下是需要了解的情况。

What is causing the frustration?

是什么导致了这种不满？

Students navigate a pressure-cooker education system that many say often deters rather than supports them. They spend years studying for competitive exams, seeking upward mobility and financial security. But increasingly, those with higher education degrees are finding there are far fewer suitable jobs. More than 14,400 students took their own lives in 2024, according to India’s National Crime Records Bureau. The bureau said that student suicides are increasing faster than those of the overall population.

学生们身处一个高压的教育体系中，许多人说这种体系往往是在阻碍而不是在支持他们。他们花费数年时间准备竞争激烈的考试，以期实现社会阶层上升和经济保障。但越来越多拥有高等学位的年轻人发现，合适的职位远没有那么多。根据印度国家犯罪记录局的数据，2024年有超过14400名学生自杀。该局表示，学生自杀率的增长速度超过了总人口的自杀率增长速度。

That frustration erupted in early May, after more than 2.2 million aspiring doctors and dentists sat for an entrance exam that is the only way to get into undergraduate medical school in India. It later turned out that the questions for some exams matched closely with so-called “guess” papers — sample exam questions — that had circulated online before the exam. The government testing agency scrapped the exam and ordered everyone to take the test again.

这种挫败感在5月初爆发，当时有超过220万名有志成为医生和牙医的考生参加了进入印度本科医学院唯一途径的入学考试。后来人们发现，部分考试的题目与考前在网上流传的所谓“押题卷子”——即模拟试题——高度吻合。政府考试机构取消了这次考试，并要求所有考生重新考试。

5月初，印度巴特那的马加德女子学院，学生们正在查看考试座位表。

It wasn’t the first time. India’s National Testing Agency, set up under the Modi government to centralize the process for many entrance exams, has been criticized for its inefficiency, and a failure to prevent leaks or ensure exams are fair for all.

这种事已经不是第一次发生。印度国家考试局是莫迪政府为集中管理多项入学考试而设立的机构，一直因效率低下、不能防止泄题以及不能确保所有人都能接受公平考试而受到批评。

Getting into a school itself is tough, with too many students vying for too few seats. The pattern repeats itself when students enter the job market, with millions of people applying for thousands of government jobs. Nearly 40 percent of graduates between the ages of 15 and 25 are unemployed, according to a 2026 study on India’s work force.

进入学校本身就很困难，因为竞争者太多，而名额却太少。当学生进入就业市场时，这种情况再次重演，数以百万计的申请者要申请数以千计的政府职位。根据一份关于2026年印度劳动力的研究，在15至25岁的毕业生中，近40%的人处于失业状态。

Stories of college graduates working as full-time delivery drivers have become commonplace.

大学毕业生全职送外卖的故事已是屡见不鲜。

Nidhi Sah, a designer and artist who flew in from the city of Ahmedabad to Delhi to join Monday’s protest, said she considered this underemployment a bigger problem than unemployment. “The cost of quality education in India is high, so a well-paying job is a justified expectation,” she said. So when people work longer hours for lower salaries, or take jobs below their qualifications, she added, “the frustration builds up.”

尼迪·萨是一名设计师兼艺术家，她从艾哈迈达巴德市飞往德里参加周一的抗议活动。她说，她认为这种就业不足问题比失业更为严重。“在印度，获得优质教育的成本很高，所以期望一份高薪工作是合理的，”她说。因此，当人们工作时间更长但工资更低，或者从事低于自身资质的工作时，她补充说，“挫败感就会不断累积。”

How has the government responded to the protests?

政府对抗议活动如何回应？

Mr. Modi has so far refrained from speaking publicly about them. Nor has he addressed the demands of the prime organizer, the Cockroach Janta Party, a satirical movement inspired by a disparaging remark by a judge comparing India’s youth to “cockroaches,” which has since turned into a political force.

莫迪迄今为止一直避免公开谈论这些抗议活动。他也没有回应主要组织者“蟑螂人民党”的诉求——该党是一个讽刺性运动，其灵感来自于一位法官将印度青年贬称为“蟑螂”的言论，此后该运动转变成了一股政治力量。

On Tuesday, a senior government minister said Mr. Modi had addressed students’ concerns about the exam questions leak during an internal meeting, saying that those involved will be brought to account. Mr. Modi also said the safety and security of India’s youth was a priority, according to the minister.

周二，一位高级政府部长表示，莫迪在一次内部会议上回应了学生们对考题泄露的担忧，称将追究相关人员的责任。据该部长称，莫迪还表示，印度青年的安全和保障是首要任务。

Even that subtle acknowledgment was rare for Mr. Modi, a strongman leader, and is a sign of the delicate dance he has to perform between placating students and ensuring that his political party doesn’t look weak.

对于强人领导者莫迪来说，即使这种含蓄的承认也属罕见，这表明他必须在安抚学生和确保其政党不显软弱之间进行微妙的平衡。

The C.J.P. has demanded the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the education minister, whom they hold directly accountable for the recent leak. But Mr. Pradhan is a key operative for the B.J.P., credited with helping the party come to power in some recent state elections.

