DECLINE OF DEMOCRACY IN INDIA

   

    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.

Democracy has become a ‘nominal’ form of Government in India.

BY-ELECTIONS - THE RULING PARTY'S PARTY DAYS

Sabari Girisan. 

   

       I woke up after a nap at 3pm yesterday and I saw my grandma having three sarees and a dhoti with her. Asking her about that, she said that three persons gave those to her and conveyed that they would meet my parents afternoon. Puzzled what had happened, I unfolded the dhoti and saw a black-white-red border in it. Recognizing the border, I was appalled by the fact that we were bribed for votes by the AIADMK's members. They wisely used the list of voters in each house to reckon the number of persons eligible for vote present in the family and their respective genders. Those three saris are for my mother, grand mother and sister and the dhoti is for my father!!

        This is a perfect execution of corruption done with a meticulous planning. Sad that such a kind of planning is missing in the execution of various activities and schemes of national importance. The DMK member's laissez-faire atrocities in Thirumangalam by-election 2008-09 conjured up to my mind. The ruling party has the upper hand in the by-election, not only in having majority of votes after the election but also in doing malpractices to woo voters before it. In other words, even though the ruling party is sure of winning the by-election (as happened in previous by-elections) they sincerely perform this stealthy electoral mission of buying votes. These events mark the harbinger of by-election in Pudukkottai that is to be held on June 12th due to the demise of former MLA Muthukumaran.

   

        I am fascinated when I know about the well-structured framework and the activities of the party members which are done a month or two before the election. Usually, houses are bought or hired in different  areas of every city, town and village which are exclusively used by the party members for their sojourn in constituencies. These representatives, sent by the party head to look after the elections, are usually representatives elected by the people i.e., MLAs, Ministers, Mayors etc... They feel more dignified to be the former than the latter. The houses get whitewashed, cleaned, air-conditioned and become immaculate before their arrival.

      

     Then the emissaries bestow people by giving some thousand rupees to assist and support them all through their rallies. Besides the money, they are catered freely for that month.Thanks to the Election Commission's order, feasts in Mahals are banned. The by-election tornado even generates electricity to the particular constituency. Power cut abstained Pudukkottai two months before the election. People rushed to buy the freebies which were given hastily within two days just before the announcement of election date. But after the announcement date freebies such as dhotis, saris etc.  are delivered to the people at the doorstep!!

     The rallies cause immense traffic jam in towns such as Pudukkottai where the roads are usually narrow. The loudspeakers they use in such rallies sing songs and make rhetoric speeches in a sound that exceeds the limit prescribed by the commission. One can see a sudden outburst of luxury white cars and white clothed persons all around the streets where the rally is conducted. The armed soldiers of the para-military forces who accompany them are perplexed about their purpose. Whether to safeguard the politicians or the people?

       These party members become great philanthropists during the time of elections. They are ready to give any amount of money requested  by the people for any temple, small associations etc.., in hot cash, if they are assured of getting their votes. Rupee notes are brought in somehow despite stringent restrictions placed by the Election Commission to carry amount exceeding 2.5 lacs without proper documents.

       Though these acts of seducing people with the lure of money are done in all elections stealthily, they are done blatantly in by-elections. Election Commission finds it difficult to control the flow of money and materials during by-elections as the restrictions imposed are confined to the particular constituency.

       The bouts of these atrocities make people to oppose the idea of by-election. Though well addressed as "the representative of the people", an MLA or MP represents a political party in a particular constituency. Many people even do not know the name of the candidate they are going to vote. They vote on looking at the symbol of the party (or) its affiliated party. In other words, we are electing parties, not individuals. So, when a representative of a party in a constituency died (or) resigned (or) disqualified, the party can make a simple replacement.

       So by-elections are needed, after the death (or) resignation (or) disqualification of an MLA (or) MP, only in two circumstances :

              i)If the MLA/MP was an independent candidate.(here, the people would have voted looking at the  individual, for his/her personality, talent, caliber etc..,)

              ii)If an affiliated party (parties) had withdrawn its(their) support from the main party and may or may not join another party during the term of the Government.

      If we find an alternative to by-elections, we can not only stop the money game played by politicians, but we can also curb the expenses met by the Government for the sake of election which could be turned for the development of that constituency.  Today the Honorable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Ms.J.Jayalalitha comes here to do her campaign. Many main roads of Pudukkottai turned into parking areas for Innovas, Xylos and Scorpios.Commutation becomes very difficult. The pity policemen,since yesterday night, stand  all along the route in which the CM is going to traverse . Ape vans rush towards the spot carrying herds of people. Money plays its part here. Again, it is the poor who are targeted and exploited by the local politicians to show their strength before the CM.

     Nearly hundred cases are registered so far and two to four people are arrested daily.But they are not the real persons to be arrested.We still do not know what to do with those clothes given to us. It is difficult to instigate a protest as many people even started wearing the clothes. They argue that it is their money that the politicians plunder and now they are getting their dividend. How to handle this issue? Suggestions are welcome.       

