Youth Frustration Fuels Change

The Gen-Z movement swept Nepal, shook the country's political landscape, and opened space for renewed optimism. The voices of young Nepalis who demanded change are central to this movement. Senior advocates and constitutional experts say the Constitution already offers the tools to address their aspirations, if the new leadership is willing to act.

Senior advocate and constitutional expert Bipin Adhikari describes the youth as Nepal's strongest resource. "The youths are the pillar of the nation. However, in our nation, the concerns for youth were lacking," he said. He said the demands raised during the movement were neither radical nor unrealistic. "What are the requirements of youths? They require good higher education, opportunities, and representation. But very few opportunities are created for them," he added.

Adhikari explains why so many young Nepalis seek opportunities abroad. "Youths complete high school and want to go abroad because they have few chances here in Nepal. Even after graduation abroad, if they want to come back to the country to serve, the stakeholders look for collateral rather than their certificates and achievements," he said.

The frustration, he argues, extends beyond education. "Labourers are also categorised as labourers, but not youths. Youths are overcoming the burden of responsibility, and lacking opportunity is fuelling their frustration. Even in the business sector, the government does not provide lucrative opportunities. Foreigners run most businesses, our economy is based on imports rather than exports, and the youth are not given opportunities to establish their own businesses in the country," he said.

This neglect, he warns, has consequences for mental health. "All this frustration is leading to a mental impact on the youths. It is creating anxiety and depression. However, the system is bypassing these concerns as well. There are no awareness programmes and no address on such issues anywhere," he added.

Yet Adhikari emphasises that the Constitution itself is not the problem. "The Constitution of Nepal is excellent and addresses most of the abovementioned issues. But the biggest lacking is the bad governance and lack of representation in every functional area of the country," he said. "There is very little representation of youths, whether in the government sector, political parties, parliament, or business. Most of them have been run without representing the young generation," added Adhikari.

He links this directly to the Gen-Z movement. "This frustration of the youths brought up the recent Gen-Z movement. The Constitution has many provisions that will help combat corruption, bad governance, and youth representation. "This is the main priority moving forward," he said. For him, the path is clear; youth is a cross-cutting issue in the Constitution. There is a dimension of youth everywhere.

Senior advocate and constitutional expert Dinesh Tripathi frames the issue similarly but stresses the democratic implications. "The aspiration of Gen Z must be institutionalised. They aspired to get rid of corruption, have good governance, and ensure representation and equity of youths in all sectors," he said.

He believes the Constitution already carries these promises. "The Constitution has social and economic justice in it. However, the problem was that the people in power were not using the Constitution to benefit the country and the youth. Rather, they were using it for their own benefit, making themselves power-centric and misusing it," said Tripathi. This, he says, resulted in bad governance and institutionalised corruption.

Tripathi, however, sees a positive outcome from the recent upheaval. "The good point is that the youth have at least saved the constitution, even after the revolution, and an interim government has been formed," he said. However, he is also clear about the way forward; corruption and bad governance cannot protect democratic aspirations provided by the Constitution. There needs to be accountable leadership and good governance.

For him, the next step is to build on the momentum created by the youth. "There should be a course correction and solution to save the constitution and make it even better for equal participation of everybody in the country," said Tripathi. While he recognises that the interim arrangement is a political solution to a particular circumstance, he underlines the importance of elections. "The timely election set for 5 March 2026 should take place to save the Constitution. If that does not happen, the Constitution and the state's collapse are dangerous," he warns.

In that election, he says, the role of young people must be central. "There must be a good representation of youths in participation and candidacy. That can lead to good governance and a corruption-free Nepal on a democratic path," Tripathi stresses.

Despite the challenges, Tripathi concludes that Nepal has gained something vital from this period of upheaval. "At least there is legitimacy in the formation of government. But now it is time to move forward, youths and all Nepalis, to strengthen our political and governance structure," he said.

The words of both experts highlight a shared vision that the Constitution is not a failed document but an untapped foundation. It embeds youth as a cross-cutting concern, offers mechanisms to fight corruption, and envisions socio-economic justice. The Gen-Z revolution has forced those promises back into the national spotlight.

For Adhikari, this means recognising the frustrations and potential of the young. For Tripathi, it means ensuring that the democratic system remains intact and that elections are held on time with youth representation at the forefront. Between their views runs a common thread, that the future of Nepal lies not in the past practices of exclusion but in the active inclusion of the very generation that dared to rise.

(Bhusal is a journalist at The Rising Nepal.)