{"id":274430,"date":"2023-12-19T19:10:23","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T13:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=274430"},"modified":"2023-12-19T19:10:23","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T13:40:23","slug":"denial-of-legislative-debate-furthers-democratic-backsliding-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/denial-of-legislative-debate-furthers-democratic-backsliding-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Denial of legislative debate furthers democratic backsliding in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>Legislative decline –\u00a0Denial of legislative debate furthers democratic backsliding in India<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0published in\u00a0\u201cThe Hindu\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0on 19th<\/sup> December 2023.<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus Topic:<\/strong>\u00a0GS Paper 2 \u2013 Indian Polity \u2013 Parliament and State Legislatures\u2014Structure, Functioning, Conduct of Business, Powers & Privileges and Issues Arising out of these.<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>:\u00a0Recently, there was a security breach in the Parliament by some individuals who highlighted unemployment concerns in India.<\/p>\n

However, the government prevented debate on unemployment and suspended a large number of Opposition MPs who demanded discussion and a statement. This behaviour of the government goes against the functioning of a democracy.<\/p>\n

What are some of the essential characteristics of a democracy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Deliberation:<\/strong> The essential characteristic of a well-functioning democracy is deliberation which involves elected legislators debating issues, utilizing committees, and thoroughly discussing bills before consideration.<\/p>\n

Popular Sovereignty:<\/strong> The people are the ultimate source of authority in a democracy. This means that the government is accountable to the people and must act in their best interests.<\/p>\n

Free and Fair Elections:<\/strong> Democracies hold regular elections that are free and fair. This means that all citizens have the right to vote and to stand for office.<\/p>\n

Separation of Powers:<\/strong> In a democracy, the government is typically divided into three branches: the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary.<\/strong> This separation of powers helps to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful.<\/p>\n

What have been the recent concerns associated with India\u2019s democracy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Deficiency in Parliamentary Sessions<\/strong>:<\/strong> Recent parliamentary sessions have witnessed attempts to pressure the Opposition, pass Bills without sufficient discussion, restrict amendments, and underutilize committees.<\/p>\n

Downgrading of India\u2019s Democratic Status:<\/strong> The lack of proper parliamentary sessions has led to the characterization of India’s democracy as an “electoral autocracy”<\/strong> by V-Dem Institute.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the misuse of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act<\/strong> to target dissenters, equating dissent with terrorism, has further led to India being labeled as “partially free”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Concerns with Judicial independence:<\/strong>\u00a0Increasing political pressure on the judiciary has raised concerns about its capacity to act as a check on executive power.<\/p>\n

Erosion of Media Freedom:<\/strong>\u00a0Government pressure on media outlets and journalists has limited their ability to report critically and independently.<\/p>\n

Politicization of Institutions:<\/strong>\u00a0Appointment of individuals based on political loyalty rather than merit has weakened the neutrality of various democratic institutions.<\/p>\n

For further reading on the democracy: Click Here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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

It is crucial for the government to address these issues, along with ensuring the effective functioning of parliamentary sessions, upholding the separation of powers, and ensuring the proper functioning of each pillar of democracy.<\/p>\n

Question for practice: <\/strong>What are some of the characteristics of a democracy? In the context of India, examine the challenges associated with these characteristics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cLegislative decline –\u00a0Denial of legislative debate furthers democratic backsliding in India\u201d\u00a0published in\u00a0\u201cThe Hindu\u201d\u00a0on 19th December 2023. UPSC Syllabus Topic:\u00a0GS Paper 2 \u2013 Indian Polity \u2013 Parliament and State Legislatures\u2014Structure, Functioning, Conduct of Business, Powers & Privileges and Issues Arising out of these. News:\u00a0Recently, there was a security breach… Continue reading Denial of legislative debate furthers democratic backsliding in 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":[212,225,10498],"class_list":["post-274430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-polity","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":8,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1703013118},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274430","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=274430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}