The loss of faith in lawmakers spurs such campaigns, but these campaigns may reactively spur a loss of confidence in civil society if splinter groups, factions, and vested interests take it upon themselves to protest every law they find unfavorable. For example, more recent agitations by various castes and ethnic groups, though they reflect meaningful unaddressed grievances, also represent a use of undemocratic methods to demand a greater share of the economic pie. Fixing our key political institutions and ensuring that we have the most qualified and visionary national leaders is the only way we will be able to permanently address society’s underlying political, economic, and social ills. Otherwise, the slope we have started down will only get steeper and slipperier.
(Riju is an engineer, former policy analyst, and finance professional. He is currently with The Blackstone Group's Energy Private Equity team, and was previously with Morgan Stanley’s Global Energy Group. He has also interned at The White House, where he worked on energy and climate change policy. Riju studied mechanical engineering at Harvard).