The Great Indian Squeeze: How an Overpriced Roof Is Crushing the Dream Beneath It
There is a very specific kind of exhaustion that shows up on the face of a 23-year-old who has just moved to Bengaluru, Pune, or Gurugram for their first job. It isn't the tiredness of long work hours, though there is plenty of that too. It's the tiredness of doing math at the end of every month — rent, PG fees, food, commute, EMI on the phone they bought to look presentable at the interview — and watching more than half of a hard-won salary vanish before a single rupee goes toward savings, family, or the future they were told this job would build. India loves to talk about its "demographic dividend." Every economic forum, every budget speech, every LinkedIn post about India's moment on the world stage leans on the same statistic: the median age in India is around 28, and nearly two-thirds of the population is in the working-age bracket, a share expected to touch roughly 67% by 2030. On paper, this is supposed to be India's golden window — a young, hungry w...