A friend of mine, who happens to be an MBA student with a decent job, asked me whether I support the ongoing protest When I asked him why do you think I should support the protest? He said: > India has the highest debt of 500 lakh crore > Highest unemployment rate in the world > No new education institutions > Primary schools getting closed > Highest inflation in the world > Per capita GDP very low in comparison to other countries in the world > Students not being able to crack competitive exams > Multiple paper leaks > Vishwaguru is JUMLA I was surprised to see how someone so educated could be so misinformed. I answered to his questions: > In 2014, India's external debt stood at around 23.9% of GDP (approximately ₹55 lakh crore) Today, it is around 19.1% of GDP (about ₹181 lakh crore). This is nowhere close to the ₹500 lakh crore figure he mentioned > Sudan has the highest unemployment rate in the world not India, India currently has an unemployment rate of 5.5%. In global comparisons among major economies, India performs better than countries like France (8.1%) and Spain (10.83%) > In 2014, India had 16 IITs, 7 AIIMS, 13 IIMs, and 9 IIITs. Today, there are 23 IITs, 22 AIIMS, 20 IIMs, and 25 IIITs > Venezuela has the highest inflation rate in the world not India, India is performing the best even in the ongoing wars with inflation below 4.5% > India's per capita income has increased by more than 45% since 2014 > The inability to crack competitive exams is largely an individual outcome. However, the government's role is to ensure a fair, transparent, and merit-based examination system > If we are comparing with the past, the situation was worse. Even high school examination papers used to be leaked. That said, paper leaks remain unacceptable, and there must be strict accountability > Any country that confers its highest civilian honour does not do so without recognizing a person's influence, contribution, or global stature. Whether one agrees with the term "Vishwaguru" or not, India's growing international standing cannot be dismissed I have no issue with anyone protesting or criticizing the government. In fact, that's a fundamental right in a democracy. But if your arguments don't stand up to basic fact-checking, then you're not challenging the government, you're simply spreading misinformation. @aravind @Sanjay_Dixit @SanjeevSanskrit @JaipurDialogues @UdayMahurkar @prafullaketkar