The attraction that the Chinese pace of progress holds for our young elite is understandable. The fascination is so great that they are quite willing to sacrifice our liberal democratic system. Progress today at any cost, without care for tomorrow can be a highly dangerous pursuit. Tomorrow, possibly can turn out to be horrendous, as the case studies of many authoritarian systems reveal. We do not have to delve in history of many centuries past, but look at only the twentieth century The rise of the Third Reich in Germany started with a great promise, but ended in failure at a massive cost in human life and destruction of many cities and towns. The Cultural Revolution in China, it is known, cost lakhs of lives. Fast decision making by a strong personality led to the breakup of Pakistan. All this can happen in the absence of some built-in checks and balances which democracy provides. This book is a fact-based look back at our six-plus decades of democratic journey In spite of a slower and messier movement of democratic working, our scorecard is not something to be laughed at.