Dear Prime Minister Modi,
You are one of the most powerful and respected leaders in India’s history. You have a clear majority, and the admiration of the world, and the trust of millions, and with that you have what no Indian leader has had in decades: the mandate to reshape India at its roots. Not only is this a political opportunity. It is a historic responsibility.
Today, India is at a defining moment. We are thinking boldly around digital infrastructure, space, and diplomacy on the world stage. But below that surface is a silent crisis shadowing our economy, our young people and our emotional health. If we do not have a visionary and courageous response to these challenges, Viksit Bharat only remains unfulfilled dreams.
This is a roadmap — not of criticism, but of aspiration. A challenge to move beyond slogans and into systems. From survival, to impact. Room to grow, and then beyond growth, into happiness and human development.
The Central Challenges for India
1. A School System That Doesn’t Prepare Students for Tomorrow: Indian children are in school, millions of them, but most can’t read, write or think. Universal quality education, and future-ready skills, remain a dream. The system values memorization, not innovation. Artificial intelligence, writing code, brainstorming new ideas, and solving problems are still luxuries of the privileged.
2. Youth Unemployment and Underemployment: 83% of youth in India are unemployed or working below their potential. This is not only an economic matter. It’s a crisis of diminished self-worth, resentment and social dislocation.
3. A Health System That Fails to Serve the Masses: Public spending on health in India is just over 1% of GDP. Nutrition, maternal care, and mental health are woefully underfunded and understaffed.
4. Mental Health and Emotional Crisis: Millions are dealing with stress, loneliness and anxiety, still mental health remains a taboo subject. People don’t talk about it, don’t seek help and certainly don’t know how to build resilience.
5. Income Inequality and Tax Injustice: A scant 2% of Indians pay income tax. The bottom 50% pay more indirect taxes than the top 10%. For nearly all its citizens, there is no real safety net.
6. Underinvestment in R&D & Failure to Innovate: India spends less than 0.7% of its GDP on research and development. We speak about being a global power, but we don’t fund the ideas that lead to a powerful nation.
The Solutions: A Vision for a Wealthy and Happy India
1. Transforming Education through AI and empathy:
- In every government school, implement AI-powered personal tutors like Khanmigo.
- Emphasising foundational literacy, critical thinking, creativity, and life skills.
- Put gratitude, mindfulness, and empathy in the daily curriculum (as in Australia’s Resilience Project).
- Partner with Indian ed-tech entrepreneurs to develop regional-language solutions.
2. Skilling for the Future: ITIs to AI Labs
- Combine skill development with school education from class 6 onwards.
- Develop public-private partnerships to connect training with jobs.
- Let India be the world leader in green jobs, care jobs and digital freelancers.
3. Mission: Universal Healthcare + Mental Wellness
- Increase health expenditure to 3% of GDP.
- Build wellness centres emphasizing preventive care, nutrition and mental health.
- Crowdsource a National Resilience & Mental Health Program, woven into daily practices of journaling, meditation and social connection.
4. Direct Support to Families and Tax Justice
- Reorganise GST to lessen the weight on essentials.
- Enable direct cash support to bottom 50% via DBT 2.0.
- Expand social security — pensions, health insurance, unemployment safety nets.
5. Invest Aggressively in R&D and Local Innovation
- Take R&D investment to 2% of GDP.
- Establish a National Innovation Fund to provide financing to startups, universities and inventors.
- Create 100 Centers of Excellence in clean tech, AI, agriculture, and health.
6. Decentralize Governance: The States Should Lead Locally
- Restore the states’ revenue share from 32% to 41% as recommended.
- Let states create their own blueprints of education, health, skilling etc.
- Build in flexibility, not uniformity. India is diverse. Our policies must be too.
Only You Can Make This Happen, Mr. Modi
You have political capital to make hard, long-term choices.
You have a great connect with the aam aadmi (common man) — they trust you.
You are not subject to coalition pressures in the literal sense.
You can make bold, unpopular choices for the greater good.
You have all the respect and interest of the world to bring international knowledge, talent and investment.
What the world needs now is not another scheme or slogan. What India requires is a united, audacious national mission to:
- Educate every child well.
- Meaningfully skill every youth.
- Use love to heal each mind.
- Give dignity to every citizen.
- Be audacious and fund all the big ideas.
This is how we build a country that is as rich in GDP as we are in joy, opportunity, and self-belief.
A Viksit Bharat must be more than just an economic miracle. The world where the people of our land rise.
The time is now. The leader is you.
Respectfully,
A Citizen Who Still Believes in the Indian Dream
Sources & References
- India Employment Report 2024 – International Labour Organization (ILO)
ILO Report (India Employment Paper 2024) - ASER Reports (Annual Status of Education Report) – Pratham Education Foundation
ASER Centre - Ministry of Education, Government of India
https://www.education.gov.in
- World Health Organization (WHO) – Mental Health in India
WHO India Mental Health Data - The Resilience Project (Australia) – Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness Curriculum
https://theresilienceproject.com.au - Lancet Study on Mental Disorders in India (India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative, 2020)
Lancet Public Health Study
- National Health Profile (2023) – Central Bureau of Health Intelligence
CBHI Reports - World Bank – India Health Expenditure (% of GDP)
World Bank India Health Data
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics – Global R&D Spending
https://uis.unesco.org - Economic Survey of India 2023-24 – Ministry of Finance
https://indiabudget.gov.in/economicsurvey
- Oxfam India Report (2023) – Survival of the Richest: The India Story
Oxfam Report - Income Tax Department – India Direct Tax Base Report
https://incometaxindia.gov.in
- Khan Academy’s Khanmigo AI Tutor Launch
https://blog.khanacademy.org - National Education Policy 2020 – Ministry of Education
https://www.education.gov.in/nep