Marks : 125
1.Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom – Thomas Jefferson.
ईमानदारी ज्ञान की पुस्तक में पहला अध्याय है – थॉमस जेफरसन ।
Best Essay: @meena
2. Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy.
सशक्त लोकतंत्र के लिए चुनाव सुधार।
Best essay:@@the green bird
Start answering!
Thank you Positive 🙂
Lucid answer. couldn’t stop myself reading the entire essay. Good flow .. ATB ..
thanks kyra. will improve soon
u tried well…will improve with continuous practice (don’t stop writing in any case)
nothing to point out as i must appreciate ur attempting this essay more (as i have to start writing essays.)
Beautifully written. Neat and simple.. conclusion analogy is good.. KWAR
Thanks
Here is your essay. Sort the essays as per latest written. You will find yours. Hope it helps ? haven’t read it. Leaving for office. Will read and review later ?
pls help me,I am able to post an essay,but I am unable to see my essay in the post ,.but your essay is visible in the post?
Well written but it seemed you took honesty as only speaking the truth. There were multiple dimensions to speaking the truth. But a single dimension of honesty. Secondly intro is good. If possible try to keep the story lil simple for instant connect. The conclusion came abrupt?? If you want to correlate the introduction with conclusion make sure the flow with the essay doesn’t get disrupted.
Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy
Democracy simply means strength of common people as it is derived from Greek word “demo” which means common people and “kratos” which means strength .According to political scientist Larry Diamond –there are four pillars of democracy which consists of free and fair elections, active participation of people, protection of rights of all the people and equality before the law. Out of these four pillars, free and fair elections is the most important pillars of democracy because election provides a medium through which people express their faith in government and change it when need arises. It is through election people express their attitudes, values and beliefs towards the government. Election is a symbol of sovereignty of the people. just like smell is the essence flower in the same way free and fair election is the essence of democracy. Free and fair election is the oxygen for smooth functioning of democracy.
After independence India opted for parliamentary democracy on 26 January 1950 when constitution of India came into force and declared India as a republic state. As a result, Election Commission was created under article 324 of the constitution which was entrusted with duty to conduct free and fair elections. Since then country has witnessed elections both at the national level as well as at the state levels.
Initially the elections remained free form any flaws till fourth general elections (1967).However, for the first time in the fifth general election(1971) flaws appeared in the system and got amplified in successive general elections and reached its peak in eighties and thereafter. These flaws created loop hole in to the system through which anti-social elements entered into main stream of government through elections. They started dividing the people on lines of caste, religion, gender and region, used their muscle power like violence, pre-election intimidation, booth capturing etc, money power like purchasing and selling of a candidate, spending large amount of money in campaigning and misusing the government machinery to influence the result of elections.
As a result moral value in the politics started declining and people started casting proxy votes under the atmosphere of fear and hate and in favor of caste and religion. Consequently an era of vote bank politics and coalition government had emerged which created an extra burden on exchequer which ultimately affected the economic health of the country. People started dividing on the lines of caste and religion, which in turn started destroying fabric of our constitution i.e-secularism and unity in diversity.
Therefore the whole idea of free and fair election which was the important pillar of democracy started collapsing. As a result, the Election Commission came up with number of recommendations and reminded the government the urgency to change existing laws in order to check various malpractices during electoral process. Consequently government formed various other committee such as Tarkunde committee (1975),Goswami Committee (1990),Indrajit Gupta committee (1998) which came up with number of recommendations regarding electoral reforms and enacted various law such as anti-defection law and done amendments in the constitution like 61st amendment in the constitution for lowering the voter age from 21 to 18.
Some of the major reforms taken to ensure free and fair election are as follows-
1. Model code of conduct- for political parties and candidates to participate in the election in a free and fair manner
2. Lowering of voter age- As stated above so as ensure youth participation in elections
3. Increase in the number of Proposers-required to sign the nomination papers for election to Rajya Sabha and state legislative council to 10 % electors to prevent frivolous candidates.
4. Introduction of electronic voting machines(EVMs)-to ensure fool proof efficient, and eco-friendly voting system
5. Restriction on contesting election from not more than two constituency- to eliminate the possibility of spending money on by election
6. Restriction on exit polls-to stop speculative trends of voting
7. Voting through postal ballot and voting rights of citizen living abroad-it is especially for government employees and person who citizen is of India has gone abroad for employment, studies etc – in order to check proxy votes.
8. Increase in ceiling of expenditure –to curtail the illegal methods of spending on elections
9. NOTA (none of the above) option in voting machine –it allow voters to disapprove all the candidates in a voting machine if they are not happy to vote any one.
Besides above there are number of suggested reform which in future will strengthen pillar of democracy such as bringing the political party under ambit of RTI which will bring transparency in political parties in terms of their funding and expenditure, conducting simultaneous election to reduce financial and mental burden of election commission and promoting gender equality in legislature by encouraging more women participation in general elections.
It is not only India that has only realised the importance of electoral reforms in smooth functioning of democracy, it is the same story of every democratic country in the world which greases their democratic machinery by oil of electoral reforms for its smooth functioning from time to time. Recently a small African country, Ghana introduced various electoral reforms such as nationwide campaign to teach people about electoral offences which they took as granted, implementation of IT infrastructure in electoral system, raising minimum educational qualification for various post related to elections, and established an election control room which will tally the votes and that data will be broadcast to the general public so that their faith remained in the Election Commission
.
Just like iron which remains in the air for long time gets corroded, in the same way democracy in the absence of electoral reforms for a long time loses it shine. Therefore timely implementation of electoral reforms is requisite for free and fair election which ultimately strengthen the pillar of democracy. .
.
Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy
Democracy simply means strength of common people as it is derived from Greek word “demo” which means common people and “kratos” which means strength .According to political scientist Larry Diamond –there are four pillars of democracy which consists of free and fair elections, active participation of people, protection of rights of all the people and equality before the law. Out of these four pillars, free and fair elections is the most important pillars of democracy because election provides a medium through which people express their faith in government and change it when need arises. It is through election people express their attitudes, values and beliefs towards the government. Election is a symbol of sovereignty of the people. just like smell is the essence flower in the same way free and fair election is the essence of democracy. Free and fair election is the oxygen for smooth functioning of democracy.
After independence India opted for parliamentary democracy on 26 January 1950 when constitution of India came into force and declared India as a republic state. As a result, Election Commission was created under article 324 of the constitution which was entrusted with duty to conduct free and fair elections. Since then country has witnessed elections both at the national level as well as at the state levels.
Initially the elections remained free form any flaws till fourth general elections (1967).However, for the first time in the fifth general election(1971) flaws appeared in the system and got amplified in successive general elections and reached its peak in eighties and thereafter. These flaws created loop hole in to the system through which anti-social elements entered into main stream of government through elections. They started dividing the people on lines of caste, religion, gender and region, used their muscle power like violence, pre-election intimidation, booth capturing etc, money power like purchasing and selling of a candidate, spending large amount of money in campaigning and misusing the government machinery to influence the result of elections.
As a result moral value in the politics started declining and people started casting proxy votes under the atmosphere of fear and hate and in favour of caste and religion. Consequently an era of vote bank politics and coalition government had emerged which created an extra burden on exchequer which ultimately affected the economic health of the country. People started dividing on the lines of caste and religion, which in turn started destroying fabric of our constitution i.e-secularism and unity in diversity.
Therefore the whole idea of free and fair election which was the important pillar of democracy started collapsing. As a result, the Election Commission came up with number of recommendations and reminded the government the urgency to change existing laws in order to check various malpractices during electoral process. Consequently government formed various other committee such as Tarkunde committee (1975),Goswami Committee (1990),Indrajit Gupta committee (1998) which came up with number of recommendations regarding electoral reforms and enacted various law such as anti-defection law and done amendments in the constitution like 61st amendment in the constitution for lowering the voter age from 21 to 18.
Some of the major reforms taken to ensure free and fair election are as follows-
1. Model code of conduct- for political parties and candidates to participate in the election in a free and fair manner
2. Lowering of voter age- As stated above so as ensure youth participation in elections
3. Increase in the number of Proposers-required to sign the nomination papers for election to Rajya Sabha and state legislative council to 10 % electors to prevent frivolous candidates.
4. Introduction of electronic voting machines(EVMs)-to ensure fool proof efficient, and eco-friendly voting system
5. Restriction on contesting election from not more than two constituency- to eliminate the possibility of spending money on by election
6. Restriction on exit polls-to stop speculative trends of voting
7. Voting through postal ballot and voting rights of citizen living abroad-it is especially for government employees and person who citizen is of India has gone abroad for employment, studies etc – in order to check proxy votes.
8. Increase in ceiling of expenditure –to curtail the illegal methods of spending on elections
9. NOTA (none of the above) option in voting machine –it allow voters to disapprove all the candidates in a voting machine if they are not happy to vote any one.
Besides above there are number of suggested reform which in future will strengthen pillar of democracy such as bringing the political party under ambit of RTI which will bring transparency in political parties in terms of their funding and expenditure, conducting simultaneous election to reduce financial and mental burden of election commission and promoting gender equality in legislature by encouraging more women participation in general elections.
It is not only India that has only realised the importance of electoral reforms in smooth functioning of democracy, it is the same story of every democratic country in the world which greases their democratic machinery by oil of electoral reforms for its smooth functioning from time to time. Recently a small African country, Ghana introduced various electoral reforms such as nationwide campaign to teach people about electoral offences which they took as granted, implementation of IT infrastructure in electoral system, raising minimum educational qualification for various post related to elections, and established an election control room which will tally the votes and that data will be broadcast to general public so that their faith remained in the Election Commission.
Just like iron which remains in the air for long time gets corroded, in the same way democracy in the absence of electoral reforms for a long time loses it shine. Therefore timely implementation of electoral reforms is requisite for free and fair election which ultimately strengthen the pillar of democracy. .
.
Its a generic point, I think I should exclude it 😛
Thing is, SECs are often criticized for not being as efficient as the EC due to political interference. Thats about it.
I forgot to include eVoting, so hard to fit everything in an essay.
Good one. Good that you took up international examples too. About the greater autonomy to state election commission.. Isn’t it enjoying autonomous powers right now??
Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy
Democracy simply means strength of common people as it is derived from Greek word “demo” which means common people and “kratos” which means strength .According to political scientist Larry Diamond –there are four pillars of democracy which consists of free and fair elections, active participation of people, protection of rights of all the people and equality before the law. Out of these four pillars, free and fair elections is the most important pillars of democracy because election provides a medium through which people express their faith in government and change it when need arises. It is through election people express their attitudes, values and beliefs towards the government. Election is a symbol of sovereignty of the people. just like smell is the essence flower in the same way free and fair election is the essence of democracy. Free and fair election is the oxygen for smooth functioning of democracy.
After independence India opted for parliamentary democracy on 26 January 1950 when constitution of India came into force and declared India as a republic state. As a result, Election Commission was created under article 324 of the constitution which was entrusted with duty to conduct free and fair elections. Since then country has witnessed elections both at the national level as well as at the state levels.
Initially the elections remained free form any flaws till fourth general elections (1967).However, for the first time in the fifth general election(1971) flaws appeared in the system and got amplified in successive general elections and reached its peak in eighties and thereafter. These flaws created loop hole in to the system through which anti-social elements entered into main stream of government through elections. They started dividing the people on lines of caste, religion, gender and region, used their muscle power like violence, pre-election intimidation, booth capturing etc, money power like purchasing and selling of a candidate, spending large amount of money in campaigning and misusing the government machinery to influence the result of elections.
As a result moral value in the politics started declining and people started casting proxy votes under the atmosphere of fear and hate and in favour of caste and religion. Consequently an era of vote bank politics and coalition government had emerged which created an extra burden on exchequer which ultimately affected the economic health of the country. People started dividing on the lines of caste and religion, which in turn started destroying fabric of our constitution i.e-secularism and unity in diversity.
Therefore the whole idea of free and fair election which was the important pillar of democracy started collapsing. As a result, the Election Commission came up with number of recommendations and reminded the government the urgency to change existing laws in order to check various malpractices during electoral process. Consequently government formed various other committee such as Tarkunde committee (1975),Goswami Committee (1990),Indrajit Gupta committee (1998) which came up with number of recommendations regarding electoral reforms and enacted various law such as anti-defection law and done amendments in the constitution like 61st amendment in the constitution for lowering the voter age from 21 to 18.
Some of the major reforms taken to ensure free and fair election are as follows-
1. Model code of conduct- for political parties and candidates to participate in the election in a free and fair manner
2. Lowering of voter age- As stated above so as ensure youth participation in elections
3. Increase in the number of Proposers-required to sign the nomination papers for election to Rajya Sabha and state legislative council to 10 % electors to prevent frivolous candidates.
4. Introduction of electronic voting machines(EVMs)-to ensure fool proof efficient, and eco-friendly voting system
5. Restriction on contesting election from not more than two constituency- to eliminate the possibility of spending money on by election
6. Restriction on exit polls-to stop speculative trends of voting
7. Voting through postal ballot and voting rights of citizen living abroad-it is especially for government employees and person who citizen is of India has gone abroad for employment, studies etc – in order to check proxy votes.
8. Increase in celling of expenditure –to curtail the illegal methods of spending on elections
9. NOTA (none of the above) option in voting machine –it allow voters to disapprove all the candidates in a voting machine if they are not happy to vote any one.
Besides above there are number of suggested reform which in future will strengthen pillar of democracy such as bringing the political party under ambit of RTI which will bring transparency in political parties in terms of their funding and expenditure, conducting simultaneous election to reduce financial and mental burden of election commission and promoting gender equality in legislature by encouraging more women participation in general elections.
It is not only India that has only realised the importance of electoral reforms in smooth functioning of democracy, it is the same story of every democratic country in the world which greases their democratic machinery by oil of electoral reforms for its smooth functioning from time to time. Recently a small African country, Ghana introduced various electoral reforms such as nationwide campaign to teach people about electoral offences which they took as granted, implementation of IT infrastructure in electoral system, raising minimum educational qualification for various post related to elections, and established an election control room which will tally the votes and that data will be broadcast to general public so that their faith remained in the Election Commission.
Just like iron which remains in the air for long time gets corroded, in the same way democracy in the absence of electoral reforms for a long time loses it shine. Therefore timely implementation of electoral reforms is requisite for free and fair election which ultimately strengthen the pillar of democracy. .
.
Yeah True!! Actually I wrote the essay in the middle of my office meeting so just went with the flow of thoughts on a first come first serve basis. so definitely lacking in content hehe.
But at the same time I also personally feel [I may be terribly wrong 🙁 ] that essay should not have much of what has happened in the past, what all the reports n courts say, just a little reference will do (which is definitely lacking in this essay). It should be more reflective of your ideas and personality. There must be clear distinction between your strategy on how to write an essay and a GS question. If you get the same content, if it were a GS question, then i guess there will be a problem. But as I say, I may be terribly wrong. hehe
Thanks for a detailed review. Will surely incorporate your ideas. KWAR!!
🙂 thanks !! I always try to co-relate introduction and conclusion.
🙂
Now what is lacking…
1) U can enrich content.
2) Go for
Why Electoral reforms is critical ?
a) Ethical imperative
b) Economic Imperative
c) Governace Imperative
d) Strategic imperative ex. How Naxalism Maoism can be curbed.
e) Constitutional Imperative
f) Geopolitical and geostrategic Imperative etc.
What are the dimensions of Electoral Reform ?
Put a simple diagram…
Why it is stalled so far ?
What steps have been taken ?
Quote Supreme court judgements, ARC etc….
How Electoral reforms can be accomplished ?
Give out of box ideas here.
Great Essay. I loved the mentioning and then correlating kavita in Intro and then in conclusion. Learned a lot from your essay especially how to craft a beautiful story for essay and avoid big GS jargons….
Cool.
@tanya I read these during my school days.
Thanks buddy for your ever awesome reviews!! After posting answers, I wait for your reviews so that I can improve on it….You are the motivation for any beginner.. 🙂
Upvoted 🙂
Thank you, I believe I have digressed in the introduction, that has caused me to overshoot to 1350 words, catastrophic in exam hall.
In that regard though, I think the very essence of an essayist is to provide a reasoned debate of his argument, it must be informational but it shouldnt sound like a report, in that I admit I have failed. Its hard to adapt to the paragraph style from the bulleted style 😛
Thanks for reading, please upvote my essay if it helped you.
Bhai,kaha SE sikha itta mast??!!Kept me engaged throughout the essay
Its a beautiful piece of writing. All the aspects are covered.
Pl dont mind but I personally felt a little information overload. If you can write such fab piece and do not get drained its great because in the exam, we are required to attempt two essays.
Moreover I again personally feel the basic objective of essay paper is judging the candidate’s flow of ideas, his personal viewpoints and personality. I am not in much favour of putting too much information about what has happened in the past rather I would focus on writing what can be done in future.
