r/IndianModerate

I have no affiliation with any political party or ideology. Just an unemployed Indian youth trying to understand who could potentially lead our country after the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

Who do you think are the potential PM candidates from the BJP/NDA, Congress/INDIA alliance, and other regional parties?

I'd love to hear different perspectives, including lesser-known leaders who could emerge as serious contenders.

What makes you think they could be potential candidates? Their leadership, policies, governance record, public support, or vision for India's future?

Let's have a healthy political discussion without turning this into a party-versus-party fight. I'm genuinely curious to hear your opinions!

Just a curious citizen trying to understand who might lead the country in the future. 🇮🇳

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came across this video. most liberals seem convinced that Hindutva is ruining India(rightfully so) but isn’t Islamist radicalisation a much bigger and graver threat. One is a threat in the next 15 years and the other is a threat which will maybe not hit us tomorrow but if left unchecked will consume us like it did to Lebanon / Turkey / Pakistan/ Iran?? what are we liberals doing about it??

A student admitted to BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, through the SC quota in 2014 reportedly remained in the first year of MBBS for over 11 years after failing his exams.

Doesn't this raise serious questions about the reservation system and the use of public resources? Isn't it a waste of taxpayers' money, a valuable medical college seat, faculty time, and other resources to keep a student enrolled for so long without academic progress?

Should there be stricter limits on attempts and course duration, regardless of caste or category? Or does this case highlight flaws in the implementation of reservation policies?

Two diagonal pedestrian crossings installed in Vilnius

Imagine reaching a normal four-way intersection and, instead of crossing in an L-shape, you just walk straight across the middle diagonally.

That's what Vilnius tested in 2022.

What's interesting is that at one of the intersections, people were already doing it. The pedestrian signal was giving everyone a green light at the same time, so pedestrians naturally started taking the shortest route across the junction.

The city basically said: people are already doing this, so let's actually mark it and see what happens.

They tested diagonal crossings at two intersections for six months while monitoring pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

I really like the question this raises:

Should road design always try to force people to behave differently, or should we sometimes look at what people naturally do and design around it?

Would you want to see something like this at a busy intersection in your city?

I got curious about this and went looking through some research:

>A 2022 study examining pedestrian signal phases in Vilnius discusses the use of diagonal crossings and found that exclusive pedestrian phases can reduce pedestrian-vehicle conflicts, while also noting that diagonal crossings can increase vehicle delay.

>Vilnius wasn't inventing the idea from scratch either. The city noted that diagonal crossings had already been used for years in places including Japan, Sweden, the US and Canada

The ongoing discourse around protective legislation and affirmative action in India has reached a critical boiling point. What was originally envisioned as a temporary measure for socio-economic upliftment and protection against atrocities is increasingly being weaponized, eroding merit, and creating widespread resentment among the general category.
If we don't address these core issues honestly, social friction will only escalate.

1. Weaponization of the SC/ST Act and Denial of Due Process The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was created to prevent genuine oppression. However, its strict provisions—particularly the bar on anticipatory bail—are frequently exploited for political leverage and personal vendettas.
A prime example is the recent legal action and denial of anticipatory bail to commentator Ajeet Bharti following complaints linked to Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Azad. When the law is applied asymmetricly—where one side faces immediate, unbailable legal action while controversial or derogatory remarks made by prominent political figures go unpunished—it destroys trust in equal justice under the law.

2. Inflammatory Political Rhetoric and Threats to Landowners The public rhetoric from certain political factions has grown dangerously hostile toward general category communities. We routinely see statements from self-proclaimed leaders—including figures in UP and activists making demands in Punjab—threatening arbitrary land redistribution, claiming they will confiscate land from general category landholders to redistribute it along caste lines.
When political campaigns are built around targeting specific communities rather than uplifting the poor, it stops being about social justice and becomes open intimidation.

3. The Capture of Benefits by the "Creamy Layer" The most glaring flaw in the current reservation model is that its benefits are overwhelmingly consumed by the affluent urban elite within reserved categories—children of senior IAS officers, politicians, and wealthy professionals. Meanwhile, impoverished families in rural areas remain left behind.
To preserve true equity, the "creamy layer" exclusion must be strictly implemented across all categories, including SC and ST, ensuring that assistance goes purely to those struggling with economic backwardness and rural deprivation.

