Poverty.  
Education.  
Unemployment. 
 

According to a 2023 survey, these were the top three most important issues for voters in India ahead of the 2024 national elections. 53% of respondents claimed that unemployment was the most pressing issue. This is particularly a challenge for young people – 82.9% of those unemployed in India are between the ages of 15 and 29, according to a report from 2022. For a country in which nearly half of its population is below age 25, education continues to be a big strain as well, with unequal access to education, minimal funding, and outdated curricula. India also faces rising inequality, despite ongoing efforts to reduce extreme poverty. 

Many feel that the polling station is the only place where all of India stands equal, with all levels of society interacting, and accessing genuine political equality. Yet, in a democracy of 1.4 billion people, with power vested in its citizens, many young Indians do not vote. Less than 40% of 18- and 19-year-olds registered to vote for the 2024 national elections, and many feel that politicians do not hear or represent their demands.  Some are also unable to vote, despite being registered as voters: in the 2018 national elections, over 120 million citizens were missing from electoral rolls. 

More than ever, in trying times, the role of journalism to inform citizens of current news and their rights, and inform those in government of issues and public opinion, becomes vital for democracy. Thomas Carlyle, writing in 1841 mentions Edmund Burke, statesman and member of parliament of Great Britain, who said “there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all.” Carlyle identified the press as one of the greatest catalysts of democracy - capable of spreading facts, advocating for justice, and sparking revolution against tyranny. 

So what can journalists and those observing the country tell us about what India really wants, in a time of stress related to employment, economic mobility and political polarisation? What do recent elections reveal about the political system, and the factors that resonate most with the voting public? Presenting his new book ‘2024: The Election That Surprised India,’ Rajdeep Sardesai, veteran journalist and author of numerous books, including the best-selling book  ‘2014: The Election that Changed India,’ will analyse the 2024 elections and what they can tell us about the issues most important for India and its voters in the coming years. How will political parties and powers realign; what are the issues that will be prioritised; and what will voters expect and demand, based on current trends of advocacy and citizenship? Rajdeep will be in conversation with Richa Roy, partner in the Finance, Insolvency and Public Policy practice at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. 

This conversation is part of Asia Society India’s Library Series, which includes discussions, interviews and features on books and authors who offer new ways of understanding the world around us – across fiction, non-fiction and analysis. 

SPEAKERS

Rajdeep Sardesai is an award-winning senior journalist, author and TV news presenter. Currently the consulting editor and lead news anchor of the India Today Group, he has over three decades of journalistic experience in print and television. He was the founder–editor of the IBN 19 network and before that was the managing editor of NDTV 24X7 and NDTV India. He has won more than fifty awards for journalistic excellence. Rajdeep’s previous books on the Indian elections, 2019: How Modi Won India and 2014: The Election That Changed India, have been national bestsellers. He is also the author of Democracy’s XI: The Great Indian Cricket Story.

Richa Roy is a lawyer specialising in finance and public policy. She is a partner in the Finance, Insolvency and Public Policy practice at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, India’s largest and preeminent law firm. She has been awarded the Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for Leadership and Excellence the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. The Chevening Gurukul is awarded to high achieving, mid-career professionals from diverse areas with strong and demonstrable leadership potential, for a program of academic immersion, policy engagement and leadership development at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. 

Richa has served on government and regulatory committees on financial sector reform. Under the aegis of the Bankruptcy Law Reform Committee of the Government of India, she was instrumental in conceptualizing, drafting and implementing India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, a flagship reform of the current government and set up the institutions under it. She is also currently advising the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India and Insurance and Regulatory Development Authority of India on legislative reform and regulatory development. As part of the India – UK Financial Partnership formed under the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the UK and the Indian Finance Minister, she is advising on trade, investment, fintech and data.

Previously, Richa was part of the Reserve Bank of India Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Low Income Households and Small Businesses. She has represented banks and financial institutions on a range of complex restructuring, insolvency, bankruptcy and banking and international finance transactions. She has also been involved in bilateral trade discussions in the insolvency and bankruptcy and financial services sector. 

She has been instrumental in the establishment of three new scholarships on sustainability law and policy at the University of Oxford, instituted by Mr Cyril Shroff, India’s foremost corporate lawyer.
She writes extensively on gender and financial regulation, international cooperation in financial regulation, central bank digital currency, trade, and corporate accountability in the media and academic publications. 

She previously worked at AZB & Partners and was a Research Fellow at Global Economic Governance, University of Oxford. She has degrees in law (BA LLB. Hons.) from National Law School of India University Bangalore (2005) and public policy (Master of Public Policy (Merit)) from the University of Oxford (2016).

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