Views are personal 🙂
Thanks meena 🙂
Hehe thanks 🙂
🙂 thanks!
Got a complete new dimension of writing Essay
hey there! Interesting to read! Keep going strong! 😀
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Very good..all forms of honesty captured..but provide solidity with examples..hit on a point..come back to central theme with example..intro can be better..Conclusion is already good..:)
Points are good..content is innovative..said your mind well..hawa??..try having a better intro..Also have a cross pespective onwhether right to recall be wise for a diverse country like India where political understanding is also limited.People are not very educated/elite in rural areas to support such a move well..!!Otherwise good..Looking ahead for more essays and answers certainly:)
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of Wisdom
Synopsis:
-IntroAlladin’s carpet
-Education Vs Wisdom in the realm of knowledge
-Indian and global instances
-Honesty with strategy
-Conclusion(Alladin’s carpet)
“A few more seconds and we are inside this place..said Alladin to his magic carpet which had already travelled the known zones of intelligence,education and knowledge in the maze of this new place.This carpet flew at magnificent speed and now it reached the final arena which read “Wisdom” .What is so special about this place?Must be like the other three-he pondered.He opened the doorway of the unknown place and out through the creaky doors came a whirlwind of dust.Removing the subtle dust of ignorance,he moved ahead and found the glittering and jewelled room that was titled wisdom.How was it different from the other three-he stood confused?
Intelligence that is inherited or acquired has but a lone relation with ethics.Education supplements and enriches intelligence,while also supplying the necessary values.When the two zones are traversed by man and he is awakened to acquiring knowledge to the fullest what he acquires through perspectives and experiences is wisdom.Wisdom is the internal manifestation of enlightment and is acquired most with time and age.
Honesty is a lifetime process of catching ourselves in falsehood and, however reluctantly, turning away from it. Because most deception is actually self deception, true honesty requires that we recognize our natural human penchant for fooling ourselves. In particular, honesty requires that we guard against self-serving biases,our tendency to put blame on others and take credit for ourselves and our tendency to think that what is good for us is good for the world .
It is assumed that honesty is integral and inherent in a wise man.However,it was the wise Chanakya who had said that being too honest will result in the same fate that a straight tree undergoes-that of being cut away first.Wisdom calls for a mix and balance of honesty,integrity and situational presence of mind to take care of any event through true blue diplomacy.
Our freedom struggle has a stark example of “Council Entry” programme by wise men like Motilal Nehru who amplified their efforts by trying to disrupt the work of Parliament by their presence as members.This was at a time when the entire nation had lost hope after the Chauri Chaura incident and it was the wisdom of Swaraj party workers that paved and crafted the way to keeping the hope of acquiring freedom alive for long term results to come.The mighty and wise British could rule over more than half of tradable world with their colonial policies,”gentlemen’s aggrements”,appeasement methodologies or military might that they would resort to otherwise.With pure honesty of work,this global dominance would be a far away dream.There are several factors that prove that balance of purpose precedes complete purity of honesty like nature of the situation,long term effect of a decision on masses,the genuineness or criticality of the issue,behavioural patternof other people in the loop and the core -objective associated with a decision.
It is the wisdom of nations that push them towards classified military structures and a breach is considered a national crime .India for example cannot open up with complete honesty about her defence or military structure to the world though we talk about one world through windows of globalisation,bilateral and several multilateral ties.Likewise other nations like China,Pakistan or US follow the suite.Technology transfer is hyped about but a complete technology transfer is yet to be unfolded.Clause of “secrecy” is an integral to wisdom in such situations.
Transparency in governance is necessary for accountability and establishment of a welfare democracy in truest of form.RTI act is such a step towards it.But complete honesty in providing the information to any citizen will put at risk several national concerns and hence exemption clause to guard the act follows.
Extreme end honesty generally leads to extreme end results and wisdom correctly rectifies that by following a middle path of honesty supported by a conscious decision making.Our intention to alienate Pakistan is not honestly isolating it by any direct action but strategically confining its activities and improving relations with neighbours like Afghanistan by HOA conference,Chahabar port initiative and improving connectivity while also pushing for CCIT.
Honesty when supported with strategy yields results that are desirable and beneficial in the long run. Honesty of purpose backed with strategy of non violence helped us garner our freedom that was once perceived impossible for 200 years.It helped us bring land reforms,integrate the princely states into the country that we know today,bring reforms and keep a diverse nation intact with a quasi-federal administrative set up.Today when chanellised well,this can bring youth reforms and mitigate terror as an institution,improve policy measures and help solve defence issues better.State disputes of water realated issues also needs to be handled with the same approach of honesty backed by strategy that is the elite representation of wisdom.
Alladin is at the doorway,the dust receding already and the jewels of the new place called “wisdom” glowing in the dark.He slowly calls upon his magic carpet and it comes flying at his command.He goes back through the same lanes of wisdom,knowledge,education and intelligence and joy rides the city called “The Layered Human Mind”.
nice essay with interesting introduction. keep writing and reviewing
Thank you. I have attempted to give equal focus on international and national perspectives. Since this is an ideological essay, I believe only focusing on national affairs is narrow and elicits a report-like response instead of an essayist’s response. However, this has touched 1400 words, need to shorten several areas in introduction.
A nice answer with good examples. Keep writing and reviewing
Your essay has covered several different dimensions. I liked the way of categorization based on timeline such as Pre and post 2000.keep writing and reviewing
A comprehensive essay covering all possible points. Keep writing and reviewing
please review my essay guys who are active in this group…
requesting please review it…thinking to write eassy from many days this is first essay..please review it @forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus
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Do review mine
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@thegreenbirdie:disqus @monicamohan:disqus @Rashi27:disqus and other Best Answer writers please review my essay if possible. I really liked all your essays but I think you all concentrated on election process in India instead of focusing on the fact that the question is broadly ideological regarding democracy and electoral reform.
@forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus If possible, please review and tell me if using an Internationalist approach is wise for the exam.
ELECTORALS REFORMS FOR STRONGER DEMOCRACY
“In a room where
people unanimously maintain
a conspiracy of silence,
one word of truth
sounds like a pistol shot.”
― Czesław Miłosz
One might be reminded of Milosz’s words in the ongoing struggle for reforming Democratic process.
Democracy, etymologically taken from the Greek word Demokratia (Rule of the Commons), in modern usage is a system of government in which the citizens exercise power directly, or elect representatives from among themselves to form a governing body, such as a parliament. Democracy is the leading political ideology of our times, and has been instrumental in transforming human society as a global collective and pushing Those Who Rule to have greater accountability towards Those Who are Ruled.
Democracy consists of four key elements:
(a) A political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections;
(b) The active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life;
(c) Protection of the human rights of all citizens,
(d) A rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens.
Thus we can define Electoral Process as the bedrock of Democracy, and pushing for Electoral Reforms is the most effective cure for an ailing democracy. Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:
– Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-runoff voting, Instant Round Robin Voting called Condorcet Voting, range voting, approval voting, citizen initiatives and referendums and recall elections.
-Vote-counting procedures
-Rules about political parties, typically changes to election laws
-Eligibility to vote
-How candidates and political parties are able to stand (nomination rules) and how they are able to get their names onto ballots (ballot access)
-Electoral constituencies and election district borders
-Ballot design and voting equipment
-Scrutineering (election monitoring by candidates, political parties, etc.)
-Safety of voters and election workers
-Measures against bribery, coercion, and conflicts of interest
-Financing of candidates’ and referendum campaigns
-Factors which affect the rate of voter participation (voter turnout)
Historically,
-Election reforms are intertwined with the evolution of democracy and subsequent global democratisation. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 in English Civil War established a strong Parliament that codified the Principle of Free Elections as the bed rock of Democratic doctrine against royal absolutism. Subsequent public aspirations on electoral reforms pushed for a wider franchise, political emancipation of women, etc.
-The American Revolution of 1783 similarly transitioned a colonial regime to a democratic government, but USA didnt gain true universal suffrage till Reconstruction Era and passage of Civil Rights Act in 1968.
-Similarly, late 19th century to pre-War period saw an increasing democratisation of world politics borne on the wings of electoral reforms, and the process is still ongoing as more and more authoritarian regimes turn democratic. According to a study by Freedom House, in 67 countries where dictatorships have fallen since 1972, nonviolent civic resistance and pushing for electoral reforms was a strong influence over 70 percent of the time.
Internationally,
-In less democratic countries, elections are often demanded by dissidents; therefore the most basic electoral-reform project in such countries is to achieve a transfer of power to a democratically elected government with a minimum of bloodshed, e.g. in South Africa in 1994.
-In that aspect, the United Nations have been instrumental, their Fair Elections Commission provides international observers to national elections that are likely to face challenges by the international community of nations, e.g., in 2001 in Yugoslavia, in 2002 in Zimbabwe. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is committed to encourage democratic governance on a global level.
-Regional influences and prevailing geopolitics also shape the international pressure on achieving electoral reform demands, eg.- Democratisation of Eastern Bloc nations after the fall of USSR. Despite popular aspirations, these nations could not push their demands due to Soviet hegemony on administration.
-Gerrymandering is also a major concern, as is evident from Nepal’s current Constitutional crisis owing to inequitable drawing of constituencies, and how geopolitics has caused India to intervene in the democratic transition of Nepal.
Nationally,
In India, the founding fathers placed Election Commission under Article 324 of the Indian Constitution and ensured its independence to conduct free and fair elections in the country. Since then, the Indian Union has evolved into World’s Largest Democracy across 67 years of functioning. Despite its apparent success, major lacunae has been observed in the democratic mechanism of the country, and the political culture has often internalized stark inequalities and dangerous practices such as:
Traditionally,- Corruption, Crime, Casteism, Communalism.
Resulting in,- Politicization of crime and Criminalization of Politics.
And more recently fallen prey to the dangerous global trends of divisive identity politics riding on proliferation of social media.
Identifying the lacunae, several major Reform Committees were set up over the years such as (in chronological order):
i) Dinesh Goswami Committee on Electoral Reforms
ii) Vohra Committee Report on Criminalization of Politics
iii) Indrajith Gupta Report on State Funding of Elections
iv) Law Commission Report on Electoral Reforms.
Based on the Report recommendations and prevailing current needs, the Government of India has enacted several major electoral reforms in two phases, (a) pre-2000 (Before Digital Revolution) and (b) post-2000
Pre-2000:
– 61st Constitutional Amendment Act: Lowering minimum voter age to 18 years old.
– EC Jurisdiction: Enabling Election Commission’s sole jurisdiction on all staff engaged in electoral affairs during election time, thereby ensuring teeth to EC’s power.
– Introduction of EVM: Electronic Voting Machine for foolproof and efficient elections.
– Restriction on contesting Multi-Constituency elections: Candidates restricted to 2 constituencies at most.
Post-2000:
– Ban on exit polls: Digital penetration of media allowed Exit Polls to be used as a possible tool to manipulate voting results.
– Ceiling on election expenditure of candidates.
– Postal ballots and voting rights accredited to NRI citizens from their resident country.
Apart from these major non-legislative push to Electoral Reforms has been realised in initiatives such as:
– COMET system by EC for online communication for real time monitoring of polling booths using GPS.
– The power of EC to disqualify candidates on violating Model Code of Conduct, despite lacking statutory basis of such power.
Judicial activism has also seen major rulings on Election Process by the Supreme Court:
– Banning of freebies by Political Parties to influence voters (arresting the Cash for Vote trend.)
– Ruling Section 8(4) of RPA as Unconstitutional thereby banning officials with criminal records from staying in office.
– Ruled for the introduction of NOTA to express voter displeasure at candidate pool.
– Ruled for mandatory publicization of candidate information to voters.
Existing Lacunae and Reforms Aspirations:: Despite impressive progress, several important public aspirations remain unrealised. This adds to the existing lacunae, causing major threats to the transparency of election process. Unrealised recommendations from the various Committee Reports add to the burden. These can be addressed by:
a) Bringing Political Parties under the ambit of RTI
b) Simultaneous or at least uniformly Staggered elections across all three tiers of government. However, absolutely simultaneous elections are likely to undermine Federal structure as per the Law Commission Report, 2015.
c) Stricter implementation of Vigilance clauses to check proliferation of freebies, yellow journalism and regulate political advertisement in cyberspace.
d) Bring about gender equality in the legislature, since female participation in Parliament is minimal.
e) Enable greater autonomy and powers to State Election Commissions.
In Conclusion,
The philosophy of Democracy should be kept alive by continuing the process of electoral reforms to meet the needs of changing times and ensuring that plurality & the Voice of the People resonate in governance. It should be guided by optimism for a more inclusive society and a fear of both electoral fraud and disfranchisement, which will lead to death of democracy. In current global geopolitics, the rise of authoritarian popularity puts human society in greater need for continuing this struggle for democratisation, towards the dream of an inclusive human civilization.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall never perish from the Earth.”
~ Abraham Lincoln.
Thank you meena 🙂
Thanks for the review!! will try to improve next time 🙂
KWaR 🙂
Thank you so much!!
Totally forgot the gender equality point. Striked my mind only after posting the answer!! Thanks for pointing it out
Encouraging review 🙂
KWaR 🙂
Plz review mine…don’t worry abt Time now…will cm with time nd practice…jst focus on quality now…k
Sir plz review my eassy…I need it…
No prblm….u atleast see…that means alot…
My pleasure sir
Done:)
Hi monica. Nice essay covering all points. Mention about law commissions and gender equality reforms is really good. Keep writing and reviewing
A good essay with logical flow of ideas and coherently structure. I liked the last 3 points under suggested reforms and it makes your essay unique.
One additional point that could have been mentioned is gender equality reforms.The quotation used in conclusion was good and apt.
Overall I find it a clearly written essay covering all possible points. Keep writing and reviewing
Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy.
Democracy without Strong Electoral is just like Bird without Wings
Election for any democracy is one of the most important and fundamental rights. It not only provide its people with a means to select right candidates who can take decision on policies as per the needs of masses but also on other hands helps in conveying political parties in a way their views. Fair and transparent election is one of the most important factor for any democracy.
In order to fulfill these noble dream, forefather of Indian constitution provide a mechanism of strong electoral by giving them various powers as well as amending Election Commission Act to provide more wings and teeth to the organization.
Under the current arrangement, Election Commission of India has been given the task from organizing election, creating electoral to conducting election and declaring winners. They are also provided with various powers like checks on parties funding, declaring any election valid or in-valid if illegal means are being used to win any election, ensuring offices of EC are free from influence by securing their post from illegal transfers and removals, making it a quasi-judicial bodies etc.
However, there are still some domain where government will need to bring reforms to make it more equipped to handle issues and in managing election in more transparent and ethical manner.
First and foremost, EC should be made an independent body and its recommendation should not be go through Parliament. Currently Parliament has to approve any changes in EC powers and function, this need to go away with since Parliament take time in changing anything and secondly Parliament many time feels insecure in incorporating things which has reduce their power during elections.
Second, bringing more and more people into election process by the means of digital voting, online voting, and voting facilities for migrants to different states etc. This will not only give more power to people’s voice but also will help in moving close of complete election. Currently only 50-60% of vote decide winner and in such cases whole public view get missed.
Other changes also includes like strictly model conducts, giving more power to search and recover illegal money, debarring political representative for 10-15 years from election if found involved in illegal means, RTI in political parties, conducting open debates on similar lines of USA, creating awareness among people to vote to representative and not to parties, issuing strict guidelines for media etc.
All these reforms will bring more trust in voters and in a way will encourage them to vote which is good for any democracy. India is world largest democracy and will need strong measure to remove corruption, money power during election not only to make India truly a democratic nation but also to come up as an ideal state for other nations and this can be only possible if we have strong election commission and have strong powers.
One must also ask bigger question that is it sufficient to just improve the election commission missing power and think that we will get correct and loyal representative? One must also ask what drive one to corruption and why this is a bigger issue in India. Changing mind set of representative by making them more accountable to his/her promise is also necessary instead of making it a 5 year once touch base policy. More and more interaction between representative and its people will bring more dimension to democracy.
Another domain where we can bring more reform is initiative others means apart from just election. One such means is right to recall, by this we can make representative more accountable for its promises and working. This will ensure that politicians once elected are still working in favor of people and not involved in any activity of corruption.
Even changing the mindset of people is also necessary so that they are also very actively seeing the things done by its representative. One should not just vote and believe that politicians will take care of their issues and concern. There should be a mechanism to convey peoples grieve and they should also make sure that their representative is taking decision which is right for them in short as well as long terms.
Corruption and use of money is in such a huge operation during election that nowadays it a common saying that money wins election. There are many groups which will try to influence poor section of people by providing monetary assistance for getting votes which should be stopped at all cost and stringent measures should be in place for police as well as EC to keep an eye on it and to make sure that culprits are brought to book.
