Sachin Pilot, Rajdeep Sardesai, Namita Bhandare | The Democracy Index | Jaipur Literature Festival

The Democracy Index: Sachin Pilot, Rajdeep Sardesai and Namita Bhandare Sachin Pilot is the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. A member of the Indian National Congress, he was elected from the Tonk assembly seat in the recent assembly election with a record margin of 55,000 votes. He was a member of the Indian Parliament in the 14th Lok Sabha from Dausa and in the 15th Lok Sabha from the Ajmer parliamentary constituency of Rajasthan. He has been the Union Minister for Telecom, IT and Postal Services from 2009 to 2011 and then the Minister of Corporate Affairs in the Manmohan Singh Ministry until 2014. He was nominated as a Young Global Achiever by the World Economic Forum in 2009. He has been the President of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee since January 2014. Pilot has a private pilot’s license and is an avid adventure sports enthusiast. Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist, author and TV news presenter. He is currently the consulting editor and lead news anchor of the India Today Group. His latest book is 2019: How Modi won India. His previous books include 2014: The Election That Changed India, a national bestseller that has been translated into half a dozen languages and Democracy’s Eleven: The Great Story of Indian Cricket, which was shortlisted by MCC Lords as ‘Cricket Book of the Year in 2017-18. He has won more than 50 awards, including the prestigious Padma Shri for Journalism in 2008, the International Broadcasters Award for coverage of the 2002 Gujarat riots, the 2007 Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award and the Prem Bhatia Award for Political Journalism for analysis of the 2019 elections. Namita Bhandare is an award-winning journalist with nearly 30 years of reporting experience for various publications including magazines Sunday and India Today, and the daily The Hindustan Times. In 2013, she was appointed India’s first gender editor for Mint newspaper and remained in that position until 2016. She is at present an independent journalist who writes a fortnightly column on gender for The Hindustan Times and also writes for Mint, IndiaSpend and Foreign Policy. What makes Indian democracy tick? A riveting session that explores the narratives and counter narratives of the electoral process and democratic systems. Sachin Pilot is a dynamic young politician currently serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan and as the President of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee. A member of the Indian National Congress, he was elected from the Tonk assembly seat with a record margin of 55,000 votes in 2018. Acclaimed journalist Rajdeep Sardesai is the author of several books including Newsman: Tracking India in the Modi Era and 2074: The Election that Changed India. His recent 2019: How Modi Won India traces the story of BJP’s recent march to electoral victory. In conversation with journalist Namita Bhandare, they discuss various aspects of democracy, the political process, its triumphs and discontents. Presented by NEXA THE JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTIVAL Described as the 'greatest literary show on Earth', the Jaipur Literature Festival is a sumptuous feast of ideas. The past decade has seen it transform into a global literary phenomenon having hosted nearly 2000 speakers and welcoming over a million book lovers from across India and the globe. Our core values remain unchanged: to serve as a democratic, non-aligned platform offering free and fair access. Every year, the Festival brings together a diverse mix of the world's greatest writers, thinkers, humanitarians, politicians, business leaders, sports people and entertainers on one stage to champion the freedom to express and engage in thoughtful debate and dialogue. Festival Co Directors Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple, alongside Producer Sanjoy K Roy and Teamwork Arts, create a platform for an array of speakers to debate, discuss and present their ideas in the annual five-day programme set against the backdrop of Rajasthan's stunning cultural heritage and the Diggi Palace in the state capital Jaipur. Past speakers have ranged from Nobel Laureates His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, J.M. Coetzee, Muhammad Yunus and Orhan Pamuk, Man Booker Prize winners Ben Okri, Howard Jacobson and Yan Martel, Pulitzer Prize winners Andrew Sean Greer, Colson Whitehead and Jhumpa Lahiri, Sahitya Akademi winners Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Amitabh Bachchan, the late A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and former president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai. Link to our website: https://www.jaipurliteraturefestival.org Link to Jaipur Literature Festival 2018 sessions: https://bit.ly/3bZZgaD Social media links: Facebook:   / jaipurlitfes.  . Twitter:   / jaipurlitfest   Instagram:   / jaipurlitfest   #sachinpilot #rajdeepsardesai #democracy #namitabhandare