Democracy is more than distant institutions or elections every few years. It is precarious and urgent, a struggle by people to assert their most basic rights in their daily lives.
Over the past few weeks, protests across the country have made questions about rights and accountability a public conversation. Workers, artists, activists, collectives, and students have come together on to the streets–many for the first time–to exercise their right to dissent and to make their voices count.
As slogans echo through the air, we ask India’s civil society what democracy means to them.

























—
In the video below, IDR team members share their own reflections on democracy.