Election is the only way through which we can ensure that we have a strong democracy. Giving power to people to choose their representative should be free of money, corruption, influence and pressure. People should have faith in election mechanism as well as feel free to elect their representative. This can be done through series of actions like by parties following modal code of conduct, refraining from illegal means to attract votes, moral change within parties, police to be given more power to conducts raids, creating more awareness in people’s mind by print and electronic media.
Media is also one major pillar for any democracy. Media should also introspect themselves and refrains from showing news which can in any way influence people’s mindset like caste based population, exit poles etc. This is one of the way in influencing people decision as most of the survey shows that people vote based on popularity (also known as ‘Hawa’).They decide based on exit poll results and not from their inner self. Parties provide huge money to news channel to show things in favor of them but moral duty of media should be to show neutral news and no way should give their opinion.
Media platform can be efficiently use for open debates where all political party as well as their candidates should give their view on people specific grievances and issues. This will not only ensure proper use of media plus also help in generating more awareness in people’s mind to make an intelligent decision.
India is world largest democracy and with 70 odd years of independence we have seen a huge progress much due to the ethics of some of representative which is lacking in current environment. This calls for serious changes in electoral process, changing mindset of people and changing the way elections are being held. In order to make India a truly democratic country in its true sense we much bring reforms which are beneficial as well as efficient and effective.
Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy.
Democracy without Strong Electoral is just like Bird without Wings
Election for any democracy is one of the most important and fundamental rights. It not only provide its people with a means to select right candidates who can take decision on policies as per the needs of masses but also on other hands helps in conveying political parties in a way their views. Fair and transparent election is one of the most important factor for any democracy.
In order to fulfill these noble dream, forefather of Indian constitution provide a mechanism of strong electoral by giving them various powers as well as amending Election Commission Act to provide more wings and teeth to the organization.
Under the current arrangement, Election Commission of India has been given the task from organizing election, creating electoral to conducting election and declaring winners. They are also provided with various powers like checks on parties funding, declaring any election valid or in-valid if illegal means are being used to win any election, ensuring offices of EC are free from influence by securing their post from illegal transfers and removals, making it a quasi-judicial bodies etc.
However, there are still some domain where government will need to bring reforms to make it more equipped to handle issues and in managing election in more transparent and ethical manner.
First and foremost, EC should be made an independent body and its recommendation should not be go through Parliament. Currently Parliament has to approve any changes in EC powers and function, this need to go away with since Parliament take time in changing anything and secondly Parliament many time feels insecure in incorporating things which has reduce their power during elections.
Second, bringing more and more people into election process by the means of digital voting, online voting, and voting facilities for migrants to different states etc. This will not only give more power to people’s voice but also will help in moving close of complete election. Currently only 50-60% of vote decide winner and in such cases whole public view get missed.
Other changes also includes like strictly model conducts, giving more power to search and recover illegal money, debarring political representative for 10-15 years from election if found involved in illegal means, RTI in political parties, conducting open debates on similar lines of USA, creating awareness among people to vote to representative and not to parties, issuing strict guidelines for media etc.
All these reforms will bring more trust in voters and in a way will encourage them to vote which is good for any democracy. India is world largest democracy and will need strong measure to remove corruption, money power during election not only to make India truly a democratic nation but also to come up as an ideal state for other nations and this can be only possible if we have strong election commission and have strong powers.
One must also ask bigger question that is it sufficient to just improve the election commission missing power and think that we will get correct and loyal representative? One must also ask what drive one to corruption and why this is a bigger issue in India. Changing mind set of representative by making them more accountable to his/her promise is also necessary instead of making it a 5 year once touch base policy. More and more interaction between representative and its people will bring more dimension to democracy.
Another domain where we can bring more reform is initiative others means apart from just election. One such means is right to recall, by this we can make representative more accountable for its promises and working. This will ensure that politicians once elected are still working in favor of people and not involved in any activity of corruption.
Even changing the mindset of people is also necessary so that they are also very actively seeing the things done by its representative. One should not just vote and believe that politicians will take care of their issues and concern. There should be a mechanism to convey peoples grieve and they should also make sure that their representative is taking decision which is right for them in short as well as long terms.
Corruption and use of money is in such a huge operation during election that nowadays it a common saying that money wins election. There are many groups which will try to influence poor section of people by providing monetary assistance for getting votes which should be stopped at all cost and stringent measures should be in place for police as well as EC to keep an eye on it and to make sure that culprits are brought to book.
Election is the only way through which we can ensure that we have a strong democracy. Giving power to people to choose their representative should be free of money, corruption, influence and pressure. People should have faith in election mechanism as well as feel free to elect their representative. This can be done through series of actions like by parties following modal code of conduct, refraining from illegal means to attract votes, moral change within parties, police to be given more power to conducts raids, creating more awareness in people’s mind by print and electronic media.
Media is also one major pillar for any democracy. Media should also introspect themselves and refrains from showing news which can in any way influence people’s mindset like caste based population, exit poles etc. This is one of the way in influencing people decision as most of the survey shows that people vote based on popularity (also known as ‘Hawa’).They decide based on exit poll results and not from their inner self. Parties provide huge money to news channel to show things in favor of them but moral duty of media should be to show neutral news and no way should give their opinion.
Media platform can be efficiently use for open debates where all political party as well as their candidates should give their view on people specific grievances and issues. This will not only ensure proper use of media plus also help in generating more awareness in people’s mind to make an intelligent decision.
India is world largest democracy and with 70 odd years of independence we have seen a huge progress much due to the ethics of some of representative which is lacking in current environment. This calls for serious changes in electoral process, changing mindset of people and changing the way elections are being held. In order to make India a truly democratic country in its true sense we much bring reforms which are beneficial as well as efficient and effective.
“I only know one thing that I know nothing” is the ultimate wisdom one can achieve.
And *what* is that – It is being completely honest to oneself.
And *why* is that – till the time one is not fully honest to oneself, how can s/he expect to understand her/his strengths and weaknesses and work upon it wisely.
Thus honesty takes the place of very first step on the road to wisdom.
This road to wisdom is a very bumpy ride full of impediments and obstacles. It demands complete dedication, strength and endurance. It will push you, hit you and try to break you. The only way to stand strong there is sticking to your values and ideals honestly. It is this honesty in your dedication and will power that will make you sail through.
Honesty is not just about “speaking the truth”. That is the most narrow definition one can accord to this concept. Honesty is a much much wider concept. It includes believing in your purpose and working hard for it. It includes helping others and displaying empathy. It includes taking a stand against the wrongs and protecting the vulnerable. This is one of the most prized virtue one should strive to attain in the very first place so as to move ahead in a life full of challenges and hurdles.
From the outside, it appears very difficult to stay honest in this cruel world. But at a closer look, one can easily understand the life of honest people is far easier than the ones who display opposite traits. There are many examples in the past that testify it e.g. Mahatma Gandhi, Gautam Buddha, and such other great personalities could bring in great transformations be it political or spiritual and there is not a single instance that shows they were in any form of stress or tensions at anytime. Their life was beautiful and calm. They attained the highest form of wisdom and were able to decipher the meaning of life very well. That is the beauty or one can say the prize of being honest.
Does that mean the people who are not honest can never be wise?
No it is not true. The answer depends on what kind of wisdom is talked about. Merely reading and attaining knowledge can make you wise (of one sort) but till the time you do not apply that knowledge honestly to solve problems or serving the society, it will be of no use. Such theoretical wisdom becomes a depreciating asset over time and leads to more damage and wastage. For example you might have complete knowledge about the importance of elections in a democracy and you also preach about it to your near and dear ones but you do not go and exercise your right on the election day, will you still be called wise?
Honesty in actions, honesty in motives, honesty in means will definitely lead to the desired end. It acts as a motivating force and gives enough courage to handle any situation. It helps one to avoid escapism of any sort and that is why it becomes the basic ingredient of attaining wisdom.
Once you attain such wisdom, you understand the difference between saying the truth or keeping mum. Wisdom will never force you to lie or spill the beans in the name of honesty. So the question that generally comes in our minds whether to be completely transparent to everybody and under every situation loses its ground. Even if a state intelligence chief has to manipulate or modify things, he is being completely honest to his duties, his responsibilities and the larger interest of the nation. It is this honesty towards his profession that will save the nation from any kind of internal or external aggression.
Hence it can be said that honesty is the foundation of wisdom. It is the first step towards the attainment of bigger goal. It definitely deserves to be the very first chapter in the book of wisdom as this Honesty makes ‘them’ wise or we can say that “they are wise in being honest”.
Thanks!
🙂
hehe I like to write poetry and stuff so maybe imagination comes easy.
Comprehensive!! International perspective : great!! Good attempt!
The essay is comprehensive but in my view do not put much of points and paragraphs. A very good attempt 🙂
Hehe sure Sir 🙂 although i have very little to offer.
A complete beginner. But I will contribute the max I can 🙂
Thank you sir 🙂
🙂
Be active from now on!
Yes, true that.
Encourage more Hindi Medium aspirants to come and write 🙂
Yes, practice is the key!
🙂
Yes. Interesting read for sure!
hey add some real life examples it would give more weightage to ur answer ,,:)
Agree.
@thegreenbirdie:disqus @Dustbin_180:disqus how u guys come up with such great stories??really creative way of writing essay…
Good attempt!!
more innovation possible :). Review mine please
yeah conclusion could have been better
Truly a comprehensive one.
But you could write a better conclusion by making it inclusive of all specs you pointed out.
Loved reading it.
Please review mine 🙂
thank you tanya 🙂
Ohh yes, missed it, Yes sure will do.
ok got it
thanks
Review mine please 🙂
haha.. Not both!! jz wen studying the same thing feels kind of boring I switch to other things.
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom – Thomas Jefferson.
There was a boy name Hasan in a country. His family includes only his mother. His country was very poor. There was no job opportunities in his country. So he decided to move the neighbouring country for livelihood. He asked permission from his mother and his mother agreed for it. On the fateful day, his mother gave him a bag having all the necessary essentials for the journey. She also gave some money to him for emergency and covered the money by stitching one pocket of the bag. She stitched the pocket so carefully that no one could notice the existence of the pocket normally. The boy left with the group but soon the group was attacked by robbers. The robbers looted all the money from the group. When they searched Hasan they found nothing. They asked him angrily about the money. He said politely “ Sir! they are in the bag only”. Robbers again checked the bag thoroughly but the result was zero again. They throw the bag to Hasan and asked him to show it. Hasan carefully removed the stitch and showed the money to them. The robbers were amused. They said “Dear boy! You could easily hide the money from us. We are very cruel, merciless. Then why you were honest to us?” Hasan told them “My mother has taught me that never to become dishonest and never tell a lie to anyone in any circumstances.” Seeing this type of honesty robbers returned all money to the group and left.
We can’t cheat ourselves as we are best to judge ourselves. If we are not honest with ourselves, every times we will ditch our wisdom. Wisdom is driver of our decision. If we are misjudging ourselves and making a false target then it is a huge loss of us. The system of comparing with neighbours and then running a blind race to be like them or be superior to them is bullshit. There comes a lot of opportunity in anyone’s life when he/she has to show wisdom and choose the right path. Let me recite one more story –
There was a footwear MNC in western world. The company was looking for expansion in two of the middle income African countries A and B. As the investment was much, the company opted to enter the two countries one by one. They started with A. In A, the company opened the largest shoe store of the world, gave heavy discounts and spent a lot on its advertisement. 2 years were passed but the company was not even able to collect 20 percent of the investment. It was a heavy loss. They soon started analysing the reasons for it. They reviewed their product many times and every time they found it of superb quality. They were unable to figure out the reason behind their failure. So they took the service of a consultant. The consultant reported “A is near equator. Natives are happy with bare foot or only sometimes with sandals. They are new to shoe. Also Shoe doesn’t suit to their environment. So it is very necessary for the company to teach them the importance of shoe and then present the product for sale.” The company agreed to the report, accepted its fault and in B, the company first opened 4 big schools having all modern facilities at its four of its big cities. There they taught the natives about the etiquettes along with their education. 2 more years passed. Then the company opened a normal store there. Amazingly the sale of the store soon picked up.
How it happened? The company was honest with itself. It accepted its fault, act wisely and the result was in favour of the company. If we are not honest with ourselves we can’t see our problems. Instead of correcting ourselves we will start throwing stones on others and we may lag miles behind others. In the Hasan story Hasan was true to himself. His honesty won the hearts of robbers and thus he along with his group escaped from the odd.
Wise men always tell “Honesty is the best policy”. A honest man is always an inspiration to his society. Have we ever thought that on which believes, our inspirational leaders has given space to Fundamental duties in our constitution? The belief is our Honesty which is a basic building block of a wise INDIA. Fundamental duties are not at all compulsory. No one from the government or society is forcing us to follow. But it is the expectation of our nation’s hero to us. By not following it, we will not be able to enjoy our prideful history and will not be able to live with dignity in present. It will be a great loss to us not others. Wisdom is very essential in today’s world. By wise decisions only we can make a difference. A universal statement is – Every living being has to die one day. So why to die as a common? A wise man is always remembered by the future generations. He becomes a benchmark for others in other way he leads others to a more healthy, happy and wealthy life.
It is well said that if you are not honest with yourself, no one can save you. Honesty gives us power to decide well and thus increases our efficacy, efficiency. An honest efficient man always takes a wise decision which is fruitful for him and his nation both.
ok
how many do u do
i mean weekly or monthly???
wow
good point
thanks
No specific site. Jz google it :).
Nice suggestion 🙂
Democratic reforms in the sense apart from electoral reforms, political reforms, democratic consolidation and any other suggestion of your own to strenghten democracy. eg:addressing the problem of missing women in socio-political space.
very captivating essay..well done …
thank u very much for pointing out
i will try my best to remember quotes
from where do u read quotes?
Thanks for the review 🙂 KWaR 😉
Nice simple informative essay.. throughout it was like a story
Good work 🙂
Hey Good attempt!! As others said u have covered almost all the aspects. You have given many examples which must be appreciated!!
Regarding quotes.. most of us have the issue of remembering the quotes.. but by practice you can remember them!! so try to use them in the upcoming essays, even by referring to some sources.
Just be careful with the sentences.. you have used the term free election in the first page which should have been fair election.. in the last page you have used free and fair democracy instead of free and fair elections.
KWaR 🙂
Good attempt 🙂 I will suggest that whenever you start any story. Start it Directly. It is more powerful e.g. do not say “there was a boy named Hasan” you can rather start it like “Hasan was ready to go to the city and his bags were packed. His mother ensured that he had all the essentials including some reserved money which she kept in a secret pocket which no other person could find out… Rest try to incorporate only one story and use it again and again in reference. Purely personal opinion 🙂 KWaR
Abhilash sorry.. mujhe kuch khas samajh nhi aaya coz meri textual hindi achi nahi hai itni.. i loved ending para.. baaki meko thoda thoda hi samajh aaya, so cant comment 🙁
thank you
actually i am very bad at remembering quotes
but next time i will try something like ur intro
hehe
Well written! International perspective was a good point. Intro is good but you can work on it so that it catches the attention of examiner at once. KWaR!! 🙂
you have written very well
content is also good
but you have concentrated only on India
international aspect is missing
plz review mine
democratic reforms???
Thanks guys
Hi. my first post 😉
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom – Thomas Jefferson.
There was a boy name Hasan in a country. His family includes only his mother. His country was very poor. There was no job opportunities in his country. So he decided to move the neighbouring country for livelihood. He asked permission from his mother and his mother agreed for it. On the fateful day, his mother gave him a bag having all the necessary essentials for the journey. She also gave some money to him for emergency and covered the money by stitching one pocket of the bag. She stitched the pocket so carefully that no one could notice the existence of the pocket normally. The boy left with the group but soon the group was attacked by robbers. The robbers looted all the money from the group. When they searched Hasan they found nothing. They asked him angrily about the money. He said politely “ Sir! they are in the bag only”. Robbers again checked the bag thoroughly but the result was zero again. They throw the bag to Hasan and asked him to show it. Hasan carefully removed the stitch and showed the money to them. The robbers were amused. They said “Dear boy! You could easily hide the money from us. We are very cruel, merciless. Then why you were honest to us?” Hasan told them “My mother has taught me that never to become dishonest and never tell a lie to anyone in any circumstances.” Seeing this type of honesty robbers returned all money to the group and left.
We can’t cheat ourselves as we are best to judge ourselves. If we are not honest with ourselves, every times we will ditch our wisdom. Wisdom is driver of our decision. If we are misjudging ourselves and making a false target then it is a huge loss of us. The system of comparing with neighbours and then running a blind race to be like them or be superior to them is bullshit. There comes a lot of opportunity in anyone’s life when he/she has to show wisdom and choose the right path. Let me recite one more story –
There was a footwear MNC in western world. The company was looking for expansion in two of the middle income African countries A and B. As the investment was much, the company opted to enter the two countries one by one. They started with A. In A, the company opened the largest shoe store of the world, gave heavy discounts and spent a lot on its advertisement. 2 years were passed but the company was not even able to collect 20 percent of the investment. It was a heavy loss. They soon started analysing the reasons for it. They reviewed their product many times and every time they found it of superb quality. They were unable to figure out the reason behind their failure. So they took the service of a consultant. The consultant reported “A is near equator. Natives are happy with bare foot or only sometimes with sandals. They are new to shoe. Also Shoe doesn’t suit to their environment. So it is very necessary for the company to teach them the importance of shoe and then present the product for sale.” The company agreed to the report, accepted its fault and in B, the company first opened 4 big schools having all modern facilities at its four of its big cities. There they taught the natives about the etiquettes along with their education. 2 more years passed. Then the company opened a normal store there. Amazingly the sale of the store soon picked up.
