First pillar of Democracy --- Parliament

I have started reading a new book. No no , I haven’t finished Jack Welch as yet. But I have started this one also. It is “ No full stops in India” by Mark Tully. I have just finished few pages and came across a thought proving line.

“ Democracy has failed in India because leaders have RULED over people and not REPRESENTED them”

Now the obvious question that arises from this statement is “ Has democracy really failed in India?” There can be zillion answers in support of this question and also against it. And although it will be a little overstatement to say this but Yes, I believe democracy has failed in India. It has failed to live up to the expectations with which India decided to become a democratic nation. Probably it failed to bear the burden of 100 crores!! And probably the creators of our constitution failed to visualize this growth from 30 crores to 100 crores in a span of 50 years . As a result, democracy in India is crumbling under its own weight.

Reason?? First and the foremost is, India failed to produce LEADERS…it produced only POLITICIANS. The only worry for them is not how to make India better but how to win next elections. I was reading a piece of stats few days back which indicated that there were 130 odd parliamentary sittings every year for the first two decades which has now reduced to 50+ sittings and we all know what they do while sitting there. The actual time spent in fruitful discussions, logical debates and making policies is even less. That’s because most of the time we hear only about disruptions, adjournments and walkouts. Who’s bothered about eradicating poverty, educating masses and providing health facilities?

Another aspect that I can think of, about democracy, keeping in view India only, is the provision of ADULT FRANCHISE. One who has attained 18 years of age is eligible to vote, his educational credentials not withstanding. This practice has gone with absolute smoothness in the west where basic education is not an issue but copying them here is costing us dearly and will cause more damage in the years to come. In the west, more or less, everybody is educated. In India approximately half of the population is still illiterate. It means they are not even literate forget about educated. In India, a literate is a person who can write his/her name and read it. So, this way, constitution has given the opportunity to a person, who barely knows how to write his name, to choose his representative and who in turn will take the decisions, make laws and regulate policies. And in this way a person who is spending his entire earnings of the day (labour class) boozing and beating his wife in the night, is selecting representatives to run this country. No wonder, politics is full of Phoolan Devis and Arun Gawlis these days…

The practice of electing representatives (read rulers) that started way back in 1952 is still continuing and going strong. We have elections for everything now..Parliamentary elections, State assembly elections, Panchayats elections even elections for Municipal councils and wards. And the issues on which these elections are fought and won are (surprisingly enough) still the same and most of the people in our country are still waiting for Food, shelter, clothing, electricity, water , roads, health facilities and education!!!

People are still dying of hunger (in Orissa and Chhhatisgarh) although we became self sufficient in food grains long back. A sizeable population is still managing without shelter and proper clothing. There is no electricity at all at least in 25% of India, roads are not visible as they are made only on paper and I don’t even want to comment on health facilities and education. So in short, democracy has given us this beautiful drama of elections.

Now the question is what point I m trying to drive home?

The need of the hour is a total revamp of the laws to select the representatives who are one of the three pillars of democracy. Otherwise, the cracks which are easily visible on this first pillar of democracy will soon widen enough to break it altogether. We need to analyze closely the need as well as the effectiveness (keeping in view ground realities of India) of the rules and laws to select the representatives, laid down by the makers of constitution long back. There must be minimum educational qualification for both the candidates as well as for the voters (This is very essential). Somehow, they must be made more accountable to public whom they are representing and a strict vigil is needed on the money spent on various public welfare schemes which never see the Day light. After all that money is coming from the pocket of the exchequer.

And for all this to happen, strong political will is required which I am not seeing in the next 20 years!!! Am I advocating dictatorship??? ;-)