4. Social Media Volatility and National Security Risks With algorithms amplifying misinformation and outrage, online friction is rapidly translating into ground-level polarization. If domestic fault lines deepen to the point of widespread civil unrest, it creates an immediate vulnerability. Hostile neighboring nations and foreign actors would inevitably fuel the flames to destabilize India from within.
If such extreme internal conflict ever erupts, history demonstrates the outcome: the central state weakens, the country fractures along regional lines, and dominant martial communities—who have held land and military standing for centuries—will end up stepping in to control their respective territories. Our founders envisioned a united, meritocratic nation, not a fragmented one driven by internal conflict.

5. Meritocracy, Brain Drain, and Political Inaction With government jobs shrinking and competition for college seats at an all-time high, unreserved candidates are being systematically pushed out regardless of their merit. Instead of reforming the system, mainstream politicians across party lines choose to close their eyes to the misuse of these laws out of fear for their immediate electoral prospects. This lack of reform is actively driving India’s brightest talent out of the country (brain drain).

Conclusion: It is time for key institutions like the Supreme Court and the Central Government to step in with bold reforms:
Introduce strict economic/income criteria for reservations across all groups.
Implement procedural safeguards against false cases under the SC/ST Act.
Hold political leaders accountable for anti-general category hate speech and inflammatory land-confiscation threats.
If the general category does not demand equal accountability and merit-based reforms now, the policy framework will continue to divide the nation rather than unite it.

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Almost every person from the opposition abuses PM Narendra Modi. I accept that he has introduced some policies that did not work well, and people have every right to criticize him for them. But what is the point of abusing the man personally?

He never abused people himself. He was born into a lower-middle-class family and witnessed the difficult period of the 1980s, including the Emergency and the riots. He respects every section of our society — even if someone believes he does so for political purposes.

He is around the age of our grandparents, yet people from Gen Z constantly abuse him. He is also respected by many people around the world. More importantly, our basic ethics and the culture of our country teach us to respect our elders. Yet somehow, we seem to have forgotten that.

If you don't like the Prime Minister, criticize his policies, decisions, ideology, or political record. You have every right to disagree with him. But there is no need to abuse him personally.

And if, in the future, he commits something truly horrible — such as a heinous crime — I will also have no reason to respect him.

But right now, I genuinely feel that people are going too far with personal abuse.

And if we are talking about leaders who have been accused of doing some of the most damaging things to the country, then Indira Gandhi's legacy also deserves serious historical discussion — yet she continues to be commemorated by the Gandhi family on her death anniversary.

Disagree with leaders. Criticize them. Hold them accountable. But don't lose basic respect and decency in the process.

What else we really feel missing in our lives other than love ? And the people who really loved us, did we ever got close to them ? We just keep ignoring the depth of love they had for us because society prints an image of them in our head and we assume that as truth.

Coming to our daily lives, I noticed how we act differently in our society because we don't like to disturb anyone, we don't want to be a reason of their sadness, so we often don't speak it out that how are we internally feeling, how the external chaos is impacting us. And the original thing named Ahimsa (non violence) that when came to us from our parents became so misinterpreted from what Gandhiji was trying to convey us.

Our parents said, "Just do your work, get back home, don't try to debate anyone, do not hurt their feelings" etc. But that cannot happen for long, if something is really bothering us and we just keep trying to ignore all stuff and passing fake smile, what we are doing is violence towards ourselves because this will eventually make us distorted from within and if one is distorted within he'll be violent outside. That means this is not the Ahimsa that Gandhiji was talking about.

Here I understood from the video that AP is saying that if living distorted like this will make us violent inside and then violent outside, then that means not becoming distorted from inside is what Ahimsa (non-violence) is. That means not accepting to live a false life is Ahimsa towards ourselves and then towards others also.

If we don't call a lazy person lazy and we keep greeting him as a good man etc. why he'll ever become active ? He would think that being like this lazy when I am respected so much then it is a good way of living altogether. Will he ever change ? No ! And might he get obese over time and develop cardiac issues for example. Have we done non violence to him ? It appears from outside but its not.

Then living the right life, making right choices, dropping all falsehood, denying all the bondages is what the real meaning of Ahimsa is. That's what kind of life Gandhiji was thinking for us, a life free from bondages.

Happy Gandhi Jayanti to everyone (in advance), may we question and understand the real meaning of things the great people had for us.

Hypergamy is the tendency for females to pursue a very small set of males for romanic purposes. This leaves a large part of the male population without any prospects. The result of this is a complete mismatch in matching - guys who are extremely handsome and well to do are paired with not so well to do women.

Have you noticed this within your circle?

There should be some method to madness. Opposition has to talk something substantial to lure the voter and believing in their leadership. Instead this continuous allegations and protests not going to yield much.