Indian Democracy
Essay No. 01
India, with a population of over one billion people is the biggest democracy of the world. India, a union of states and union territories, is secular democratic republic with a parliamentary form of government. The republic functions under the terms of the Constitution of India adopted on 26th November, 1949. It came into force on 26th January 1950.
The elections to the parliament and state legislatures are held regularly on the adult franchise basis. Thus, in this form ultimate power is in the hands of the people who choose their representatives through ballot box when elections are held. Technically it is ruled by the people, of the people and by the people.
The first general election was held in 1952. Since, then Indian democratic system has flourished to the astonishment of the world. No one believed that a nation of largely poor, orthodox and illiterate people could sustain democracy. But sixty years down the road, democratic process is going strong and has been firmly established. The credit for laying deep foundation of democratic traditions goes to Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bheemrao Ambedkar, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Rajagopalachari, .Sardar Patel, Malviya etc. The governments have changed, come and gone reflecting the mood of the voters and proving the success of the system. The democracy is the force that has kept so many linguistic, cultural, racial, regional and religious groups, sections, sects and sub-nationalities of India together.
India is a multiparty democracy. There are a number of national and regional parties, like INC, BJP, BSP, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dais, CPM, CPI, Telugu Desam, DMK, AIADMK, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, National Conference etc. All these parties have tasted electoral victories and defeats, gained power and lost. The defeated wait for a next election battle and better luck.
This has resulted in political parties becoming more conscious of their responsibility and accountability to the people. Even onion prices can decide the fate of a government. The election Commission, a constitutional authority is responsible for conducting the elections. It is headed by the Chief Election Commissioner, whose independence is preserved and protected by a special constitutional provision. He cannot be removed from his office, except in like manner, and like grounds, as a judge of the Supreme Court. The commission enjoys many special powers to make the elections free and fair.
The political parties are the very foundation of Indian democracy. The opposition parties keep a check on the government through criticism to ensure that it does not degenerate into dictatorship. The opposition parties are supposed to criticize the government policies in a democratic and constructive way upholding the spirit of national unity, secularism, integration, liberty and rights of the people. The opposition also helps in formation of the public opinion.
The corner stones of Indian democracy are liberty equality, justice and fraternity. The freedom of speech, expression of faith, profession and association and right to property are guaranteed as fundamental rights. An independent, strong and active judiciary sees to it that these rights are not violated.
But we must all remain vigilant. The democratic system faces dangers. The politics has became synonym for corruption. There is nexus between criminals and politicians. The criminals have invaded the political parties and they vitiate the electoral process. Then, there is threat of communalism, casteism, terrorism, separatism, money power, muscle power, mob mentality and rigging. Defection also is a malady.
The conduct of the representatives of people in Parliament and state assemblies is shameful and sickening. Often parliamentary and legislative proceedings are obstructed forcibly and the houses are not allowed to function or are boycotted. Let us hope for better sense to prevail and our democracy weathering the storm.
Essay No. 02
Democracy in India
India is a democratic country. There are so many merits of democracy. It provides freedom. People enjoy the liberty in a system of democracy. Everybody is free to express his views. He can give speeches freely before the public. They are free to criticize the wrong policies of the government. People have the liberty to form their own parties. They can change the government through fresh election. All the people are treated as equal in democracy. All enjoy equal rights irrespective of their class and status. All the citizens get equal opportunities of rising to the highest office.
Indian democracy is most successful and world-wide popular. There had been one party rule in India even up to late sixties. In due course of time when that party failed to gauge the depth of regional needs, several regional parties emerged in different parts of the country. It changed the total political scenario of the country. The monopoly of Congress party ended. The regional parties started throwing their weight in the formation of the government both at the Centre and the States. Fears were expressed at one time that too many regional parties were a danger to India’s unity, but these fears were misplaced. All the regional parties could prove themselves loyal to the nation with an integrity which was beyond doubt. These parties merged only as a protest against the alleged neglect of the States by the single party at the Centre which had been ruling since independence.
The government in a democracy is formed by the people, of the people and for the people. Everybody who attains the age of 18 years has the right to cast the vote to elect representatives of his choice for Parliament and State assemblies.
There is a lot of change in Indian politics. People are aware about the value of their votes. It is only at the time of election that the people can show their power to the political leaders. The leaders muster all the resources through rallies, special films and slogans. They convey their so called achievements, promises for development and varieties of programmes for attracting the electorates. The leaders of the political parties know that the ordinary people are the final arbiters who can mould the destiny of those leaders. This speaks of the real success of Indian democracy.
When the Congress, which was the ruling party at the Center, failed in sorting out regional issues, a new factor emerged in the working of Indian democracy. Some of the political parties began to split and several regional parties were formed, which left the option of politics of coalition at the Center and the States. It is very difficult in today’s politics to form government with single party majority. The voters are divided based on caste, religion and regionalism. Nothing more can be expected other than the fractured mandate of the people, which we have seen in both the general elections held in 1998 and 2004. It was National Democratic Alliance which formed a coalition government in 1998 at the Centre under the leadership of Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It was an uphill task for the leader of coalition to manage all the partners all the time. But Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had shown a high degree of flexibility and accommodation for others. It is now the turn of United Progressive Alliance Government led by the Congress and headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh to demonstrate and ensure, by dint of word, action and unity, that the new coalition is capable of completing its journey successfully.
By virtue of repeated elections for Centre and States, and a lot of ups and downs in Indian polity, the political map of our country has changed tremendously. Indian electorates faced emergency during 1976, which spawned so many political parties. imposition of emergency was not accepted by general masses. A number of people in different parts of the country faced trauma because of misbehaviour of police during emergency. The enlightened electorates brought Smt. Indira Gandhi down in the wake of excesses of Emergency.
As never before, the judiciary, the Election Commission and the media have played a cardinal role in cleansing the Indian political system. All the Chief Election Commissioners beginning from Mr. T. N. Seshan have been doing their best to clean up the filthy electoral system. The apex Court has since laid down certain norms, making it mandatory for the contestants to declare their assets and liabilities alongwith statements as to their criminal record, if any. The media has brought wide awareness among the common masses against the corruption within political circles and criminalization in Indian politics. We have very much seen the positive effect of this exercise during recent assembly election held in Bihar during 2005.
There is a freedom to both electronic and print media in India, which is a good sign of true democracy. The media should be free to give opinion polls for each phase of election. TV channels have played vital role in bringing out the good as well as bad points into lime light which made the ruling and other parties more vigilant in their working.
Our election mechanism has also achieved a lot of sophistication by employing latest technologies. For the first time Electronic voting machines have been used throughout the country. It has made the process very easy, interesting, accurate and fast.
Whatever may be the seamy side of politics, our democracy is absolutely successful and one can be proud of Indian democracy. People believe in democratic system of governance. Indian democracy has always been fine-tuned by virtue of joint efforts of a vigilant media, a conscious Election Commission and a powerful Judiciary. All the four are serving as pillars of our democracy.