How it happened? The company was honest with itself. It accepted its fault, act wisely and the result was in favour of the company. If we are not honest with ourselves we can’t see our problems. Instead of correcting ourselves we will start throwing stones on others and we may lag miles behind others. In the Hasan story Hasan was true to himself. His honesty won the hearts of robbers and thus he along with his group escaped from the odd.
Wise men always tell “Honesty is the best policy”. A honest man is always an inspiration to his society. Have we ever thought that on which believes, our inspirational leaders has given space to Fundamental duties in our constitution? The belief is our Honesty which is a basic building block of a wise INDIA. Fundamental duties are not at all compulsory. No one from the government or society is forcing us to follow. But it is the expectation of our nation’s hero to us. By not following it, we will not be able to enjoy our prideful history and will not be able to live with dignity in present. It will be a great loss to us not others. Wisdom is very essential in today’s world. By wise decisions only we can make a difference. A universal statement is – Every living being has to die one day. So why to die as a common? A wise man is always remembered by the future generations. He becomes a benchmark for others in other way he leads others to a more healthy, happy and wealthy life.
It is well said that if you are not honest with yourself, no one can save you. Honesty gives us power to decide well and thus increases our efficacy, efficiency. An honest efficient man always takes a wise decision which is fruitful for him and his nation both.
Na every saturday. Everyday there will be 4 GS questions. Do subscribe to the website and you will get all the information on email 🙂
No…it’s on Saturday only…nd monday to Friday there is gs nd current based questions
From where u r replying…tHere at left in downside…option to upload imaGe
Its not difficult if u read it carefully 🙂
Is this essay test conducted daily? Please tell me when exactly the question is posted everyday?
Will work on it.. thanks for review 🙂
areyy nothing to be sorry about 🙂 Yes gonna do that!!
Sister*
It is in the comments below but it is halved. Don’t know how. Missing many things I wrote and still don’t know how to upload a file here
sorry
do review
I will review it. 🙂
Bro…where is ur eassy…I will review
I’m new here and it is confusing. It seems half of my essay is gone too. This is really confusing
Yeah I lack in content as of now. Thanks 🙂 Your essay was fab too I just read!!
Why is no one reviewing mine?
I liked reading it.
But work on flow. Try giving it a narrative touch, As of now it is leaning towards a Gs answer type pattern.
Brilliant intro. awesome flow.
But you should widen the perspective through specific pointers,
K…no prblm…thanks to compliment…that will increase confidence
Thank you 🙂
Sir, i am not very good at hindi. :/
Thank u…u also wrote eassy very well
Beautifully written! And the point where you said Judiciary and general public have common opinion about reforms was fab. Aap bht acha likhte hain! KWaR
Sir…any critics u find…plz note that..nd thank to compliment
@forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus Sir I have a query! I like to keep the vocabulary very simple and always try to put some fiction/storytelling element in the essay. But since (as per the hearsay) the answersheets are evaluated by esteemed professors of state universities, will they prefer such style of writing? I mean it should not be the case that such writing is assumed little childish when the candidate is writing an exam to become an officer.
Woahh Abhilash ji. Aap ki handwriting and presentation :O
Plz review mine
Finally it works….plz review mine…need it https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2b396c60896b91407ad6f1f3c4d1d0e0fcd1213bda36c8d1cbe7d16472237153.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0dae4b780421b5019a533cb3daf93a8fb152f2f880953959bea2f5f6ce1aad07.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03be0909848e5523e00a02fd2ae1ed40602ccf0f4062b4ad2445aabeec4b4c2c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/230573086a230ce59fb60093ab8b081d014e83b37e2af6c91732a1da6603f3fb.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26fb0ef1c689751189bd5d1a399ceec9082735876c0d4971314433e5c16497ea.jpg
2. Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy.
In 1950, India, as a nation in it’s embryonic phase embraced the idea of free and fair elections. These ideals were backed by strong institutional set up – Article 324 providing for free, fair and untainted election & Article 326 for providing universal adult suffrage. These along with an independent Election Commission formed a strong foundation for democracy to thrive in coming years. Years passed – challenges evolved and to meet the challenges reforms were realized to ensure elections remain free and fair as envisaged in the constitution. However challenges keep evolving – making it imperative for reforms to be dynamic. Unfortunately the challenges have outpaced the rate of modernization and renaissance in electoral dimensions of democracy.
Soon after first few general elections, cases of booth capturing, threatening were on a rampant rise. Art 324 empowers ECI with residuary powers to cancel elections if unfair practises are found to be in use. In 1980s when booth-capturing was rampant during elections in many parts of the country. Section 58A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 was introduced empowers the poll watchdog to adjourn or cancel elections on the ground of booth-capturing.
Years passed – the orgy of muscle power & gun power faded. But no that wasn’t the end. The evil force of money power emerged and remains a challenge to this date. Cases of bribing voters & horsetrading emerged as a mark of shame.
Another problem – is rampant use of social media to arouse sentiments on unfair grounds. This problem hard to track and monitor.
Taking conginsance of malpractices in electoral financing, ECI put together Expenditure Control Mechanisms in 2010, followed by a crackdown on unaccounted money as soon as the Model Code comes into play.
But challenges continues to evolve – parties bribed voters well before activation of Model Code. Recently, the ECI took an unprecedented step to cancel elections to two Tamil Nadu assembly seats, namely Aravakurichi and Thanjavur on account of bribing voters.
On hand, bribing voters continues in Legislative assembly elections – but are Legislative council elections free ? No. Horsetrading is rampant. ECI countermanded of two elections to the Rajya Sabha in Jharkhand in 2012.
Electoral financing is a major problem that distorts the fairness of election to doubtful levels. Demonetisation was perceived a major step to reform electoral financing. However it falls short of the needful. According to Section 13A of IT Act – political parties are already exempt from income tax provided they maintain books of accounts and record details of individuals making donations over Rs 20,000. The exemption of donations to political parties below Rs 20,000 from the “by cheque only” regulation must also be dispensed with straight away. This will take care of the non-transparency. India has the highest number of political parties in the world, and this number is growing. At last count, more than 2,500 parties – have not contested any election for 10 years and yet benefited from tax exemptions.
ECI’s proposal to give it permanent legal powers to countermand polls on credible evidence of the use of black money should be agreed by legislatures right away. However Law Ministry has rejected it.
The reforms in electoral practices should begin from political parties themselves.
As per subsection (1) of section 29C of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, all registered political parties have to submit an annual statement of income and expenditure to the Election Commission. The compliance on this, in the stipulated time limit, has been tardy. No action is taken against parties for delayed compliance or non-compliance. Non compliant parties should be de-registered.
Internal democracy in political parties is very much needed. It is the political parties that form the government, man the Parliament and run the governance of the country. It is therefore necessary to introduce internal democracy, financial transparency and accountability in the working of the political parties. A political party which does not respect democratic principles in its internal working cannot be expected to respect those principles in the governance of the country.
This is needed to promote democracy in political parties many of which are – family run, cotorie run, individual run.
Because political parties are not inclusive due to money power – representation in LS/RS are not inclusive. Newcomers struggle to contest elections – females in general are hesitant. This reflects in parliament where only 11% of MPs are females.
A number of reforms needed
1. Enforcing internal democracy and transparency in the working of the political parties. Bringing them under the RTI.
2. Accept the ECI’s proposal to legally empower it to cancel elections where credible evidence of abuse of money has been found.
3. debar persons against whom cases of heinous offences are pending in courts from contesting elections.
4. prescribe a ceiling for political parties’ expenditure, like that for the candidates.
5. Strict compliance of section 29C(1)
A slew of reforms from enforcing transparency in parties to gender quotas are needed. These reforms in tandem would reform multiple dimensions of electoral system. Reduction in money power, inclusion of more women, empowering ECI, will make elections inclusive and participatory. Only then the vision of FREE and FAIR elections would actualize in the Democratic India.
thanks for the review. keep reviewing
thanks for the review. keep writing and reviewing
thanks for the review. keep writing and reviewing
Review mine if possible by u
Nice presentation monika….
Plz review mine
Thanks for the encouraging words @Purest_Avenger:disqus 🙂 KWaR 🙂
Wide coverage! Good one. Conclusion could have been like consolidation. Could have included democratic reforms and used quotes. Good attempt! Good one on extreme democracy and ill-effects!
Fiinally it works….plz review mine …
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Thank u SSS
🙂
Thank you Monica..
🙂
Hey, this essay a pandora of information. I have read a few essays just like this written by UPSC toppers. So, there is no set formula for getting high marks in this paper. It’s a grey area. Ur essay was structured, complete and was close to the topic. So, I frankly think this is a brilliant essay. Keep writing 🙂
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Succeeded in uploading at last. Please review.
Thank you Sir! 🙂
Hi Monica Mohan, thanks so much for reviewing my essay. I too felt it and struggled quite a bit while writing this essay, I guess this is due to not writing regularly. I’ll work on your inputs seriously 🙂
hehe thanks :)!!
PS – this bird is a girl 😛
Thank you 🙂
Thanks for the review. Yeah I am very bad at content now 🙁 Need to read and learn alot!! 🙂
@abhilash bro i will complete this , yr hindi typing slow hai time jyda lag jata hai
Thank you 🙂
Neat and simple but could have talked about US’ campaigns(oldest modern democracy) and some innovation like adding your own recommendations. Good attempt 🙂
Good set of examples. Somewhere between Honesty, Lack of Honesty, Defining wisdom and concluding in accordance to the statement, there were little glitches on interconnecting them. Introduction could have been something catchy than diving into honesty. I appreciate your answer because I wasn’t able to come up with so many examples and dimensions. Good one 🙂 Keep writing. Review mine if interested on the other topic 🙂
Good read
U made it so simple
🙂 My pleasure
i am very bad to remember quotes
awesome review
thank u very much
Innovative 🙂
Hey, Pablo.. I went through your answer; the parallels u drew are fresh and new, though some corrections needed.. following are my suggestions:
1. Maybe u cud put some quotes, use phrases.. to make it interesting.
2. Use sub-headings and then begin new paragraph, this way it will appear more organised and clear.
3. You gave many examples from international polity, they were fresh, however maybe you could limit them and elaborate. (Quality over quantity) just a suggestion
4. Spelling/name errors like fair-fare.. orissa-odisha (though not relevant)
Thank you @Rashi27:disqus 🙂 Welcoming criticisms too 🙂
Good one
From start till end it was interesting
access it through forumlink=> http://forumias.com/portal/essay-test-december-17/
all pages are availble
Nicely written monica 🙂
There are just 5 uploads all with odd number pages
total 10 pages
I could not find even number pages! There are just 5 images. Please rectify
Thought of it.. but didn’t know anything
thanks harry…
Thank you Monica 🙂
your essay was good – introduction was strong and innovative – full marks for your introduction.
But you could have added more perspectives in middle part. Philosophical part was very good.
More examples were needed like sagar sumit has given. Some GS knowledge should also be imparted in essay. Some innovative reforms in addition to reforms already suggested by various committees could have given completeness to your essay.
Overall , a very good attempt.
Brainstormed the topic for 5-10 min and could not go beyond religion and leaders. How could I not think of Thirukural!! Good one 🙂 Keep writing 🙂
As you folks, click comment… There must be photo icon on left bottom, post as xyz on right bottom.. ryt? @forumias, I don’t know why there is no upload option and only comment button available. I m using mobile phone.
now privacy option is removed
do review
Agree.
me too
Sorry mate, I don’t see the pic icon in disqus..otherwise you could simply click on the pic icon and upload the pic.
@forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus
i think there is any problem (i may be wrong)
i also got problem to upload picture form pc
them uploaded form mobile
and dont forget to review my essay 🙂
Your Disqus account is private and it doesn’t allow me to take a look at your essay!
i also got problem to upload form pc
them uploaded form mobile
@Pablo Escobar you are right. I could not do much justice with respecto international scenario. In fact just when I completed my essay, I realised I could have related points in marathon’s extreme democracy question here as well. I think such things will improve as I practice. I tried to read your essay but disqus says this user’s activity is private.
How did u upload ur answer snaps on disqus.. m new at it, pls tell so that I can upload the handwritten essay.
As I comment, there is no option near the post button.. dunno why
Thanks fr assisting. Par disqus pe upload karne ka option kahan hota h?
Good style of answering! Keep writing 🙂
plz review my essay
i think u hava only focused on India
international aspect is missing i assume
otherwise good flow and content is also good
plz review my essay also
Sure! Keep writing !!
awesome bro
maza a gaya!
plz review mine
Thank you 🙂 and Agreed. Could have taken up international aspect. Got stuck with Indian democracy. Thanks for pointing out!
too much heading and points
international aspect is missing
content is good
review mine
Thanks @monicamohan:disqus for reviewing. I liked your essay too. I have replied there.
I agree @sagarsumit:disqus . I usually write essays in paras when I WRITE by swapping between 2 to 3 colour pens(I got used to it and doesn’t take much time), typing made me to write in points ‘cos a large para when typed looks mundane and readers lose patience.
And yeah Democratic reforms are necessary and everything must flow from the people which is what i tried to deliver in the conclusion. Since the statement was about Electoral reforms, I got stuck to it. Thanks for reviewing! 🙂
@Driger-TheBeast:disqus Thank you for your encouraging comments. I think this essay was more in my comfort zone so I was able to write a good content. Apart from that, just usual reading habits and tips from toppers (you can check out ForumIAS topper interviews initiative) helps 🙂 Next time i will try to pick topic out of my comfort zone!
need to focus on conclusion
too much heading and points
content is good
review mine
On seeing this question , I wanted to try this but deficit of points changed my mind. Ur answer shows how to develop a good answer with examples. Great one!! KWaR 😉
i think u have just concentrated on India
need to focus on international also
review mine
Hey @Phoenix:disqus you can either post the link here or simply copy-paste your essay.
Well articulated with a lot of examples! Good one 🙂
@monicamohan:disqus Essay covers a lot of point regarding electoral reforms. In fact I missed the paid news point. I just want to point out two things. One, writing an essay in paras rather than points. This is my personal opinion. I am not sure whether examiner judges that way. I just find paras more interesting as a reader. Second, electoral reforms are necessary but not sufficient for a stronger democracy. We should also talk about democratic reforms other than those related to electoral system.
@forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus plz review
Absolutely right!! Practicing will help us improve 🙂
First tym at writing answer.. Can someone pls tell how do I upload the snaps via discus a/c.. there is no upload option in comment section..
superb answer!! Learnt a lot on how to write an essay!! The way converted every point into a paragraph with a good flow.. is really amazing!! Give me ur valuable suggestions if possible 🙂
Plz review
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Thank you @DrigerTheBeast:disqus . Being beginners, it happens.Probably we should write a lot and get reviewed to improve.
Thank you @Civilserviceaspirant:disqus . Even I felt it, since I got used to reading GS and little essay writing practice(this is my 2nd essay). I need reviews on that part. Lets wait for @forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus 🙂
“Honesty is the first chapter to wisdom” is used by Thomas Jefferson in one of his letters to Nanthaniel. This famous quote means a lot than it apparently is. Honesty is something which human beings cannot do without. It is a quality without which other divine qualities like trustworthy, loyalty and love will exist superficially. Honesty and integrity is needed for our lives to become meaningful. It needs to exist for human relationships to work. Honesty is needed from father to child and vice versa, from wife to husband, between friends, between colleagues, between employee and employer, etc.
There are long list of historical examples that showed honesty is indeed good in the long run. One such example will be Abraham Lincoln. Before becoming America’s President, he was known as ‘Honest Abe’. He started out as a store clerk in Salem. Whenever he found out that he had short changed his customers, he would close down his shop and deliver the change however long he had to go to deliver it. Soon, people became to realise his honest character and would later make him judge fights and arguments. His decision was taken as final.
Lal Bahadur Shastri was also one of the leaders of India known for his honesty. He never used his position to do his personal works. Other famous personalities known for their honesty were Thomas Ferguson, Giuseppe Garibaldi and Mahatma Gandhi to name a few. They were all trusted by people for their honesty and integrity and were made leaders of the masses. And thus, from these examples, we can firmly say that honesty is needed in leaders. It is a must ingredient for leaders. It is because of honesty that leaders are loved and respected by the masses.
