Summary
Writing in the Indian Express, a young auditor from Ghent, Belgium, argues that the cost-of-living protests sweeping Europe are not a rejection of European democracy but a demand to preserve its promise that effort, not family background, shapes life chances.
She notes that about six in ten young Belgian homebuyers now rely on family help, against roughly three in ten a decade ago. The essay uses this as a doorway into a larger theme: what happens when meritocracy stops delivering.
In rich societies like Europe and the US, the barrier is inherited wealth. In India, it is educated unemployment and low social mobility. The common lesson is that institutions keep their legitimacy only while effort still visibly translates into outcomes.
WHY IT MATTERS FOR UPSC & STATE PCS
An Indian Express op-ed by a young Belgian professional, published on 26 October 2026, reflects on youth protests across Europe over the cost of living, housing and education. It argues that young people protest to preserve, not reject, the promise of opportunity.
Standard News
Effort or Inheritance?
What happens to a society when people stop believing that working hard will be enough? The question is older than today's protests in Europe and it applies as much to India's graduates as to Belgium's young professionals.
Europe:
when the house becomes an inheritance A young auditor in Ghent, writing in the Indian Express, describes a promise she grew up with: study, work and by about 30 you can buy a home with a partner and settle down. That promise is quietly changing hands.
According to her, about six in ten young Belgian homebuyers now rely on family money, against three in ten a decade ago. The milestone of adulthood is becoming a matter of birth. The pattern is wider than Belgium:
- Raj Chetty found that about 90% of Americans born in 1940 out-earned their parents, but only about 50% of those born in the 1980s did.
- Thomas Piketty argued that when returns on capital outpace growth, r > g, inherited wealth compounds faster than wages, so the lottery of birth matters more each decade. Notice what the Ghent writer does not say. She does not reject Europe's institutions. She values its stability and freedoms, accepts that governments face hard choices on debt and spending and draws a firm line against violence. Her demand is that the old promise be kept.
India:
when the degree stops converting into a job India's version of the broken promise looks different. Here the barrier is less often the price of a first home than the first job itself. PLFS 2025-26 data put youth unemployment at 9.9% overall, but at 29.4% among young people with tertiary education.
Nearly three in ten educated young Indians are looking for work they cannot find. Households supporting unemployed graduates report cutting spending on nutrition, health and younger siblings' schooling. Mobility data reinforce the point.
India ranked 76th of 82 in the WEF's 2020 Global Social Mobility Index, while Nordic countries, with free higher education and strong safety nets, lead it.
Synthesis Hold the
two cases together and a pattern appears that neither shows alone. Meritocracy can break at different points in a life. In mature economies, it breaks at the end, when accumulated assets decide who owns a home. In developing economies, it breaks in the middle, when education fails to convert into employment. The policy cures differ:
- Europe's problem points towards housing supply and the treatment of inherited wealth.
- India's points towards jobs that match the skills it has created. But the political signal is the same. When the effort-outcome link weakens, citizens first ask institutions to restore the promise, not to abolish it.
Quick Facts
Key numbers & takeaways — revise these first
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About six in ten young homebuyers in Belgium now receive family financial help, against about three in ten a decade ago, according to the op-ed's author.
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Raj Chetty's research shows that about 90% of Americans born in 1940 out-earned their parents, against about 50% of those born in the 1980s.
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In Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2013), Thomas Piketty argued that when the return on capital (r) exceeds economic growth (g), inherited wealth grows faster than earned income.
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India ranked 76th out of 82 economies in the WEF Global Social Mobility Index 2020.
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Denmark topped that index, with Nordic countries consistently near the top.
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PLFS 2025-26 data put overall youth unemployment (ages 15-29) at 9.9% and unemployment among tertiary-educated youth at 29.4%.
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France saw cost-of-living protests on 24-25 October 2026, with about 410,000 participants by Interior Ministry estimates and 1,314 arrests.
Connect the dots for your UPSC preparation.
Standard news covers the event. Log in to read our comprehensive analysis and uncover the hidden constitutional, structural, and ethical dimensions of this topic:
The full European domain: how housing, inheritance and Piketty's r > g turned adulthood into a family-funded milestone.
The Indian domain, developed in detail: educated unemployment, household strain and the 76th-place mobility ranking.
The synthesis on why meritocracy fails at the end of life in rich societies and in the middle of life in developing ones and what that means for policy.
How to turn this theme into a UPSC essay, with examples across eras and countries.
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