“As I would non be a slave. so I would non be a maestro. ” This was the thought of Abraham Lincoln’s about democracy. Though really true in its basic signifier. does this thought keep true In the Indian context? After finishing 62 old ages of being a ‘sovereign. socialist. layman and democratic republic’ and presently being in the 65th twelvemonth of its independency. we can decidedly name India a successful democracy for prolonging all the ups and downs in these old ages. The political traditions inherited from our history do non supply a sufficient account to this. India was ruled by foreigners. Moghuls and Englishmen. before its independency. Prior to that there are little mentions of the common people being included in the operation of the lands that existed in Indian history. Colonialism was the melting pot of India’s democracy. Western-educated leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru were inclined towards democracy. Sing the human death rate of democracies in post-colonial scenes. the political traditions inherited from the colonial yesteryear are clearly non a sufficient account. The democratic committedness of India’s leaders since independency has besides made a major part to the endurance of democracy in India.
Abraham Lincoln competently defined democracy as a authorities of the people. by the people and for the people. This definition clearly underlines the basic dogma that. in this- signifier of authorities. people are supreme. The ultimate power is in their custodies and they exercise it in the signifier of electing their representatives at the clip of elections. With a billion people. the Republic of India is the world’s largest democracy. India modeled its authorities on the British parliamentary system. with a healthy dosage of influences from the United States and the remainder of Europe. India is run by a parliament made up of two houses. ( similar to the United States Congress. which comprises the Senate and the House of Representatives ) . These two houses are called the Lok Sabha ( House of the People ) and the Rajya Sabha ( Council of States ) . Of the two. the Lok Sabha holds more power. but the two houses work together to do the Torahs of the state. Though the four pillars of our democracy are strong plenty to transport the load of the state. whether Indian democracy itself is still strong and believable. is a affair of argument.
We are certainly free from the suppression and development of the British Raj but are still governed by Torahs and patterns adopted from them. The Indian Penal Code has its roots in British bench with the first penal codification being drafted in 1862 by a committee chaired by Lord Macaulay. No uncertainty that these Torahs have been amended and made better. at least on paper. but what about their execution? So many good enterprises are proposed every twelvemonth by the authorities but when it comes to implementing them. we merely find scams and goof-ups. The bench of our state is armed with some of the best employees. Lawyers or Judgess. we have the best and through all these old ages the bench has achieved mileposts in its finding of facts and has besides banged themselves on mileposts in some. Cases in Indian tribunals take ages to acquire solved but the consequences are satisfactory in bulk of the instances. Since 1950. Indian democracy has flourished and degraded at the same time. On one manus citizens got their cardinal rights of equality. freedom. faith. right to constitutional redresss. right against development and the recent right to education while on the other they reduced voting which led to a diminution in the quality of campaigners contending the elections.
One ground that this can be attributed to is. people got educated and got to cognize about the soiled games of politician and this led to the deficiency of involvement in voting. We may see the figure of electors turnout increasing but how many of these electors are at that place harmonizing to their ain will? The educated adult male ever has this thought in his mind- ‘If I am being duped of my revenue enhancement money. why should I vote for the individual responsible for it? ’ This idea comes as an encouragement to power hungriness people who know that if the educated adult male is non voting. they can ever misdirect the nonreader and destitute population and addition power. Take the instance of the UP polls where 190 out of the entire campaigners had condemnable charges against them. With so much of poorness. feeding the hapless and distribution of money are the easiest manner to acquire a guaranteed place. In Punjab. drugs. intoxicant and hard currency worth crores of rupees was seized before elections. This is merely the tip of an iceberg but it is adequate to oppugn the credibleness of our legislative assembly. Our inclination is to happen loopholes in the system and so work them every bit much as we can. The immorality of casteism is one such illustration.
When Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar drafted the fundamental law. it was clearly mentioned that reserve will be merely till the backward categories are uplifted but till day of the month development in the name of ‘lack of exposure’ continues. Sing the supplication of the needy is decidedly a baronial gesture but being indulgent towards those who act needy will add to the already spread outing population of felons in the legislative assembly. In a state where money is the supreme factor in the operation of about everything. corruptness will decidedly scale surging highs and in that procedure it will impair the really operation of the system. Almost every one of us has experienced corruptness in our lives. Bribing the traffic havaldar or the drudge at a authorities office is the standard norm to acquire a work done. The anti-corruption motion or the Anna motion. as it was popularly known. did do a grade on the heads of many people ab initio. All the protests. candle-light Marches and mass meetings catapulted Anna Hazare to a family name. The motion started with a pure attempt to eliminate the societal immorality of corruptness by conveying in a Lokpal commission for each province but later it developed into a circus wherein there were menaces issued to both the authorities and Team Anna. It looked like all Anna cared about was being in the limelight.
