{"id":259542,"date":"2023-09-11T21:00:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T15:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=259542"},"modified":"2023-09-11T21:00:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T15:30:13","slug":"the-larger-project-of-subverting-the-idea-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-larger-project-of-subverting-the-idea-of-india\/","title":{"rendered":"The larger project of subverting the idea of India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cThe larger project of subverting the idea of India<\/strong>\u201d published in<\/strong> The Hindu <\/strong>on\u00a011th<\/sup> September 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: GS 2 \u2013 Governance \u2013 Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Relevance: <\/strong>concerns with holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.<\/strong><\/p>\n

News:<\/strong> The article discusses why the idea of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies may not be a favorable choice.<\/p>\n

What are the reasons that make holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies unwise?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Centralizations of Power:<\/strong> The proposal to hold simultaneous elections is under the concept of \u201cOne India\u201d decisions of the government.<\/p>\n

However, conducting simultaneous elections will <\/strong>further centralize power,<\/strong> strengthen the hold of national parties, and reduce the importance of regional parties.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t Impose High Costs and Obstruct Governance<\/strong>: <\/strong>The idea of simultaneous polls is being promoted as a cost-saving and governance-friendly measure.<\/p>\n

However, critics argue that election costs are overestimated, and the Model Code of Conduct doesn’t hamper governance.<\/strong> Instead, governance suffers when the ruling national party seeks to win every state election by focusing on state issues.<\/p>\n

As Y.V. <\/strong>Reddy (the chairman of the Fourteenth Finance Commission) <\/strong>pointed out,<\/strong> elections are meant to hold governments accountable, and if they are too frequent, this can help to improve governance.<\/p>\n

Lower Voter Turnout: <\/strong>Supporters of simultaneous elections relies on a study showing lower voter turnout when Assembly and Lok Sabha elections are held separately. However, this argument is only a justification rather than reality.<\/p>\n

While increasing voter participation is important, it should be pursued through alternative means rather than disrupting the constitutional order.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Constitutional Changes:<\/strong> Implementing permanent simultaneous elections will require substantial constitutional changes, such as fixed-term governments, abolishing no-confidence motions, requiring “super-majorities” to unseat governments, enhancing President\/Governors’ powers, or a mix of these measures.<\/p>\n

These changes would fundamentally alter the Constitution’s Basic Structure<\/strong>, weaken State governments, erode federalism, and centralize power.<\/p>\n

Read More: <\/strong>One Nation One Election – Explained<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

What is the way ahead?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cOne Nation, One Election” is primarily a political and ideological push to replace India’s diversity with homogeneity.<\/p>\n

It further goes beyond initiatives like “One Nation, One Tax” and “One Nation, One Ration Card,” aiming to centralize power in the Union Government.<\/p>\n

Therefore, ultimately, the choice to embrace this “One India” vision rests with the electorate.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cThe larger project of subverting the idea of India\u201d published in The Hindu on\u00a011th September 2023. Syllabus: GS 2 \u2013 Governance \u2013 Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation. Relevance: concerns with holding simultaneous elections for the… Continue reading The larger project of subverting the idea of India<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"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":[300,212,10498],"class_list":["post-259542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-governance","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":6,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1703663686},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259542","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\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}