One of the biggest elections in the history of independent India is upon us. An election that could transform India and set the bedrock for the future. Unfortunately, from Feku to Pappu, our political debate is mired in, at best, irrelevancies, at worst, utter nonsense. This book is a shout-out, a call to action to talk about the things that matter—or should matter —to most of us as citizens, from financial scams to climate change, women’s rights to parliamentary spends. After all, if a democracy has to work, the agenda needs to be set by voters as much as by political parties. Here are some of the people who told us what we should be talking about: How to create jobs Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw The debt situation Lord Meghnad Desai What Dalits really want Chandra Bhan Prasad A different kind of economics Devinder Sharma About Article 370 Haseeb Drabu AIDS and gay rights Anjali Gopalan Squandered heritage and harassed tourists Aman Nath