Stepping into an election year with hope

Another new year is upon us. The last one went past us rather swiftly. Well, 2019 promises to be just not any other year. It won’t go past in a breathless haste. Because, on 2019 will depend the next five years. India will vote again to choose who leads us into the twenties of the new century. 

The way the electoral map of India ended in 2018 makes the contest interesting and more hard-fought than thought possible. The year that went by also leaves with themes that will abide: farm distress, for one. The mandate may well be sought on how to revive the agriculture sector. Addressed in a holistic manner, what happens to this sector would hopefully have a cascading effect. Any lasting pick-up would rejuvenate 
the rural economy and infrastructure—and other bottlenecks that hold the country back. 

An election year means pure people’s issues come to the fore. The banking sector, the retail part of which common Indians encounter in their daily lives, will also need to come out of the woods. Whatever happens in the crucial month of May, one government never really resembles another, even when there’s no change at the top. This time, if the regional parties play a bigger role, as is being projected, the pulls and pressures of coalition politics could define the polity. Through the democratic process, however, it’s India which ultimately rejuvenates itself and decides how it wants to be ruled. 

Hopefully, once the people give their verdict, all political parties and civil society at large would work towards creating a consensual polity. To create an air where they may disagree but not get angry to the extent of things falling apart, instead of being made whole. Whoever is the winner, in 2019 India and the world should be able to walk the talk for real climate change—and not just climatically.