{"id":196129,"date":"2022-07-18T19:14:32","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T13:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=196129"},"modified":"2022-07-18T19:15:17","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T13:45:17","slug":"preserving-democracy-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/preserving-democracy-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserving democracy in India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on an article \u201cPreserving democracy in India\u201d published in the \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 18th<\/sup> July 2022.<\/p>\n

Syllabus<\/strong>: GS2 – Parliament and State Legislatures\u2014Structure, Functioning, Conduct of Business, Powers & Privileges and Issues Arising out of these.<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>: Issues and Challenges in the Parliamentary System of India<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: In recent period, the government of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra toppled. Further, there were selective arrests of Opposition leaders. This indicates serious issues in the functioning of the Indian democracy<\/p>\n

Basic Concept of a democracy<\/strong><\/h5>\n

A democratic executive<\/strong> must satisfy two conditions \u2013 (1) It must be a stable executive<\/strong> and (2) it must be a responsible executive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It is not possible to ensure a stable executive<\/strong> and a responsible executive<\/strong> in equal degree in a particular system. Therefore, the constitutional makers have to adopt either of the two features. Former is ensured in the Presidential System<\/strong> and later is ensured in the Parliamentary system<\/strong>. For Example:<\/p>\n

(a) England Case:<\/strong> executives are subjected to daily assessment <\/strong>by members of Parliament, through questions, resolutions, no-confidence motions, adjournment motions and debates on addresses and they are also subjected to Periodic assessment <\/strong>by the electorate at the time of the election.<\/p>\n

(b) The<\/strong> US Executive<\/strong>: Daily assessment is not available under the American system. There is only periodic assessment.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the constituent assembly India adopted the parliamentary system<\/strong> because the fathers of the Indian constitution preferred \u201cmore responsibility to more stability<\/strong> as per the Indian need.<\/p>\n

What are the problems being faced by Indian democracy?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

(1) India has preferred responsible executives<\/strong> to stable executives.<\/strong> However, there are attempts to weaken the opposition in India. which is not in the interest of parliamentary democracy. A vigilant opposition is important for daily assessment<\/strong> of the executive, ensuring a vibrant democracy<\/strong> as well as the very survival of the democracy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

(2) <\/strong>The Anti-defection law has failed to serve its purpose. It was inserted in the 10th Schedule<\/strong> through the 52nd Connotational Amendment<\/strong> Act. Further, the Supreme Court upheld its constitutional validity long ago.<\/p>\n

There are cases when a party member shows disloyalty<\/strong> to his party through violation of the whip. They simultaneously decline to resign<\/strong> from his\/her seat and to fight an immediate by-election<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Others Issues<\/strong><\/h5>\n

In the recent past, the draconian provisions of various legislations, especially the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,<\/strong> have been invoked by the ruling regime against Opposition members.<\/p>\n

Way Forward<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Political parties<\/strong>, the judiciary<\/strong> and civil society<\/strong> must take steps to ensure that democracy does not fail.<\/p>\n

Some political thinkers\u2019 <\/strong>advocates for the \u2018theory of recall,<\/strong>\u2019 so that a member whose personal behaviour falls below standards expected of his constituents goes back and seeks the approval of the voters.<\/p>\n

Role of Judiciary<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The judiciary must be aware of the ground realiti<\/strong>es and not allow such politically motivated investigations<\/strong>. Judges should readily grant anticipatory bail<\/strong> or regular bail<\/strong> in politically motivated matters.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court can re-write the anti-defection law by invoking powers under Article 142 of the Constitution.<\/p>\n

Political Parties<\/strong><\/h5>\n

In a democratic set up, criticism from the opposition parties must be tolerated because it is the essence of democracy.<\/p>\n

During the Constituent Assembly debates, Ram Narayan Singh said, \u201cA government which does not like opposition and always wants to be in power is not a patriotic but a traitor government.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, while Opposition must be credible<\/strong> and strong<\/strong>. It must work constructively. It can make itself credible and strong by feeling the pulse of the people of India and reforming itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on an article \u201cPreserving democracy in India\u201d published in the \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 18th July 2022. Syllabus: GS2 – Parliament and State Legislatures\u2014Structure, Functioning, Conduct of Business, Powers & Privileges and Issues Arising out of these. Relevance: Issues and Challenges in the Parliamentary System of India News: In recent period,… Continue reading Preserving democracy in India<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-196129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}