New Delhi: Less than a month after it had to bow down before the students’ protests leading to the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Modi government intends to send one Union minister to a university every day to engage with young people as part of an initiative to reach out to Gen Z in India, reported Press Trust of India.As part of the initiative titled ‘One Day, One University’ programme, a Union minister will be assigned universities for interacting students, listening to their views on different subjects, and informing them about various government welfare schemes, especially those for youth and students, reported PTI citing sources aware of the initiative.“The plan also figured in a meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (August 19, 2026),” said the sources.Union education Minister Pralhad Joshi, who had earlier replaced Pradhan. and Union youth affairs and sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya have been given the responsibility to coordinate visits with the universities and ministers.The new initiative of reaching out to Gen Z comes at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government suffered a major setback wherein for the first time in 12 years, one of its sitting ministers had to resign after continuing protests by students across the country.The Union government’s handling of the protests and the police crackdown on students who were demanding accountability over systemic flaws in the education system led to a massive criticism, with thousands of youngsters criticising prime minister Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah for the police brutality.Earlier, in his Independence Day address, Modi had announced a slew of youth-centric initiatives, including free online coaching, an AI skilling programme, and a sports talent hunt, a move that was largely seen as the government’s efforts to do damage control in wake of the visible anger among the youth against the Modi government.The youth protests started in June with the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) standing firm of its demand of the resignation of Union minister Pradhan over irregularities in NEET.But soon, the youth’s anger over the incumbent government’s apparent indifference to deep-rooted irregularities with the national education system, that have perpetuated hardships and agony for millions of students over the last few months, spread to other cities where youngsters protested in large numbers. While Pradhan had to resign in wake of sustained public pressure, several states too have seen such protests in recent days asking for reforms of the education system.