Making the world's largest democracy work for the world's largest youth population

Ruchi Gupta works to make the world's largest democracy more responsive to the world's largest youth population. Over nearly two decades, she has worked across politics, public policy, and institution-building, linking democratic accountability to youth opportunity.

She is the Executive Director of the Future of India Foundation, a non-partisan institution focused on harnessing India's demographic and democratic dividend. She leads YouthPOWER, India's only civic-tech platform that defines, measures, and helps improve youth opportunity across all of India's nearly 800 districts. By linking local youth outcomes to political and administrative action, the platform supports elected representatives and public institutions in building more responsive strategies for young people.

Earlier, Ruchi led the world's largest progressive student and youth organisation, with more than 4 million registered members. In 2016, she played a key role in a rare parliamentary milestone in the Rajya Sabha: the adoption of an amendment to the President's Address, only the fifth such instance in independent India's history, defending the right of all citizens to contest local elections.

A former McKinsey consultant and Aspen Global Leadership Fellow, Ruchi has published more than 150 columns on political economy, democratic reform, and technology across leading Indian publications. Her collated writings are on her Substack, rgupta.substack.com.