07-20-2006, 06:34 PM
India has to reform democracy to survive as a nation
India's democracy has become more a publicity stunt than reality. Indian parliamentary system is making it ungovernable. The root of the problem is our inability to adapt to the changing situations. The growth of regional politics and caste politcis bad for the country. It is not bad because we have a lot of new players in the field. It is because there is no vision other than to prove their caste people that they got some reservation for them. We have to look for solutions beyond our constitution that will work for our nation. We have copied most of our constitution from Britain but that system failed miserably. India has become ungovernable. When Congress was the only party, it looked as if the system was functioning but in reality it was not. The power was getting concentrated and the country had to depend on the whims of Gandhi family. After NDA and UPA experiments, we realize that the system is not functioning.
The legislature, executive, and the judiciary are 3 important pillars of democracy. In our current setup, they are not independent ensuring checks and balances against each other. The coterie of party leaders decide to give party tickets for MP/MLA elections. The elected members are loyal to this coterie but not to the people who elected them. The executive is part of the legislature. The elected MP/MLAs have no other job to do other than to wait for the grace of the party leader(s) and become minister. As we see more and more, the good of the nation is the last thing on the mind of elected representatives. The parties try to figure out how to build caste/religious coalitions to win the next election. The judiciary, and the law enforcement are in total control of the coterie of ruling party.
As a first step to reform our democracy, we need to cut the power of party leaders and give the power to people to elect who represent their party. This is a concept similar to "Primaries" in several developed nations. Every voter can register to be a member of a party (only one party) or independent. An independent voter can choose which party he chooses to vote in during primary elections. More than one candidate can run for each party during these primary elections. The party members choose one among them to represent their party. This will cut the power of brokers or coterie. This the KEY to reform our democracy.
As a second step, we have to encourage debate among our would be representatives and let them share their ideas and thoughts on TV to help people know their representatives. In my view, we will not elect mafia dons if we are given a chance to see them and hear them on TV. The people also can choose a better candidate to represent the party rather than a criminal selected by Laoo or Mulyam Singhs of the world.
As a third step, let us introduce elections to law enforcement including important positions such as police chiefs, judges and public prosecutors. We need people who have strong ideas and we need to make them independent not a toy in the hands of our politicians. Our law enforcement does not serve the interests of the people but the interests of political leaders. We have to cut their nexus.
As a fourth step, we need to elect Rajya Sabha members directly but the Rajya sabha will have equal number of representatives from each state to treat all the states equally. The Lok Sabha will be have representatives proportional to the population of a state where as Rajya sabha will have equal number of representative from each state. By this, even a small state can have a voice instead of being drowned by larger state such as U.P. The mebers of Rajya Sabha will be elected by all the people of a state.
As a fifth step, let us seperate the executive and legislature where each branch will excercise checks and balances against the other branch. In order to achieve this, we need to elect Prime Minister or Chief Minister directly and give him the power to select cabinet outside of the legislature (Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha). The legislature will approve the selection of each member of the cabinet. The legislature has to approve any legislation put forward by the PM/CM. The PM/CM can veto any legislation put forward by the legislature.The legislator will now look for the interests of his own constituents but PM/CM will look out the larger interests of country/state.
The constitution can also have other measures such as anti-nepotism to prevent appointment of relative, term limits to prevent PM/CM being elected more than 2 terms, and other measures to improve our democracy. The middle class has to really strive to achieve these changes. This will really provide us a stable democracy where the legislature can splinter based on regional or caste interests but can act as a pressure to represent their local constituents rather than plotical masters. Since each party will elect the representative, they have to work hard to establish their party credentials and would be willing to accomodate all groups within the party and the constituents.
India's democracy has become more a publicity stunt than reality. Indian parliamentary system is making it ungovernable. The root of the problem is our inability to adapt to the changing situations. The growth of regional politics and caste politcis bad for the country. It is not bad because we have a lot of new players in the field. It is because there is no vision other than to prove their caste people that they got some reservation for them. We have to look for solutions beyond our constitution that will work for our nation. We have copied most of our constitution from Britain but that system failed miserably. India has become ungovernable. When Congress was the only party, it looked as if the system was functioning but in reality it was not. The power was getting concentrated and the country had to depend on the whims of Gandhi family. After NDA and UPA experiments, we realize that the system is not functioning.
The legislature, executive, and the judiciary are 3 important pillars of democracy. In our current setup, they are not independent ensuring checks and balances against each other. The coterie of party leaders decide to give party tickets for MP/MLA elections. The elected members are loyal to this coterie but not to the people who elected them. The executive is part of the legislature. The elected MP/MLAs have no other job to do other than to wait for the grace of the party leader(s) and become minister. As we see more and more, the good of the nation is the last thing on the mind of elected representatives. The parties try to figure out how to build caste/religious coalitions to win the next election. The judiciary, and the law enforcement are in total control of the coterie of ruling party.
As a first step to reform our democracy, we need to cut the power of party leaders and give the power to people to elect who represent their party. This is a concept similar to "Primaries" in several developed nations. Every voter can register to be a member of a party (only one party) or independent. An independent voter can choose which party he chooses to vote in during primary elections. More than one candidate can run for each party during these primary elections. The party members choose one among them to represent their party. This will cut the power of brokers or coterie. This the KEY to reform our democracy.
As a second step, we have to encourage debate among our would be representatives and let them share their ideas and thoughts on TV to help people know their representatives. In my view, we will not elect mafia dons if we are given a chance to see them and hear them on TV. The people also can choose a better candidate to represent the party rather than a criminal selected by Laoo or Mulyam Singhs of the world.
As a third step, let us introduce elections to law enforcement including important positions such as police chiefs, judges and public prosecutors. We need people who have strong ideas and we need to make them independent not a toy in the hands of our politicians. Our law enforcement does not serve the interests of the people but the interests of political leaders. We have to cut their nexus.
As a fourth step, we need to elect Rajya Sabha members directly but the Rajya sabha will have equal number of representatives from each state to treat all the states equally. The Lok Sabha will be have representatives proportional to the population of a state where as Rajya sabha will have equal number of representative from each state. By this, even a small state can have a voice instead of being drowned by larger state such as U.P. The mebers of Rajya Sabha will be elected by all the people of a state.
As a fifth step, let us seperate the executive and legislature where each branch will excercise checks and balances against the other branch. In order to achieve this, we need to elect Prime Minister or Chief Minister directly and give him the power to select cabinet outside of the legislature (Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha). The legislature will approve the selection of each member of the cabinet. The legislature has to approve any legislation put forward by the PM/CM. The PM/CM can veto any legislation put forward by the legislature.The legislator will now look for the interests of his own constituents but PM/CM will look out the larger interests of country/state.
The constitution can also have other measures such as anti-nepotism to prevent appointment of relative, term limits to prevent PM/CM being elected more than 2 terms, and other measures to improve our democracy. The middle class has to really strive to achieve these changes. This will really provide us a stable democracy where the legislature can splinter based on regional or caste interests but can act as a pressure to represent their local constituents rather than plotical masters. Since each party will elect the representative, they have to work hard to establish their party credentials and would be willing to accomodate all groups within the party and the constituents.