Without being able to be honest with others, how will we expect to be honest with ourselves? And without being honest to ourselves, how do we expect ourselves to gain wisdom? Wisdom is procured gradually through embracing our faults, in short, by being honest with ourselves. If we can’t accept our faults and try to better ourselves, we would end up blaming others for our failures. And by doing so, we will never ever make progress in our lives but end up frustrated and lost. So, honest is something we should all strive to be to be something great in life or achieve something big in life. Honesty is something we need to live our life. Without it, life becomes a miserable cycle of woes and mistrust.
@green bird thanks yar…start was not impressive i admit…i will try next time…
sure sir now i will be regular with GS answer as well as essay…..thnks sir for compliment.
Connectivity in your essay needs a thumbs up! Good intro and related quotes could have been used as a Value-add 🙂 Overall, a treat for readers with good coherence. Review mine if possible!
hehe thanks 🙂
Essay was good. Nice content. Very neat. Good use of quotes.
But the format looks like GS answers. I do not have much experience how to write UPSC essays. @forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus sir can clarify.
Our answers seem similar but I missed the reservation for women part 😛 Good one 🙂
Thanks but I doubt the contents. Don’t know whether the content actually is what is needed for the question. Looking for comments from ForumIAS on that regard. 🙂
Good attempt and a great start but conclusion could have been better @Rashi27:disqus. Keep writing and review mine if time permits!
Simple and neat.
Innovative answering at its best 😉 Learnt a new style of answering 🙂
KWaR
plz review
Superb way of answering 🙂 KWaR 😉
Bro….nice to see hindi aspirants r increasing here…u wrote eassy very well but it some what incomplete…the eassy is not abt “electol reform” it abt “सशक्त लोकतंत्र के लिए चुनाव सुधार”
Ur intro was fab…but u wrote history of election…that was good…but corelate reforms with that of strengthening the democracy…what has to be done for it…
I think u understand…review mine too..
plz review…
@forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus Requesting your feedback and suggestions to improve my essays.
My first attempt in Essay question. Requesting our valuable suggestions and feedback. Please review!! 🙂
As stated by Abraham Lincoln, Democracy is the government of the people,
by the people and for the people. Democracy places people at the centre
of the source of power. Elections are the indispensable part of
democracy in which the people wield their power of selecting a
representative.
Democracy is enlisted as one of fundamental
features of Indian Constitution which guarantees us regular free and
fair elections. But merely conducting elections is not meant by
democracy; The way in which elections are held has a great say in the
state of democracy. Money power and muscle power have been playing a
crucial role in elections for sometime now, thus affecting the basic
structure of democracy. This has made electoral reforms an undeniable
necessity.
Hurdles in conducting free and fair election:
Money Power :
Politicians
have been shelling out huge sums of money in campaigning,
advertisements and publicity. Even though there is a ceiling limit on
the expenditure they spend lavishly through indirect illegal ways.
Muscle Power :
Threatening
the opponents, intimidating the citizens, booth capturing and use of
violence to make people vote for a particular candidate – all these have
been playing a major role in deciding the elected representative.
Criminals have entered into the political forum with dominant parties to
use their muscle power in favour of the party and also to drop any
criminal charges against them.
Bribing the voters :
This
practice has grown in the recent years especially in South India where
voters were bribed with money or material to vote for a particular
candidate. Eg : Thanjavur(Tamilnadu) – ECI postponed the election citing
this reason.
Criminialisation of politics :
Many
politicians have criminal charges against them. They make use of illegal
criminal elements to move forward in politics. It is a saddened
situation that those who break that law are given chance to make the
law.
Casteism and Religious segregation :
It is well known
fact that caste and religion have been playing a major role in elections
for a long time now. People not only vote for candidates from the same
caste or religion as them abut also force family members to vote for
that candidate. This results in a political imbalance in favour of caste
and religion
Moral values in politics :
Moral values have
been declining in the recent years in politics as many politicians view
politics as a lucrative business rather than as a service to the public.
Reforms introduced so far:
– Eligible age for voting was reduced from 21 to 18 through the Constitution (61st Amendment) Act in 1988
– Introduction of Electronic Voting Machine in a view to eliminating bogus voting and booth capturing and is also eco-friendly.
– Photo identity cards for voters to eliminate bogus voting.
– In case of booth capturing, a new date can be announced for fresh polls after declaring the poll in that polling station as void.
–
Staffs working on preparing, refining and compiling the electoral roll
will be on deputation of Election Commission so that it prevents any
external political influence on them.
– Increase in security deposit amount, to reduce the number of non serious independent candidates.
– A candidate cannot contest in more than two constituencies simultaneously.
– Introduction of ceiling on election expenditure.
– Automatic disqualification of a legislator if he/she is convicted and sentenced for 2 or more years of imprisonment.
– Introduction of NOTA to enable a voter to reject all the candidates.
–
Any candidate must declare his assets , criminal antecedents , etc
during nomination and false declaration is deemed punishable offense
– Anti defection law to prevent any legislator from moving from party to party.
These
reforms have improved the fairness of election process to an extent but
a lot more has to be done to free our election process from the evil
hands of corruption , money power and muscular power.
Reforms that can be done to strengthen democracy:
Financial electoral reforms:
State funding of elections has been discussed for a while now. But many
oppose that as the funds must be released from the national fund.
Instead of state funding, all the candidates can be asked to deposit a
certain amount to the Election Commission which will result in a corpus
of funds. Then the candidate must spend all his election expenditures
only from the amount available with EC. This will make sure that all the
candidates spend equal amounts towards election expenditure. Money
power issue can be sorted out and any financial disparities can be
easily identified.
RTI:
Political parties can be
brought under the ambit of RTI so that common people have access to all
the information regarding the parties.
Simultaneous Elections:
Elections can be conducted simultaneously for Lok Sabha and State
Legislative assemblies. This move will be cost effective, ease the
administrative issues arising out of implementation of Model Code of
Conduct and will bring more stability in implementing developmental
plans.
Paid news and opinion polls:
More stringent
rules must be brought to reduce paid news and paid opinion polls that
may mislead the public. Restrictions must be laid down for opinion polls
and advertisements.
Criminalisation of politics and false declaration:
False declaration must be made looked up more seriously with stringent
rules. A investigative mechanism could be put in place to check the
authenticity of the information given by the candidate.
Legislators with criminal records greater than a certain degree can be disqualified.
Right to Recall:
Voters can be provided with a right to recall any legislator provided
that the voters meet certian criteria set by the election commission.
Non-serious independent candidates:
Political parties are providing funds to few persons to contest as
independent candidates just to split the votes and overthrow the
opponent. Stringent laws to reduce such candidates must be passed.
“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Election
is the most important part of a democracy. So electoral reforms must be
introduced to assure the voters, a fair election process. The role of
the Election Commission ends in regulating the election process, paving
the way forward to a stronger democracy. It is the duty of every citizen
to eliminate corruption, money power, muscle power and other such evils
by choosing wisely to make sure that democracy stays intact.
Hence, Electoral reforms pave way for a stronger democracy but preserving it is in the hands of the citizens.
Thanks 😛 🙂
I look forward to your answers. I am a silent observer here!!
Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy
Make your intro a little attractive. Universal Adult Franchise was a result of INM which was highly democratic owing to the Gandhian era and others. Evolutionary perspective over-emphasized. Try to use good words like Purchase of votes in place of money for vote, empowered in place of strong.
Few points from my side:
Issues with the election process:
1. Heavy influence of the affluent sections and entrepreneurs as they fund the party during elections. This gives rise to Crony Capitalism.
2. Lower turnout: not many vote due to the lack of association with the democratic values. The role and responsibility of being a democratic citizen is not imbibed in the commons.
Electoral reforms:
1. EVM Totalizer: this will save time and energy of the EC and make the process more transparent and accountable.
2. State funding: this has been proposed from a long time but has not been introduced due to lack of consensus in the legislature.
3. Simultaneous elections for centre and state. This can save much of the productive time, funds and energy. Moreover the political executive can have ample time to look at after the citizens demands than focus on elections.
Keep writing friend
ELECTORALS REFORMS FOR STRONGER DEMOCRACY
”Democracy is when the indigent, not the men of property, are the rulers” – Aristotle
Democracy is one of the unchallengeable fundamental feature of the Constitution of India and forms the basic structure. As rightly put by Abraham Lincoln,Democracy is “Government of the people, for the people and by the people”. The system of government could thrive and reach corners of the world because it is the people who have the major stake in democracy. It is the indirect democracy which has been taken up by the Governments for governance where the representatives are the delegates for deliberation and policy making. To place this theory into practice, Elections are the inevitable. Which is why the the world’s largest democracy when adopted its Constitution in 1950 placed Election Commission under Article 324 and ensured its independence to conduct free and fair elections in the country.
But for some reasons, there is widespread notion that Democracy is beautiful in theory and fallacy in practice because even after 67 years of being a democratic republic, the inequalities are stark. Hence, there is a dire need to reform the electoral process to strengthen the democracy.
NEED FOR ELECTORAL REFORMS:
India being a pluralistic society with 800 million diverse voters, electoral politics becomes sectarian,
PREVAILING CASH FOR VOTE CULTURE:
Financial superiority and richness of the candidates converts itself into gaining advantage to win elections through unchecked cash for vote and funnelling of undocumented cash into elections. The lack of transparency in maintenance and auditing of accounts of political parties aids misrouting of expenditures.
BLACK MONEY TRANSLATING TO DONATIONS :
The sources of election funds is believed to be unaccounted criminal money for protection and unaccounted funds from business groups.
CAP ON EXPENDITURE LIMITS :
Equality among candidates and expenditure limits could ensure that no individual or
political party would able to secure an advantage over others by reason of its
superior financial strength. Currently, expenditure by political parties, families and friends of the candidates are not counted as election expenditure under Section 77 of RPA,1950.
CRIMINALISATION OF POLITICS:
Use of Violence, booth capturing, use of muscle power causes criminalization of politics and in turn the political parties favouring criminals leading to politicization of criminals.
CASTEISM, COMMUNALISM:
The caste groups extend their support to specific political parties and parties nominate persons belonging to majority caste group are examples for infamous quote,”People don’t cast vote but vote their caste”. Communal politics has also eroded the ethos of Indian politics which is meant to find unity in a pluralistic society.
MAJOR REFORMS SO FAR:
Constitution has left to the legislators an important role to determine for conduct of elections and right from Representation of People’s Act of 1951, there has been efforts to aid democracy through fairer electoral process.
Some of the notable reforms are:
1. Lowering the Voting age to 18 years done by 61st Constitutional Amendment Act,1988 encouraging youth to participate in exercising democracy.
2. Increasing the number of proposers for nominating for elections to Rajyasabha and State Legislative councils to 10% of electors to prevent non-serious candidates.
3. Increase in Security deposits to keep a check on frivolous candidates.
4. Introduction of Electronic Voting Machines for a fool-proof voting system
5. Introduction of Model Code of Conduct to guide political parties and candidates so as to ensure fair procedures.
6. Restriction on contesting in not more than two constituencies to weed out the possibility to spend public money on by-elections.
7. Restriction on exit polls has been implemented to keep a check on changing the trends of voting.
8. Increasing the ceiling of expenditure to check the candidates from seeking illegal methods of spending on elections and mandating declarations for donations above Rs.25,000 to ensure transparency.
9. Voting through postal ballots and enabling voting of NRIs without visiting India to check proxies.
10. NOTA option enabling the candidate to back none of the contesting candidates.
The reforms are not just a product of efforts of Election Commission but also a result of proactive role played by Judiciary and the efforts of legislators to achieve democratic consolidation ensuring no reversal to authoritarianism. Though the reforms have mended a level playing field for candidates, the efforts contribute to the tip of the iceberg. There have been a number of election reform commissions and debates on reforms in the past and yet the electoral problems are challenging till date. It is important to translate the recommendations of some of the notable commissions into legislative actions such as: Dinesh Goswami committee on electoral reforms of 1990, Committee on Criminalization of Politics by Vohra, National commission to review the Constitution by M N Venkatachaliah, 2nd ARC report by V.Moily, Law commission report by A P Shaw, 2015.
SUGGESTED REFORMS:
POLITICAL PARTIES UNDER AMBIT OF RTI:
Bringing Political parties under the ambit of RTI Act would ensure transparency in their sources of funds and expenditures. RPA mandates parties to disclose donations above Rs.20000 but it constitutes only about 9% of the parties’ funding and almost 75% of the funds have unknown sources. Law commission has suggested a broader disclosure norms but ECI’s disclosure guidelines have no statutory or legal authority for enforcement. This provides immunity to parties as well as business houses who fund them with black money. Pushing them for public scrutiny will make them less corrupt & more accountable.
SIMULTANEOUS ELECTIONS:
Simultaneous elections for Centre and the States could reduce financial stress on ECI, bring stability in governance without getting interrupted by MCC, and reduce manpower utilisation for frequent elections. But it also has a threat to disrupt federal structure of India and undermine the electoral process which is the lifeline of democracy. Hence, any move to reap monetary benefits should not be at the cost of electoral process and viable alternatives should be found via thorough research and debates. An alternative could be to hold elections in 2 phases with state elections being held in the middle of a Loksabha term.
SCOURGE OF PAID NEWS:
A proper definition of “paying for news” should be introduced under section 2 of RPA. It must be made mandatory for all media to disclose the details about the political advertisements regarding the payee. This will make the payee accountable to the advertisement, if misleading can be held and ensure the people to derive right information.
GENDER EQUALITY:
With female constituting to almost 50% of the population, the same is not reflected either in electoral rolls or in contribution to policy making. There are almost 20% of “missing women” in electoral list and female participation in legislature is only a meagre 11%. This has impacts on political decisions which are taken by a majority of men for equal share of female and hence there is a grey area about female policy preferences. Because of this under-representation, the very substance of democracy is defeated and hence to be taken with great care.
CONCLUSION:
Weak electoral system poses a major threat to national integration as well as to democratic consolidation of the India. Cash for vote culture, missing women phenomenon and criminalization of politics are not constitutional failure and hence the lifeline of democracy can be saved from deterioration through radical reforms in electoral process. As Mahatma Gandhi puts it, “The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms, It requires the change of heart”, the reforms must flow from the people of the country who form the indomitable part of the democracy.
Ya right
Mam ,government of the day made it mandatory for IIT-JEE exams.I knew it has legal backing..It already reached 1billiion mark which itself speaks that a very few people have reservations about it…There is also a provision in Aadhar bill which empower the govt of the day to use for it..Thank you☺
Wow.. that was an encouragement 🙂
I can’t believe i am giving takeaways to someone ?
that made my day!! 🙂 such a review from someone whose answers give me takeaways on a daily basis 😀 thanks raashi!
When 1billion people are already enrolled in Aadhar… It self speaks that it had became possible on ground. Now dedicated centres are also there. Any government decision or policy may not be 100./. perfect . But it is the responsibility of the government of the day to strive maximum possible to makes programmes efficient and effective.
Sir, calm down.. i understand what u want to convey but i have reservations for your suggestion because though Aadhaar has got a legal backing, its not compulsory.. many people are not comfortable sharing their biometric info with the state.. making it linked to voter id is like making it compulsory..
Also, it was passed to provide services to people.. just coz something is working good, doesn’t mean u can put it everywhere.. there are laws which u need to see
Respecting national flag and national anthem is already a fundamental duty enshrined in the constitution of India. Morality needs to be inculcated but not forced. Coming to moral responsibility, we cannot make any laws or enact any acts escaping in the name of vigilantism.Yes there is already laws to punsish such vigilants and custodians.
K…bro..I m satisfied from ur answer…but in ground reality…it doesn’t work…I hope u understand what I mean to say
AADHAR enrollment crossed 1billion mark ..Now govt is reaching out the people through dedicated centres.
Those who have mistakes in their Aadhar cards,names can correct in UIDAI website and the same offered by election commission of India on it’s website.People can enroll themselves on website…
Making voting compulsory by giving incentives is a different thing because if you make anything compulsory, some people take the moral responsibility to harass others like what happened after making national anthem compulsory.. yea, incentivizing people is a good point.
I agree Aadhaar is a credible means for identity but it wasn’t introduced with the motive of making it an identity card for citizenship. So, i do not agree with it’s linking especially when it was made to provide Services to people.
Kk…no issue..as it is suggestion…we can include it in answer…
Nd what abt those who hv lots of mistakes in there aadhar card…nd abt those who don’t find there name in voter list or mistake in list…???
hi thanks for ur review. ill improve on your suggestion 🙂
If you link AADHAR with voter -I’d we can check impersonation.
Nice essay.. great start and u kept my interest in reading throughout.. good flow
I hv nothing to criticize 🙂
Proxy voting and e-ballot options are available for NRIs
Bro it is issued by UIDAI…Now AADHAR having legal backing….Very few fakes and duplications are possible in AADHAR because it takes finger print and iris scan of eyes. So there may be abberations but number is not high.