Where were his Gandhian rules when he talked about floging people who consumed intoxicant in his small town? If we keep apart this portion of the motion. the remainder of it was a large illustration of how strong our democracy is. The people power was winning over the Government power and it did transfuse a sense of duty in the citizens throughout the state. Here is a inquiry to inquire ourselves- Did we truly follow what we promised to follow during the mass meetings? Freedom and autonomy are two things that all people cherish ; immature and old alike. Democracy exactly gives both of these. In today’s universe democracy is needed for a smooth running of a state. The Arab Spring proved this point when all the dictators. who ruled most of the Arab states. were overthrown in an effort to convey peace to the state. There are illustrations of monarchies turning into democracies and people being given their basic rights. Suppression of feelings and address merely adds more air to the ever-expanding balloon of concerns of people and sometime in the hereafter that bubble will certainly split the manner it did in Libya. Tunisia. Egypt and other states.
The British ruled India for 150 old ages whereas prior to them we were ruled by Mughals. It was after so many old ages that the people of India had the freedom of idea and choosing for democracy was a wise determination that our sires made. Apart from the factors that are already mentioned some other factors like faith. development. parts and population besides affect our democracy a batch. A batch of political support is garnered based on one’s faith. With Hinduism and Islam being major faiths here many national spiritual issues are the cardinal points of the success in elections. The population roar has been a major job for the authorities because it has resulted in deficiency of employment and addition in poorness. thereby besides impacting the development adversely. The adjustment of demands of assorted groups in the centralised construction has strengthened Indian Democracy on a regular basis. The best illustration is Kashmir which was granted a particular position and its ain separate fundamental law was drafted. Many a times this adjustment of demands has besides brought jobs to the authorities. India is a multicultural. agricultural society with a stiff and hierarchal societal construction.
In a universe where most stable democracies have industrialized and capitalist economic systems. this being in such a scene of periodic elections. constitutional authorities. and freedom of look and association has posed an rational mystifier. Many experts believe that the Indian Democracy is a merely a exhibitionist on the exterior and that in the coming old ages it will weaken but our democracy is based on really strong foundations and given its qualities. it will ne’er falter. It has faced many challenges in the past old ages and it is strong plenty to confront new challenges. India’s fate as a state depends on how successfully our democratic system will work in the old ages to come. Still there are many serious challenges before our democracy. Communalism. poorness. casteism. terrorist act and illiteracy. etc. are some of the basic jobs and challenges being faced by the Indian democracy. Ours is a secular state and by layman we have the freedom to learn. pattern and propagate one’s faith without interfering with that of others. But every now and so there are people who showcase communalism and fundamentalism thereby doing widespread public violences.
This has lead to a batch of spiritual favoritism and sidelining of certain castes by branding them responsible. Therefore. we have to be really argus-eyed and watchful about it. There is no province faith and all faiths and religious orders are equal before the jurisprudence. Democracy has been successful in India because we are a tolerant people and have proper respect for the others’ point of position. Difference of sentiment is non merely compatible with democracy. but an indispensable ingredient for it. No state can be perfect. Every new milepost that a state reaches comes with many forfeits and defects but that does non do it a bad state at all. Whether Indian Democracy is alive and kicking?
Yes. it decidedly is. True that it has many jobs to cover with but without jobs there will be no solutions and without solutions there will be no development. Winston Churchill one time said that ‘democracy is the worst signifier of authorities except for all the others that have been tried. ’ When a authorities is formed there is bound to be limitations and power-hungry politicians. So. possibly Mr. Churchill exaggerated by naming it the worst but we all know how monarchy and dictatorial governments have ended in the yesteryear and that is adequate to do a democratic way the best among others. In the terminal. it is our responsibility to keep the animation of our democracy to do it effectual. To stop with. I quote the Father of our state Mahatma Gandhi- “The spirit of democracy is non a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolishment of signifiers. It requires alteration of bosom. ”
