All eyes are on Delhi and the protests over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The last intensive revision of the rolls was conducted between 2002 and 2004, when the BJP was in power under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It passed largely without controversy. In the 2004 general election, the UPA came to power and Manmohan Singh became prime minister — a reminder that the exercise itself need not tilt the field towards the incumbent.What has changed today is trust. Exams that leak, jobs that don’t come and a vote that may not count, all tell young Indians the same thing: The system is not working for them.AdvertisementHere is what the leadership could do if it wishes to steady the ship.Also Read | For India’s youth, the gap between promise and delivery is becoming too wideStart with honest, open dialogue. In my years of working alongside the government, I have seen that those who serve in it are some of the smartest minds in the country, putting in long hours solving problems most of us never see. The public needs a glimpse of this.With openness may come criticism, but making yourself vulnerable also makes you more likeable. Those who show their flaws are often loved far more than seemingly perfect leaders.AdvertisementSecond, strengthen and protect a free and unbiased media. When the Constitution was framed, the press did not have the reach it does today. If it had, the framers of our Constitution might have built more safeguards. The government should build those guardrails now. One way is to secure independent funding for news outlets. Just as companies above a certain size must spend 2 per cent of their average net profits on CSR, another 2 per cent could be directed to an independently governed fund for news media.Third, move away from populist agendas and invest in the long-term development of the country — such as formulating a strong, holistic environment policy. The shocks that climate events like El Niño bring can only be mitigated by long-term planning of this kind. Similarly, I would invest deeply in the quality of education. India’s future rests on its youth, and educating them is the best long-term investment the nation can make.Fourth, transform the administrative machinery. This is where the protestors’ anger is most justified. The selection process for administrators needs to be more robust and less dependent on a single exam. Also needed is a performance-based system of incentives and promotion to ensure efficiency.Finally, build a global strategy on soft power and economic capability. Returns on investment in soft power come long after the next election. France has spent generations turning its culture, food, fashion, art and sense of refinement into a national brand. In 2024, its travel and tourism sector contributed 266 billion euros, or 9.1 per cent of GDP. India has thousands of years of civilisational history. Yoga, ayurveda, spirituality, cuisine, Bollywood, music, art and the legacy of Gandhi and non-violence are already recognised around the world. We don’t have a shortage of culture — only of strategy.But global power also comes from becoming indispensable. Taiwan spent decades building a semiconductor ecosystem; today, TSMC makes nearly three-quarters of the world’s contract-manufactured chips. China played an even longer game: Its share of global manufacturing rose from under 9 per cent in 2004 to 28 per cent in 2023, more than the US, Japan and Germany combined. India needs to think this way, too. We should identify a handful of industries where India already has an advantage and build the entire ecosystem around them.That, to me, is what a global strategy should look like. Build the cultural power that makes the world want India, and the economic capability that makes the world need India. Decide what “Brand India” should stand for, what India should become indispensable at, and have the discipline to build both over decades.The advantage of being the mother of two teenagers is that I am regularly forced to rethink everything I do, often trying measures outside my comfort zone until something lands. At this critical juncture, a well-thought-out long-term plan for the country, communicated honestly and openly by those in power, could help change the direction of the current unrest, even if it is a long shot.The writer is director, RPG Foundation