The trust deficit

Transparency and consultation are vital to governance

From protests against laws redefining citizenship and agri-marketing to suspicions over the safety of the Covid-19 vaccine and leaks about internal differences over economic policy, the National Democratic Alliance government appears to be suffering from a severe case of hubris. That this accumulation of protests against the government began less than a year after it won the biggest mandate in the Lok Sabha since 1984 is no coincidence. The implacable and strident tone of the farmer protests after nine rounds of talks, multiple concessions, and a Supreme Court-mandated committee are good examples of the current dissonance between the governed and