Of course I agree, we are having now NOTA on the EVM. If voters are not interested to cast their vote they can opt for it. So there is no element of force or transgression to their expression. I am not in favour of stringent punishments for failing to vote but a moderately small amount as a fine can increase voter turnout. Brazil gives conditional money transfers based on child’s attendance rate…So though there will be a bit inconvenience for a day but for the political stability of the country citizens have to bear pain for the larger gains and national interest…Because elections involves lot of money and it is a mammoth task, so with adequate facilities we can bring down sufferings. When there is a low voter turnout, it could leads to political instability…
AADHAR is by and large the safe means of identity we have….Bogus voter id’s can make the democracy hollow. You can see the efficacy and faith the govt have on Aadhar in recent demonetisation programme and also govt’s decision to make AADHAR mandatory for IIT -JEE…Many technological experts lauded the efficacy of AADHAR… Barring a few abberations it is the best way to check impersonation.
I loved how ypu came up with so many examples and specially the way u came up with the diagram of book..
What i felt was lacking was ‘How/Why honesty is the first chapter’
Thank you @Rashi27:disqus 🙂
Excellent essay sagar sumit 🙂
I really hope u didn’t mind that.. i got too critical
Bro…lots of fake aadhar card r there as they r not produce by high athaurity…how fake votes r eliminate by it…?
will surely work on it.. thanks for the review. it means lot to me. will definitely be good in my next essay.. thank you
1. Work on starting of essay.. i found it absurd
2. I don’t think Britain is direct democracy.. only switzerland is..
3. There are little grammatical errors.. work on it to avoid mistakes on final Day
4. In 4th para, u mentioned people lost trust and advocated for they can live without govt.. when did this happen?? Throw some light on it
5. U mentioned about mimum educational background.. well that’s debatable because this might end up in no representation from remote locations and in the long run two contrasting areas might occur in the country. Moreover, that will be legislative reform rather than electoral reform
6. 6th para, last line.. i dont think political parties have any influence on ECI.. it is one of the trusted institutions like SC of India
7. I found 2nd last para a little absurd
I hope u dont mind with so much insight from me..
Overall comment: This could be a little more informative and factually correct..
Overall nice attempt 🙂
Thank you sir. I was waiting eagerly to get your review comments
Thank you @Civilserviceaspirant:disqus
I will try to write in short paras in next attempt. Regarding content, I think this was an easy topic for me given that my optional is PubAd. I will try to pick up a topic not in my comfort zone next time.
Sir, do you provide synopsis or model essays on the topics like you provide for GS answers on Mains marathon.
Also, what should be done to improve our essay writing ? Will practicing only help or there is something else we can do – reading some specific material for it ?
One thing that I noticed :
Since quotes form important fodder material and most of the time they form the title of essay, working on quotes will help us, I think. We can write better if we know the source of quote in exam.
Yes.. I too felt the same.. 😀 Wrote an essay for the first time.. Don’t know how to construct one & make it look different from a regular GS answer.. Any tip from your side ??
Sir I m not able to upload my answer…as no link there to upload this time…what should I do?
Beautiful and simple piece. Introduction could be better. A little more flow will enrich the essay! Good attempt
Replete with information – nice flow.
Very good essay – please give me some tips how to write such a good essay.
Only negative which I found – big paras – could shorten some of them as on paper – it will look very big.
Rashi how did u remember that quote by Dr Rajendra prasad
Thanks sir for your valuable suggestion
@disqus_io9HCM3eQ0:disqus Would be waiting to read your essay next week. Do keep writing GS answers as well.
@anurag_pundir:disqus Typing will help in better documentation of info/answer. But ideally writing it on paper would give natural flow to your thoughts. Which one to choose is based on your priority.
@thegreenbirdie:disqus Nice star and good flow.
@ved_vyas:disqus Well tried. Try to write in paragraph so that it looks better in essay.
@meenagomathi:disqus Nice style of essay writing. Keep it up!
Good! Kindly continue writing 🙂
🙂 Keep writing.
🙂
thanks for ur review sir. ill wotk on my flow in writing and intto 🙂
Thank you @forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus
forumias and friends please review my essay
Please review mine 🙂
“Every lamp is not a lamp in wise men’s sight;
That’s the lamp with truth’s pure radiance thought”
– Thirukkural couplet
The above Thirukkural couplet on Truth signifies that wise men consider truth and honesty as the lamp of their lives. Indeed honesty is the light which guides us in the path of wisdom in our lives.
HONESTY IS THE FIRST CHAPTER IN THE BOOK OF WISDOM
The words ‘Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom’ is a metaphor which signifies that honesty is an essential and important wisdom. A metaphorical analysis is as follows
Subject Attributed object
1. People – Book Reader
2. Wisdom – Book
3. Honesty – First chapter in the Book
This implies that honesty is the primal quality to gain true knowledge and wisdom.
HONESTY IS THE FOUNDATION OF WISDOM
Honesty refers to a facet of moral character which connotes positive virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, straightforwardness, absence of lying and cheating. It means being trustworthy, loyal, fair and sincere whereas wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding and insight
If wisdom can be considered as a pillar supporting our life, then honesty can be considered as the foundation stone which imparts strength to the building of life.
COMPARISON COMPARED OBJECT
1. Foundation – Honesty
2. Pillar – Wisdom
3. Building – LIfe
In short wisdom is a disposition to find the truth coupled with an optimum judgement as to what actions should be taken and honesty is the prime quality for wisdom.
HONESTY AND INTEGRITY GO HAND IN HAND WITH WISDOM
Honesty and Integrity are the basic virtues of wisdom. Integrity is telling truth to oneself and honesty is telling truth to others. Hence honesty and true wisdom go hand in hand with each other.
INDIAN PHILOSOPHY ON HONESTY AND WISDOM
• JAIN PHILOSOPHY mentions Satya (truth) as one of its five doctrines
• BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY mentions abstinence of false speech as its fourth percept
• INDIAN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY revolves around Gandhi’s philosophy of truth and non violence
• ALL RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY in India mentions truth as its core virtue
LEGENDARY TESTIMONIALS OF WISDOM
Many legends of wisdom who lived in this world were true testimonials to honesty. A few of them are
• Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam
• Mahatma Gandhi
• K.Kamraj
• Buddha
• Mahavira
• Abraham Lincoln
Dr.Kalam was an icon of honesty throughout his life. Even when he left Rashtrapathi Bhavan he just carried only a few books as his luggage. Gandhi who had the wisdom to guide masses towards Indian freedom was a strong follower of truth and honesty and that’s how he became Mahatma. K.Kamraj, a former Chief Minister fondly called as the King Maker was a symbolic display of honesty in public life. Buddha and Mahavira’s words of wisdom were primarily upon truth. Abraham Lincoln was called as ‘Honest Abe’ for his honesty.
HONESTY- AN ESSENTIAL FOR LEADERSHIP WISDOM
By demonstrating honesty within and outside an organization, a leader can increase the leadership influence. It is because people are looking for honesty in their leaders as a key trait. People will trust someone who actively displays honesty= not just as an honest individual, but as someone who is worth following.
Even Kautilya in his book Arthashastra mentions honesty as an essential quality for choosing ministerial leadership.
HONESTY AND WISDOM IN DAILY LIFE
Honesty is the essential quality for both teaching and learning wisdom. Hence honesty and truth should be displayed in every of our thoughts, words and actions. This is a reliable way of gaining an empowering wisdom in our daily lives. Moreover honesty ensures not only worldly wisdom but also spiritual wisdom which can impart an eternal peace in our lives.
Opportunities to display honesty may occur everyday such as in handling mistakes, admitting our failures and displaying honesty when there is no one to watch or pinpoint our actions.
SIGNIFICANCE OF HONESTY IN CONTEMPORARY SITUATION
Realizing the significance of truth and honesty our founding fathers have chosen Satyameva Jayate meaning Truth alone Triumphs as the national motto of India.
Mr.U. Saghayam, IAS, Mrs. Durga Shakti Nagpal, IAS are some of the noteworthy officers who have shown honest bureaucratic wisdom in battling the evil corrupt forces of the Indian society. They guide the forthcoming young generations with their honest bureaucratic wisdom and serve as an inspiration to be followed.
Honesty is Trust
Honesty is Truthful
Honesty is Confidence
Honesty is Consistence
Honesty is Convincing
Honesty is Certainty
Honesty is Credibility
Honesty is Reliability
Honesty is Authenticity
Honesty is Accuracy
Honesty is Commitment
Honesty is Sincerity
Honesty is Reality
And Honesty is must to gain true wisdom
Let us hope that the young India marches in this path of wisdom to realize its true potential and to make India a superpower
@JayeshDeore:disqus Simple and nice.
@uttamlal:disqus Good coverage, but instead of listing points the essay would look better if you can describe those points and have a connection between paragraphs.
@dk_captain:disqus Well tried. Nice content, but it looks more like an big GS ans rather than a essay.
@Civilserviceaspirant:disqus Nice start and great flow.
Well tried 🙂
Good. Keep writing.
2. Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy.
सशक्त लोकतंत्र के लिए चुनाव सुधार।
रामू एक १० साल का बालक है , एक दिन वो अपने दादा जी के साथ मेला घूमने के लिये जाता है , वहा वो भांति भाँति के खिलौने , मिठाई , चाट पकवान देखता है
रामू का चंचल बाल मन हर खिलौने और मिठाई के लिये मचल उठता है , वह दादा जी से हर वस्तु को पाने की ज़िद करने लगता है , तब उसके दादा जी उसे किसी एक सबसे ज्यादा पसन्द की मिठाई का चुनाव करने को बोलते है , रामू इस नये ” चुनाव ” शब्द को सुन कर दादा जी से इसका मतलब पूछ्ता है , दादा जी बोलते है बेटा चुनाव शब्द हमारी माँग के साथ ही जन्म ले लेता है , जिस प्रकार माँगें देश , काल ,परिस्थितियों के अनुसार बदलती रहती है उसी प्रकार हमारे चुनाव के तरीके भी देश काल परिस्थितियों के अनुसार बदलते रहने चाहिये , कोई बेहतर से बेहतर चुनाव भी किस गलग समय और परिस्थितियों मे बद से बदतर परिणाम दे सकता, अर्थात चुनाव प्रक्रिया एक चलायमान प्रक्रिया है जैसे बहता पानी नदी बन जाता है और ठहरा पानी गढ्ढा उसी प्रकार चुनाव प्रक्रिया अगर चलायमान रहेगी तो ये बेहतर नतीजे देगी ,
प्राचीन काल से जब से मनुष्य ने समूह मे रहना शुरू किया तभीं से उसने समूह की सुरक्षा , प्रशासन कई लिये नेतत्व का चुनाव शुरू किया , पहले ये चुनाव ईश्वर रूप मान कर किसी सबसे समर्थवान को चुनने का काम समिति , सभा द्वारा लेने का था किंतु ये चुनाव भी शुरूआत मे बात चीत से होता था , समय के साथ ये प्रथा बदली और राजतंत्र का समय आया राजा का पद वन्शानुगत हो गया , राज के काम काज की मदद के लिये मंत्रि होते थे , कितु जब विदेशी आक्रमण होने लगे तो विजेता राजा ही नये राज्यो के भी स्वभाविक तौर पर राजा होने लगे , इस दिशा मे सबसे महत्व पूर्ण प्रगति तब हुयी जब इंग्लैंड मे मैग्ना कार्टा आया मुगल शासन के पतन के साथ भारत मे अंग्रेजी शासन की नीव पडी , १८५७ की क्रांति के बाद भारत से कंपनी शासन का अंत होते ही भारत मे पोर्ट पोलियो आधारित शासन व्यव्स्था अपनायी गयी , तभी से शासन मे प्रतिनिधित्व की माँगें जोर पकडने लगी अंतता १९२० मे भारत मे सीमित मताधिकार के साथ चुनाव हुये किंतु ये भारतियो की आकांक्षाओं को पूरा ना कर सकी , १९२८ मे कौंग्रेस ने नेहरू कमेटी बनाई जिसने जिसने चुनाव सुधार की जोरदार माँग की , १९३५ मे भारतीय शासन अधीनियम आने के बाद १९३७ मे चुनाव हुये , आजादी की मांग की वजह कौग्रेश ने इस्तीफा दे दिया और भारत छोडो आंदोलन मे कूद जाती है , १९४६ मे कैबिनेट मिशन भारत आता है तथा नेहरू की अध्यक्षता मे कैबिनेट गठ्न होती है , आजदी के बाद भारत ने संसदीय व्यस्था को अपनाया
भारतीय संविधान ने भारत मे वयस्क मताधिका का विचार को अपनाया और मात्र वयस्कता के आधार पर अपने सभी नागरीको को लिंग , जाति , धर्म आदि के भेदभाव को मिटाते हुये मत का अधिकार दिया किसी देश के लिये एक बार मे ऐसा फैसला चकित कर देने वाला था , अमेरीका मे भी महिलाओ को मताधिकार के लिये लडाई लडनी पडी थी किंतु आजाद भारत मे ये अधिकार उसके सभी नागरिको को दिया गया , सविधान ने चुनावो के लिये एक स्वतन्त्र सैंविधानिक आयोग ” चुनाव आयोग ” गठन की तथा सुकुमार सेन को प्रथम मुख्य चुनाव आयुक्त बनने का गौरव प्राप्त हुया , आजाद भारत मे १९५२ मे प्रथम चुनाव हुये सदीयो की गुलामी के बाद ये नया सवेरा भारतीयो के लिये किसी पर्व जैसा था , जब वो अपनी सरकार को खुद चुन रहे थे , नये सपने नये जोश उत्साह के साथ जनता ने इसमे भाग लिया , किसी भी आजद देश के लिये इतने कम समय कम संसाधन के साथ इस स्तर पर चुनाव आसान ना था , इसके लिये संसद ने जन प्रतिनिधित्व अधिनियम 1951 व 1952 पारित किया , जिसके आधार पर चुनाव आयोग चुनाव कराये ,
किंतु पहले चुनाव से बडे स्तर पर इस जटिल काम को लेकर समस्याए दिखने लगी , चुनाव से पूर्व , चुनाव के समय और चुनाव के बाद अनेक समस्याये और जटिलताये अलग अलग रूपो मे आयी , तात्कालिन समय मे चुनाव मे बूथ
Democracy in India is about 65 years old starting with first general elections of independent india held in 1952 till date.In this long journey the foundations of democracy in India kept on invigorating due to electoral reforms that took place.
India being the largest democratic country in the world with a parliamentary form of governance and multi party system it becomes imperative to continuously reform the electoral process with changing times and need.
The onus of electoral reforms lies with the Election commission of India (ECI) which is an independent constitutional body.The body itself reformed from single member body to three member body so that chances of erroneous decisions to be minimal.The era of electoral reforms started with Enactment of People’s Representation act which laid guidelines for Political parties,contestants,Govt machinery and Voters for free and fair election of the representatives.There were many other electoral reforms taken time to time like:-
1) Lowering of voting age from 21 to 18 so that more adult population can take voting rights
2) Reservation of seats for S.C/S.T so that depressed class can participate in governance of the country
3) Declaration of assets and educational information in nomination paper so that public could be aware of the background of their representatives
4)Cap on expenditure in election to curb influence of money power for influencing voters
5) Introduction of EVM to prevent scrupulous voting
6)Public campaign for participation in voting during election
7)e Postal ballot system for armed forces and officials on duty during election to cast their vote
8) Facility to vote from foreign for NRI is under progress
9)Celebration of national voters day
In addition to above few electoral reforms were undertaken by the orders of Supreme court and High Court like:-
1) Canvassing votes on the name of religion,caste,language,region termed as corrupt practise under sec 123 of RPA
2)Recently termed election of Mr Prithvi raj (Manipur) as void due to wrong educational information provided by him in nomination papers.
3)Ban on contesting elections if convicted by any courts for an imprisionment of 2 years or above
All the above measures tends to invigorate democracy,However there is still to go a long way as the country democracy is maturing more and more reforms are needed to keep the faith of its nationals in the democracy of the country. Some of the measures which are needed for strong democracy are:-
1) Expenditure in elections and use of black money is still goes unabated.
2) Funding of political parties shall be made public or RTI act shall be applicable on them
3)Booth capturing events should be prevented
4) Use of muscle and money power shall be checked
With all these measures there is no doubt that these electoral reforms would make strong the Indian democracy and political aspirations of the people of india would be fulfilled.
@Purest_Avenger:disqus Amazing and diverse examples. But I feel each para wise ur essay is super and somehow the flow isn’t that great. Also, it seems you possess great knowledge and I am sure you could write a much better introduction.
