Indian Democracy: How it works, It’s Pro’s and Con’s
As an Indian, you need to be proud that you’re a part of the biggest democracy in the world. But what exactly is democracy? How does it work? What are its Pros and Cons?
Mahatma Gandhi quoted, ” I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong.”
The Economist Intelligence Unit has rolled out the democract index map for the year 2018.
Democracy is derived from the Greek word demos, which means “common people” and Kratos means “strength”. In democracy, power is not inherited. Citizens of a country have the power to elect their leaders. There are two kinds of democracy.
- Direct Democracy: In direct democracy, the head of the country is elected by the people directly. Switzerland follows direct democracy.
- Indirect Democracy: In indirect democracy, people elect the parliament representatives and these elected members choose the Prime Minister. Similarly, at the state level, people elect the members of legislative assembly and these members elect the Chief Minister. In India we follow Indirect Democracy.
India joined the liberal forces of the world on 26th January, 1950 as a soverign democratic replublic.
How does Democaracy work?
In a democratic country every member of the society is treated equally. That is, every individual has a right to vote and make decisions on who he/she wants as a leader. Representatives contest in elections and the person with “majority votes” is elected as a leader. Denying individuals and groups, the right to vote is contrary to the function of a democracy. In a democratic system of government, everyone’s vote has equal weight.
Post Independance in 1947 India transformed itself to become a democratic country.
Thereafter, every citizen of India above the age of 18 years were given the right to vote and elect their leaders. Democartic India, gives its citizens the right to vote irrespective of their caste, colour, creed, religion, and gender.
Indian Democracy quotes, “Democracy of the People, By the People, For the People”
India is formed by union of states and follows five democratic principles – sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic and republic. It is ruled by a parliamentary system of government. The elected leaders come together to form the governing body, such as assembly, parliament etc. It is also referred as “rule of the majority”.
How is the Government of India formed under Democarcy?
We understand that, India is a fedral parliamentary democratic country. Government is formed by the union of 29 states and 7 union territories. It is composed of the executive, legislature and the judiciary. President of India is the head of the country and Prime Minister is the head of the government. The constitution defines the organizational powers and limitations of both central and state governments, and it is well-recognized, rigid and considered supreme. Indian Constitutions provides for an independent judiciary, which is headed by Supreme Court.
Parliament of India is bicameral in nature, consisting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The members of the parliament are elected by people by casting votes (to understand more about the Indian Parliament click here). The Indian Judiciary consists of various District Courts, 24 High Courts and the apex court called the Supreme Court.
Indian Democracy offers fundamental rights to all its citizens irrespective of their gender, caste, religion or creed. etc. It is also called as “Basic Human Rights”.
There are six fundamental rights:
- Right to Equality
- Right to Freedom
- Right against Exploitation
- Right to Freedom of Religion & Cultural
- Right to Education
- Right to Constitutional Remedies.
Pros of Indian Democracy:
- Citizens of India have the right to elect their leaders and this avoids the monopoly of authority.
- There is an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. Each keeps the other in check because no single branch of government can wield all the power.
- Indian Democracy promotes equality irrespective of their caste, color, creed, religion, and gender.
- Leaders whom the citizens have elected will bring a feeling of obligations towards them. That is, they would act responsibly and work towards the betterment of the society.
- Citizens are aware of what’s going on politically. That is, during elections, political parties propose programs and policies in support of them and this imparts political consciousness among the people.
- It promotes for change without any violence. If the citizens of the country are not happy about the leaders leading them, they have the option to elect a different leader during the next elections.
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Cons of Indian Democracy:
- There is a risk of choosing the wrong representative as a leader. People may favor and vote for a representative based on his/her caste, creed etc. Hence there are chances that the elected representative is not the right choice.
- Leaders are chosen based on quantity rather than quality. That is, the leader with a maximum number of votes will be chosen as the leader irrespective of his previous experience as a leader.
- Implementation of any law or plan takes long time to come into action. Since any law or action needs an approval from both the ruling party and the opposition in the parliament to get into action. It’s challenging to convince both the parties.
- Promises of leaders never come into action. During campaigns for elections, representatives of every constituency put forward promises to the people of that locality of certain works. But after getting elected, they never turn up to keep up with their words.
- Democracy influences candidates to indulge in corruption. Elected candidates might take advantage of their powers to resort to unethical means for personal gains and engage in corrupt practices.
As a true citizen it’s in your hands and you should always stand out and point out corruption, unethical activities, illegal things etc. It’s our duty and rights being a citizen of democratic nation. This is the beauty of our constitutional frame work compared to other types.
Every citizen has a different point of view towards democracy. And these political systems under democracy have their ups and downs. By rightly understanding its pros and cons you can gauge what is best for the people. Thus, feel blessed to be in the best type of constitutional framework, where people are supreme.