The notion of democracy, unlike other forms of government,
focuses much on the functions and values of the political system rather than
the structure. This is the reason why many governments with varied political
structures claim to be democratic. The ideas that form the basis of democracy
are equality, fundamental rights, liberty and welfare of the people. Thus
democracy is not just about universal suffrage, parliamentary legislation and
judicial appraisal. While the existence of these institutions and processes
will facilitate the safeguarding of values that constitute democracy, political
systems like dictatorship and monarchy will undermine the values, at least, in
a course of time.
There is a
general consensus among all social thinkers that there is a steady subversion
in the democratic ideals as well as in democratic institutions in the countries
that are said to be democratic.
In terms of quantity, that is, population, India, with no
doubt, is the biggest democracy in the world. But if we analyze qualitatively,
the scope of democracy in India is becoming smaller and smaller. Though India
might have achieved an enduring electoral democracy, we fail to establish a
sustainable functional democracy.
Declining democracy in India can be studied in two aspects.
i ) Subversion of democratic ideals: Rapid increase in inequality,
deprioritizing ‘welfare of the people’,
Government’s aversion towards farmers, neglecting poorer section of the
society from policy making, privatization of natural resources, parallel economy,
corruption, increase of arbitrariness and impunity, corporate owned media,
corporate corruption, rapid privatization, environmental racism etcetera.
ii) Misuse of
democratic institutions: Vote-bank politics, increased corporate lobbying
in politics, family politics, cash for votes, fake votes and other electoral
frauds, culture of impunity etcetera.
If we analyze empirically, we could establish a correlation between the above two aspects.
Our Indian Constitution, especially Part III (Fundamental
rights) and Part IV (Directive Principles), serves as an exemplary of
democratic ideals that are needed to be followed to establish and ‘sustain’ a
democracy. But none of the Directive Principles are followed by our policy makers
and the scope of fundamental rights is diminished by continuous amendments.