सशक्त लोकतंत्र के लिए चुनाव सुधार।
रामू एक १० साल का बालक है , एक दिन वो अपने दादा जी के साथ मेला घूमने के लिये जाता है , वहा वो भांति भाँति के खिलौने , मिठाई , चाट पकवान देखता है
रामू का चंचल बाल मन हर खिलौने और मिठाई के लिये मचल उठता है , वह दादा जी से हर वस्तु को पाने की ज़िद करने लगता है , तब उसके दादा जी उसे किसी एक सबसे ज्यादा पसन्द की मिठाई का चुनाव करने को बोलते है , रामू इस नये ” चुनाव ” शब्द को सुन कर दादा जी से इसका मतलब पूछ्ता है , दादा जी बोलते है बेटा चुनाव शब्द हमारी माँग के साथ ही जन्म ले लेता है , जिस प्रकार माँगें देश , काल ,परिस्थितियों के अनुसार बदलती रहती है उसी प्रकार हमारे चुनाव के तरीके भी देश काल परिस्थितियों के अनुसार बदलते रहने चाहिये , कोई बेहतर से बेहतर चुनाव भी किस गलग समय और परिस्थितियों मे बद से बदतर परिणाम दे सकता, अर्थात चुनाव प्रक्रिया एक चलायमान प्रक्रिया है जैसे बहता पानी नदी बन जाता है और ठहरा पानी गढ्ढा उसी प्रकार चुनाव प्रक्रिया अगर चलायमान रहेगी तो ये बेहतर नतीजे देगी ,
प्राचीन काल से जब से मनुष्य ने समूह मे रहना शुरू किया तभीं से उसने समूह की सुरक्षा , प्रशासन कई लिये नेतत्व का चुनाव शुरू किया , पहले ये चुनाव ईश्वर रूप मान कर किसी सबसे समर्थवान को चुनने का काम समिति , सभा द्वारा लेने का था किंतु ये चुनाव भी शुरूआत मे बात चीत से होता था , समय के साथ ये प्रथा बदली और राजतंत्र का समय आया राजा का पद वन्शानुगत हो गया , राज के काम काज की मदद के लिये मंत्रि होते थे , कितु जब विदेशी आक्रमण होने लगे तो विजेता राजा ही नये राज्यो के भी स्वभाविक तौर पर राजा होने लगे , इस दिशा मे सबसे महत्व पूर्ण प्रगति तब हुयी जब इंग्लैंड मे मैग्ना कार्टा आया मुगल शासन के पतन के साथ भारत मे अंग्रेजी शासन की नीव पडी , १८५७ की क्रांति के बाद भारत से कंपनी शासन का अंत होते ही भारत मे पोर्ट पोलियो आधारित शासन व्यव्स्था अपनायी गयी , तभी से शासन मे प्रतिनिधित्व की माँगें जोर पकडने लगी अंतता १९२० मे भारत मे सीमित मताधिकार के साथ चुनाव हुये किंतु ये भारतियो की आकांक्षाओं को पूरा ना कर सकी , १९२८ मे कौंग्रेस ने नेहरू कमेटी बनाई जिसने जिसने चुनाव सुधार की जोरदार माँग की , १९३५ मे भारतीय शासन अधीनियम आने के बाद १९३७ मे चुनाव हुये , आजादी की मांग की वजह कौग्रेश ने इस्तीफा दे दिया और भारत छोडो आंदोलन मे कूद जाती है , १९४६ मे कैबिनेट मिशन भारत आता है तथा नेहरू की अध्यक्षता मे कैबिनेट गठ्न होती है , आजदी के बाद भारत ने संसदीय व्यस्था को अपनाया
भारतीय संविधान ने भारत मे वयस्क मताधिका का विचार को अपनाया और मात्र वयस्कता के आधार पर अपने सभी नागरीको को लिंग , जाति , धर्म आदि के भेदभाव को मिटाते हुये मत का अधिकार दिया किसी देश के लिये एक बार मे ऐसा फैसला चकित कर देने वाला था , अमेरीका मे भी महिलाओ को मताधिकार के लिये लडाई लडनी पडी थी किंतु आजाद भारत मे ये अधिकार उसके सभी नागरिको को दिया गया , सविधान ने चुनावो के लिये एक स्वतन्त्र सैंविधानिक आयोग ” चुनाव आयोग ” गठन की तथा सुकुमार सेन को प्रथम मुख्य चुनाव आयुक्त बनने का गौरव प्राप्त हुया , आजाद भारत मे १९५२ मे प्रथम चुनाव हुये सदीयो की गुलामी के बाद ये नया सवेरा भारतीयो के लिये किसी पर्व जैसा था , जब वो अपनी सरकार को खुद चुन रहे थे , नये सपने नये जोश उत्साह के साथ जनता ने इसमे भाग लिया , किसी भी आजद देश के लिये इतने कम समय कम संसाधन के साथ इस स्तर पर चुनाव आसान ना था , इसके लिये संसद ने जन प्रतिनिधित्व अधिनियम 1951 व 1952 पारित किया , जिसके आधार पर चुनाव आयोग चुनाव कराये ,
friends and forumias please review https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/444d7e8ce8fb6d527271d81b341bff697e17830b403ec9d3c411f7852891e5e3.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a7906456596005190d116b5cca59aee25023ab1ac0a1697a5a3fc2962b62bf86.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1dc403eceeb1241915c7e310dae59ef292c471cd41badce040c29c25e74f9e6e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/24252316c1060778e192ccea3a588ea54ba3c0416422de48e80ecd16cb06b77c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a97a28962ae646a230a4e80e897fe7db21c43ff4da0ab396bed3e83881ce0a75.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2304bfa339bfb223caf166c800d6dc45021e146bc90777e759c8e318a3b15f98.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e036ed6e0f43486a4a400814acff522e0b78906e4ef47eb0af3e3bed00c06bb.jpg
Thanks Amoghavarsha.. will review it in some time 🙂
Agree.
🙂
Sir, aadhar is for residents of India irrespective of citizenship.. so i dont think aadhar can be linked to voter id and making voting compulsory is draconian coz if you do not vote for whatever reason say u r not in a county, or booth is very far and cannot be reached etc, it will invite penal provision. Moreover, not voting is also an expression of masses..
N thanks for review and additional point of bringing political parties under RTI.. I forgot about it
Keep writing.
hey thnks yar….next time i will note this..
Thankyou sir fir the reply
.
Sir plz tell, what is good . Typing the answers here in comment section or writing the answers on notebook.
Because atlast, we have to write the answers not type. As you type here don’t you feel so that you are becoming comfortable in typing and also you are comfortable in thinking while typing. Would this work when you will write in Actual mains exam. I feel typing would be easy but what about writing then.
I have to start , so I have this query.. please reply..
Hi Sapna..
I have a query. What is good . Typing the answers here in comment section or writing the answers on notebook.
Because atlast, we have to write the answers not type. As you type here don’t you feel so that you are becoming comfortable in typing and also you are comfortable in thinking while typing. Would this work when you will write in Actual mains exam.
I have to start , so I have this query.. please reply..
“Democracy is the will of people, of me, of you.”, Said Mohan, Headmaster of the Kanya Mahavidyalaya
“But Sir we are so many, how do we express our will. It seems like an impossible task”, Asked a small 12 years old Kavita innocently.
“Through Elections Kavita, We elect our representatives to express our will and opinions. Just like you have Class Representatives in your classes.” Responded Mohan.
He went on saying “We choose one amongst us to become our collective voice. He takes care of our interests, ideas and opinions. It is through him, we are able to govern our Country”
“Sir it means Elections are actually the most important tool of Democracy. These act as its lifeblood. Without which, a democracy can never exist.” Kavita replied
“Certainly” said Mohan in a hopeful voice
A 12 years old Kavita became fascinated about the idea of herself governing her own nation and how elections will let her do that. She was thinking about the life 6 years from now when she will exercise her rights in nation making. Suddenly a question came into her mind – Was it always people of 18 years of age were eligible for casting their votes? Why she was not allowed to vote now? What if the elected representatives become liars and cheaters? A lot of questions flooded her mind and suddenly she realised how elections can be used to make or break the nation.
The democracy is built on the foundation of will of people and that will is expressed through elections. People come together with hope and elect those who will work keeping in mind their aspirations. Elections thus become a very important part of the democracy or in the words of Kavita – its lifeblood.
So what is required here is the effectiveness and efficiency of electoral systems. For any democracy to work properly, its electoral system must be robust and dynamic. If we take the example of the largest democracy of the world i.e. our very own nation – India, we have seen the evolution in the electoral systems and thereby strengthening of Democracy. India stands as an exception to the theories of power sharing in the sense that she has a history of deeply divided society and plurality in her very core, then also she has maintained the democracy in its truest form since the day of her independence. Her ability to stand strong and give equal importance to debate, discussion and dissent in most heterogeneous society runs counter to the J S Mill’s proposition that “Democracy is Impossible”.
The only way to safeguard a democracy and make it strong is to strengthen the way it allows people to govern by their will. The more there will be transparency, accountability, inclusiveness, space for discussion and dissent, the more powerful will it become. The manner, process and mechanism of selecting the representatives of the people takes utmost importance. This is a direct tool in the hands of the people to govern.
This necessitates the need of continuous evolution, updations and reforms in electoral processes.There had been instances of vote rigging and booth capturing in the past and accordingly there came laws declaring the
elections void in these instances. Similarly there had been a ban on the consumption and sale of liquor 48 hours before the elections to ensure voting without influence. The freedom and fairness of elections is ensured by an independent Eletion Commission of India. The use of Electronic Voting Machines is also a great step in this regard. The applicability of Model Code for all the political parties and governance mechanisms ensures there is no unfair advantage to the party in power.
But then there exists a parallel world too, where it is said rather in a sarcastic manner that “If you really want to understand Democracy, stand for elections.” The elections are often characterized by the flow of black money, goodies, liquor and fake promises to influence the electors. Generally the people who stand for elections are the ones who have serious criminal charges against them. The capitalists are often seen funding the political parties in an illegitimate manner for their own vested interests. Even there are big instances of family politics where members of a particular family are given tickets to contest elections on behalf of the parties irrespective of the popular opinion and their capabilities.
Such a dismal face of electoral process presents a dark view of democracy where not the will of people rules but the money power. The democracy is plagued by the vested interests of few and this in turn results into a hampered state of economy with lots of unemployment and poverty. The welfare state becomes an imaginary concept and governance is more of exploitative in nature. Such a state witnesses huge brain drain which further paralyzes the capability of nation to reform and develop.
Hence it becomes very important to preserve the sanctity of electoral processes as this is the direct cause of happiness, wealth and prosperity of the nation. There must be state funding of the parties to ensure the will of people is not replaced by the dirty money games. The background of the candidate being selected for the elections must be clean and ethical. There must be clear laws to ensure that no criminal gets to position which is meant for the welfare of people. Holding of state and union elections simultaneously can be equally rewarding. Not only just the election part, but also the proceedings at the Legislatures must be effective and constructive. There is no point making elections effective if the elected candidates are not able to indulge in meaningful discussions and debates. Democracy has allowed 4 D’s i.e. Discussion, Debate and Dissent and there should not be any place for another D which is Disruption.
The democracy is continuous participation of the people which should not be hampered at any given point. The only direct tool in the hands of the people i.e. the elections must be strengthened to ensure a strong democracy where the kids of today like “Kavita” remain fascinated with the idea of governing the nation and not get disappointed for the inefficiencies of the systems. Once we achieve that, it will not only result in stronger democracy but also stronger people, stronger systems and stronger nation.
Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cf3e7166c1677bafc86caaac98c8fe7c9844f567cf7a2fed4219fb225468249d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2908950850e7bb8a4cbf3b32d331f56f8cfedd317c8d914c1909309f63bfa213.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aff8947c4c1e46863e6e672de1c79cbf9ee910f206c9eedc93af04a94c9b4249.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1606c06d09cd3165b9a0e3a851b5610025f34e4f4c995eea9f2175fd04a4073a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/804bcc0a95e02fe4cae12f25c4bbf7e7fe240a84feb095b4fe82b7d68c7e4e10.jpg
Mam introduction is wonderful in your essay…But bringing of political parties under RTI, Seeding of voter I’d with AADHAR at a faster to eliminate fake voting and compulsory voting as a reform can be suggested…Keep writing All the best☺
Hiii, subject material of your essay is good, but structuring is not upto mark, it is more like a gs answer, need some more elaboration and better structuring..
Thank you @disqus_qaLfYw8Wkt:disqus for reviewing the essay. Actually, you are right. What happened was that while I was typing my essay on wordcounter.net, by the time I reached to conclusion I realised I am short of both time and word limit. Could have made conclusion better. Will try to improve next time.
Sir no option for upload this time…what happened?
Very good eassy bro….I got some some good points from u…but one thing I want to mentioned….the things like “why electol reform for democracy” nd lastly “conclusion” this things make ur eassy structure as non eassy structure…waise to koyi niyam nahi h eassy likhne ka but this small things matters…this is my personal opinion..it may be wrong…k.
thnks yar….but i have to work upon intro as Forum ias team has found….
Agree with u bro
thank u sir….next time i will work upon intro.
plz review mine….
ELECTORAL REFORMS FOR A STRONGER DEMOCRACY
Electoral reforms is change in electoral system to improve how public desires are expressed in election results.It may include improvement in voting system, eligibility to vote,rules about political parties etc.A stronger democracy signifies not only the freedom of speech or expression or religion or right to vote but also your views regarding your representative, election reforms and the functioning of democracy.Election is the biggest festival for any democratic country. Election provides opportunities to the people to choose their representative who can govern them in the efficient manner .It also provides them chance to reject the previous government if they failed to fulfill promises.Thus election is the biggest tool in the hands of the people which makes the democracy vibrant, stronger and energetic.The electoral procedure and rule related to election of any country is dynamic in nature and its keep changing with time. Indian electoral system since its beginning in the year 1951-1952 has been undergoing several such reforms but inspite of several reforms done, india needs to introduce several reforms to make the election people centric, affordable for the common man etc.
Indian electoral systenm has undergone several reforms to make the election free and fair.the reforms introduced in the indian electoral system are as follows—
>Election staff is deemed to be on deputation to election commission during elections– this is done to remove the interference from the government.
>Amendment to the representation of people act to facilitate the use of electronic voting machine(EVM) to make the voting fair and people friendly.
>Election commission of india is given teeth to tackle booth capturing incident.
>Insult to national honour may lead to disqualification.
>RESTRICTION on contesting election from more than two constituencies.
>Taking arms to or near to polling station is cognizable offence.
>HOLIDAY on polling day to involve more and more people in the election process.
> prohibition on the sale of liquor near the polling station for a specified period.
>REDUCTION in the age of voters to increase the numbers of voters.
>Introduction of model code of conduct to regulate the activities of the candidate as well as political parties.
>Enactment of anti defection laws.
>Introduction of NONE OF THE ABOVE(NOTA) option to the voters to show their dissatisfaction.
>increase in the security deposit and number of depositers to discourage the non serious candidates.
Instead of so many reforms,our political system is corrupt, criminal laden,largely in the favour of muscular and wealthy people, dynasty laden and full of age old people and people who are ignorant to the values enshrined in our constitution.TO remove the above stated obstacle prevalent in the indian system we have to introduce the following reforms in our system—
>Conducting election for union as well as state assemblies at the same time– it will bring down the cost of election and promote the development .it will transform the mentality of the leaders from election oriented approach to developmental approach and provide enough time for development in absence of recurring elections.
>Bringing political parties under the RTI(right to information) ambit–political parties should be bring under the ambit of RTI act.the funding of the political parties should be made transparenrt and detail of such funding should be in people domain.this step will curb the corruption.
>FIXING AGE– If there is a fixed age limit for government employee, then why not for the ministers and peoples representative. they are also human being and their capacities also reduces with time. so there should be a fixed age say for example 60 or 65 years for the ministers as well as other representatives.
>Election finance– although there is limit on the expenditure by the candidate but most of the time this limitation are violated in absense of a active vigilant office. so it will be a better step to give a level field and equal opportunity to both rich as well as poor by financing the election by the governmrnt.this will also reduce the lead of rich candidate over poor. there should be active vigilant office to moniter the expenses incurred by these candidate.
>Anti defection law– there should be amendment in the anti defection law so that ruling party should not take the advantage of this law by through the chair of speaker or chair person of the house. a body including president, judges of the apex court and governors should be made the ultimate authority for anti defection laws.
>Print and electronic media— there should be strict regulation on media so that they can not mani pulate or influence the voter in a way as they want.
> Opinion polls–there should be strict regulation regarding the opinion polls of individual person or political parties.
>there should be a totaliser for mixing votes for several polling stations to prevent post result declaration violence.
>there should be restriction on government sponsered advertisement
> there should be harass punisment for the candidate as well as political parties to which the candidate belongs for the false affidavit.
> there should be a rule that each political party should give in a specified number of seats in accordance of total number of seats they are contesting to the news young faces to involve the young people in politics.
>there should be strict laws to prevent the entry of criminals in to politics.
> there should be a minimum prescribed education qualification for the contesting an election.
