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Author Sam Pitroda asserted that he was very concerned about the 'state of democracy and potential challenges going forward in countries like India and the US, which inspired him to author his latest book 'The Idea of Democracy'.
The book launch event, hosted virtually by Pitroda, was attended by Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal and several eminent personalities from the literary industry. During his conversation with Sibal, Pitroda delved on his reasons for writing such a book at a time when many countries are facing elections in 2024. "The reasons for writing the book really relates to what is going on in the US as well as what is going on in India. I'm very concerned about the state of democracy and potential challenges going forward in both of these countries. In addition, in 2024, there are elections in 64 countries. More than half of the world population will be going to vote in 2024. It hasn't happened at all before, and many of these countries are going through same set of challenges. Turkey, Hungary, UK, to some extent Mexico," Pitroda said as he described the similar political atmosphere in the developing and developed countries. "So I have friends in many of these countries, and I believe the problems are very similar. The authoritarian regimes are getting more attention, institutions are bending, they are losing their independence. people are not sure what is right, what is wrong because social media is amplifying lies, so these are the concerns," he added. Pitroda also highlighted the growth of an 'elite regime' in many countries and how the people are now rejecting this regime. "I have been listening to a lot of my friends and learning and I have basically come to two conclusions not that I'm right, time will tell. One if you go back in history we always had kings and queens, and they were totally elites running societies. Whether those working in India or in Britian or in France or Germany or wherever, that lasted for hundreds of years and all of a sudden they were eliminated with revolution in France, Russia ultimately fall of British Raj and a new set of elites emerged. These elites were politicians and businessmen with big money and some intellectuals. Now I believe that regime is falling apart. People are challenging these elites. People say you haven't done your job. We threw one set of elites out and we are going to threw new set of elites out because you have ganged up together," he said. The author further pointed out how the resources in the country have been 'cornered' by the 'new elites.' "New elites have cornered resources for themselves. People went to China because they wanted to avoid labour challenges. For cheap labour more profit... We need new economy, new ways to look at capitalism. Earlier, people used to think that capitalism and democracy can go hand in hand but Chinese have shown that they can have capitalist society under authoritarian regime and rest of the world today do not produce anything as a result," he explained. Pitroda's 'The Idea of Democracy' looks at the paradox of so-called democratic success coupled with its liberal decline, as the author puts it. It provides a detailed analysis of the essence of democracy, its workings, the kind of values it needs to encapsulate, forces and safeguards which work in liberal democracy's favour and how they can be preserved. According to the author, this book is meant to stimulate conversation, particularly among the youth on what the idea of democracy means to them and the role that they can play in helping democracy survive--and thrive--in the coming era. (ANI)
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