RELIGION – A BLACK MARK IN THE HANDS OF VOTERS

     














               The world is full of diversity and it makes the world beautiful. The problem starts when one starts stratifying the diversity, rather than enjoying and accommodating it. When I was assigned to enumerate the disadvantages of a Republican nation, the first issue that came into my mind was caste. Castes outnumber districts in India and each district has many castes within it. So, when a representative has to be elected from a district, politicians start playing the caste game to infatuate the voters by instigating their herd instincts.

               Politicians, like the British, follow the “Divide and Rule” policy in this multi-cultural nation, for their gain. The people, while electing their representative, should bear broader perspectives and long term benefits in their mind rather being subjective to their caste and religion.  The matter discussed here is the influence of religion, caste and cash on Indian Election and ultimately on Indian Politics.

                To start with, I present you the inference of a survey that was conducted in Uttar Pradesh (UP) - the hotbed for caste gambling - about the ongoing Assembly Election there (written on the Op-Ed page of The Hindu dated 28/11/2011 URL : http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2665895.ece).

                There, the Jatav community people are supporting Mayawati’s Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) as she hails from that community and raised the social position of the community in the state. Mulayam Singh ‘Yadav’ is supported by Yadav community.  Though Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) Ajit singh is a Jat Community leader, he and his ally Congress depends on the support of Muslims. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as anticipated, takes the issue of Ayodhya and is backed by some Hindus.

              After reading this, I wonder what for the election in India is meant for. Is that used for electing a political leader or a religious (or) community leader? We want to keep in mind that election is the main institution in India to implement democracy and vote is the main power vested with the people to decide the fate of the country. If we misuse this power the whole national integrity of the country gets pulverized.

            In an article written to The Hindu titled “Umpiring a Gigantic exercise” dated 4/1/2012 ( URL : http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2772437.ece), former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Navin Chawla mentioned that during the May 2009 General Elections, a polling station was set up deep inside the Gir Forest for a single person to cast his single vote. This is the value given to the vote by the Constitution of India. If we adulterate this value, it would be the pinnacle of disrespect given to the Constitution and to our freedom fighters.

           Moreover, when people look for a person’s religion or caste, they will sure forget his/her intellect, social responsibility and caliber. People believe that when a person of our religion or caste gets elected, he/she will do beneficiaries in favour of them. Automatically when got elected, they will give incentives and frame policies in a manner that the people of majority community is benefited, leaving behind the minority community in despair. In this way, religion has become a tool in the hands of politicians to deceive the people and to reduce the value of the vote.

          At last, the influence of money on Indian elections. These are regular features of elections held in South India. Thanks to the meticulous work done by the Election Commission, crores of rupees were seized in 2011 Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections that were to be distributed to the people to buy their vote. People want to realize that if a person is ready to give money or anything else to woo their votes before the election, he/she will never turn to them after they got elected. Because, their aim is to go to the House and to accumulate wealth. Not even a single percent to serve the people.

         So, do take the election process serious and do not ever underestimate the value given to your vote. Do some analysis before electing your representative.

                           "Cast your Vote……Don’t Vote your Caste”

HUNGER – AN EPIDEMIC DISEASE

US atones an economic crisis.Arabs suffer a democratic crisis. India, a crisis of corruption.But in one region, namely, “the Horn of Africa” suffers a hunger crisis. Thousands and thousands of people are laying down their life without a hand of food. This is a discredit on everyone of us.

The tyranny of insurgents:

The main reason for this famine, the UN says, is the impedance shown to the help agents by the

al-Shabab groups.They call themselves the rulers, who have the prime responsibility to save their subjects.

Similar affair is going on in Pakistan, where the ruling Gilani’s Government is suspicious of UNs WFP(World Food Programme) which extends its assistance to rehabilitate the flood-hit people. The Government is cynical about their action that they may be US’s Intelligence Agencies.

Superpowers-a wrong perception:

China is assiduous on expanding its domain. US squanders a lot of money in making their walls stronger. These superpowers should instead, melt their hearts to feed a million, to become a real superpower.

The UNs role:

The UN, on the other hand plays an subordinate role in these contexts.If it can use its power to dethrone a dictator(as in Libya-it allowed NATO to attack), it can use the same to save the lives of people. It has the capability to push aside some trivial insurgents and help the people.Otherwise it would lose its cause i.e., maintaining peace in the world. Better the name “UN” can be changed to “US” as the United Nations responds only according to the direction of that ogre.

Insurgent’s role:

The rebels and even the Government (Pakistan) should leave their fundamentalism and suspiciousness and should give more importance to people. If people are dying ,the very cause of forming a government would be died.

Our role:

We should create a mass awareness among the people and should insist the Government to donate a meager to WFP.Every nation should set aside their internal chaos for a small time and should do a little to save the humanity.

Conclusion:

As a sociologist, I strongly condemn the act of killing people in this rude way.To find a solution to these problems, we formed an NGO called “LIGHT”. Please join us to sustain peace.