蟑螂人民党要求教育部长达曼德拉·普拉丹辞职，他们认为他应对近期的泄题事件负直接责任。但普拉丹是印度人民党的关键人物，曾帮助该党在近期的一些邦选举中掌权。

5月，印度教育部长达曼德拉·普拉丹（中）在新闻发布会上发表讲话，就医学院入学考试试题泄露引发的公众愤怒作出回应。

As the protests persist, Mr. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has begun blaming the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, its longtime rival, for exploiting the students’ concerns after it began its own related protests.

随着抗议活动的持续，莫迪领导的印度人民党已开始指责其长期竞争对手、主要反对党印度国民大会党利用学生的诉求，此前国大党也发起了类似的抗议活动。

How much momentum is there for the protesters?

抗议者的动力有多大？

Protests in Delhi and elsewhere have been going on for more than a month, ever since Abhijeet Dipke, the 30-year-old founder of the C.J.P. and a graduate of Boston University, turned his joke into a serious movement. Sonam Wangchuk, a prominent education activist, joined the protest and is on the 25th day of a hunger strike. He was forcibly moved by the authorities to a private hospital and is on an intravenous drip as his health deteriorates. But the C.J.P.’s call to march to Parliament on its first day in session on July 20 gave the movement enormous momentum.

自从蟑螂人民党30岁的创始人、波士顿大学毕业生阿比吉特·迪普克把他的玩笑变成一场严肃的运动以来，德里和其他地方的抗议活动已经持续了一个多月。著名教育活动家索南·旺楚克加入了抗议活动，目前绝食抗议已进入第25天。随着健康状况恶化，他被当局强行转移至一家私立医院，目前正在接受静脉输液治疗。但蟑螂人民党呼吁在7月20日议会开会首日向议会进军，这给该运动带来了巨大的动力。

Shabana Azmi, a well-known actress, and Arundhati Roy, a Booker Prize-winning author and activist, have expressed their solidarity.

知名女演员莎芭娜·阿兹米和布克奖得主、作家兼活动人士阿兰达蒂·罗伊表达了声援。

The protests have also provided opposition parties an opportunity to attack the B.J.P. On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi, a leader of the Congress party, and also the leader of the opposition in the lower house of Parliament, marched toward the prime minister’s residence with his own list of demands to support the students’ cause. He and his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, also a Congress leader, and other party members were detained but later released.

抗议活动也为反对党提供了攻击印度人民党的机会。周二，国大党领导人、议会下院反对党领袖拉胡尔·甘地带着他自己的一系列诉求清单向总理官邸进发，以支持学生的事业。他与同样是国大党领导人的姊妹普里扬卡·甘地·瓦德拉及其他党员被拘留，但随后获释。

“The government has lost the first round,” said Ashutosh Varshney, a professor at Brown University who studies Indian politics. The attention around Mr. Gandhi’s detention has given the opposition an unexpected lift, but its will to continue and the length of the protests are likely to determine whether Mr. Modi can “overcome this moment,” Mr. Varshney said.

“政府在第一回合里输了，”研究印度政治的布朗大学教授阿舒托什·瓦什尼说。瓦什尼表示，围绕甘地被拘留一事引发的关注给反对派带来了意想不到的助力，但反对派是否坚持抗议以及抗议持续的时间长短可能将会决定莫迪能否“挺过这一关”。

What happens next?

接下来会发生什么？

Mr. Dipke and other C.J.P. leaders said they would continue to protest until their demands are met. But they said they would not lead more marches to prevent further injuries to protesters from police crackdowns.

迪普克和其他蟑螂人民党领导人表示，他们将继续抗议，直到诉求得到满足。但他们表示，为了避免抗议者在警方镇压中遭受更多伤害，将不再组织游行。

On Wednesday, the protest site in central Delhi was surrounded by security forces and partly barricaded, but the protests stayed largely peaceful. In some places, dozens of delivery drivers waited nearby on their bikes, bearing food that people had sent to the protesters. Some said there was no specific delivery address provided other than “Jantar Mantar,” the name of the 18th century observatory next to which the government has built a dedicated protest space.

周三，位于新德里中部的抗议地点被安全部队包围，部分区域设置了路障，但抗议活动基本保持和平。在一些地方，数十名外卖骑手骑着车在附近等候，运送民众送给抗议者的食物。一些人说，除了“简塔·曼塔”外，他们没有得到具体的送货地址——这是一座18世纪天文台的名字，政府在它的旁边建了一个专门的抗议区。

周三，新德里“蟑螂人民党”抗议现场附近路障处的外卖骑手。

Anurag Kumar, who works for Swiggy, a delivery platform, said he was handing over orders to people outside the site because the police wouldn’t allow him to go any further. Mr. Kumar said he had delivered 11 orders since 7:30 a.m. Other workers said deliveries included sanitary pads, ointments and other products that protesters might need to sustain the protest.

为配送平台Swiggy工作的阿努拉格·库马尔说，由于警方不允许他继续向前，他只能将订单交给现场之外的人。库马尔说，从早上7点30分起，他已经送了11个订单。其他工作人员表示，配送的物品包括卫生巾、药膏以及抗议者维持抗议可能需要的其他物品。

Mr. Dipke put out a video urging Mr. Wangchuk to end his fast. But the veteran activist said he had no plans to end protests until their demands are met.

迪普克发布了一段视频，敦促旺楚克结束绝食。但这位资深活动家表示，在他们的诉求得到满足之前，他没有结束抗议的计划。