Mumbai: “The new exam bill is like a band-aid trying to cure a heart attack,” said Neha Bora, president of the All India Students’ Association, terming the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 inadequate at an event in the city on the future of Gen Z protests.Bora, questioning the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA), said: “The new bill only increases the punitive action against the individual. We have been hurling towards this situation for a long time. When the NTA was formed, civil society had opposed it because it functions in a completely unclear way with no transparency.”Bora emphasised the challenges of sustaining long-term institutional reform over slogan-driven politics. “Talking policy is difficult, ‘Dharmendra Pradhan istefa do’ is easy compared to ‘education system theek karo’, which is an abstract. I know that Pradhan’s resignation will not stop paper leaks, let alone fix the entire education system, but we need a concrete step to start off with,” she noted.Attributing their political awareness to early exposure to performing arts, both panelists — Bora and actor-activist Rhiya Ahir, who gained public attention after intercepting a police vehicle carrying detained demonstrators at Shivaji Park during the July protests — highlighted how dramatic arts foster social empathy.“When I joined a political theatre group, it contributed to my political consciousness. Inhibiting a character creates empathy in the person,” Bora remarked, adding that the 2019 National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests also had a strong impact on her.Ahir echoed the sentiment. “I started acting in plays since the age of three and a half and acted for more than 13 years. In acting, to play a character and understand it, you have to empathise with the character — especially a fictional character who you cannot meet, feel, or touch from a different walk of life.”She also addressed the targeted harassment directed at vocal women online. “Vile language is used which cannot be repeated here for any women who speaks out,” Ahir stated, pointing to widespread social media hostility against women involved in public advocacy.
