New Delhi, Aug. 14 -- On the 80th anniversary of Independence, an uncomfortable truth has to be stated plainly: India is steadily moving away from functioning as the normative democracy that the founding fathers had envisioned in August 1947.

Yes, citizens vote, despite deep misgivings about the integrity of the electoral process, and elect a party to office in the elusive hope that it will govern with responsibility and empathy.

Post elections, when citizens step out to demand that their grievances be heard, the state's Pavlovian reflex is not objective dialogue in Parliament, nor a hearing in a committee room. It is barricades, prohibitory orders, and the lathi.

Retired Civil Servants' Concern

That was the core sentiment of a letter...