A democracy will be vibrant when its institutions will be vibrant and that is possible only when the office bearers or representative of these institutions imbibes the culture of the society, values of the constitution, promises of the constitution to the people and the foundational core ideas of the constitution in themselves and exhibit them. Just making laws donot transform our electoral system alone untill we, the people do not try our level best. By just blaming our leaders, political parties and prevelent laws we cannot change our electoral system. today our political parties are to a certain extent corrupt because we ignore those corruptions during election. our political system is getting criminalised because we choose them and send them to parliament , because we observe the election day as a holiday and donot participate in the election process.to make a democracy stronger we the people have to be stronger by fulfilling our duties towards the country. If we want to make our democracy stronger we have to start from the individual level.
ok.. got it
Hi Raashi very well written. As everyone have pointed out little bit elaboration was needed. You have covered all major points, which needed to be covered. Pls review mine too.
“ELECTION” a process by which every democratic country elect its representatives to govern & to formulate policies for the overall well-being of the nation. Governing a huge nation like India is not an easy task & thus the importance of election increases multifold. To ease the complicacies involved in governing such a huge country, our constitution recognises government at central & state level as well as local bodies. Election commission at state & central level has been envisaged the authority to conduct fair elections in India.
Election is the strongest tool given by our founding fathers to us in order to question the credibility of the contestant & to hold him accountable of his acts. Election brings strongest of the politicians at our doorstep asking us to vote for them. Such importance of election has made it subjected to various malpractices, exercised by various political parties in order to win. Many times electoral process or its result had been questioned at various platforms be it parliament or judiciary & subsequently various reforms too had been suggested. There are various reforms one can suggest, to name a few:-
(a) Right To Information- It’s been more than 10 years since the RTI act of 2005 came into existence but still not practiced when it comes to election funding. Political parties & their candidates spend much above the prescribed limit of election commission & collect money from undeclared sources.
#Reform needed- Bring political parties under the ambit of RTI act. So as there is a limit on how much they spend & also bigger parties that receive huge funding don’t get any extra benefit than smaller parties or independent candidate.
(b) Booth capturing- Practiced frequently when it comes to local body elections. Frequently news comes of bahubalis capturing booths & casting vote on everyone’s behalf. As EVM’s are not used their task becomes easier.
#Reform needed- Using EVMs in local body election too. Reduces the chance of fake voting. Also any kind of booth capturing must be reported to the election commission as many booth capturing are mostly unreported.
(c) Cash for vote- People tend to vote for candidate who is ready to give cash & worst who is ready to give a bottle of wine.
#Reform needed- Educating people about their voting rights & how the vote they cast can make a difference.
(d) Low voter turnout- Despite various measures low voter turnout is a serious concern for the election commission.
#Reform needed- Educating people about how each vote makes a difference. Also many don’t vote as they have to earn their daily wage. So government could come out with initiatives like public holiday on polling day or extra wage for poor who comes to vote.
(e) Security- In majority of areas in Kashmir,Chhattisgarh etc. militancy is a serious concern & it prevents the people residing in those areas from voting. Voters of these millitancy affected areas are pre-warned about the consequences if they go to vote.
# Reform needed- Provide enough security to both polling officers & voters. Also there is a need to take voters in confidence & brief them about the security measures government has taken much before the polling day.
(f) Senior Citizens & Differently Abled- Many senior citizens & differently abled person are not able to exercise their voting rights because of their restricted movement.
# Reform needed- Election commission must arrange some alternate voting facility for these people or may be arrange a dedicated polling booth meant only for senior citizens & differently abled.
(g) People away from their house- Many Indian’s working in foreign countries are not able to cast their vote. Although they want to but the monetary constraints restricts them from doing so.
# Reform needed- Some kind of online voting facility could be used for people working or studying in foreign countries. Also the voting exercise must be linked to their identity like passport so that they don’t exercise this multiple times.
(h) Post result bribery- When political are not able to get majority of votes in order to form governments after results they tend to bribe independent candidates or smaller parties. This leads to unethical government formation working in their own interests.
# Reform needed- The election commission must be vigilant on the monetary movements within a constituency just the way it does before an election.
(i) Fake election promises- Election manifesto announced by various parties often contains super-hyped commitments & promises. Even freebies like television, cycle, laptops etc. just to attract voter.
# Reform needed- Proper scrutiny of election manifesto by election commission & anything that seems to project bribery must be omitted from the manifesto before making it public.
(j) Merit before caste- People tend to vote for a candidate who belongs to their community or caste. This leads to the winning candidate working for his own community & not a constituency or nation as a whole.
# Reform needed- Not much can be done in this regard by the election commission or the government as this is an ethical & moral concern. And moral or ethical values can be inculcated from the very initial stage of a man, way before the social evils like caste & community corrodes his mind.
The list goes on & on. The main concern is the zeal to restrict them to their lowest, if not removed fully. The judiciary & parliament must intervene in any kind of malpractice, if noticed. Doesn’t matter how much work the parliament or the judiciary works to bring out these reforms, ultimately it’s the citizens of India who is going to make sure that the reforms work. Without the close cooperation between the government & citizens it’s not possible for these reforms to work. The government must also make sure that the reforms are not only present in paper but also implemented as fast as possible. If implemented truly & with the cooperation of the citizens the true meaning of democracy can be realized, not only in letter but in spirit too.
Sagar I read your essay.
Things I appreciated while reading :-
Amazing transition from ancient India to British rule to Parliamentary democracy, with a pinch of Gandhian vision. And present day issues. The flow is so easily comprehendable.
Loved the usage of the word ‘mobocracy’.
Don’t find any negatives. But, as always more interesting anecdotes or data can always be added.
A perfect essay.
Thank you for review..
I was unable to write this topic in paragraphs.. maybe because it was totally GS related
The topic stated electoral reforms.. thats why stuck to it..
I was thinking of international examples but Lack of knowledge 😛
Will review your essay in some time 🙂
Thank you kartik.. will review your essay in some time 🙂
Thank you sir.. will take care of it for future 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Will work on your suggestions 🙂
Hi Sagar thanks for the review. I had thought about writing the downsides of being honest like frequent transfers of officials but thx for pointing out about Cuban example, I had never realized I could have added it.
1.Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom – Thomas Jefferson.
ईमानदारी ज्ञान की पुस्तक में पहला अध्याय है – थॉमस जेफरसन ।
There was a very strict and disciplined king in one country. He laid down the rules of punctuality for his ministers and other courts men, not adhering to which attracted hefty fines. One day four ministers went to nearby place for some official work. They overslept and could not return on time to king’s court. When they came in front of king, he became very angry. The ministers were terrified as they knew king may suspend them from their positions. So, they decided that they will shift the blame on bullock cart. King took all the four of them to separate rooms and asked them the reason. Three of them spoke as planned. When asked about which wheel of bullock cart malfunctioned (the question for which they were unprepared), they all pointed to different wheel. But, the fourth minister was wise enough to reveal the real reason. As a result, king ordered suspension of first three ministers and just fined the fourth one. Ministers, even after being knowledgeable in different fields, lacked virtue of honesty. The fourth one was wise enough to recognise that without honesty, wisdom is of no use.
Wisdom is the quality of judging the situation perfectly and utilising the knowledge to deal with it. Honesty forms an important virtue in process to acquire wisdom. It does not take special bookish knowledge to acquire virtue of honesty. But it requires spiritual introspection and ability to have self control on one’s desires.
Desire makes person select short cuts. While using short cut route, lying becomes necessary. But, there is a well known saying – There is no short cut to success . A wise man knows this fact and tries to be as honest as possible. He chooses a more sustainable path of hard work and dedication. History is replete with examples of great people. Richard Feynman, well known physicist, said – ” I am not extra smart, but I studied hard to succeed”.
The most important thing first up is to be honest to oneself . This is what makes a person really wise. A person honest to oneself knows his strength and weakness with clarity. Before taking any task, he is able to assess the feasibility of that task. This is very relevant in present day scenario where people are not able to choose the profession which they like. Their is a cat race going on for careers thought to be secure and more productive.
Honesty makes wise people trustworthy . People come to them with their grievances on hope that they will not mislead them. In ancient times, there were saints, monks, philosophers like Buddha who were approached by people to solve their problems. In present time, same thing is performed by respected elders of the society, panchayats in villages, impartial and objective judiciary, etc. People expect unbiased and wise decision from them. These wise decisions are build on the foundation of honesty.
On contrary to wise people, amateur people don’t realise the importance of honesty and think they can fool the world and succeed just by being clever and present false facts. Story of a boy who used to fool villagers by raising alarm of lion entering village and asking for help is very famous. Though boy was able to extract fun for first few instances, but when the real danger came, no one listened to him, which led to his death. Dishonesty corresponds to lack of seriousness and is liable to land person in danger. Hence people should have wisdom to avoid such situations by resorting to honesty.
Talking about India’s freedom struggle, Honesty formed the core of non-violent, truthful Satyagraha used as the main weapon to fight anti-imperialist forces by Gandhi ji. A satyagrahi has to be honest to the enemy. A righteous person should not fear anyone and should be adamant and honest about the injustice to the perpetrator of crime. No doubt, Gandhiji was considered the wisest person in India’s freedom struggle.
Honesty is linked with reputation of a person, which again corresponds to his wisdom. Cricket is a gentleman game and honesty has an important place in fair play. Sachin Tendulkar is the shining example. He was given wrong decisions on many instances. Even then, when he knew he nicked the ball and umpire adjudged it NOT OUT, he used to walk. This is the reason why he is respected a lot in world cricket for his sportsman spirit. On the other hand, many amateur players trying to win their place in team, may not walk after nicking like Sachin.
However, one should understand that WISDOM does not mean being honest to such an extent that may cause self-destruction. It is important to deviate from ideals sometimes for greater good of the society. According to Mahabharat, Hindu Epic, Yuddhister was the most honest person. Even enemies did not doubt what he said. Even though he was honest, wisdom of Krishna made him deceive enemies by clever use of name of Asvathama, name of an elephant and also of Guru Dronacharya’s son, who was fighting on opposite side. On Yuddhister’s claim that Asvathama is dead, Drona broke down which played an important role in victory of Pandavs (Yuddhister’s side). In reality, it was elephant named Asvathama who died.
Moraji Desai was an ardent Gandhian. He believed in the principle of truthfulness even to the enemy to such an extent that he is known to reveal the precise details of RAW to Pakistani counterpart, Zia Ul Haq. This was not only a strategic mistake by Moraji Desai, but foolishness on his part which led to Pakistan rising to the status of nuclear power and many of RAW agents getting killed. Sometimes, WISDOM expects a person to be careful to display the virtue of honesty.
Thomas Jefferson, himself a very wise person, known as the American founding father and 3rd president of USA was right to quote ” Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom”. A person needs to be experienced enough to judge the situation and be honest. There are some people whom we can never make fool. In such cases, being honest is the best alternative for a person. But some circumstances need concealment of truth, which may go against the principles of honesty. This can be said as the second chapter in the book of wisdom, namely exceptions to the use of honesty.
Human is a social animal. He cannot survive in isolation. He needs to learn and adapt. Wisdom is also a lesson which a human continuously learn by experiencing the external environment and programs his brain and soul accordingly. In order to lead a successful life, it is essential, one learns all the chapters of the book of wisdom, most important and basic of which is honesty.
@Amoghavarsha:disqus nice essay with many examples. I liked the line, “a liar cannot be wise, he can be shrewd but not wise.” So true!! Honestly, when I read today’s topics, I spent 5-10 minutes thinking about this topic but could not come up with as many diverse examples that you have given from history to sports. However, is honesty always the best policy? This is what I found missing in your essay. You can argue it is always the best but try to show how being honest and yet hiding truth (not lying) for the greater good has proven to be a good policy..such examples are there in international diplomacy (e.g. how Cuban missile crisis and a 3rd world war (possibly nuclear holocaust) was averted).
I have written essay on elecroral reforms for a strnger democracy. Please review.
Forum IAS sir and pals please critique my essay 🙂
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@sagarsumit:disqus Very nice essay!
@forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus Thank you for encouraging words..will continue writing 🙂
@disqus_GsCdnYoLef:disqus Liked your essay. A couple of things I want to say. First, as a reader, I feel an essay should not begin with negative things straight away. Second, I think a para for reforms other than electoral politics for a stronger democracy should also be mentioned.
@Rashi27:disqus Liked it. One thing I want to say. But, this is my personal opinion. Writing essay in paragraphs rather than points may be more pleasing as a reader. Another thing is we should also mention reforms other than those in electoral politics to strengthen our democracy. Couple of international examples will also fetch marks. Please review mine too.
@disqus_GsCdnYoLef:disqus yes, i will read your essay now. Regarding info, I had many points in my current affairs notes from PIB (president gave a speech recently on this topic) and newspaper. Since, my optional is PubAd, I also had major recos of committees in mind (law commission i did not mention explicitly but i used many of its recos). Difficult point for me was to write an intro. For that I googled a quote and found Mahatma’s quote apt.
@disqus_GsCdnYoLef:disqus Nice attempt. But somehow I feel there seems to be missing connection between democracy and constitutionalism.
Kindly review each others answers, so that everyone improves 🙂
We would also review some essays.
thanks sir.. will improve
@ParthJaiRamJiKi:disqus Good one. But regarding presentation, instead of point wise elaborating on it would make the essay look comprehensive.
Well tried. Continue writing. Answer writing skills improves over time.
Other Forum members : kindly review as well 🙂
Q) Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom – Thomas Jefferson
There is an age old saying that “Honesty is the best Policy”. This quote has become so famous and cliched that there is hardly any person who doesn’t know it. Yet, it is still seen that this virtue of being honest is on the decline. Everyday we hear cases and news of new scams, corruption, money laundering, crimes. It seems to give a picture that being honest is not as rewarding as it was envisaged to be. Hence, this begs an important question “Is honesty still relevant in current times?”
It’s hard to ignore the rewards that dishonesty gives. Being dishonest certainly seems more rewarding than being honest. For e.g a public functionary engaging in corruption and being dishonest with his work will be able to earn more and live a life of luxury than working as an honest person and living a mediocre life. Similarly, for a businessman, engaging in unscrupulous activities and being dishonest to his workers and clients is more profitable than being honest and complying with law. Even at individual level, people think that evading income taxes or under reporting their income is a more attractive proposition than being honest about one’s income.
All the above examples gives an sense that following honest policies is not wise and therefore not worth it.
But is that the case reality?
The answer is definitely not. There is more wisdom in following honesty because even if someone engages in corruption, using dishonest means to enhance profits, or even to evade taxes, he/she are not able to realist that following this act will be harmful for them and the nation in the long term. They will always live in a fear of being caught. Moreover, engaging in dishonest practices robs the exchequer of the resources needed which in turn will harm the person as the state will not be able to provide resources for the development.
Thus it is seen that being honest gives a feeling of satisfaction, fearlessness and a peace of mind which is necessary to live a quality life and thus overall development. An honest person is always respected in the society and his name is remembered in a positive light even after his death for a very very long time. These rewards are far better than any other monetary benefits that being dishonest entails.
An honest person is always seen with high regards and it increases their stature and credibility. Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela were known for keeping their promises which they made with the people and hence commanded a huge following. Similarly, one of the reason for the downfall of British empire in India was their frequent breaking of promises of granting India its deserved independence which was act of dishonesty and thus sowed the seeds of animosity and hatred among people against the british rule.
Thus it is seen that following honesty is wise and more rewarding.
Because of this, inculcating honesty from childhood is the need of the hour. A world which is increasingly becoming dishonest needs to go away. Here, family, friends, school, peers, colleagues etc. have a huge role to play to give a sense of direction to follow this much ignored virtue. There is a saying in Hindi that “Kids are an epitome of God”. This is because they are truthful and honest and have been free from cunningness and selfishness that is increasingly surrounding this world. hence, the same kind of behavior and honesty needs to be inculcated within adults.
Honesty also just doesn’t mean being honest to others. people should realize that that being honest to oneself, one’s work and his/her surroundings is much important. Honesty has gained much more relevancy in these times of global crisis such as terrorism, climate change, refugee crisis etc. If countries are honest about their acts, intentions, measures taken and overall themselves, it will help them understand the risks facing the mankind today which could go a long way to make this world a better place for everyone.
Haha, ok. Pouring comments in a while 🙂
info loaded essay.. but want to know one thing have you prepared for it or you wrote watever u know,.. nd do revie mine
forum ias pls pour ur comments for my essay
flow is missing rashi but good essay.. keep writing nd do reviw mine
Good! Introduction is good. There is a flow in your essay.
Continue writing 🙂
pls reviw
Yes.
Done 🙂
Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy.
The parliamentary form of democracy as we know today can be traced to the Magna Carta of 13th century in England. However, the roots of democracy in India are very deep. It is probably here that democracy started functioning first. From the existence of institutions like Sabha, Samiti and Viditha in the Vedic era to the “Shakya Gana-Rajya”, or the independent republics, in the later period, all have stressed upon development of democratic institutions and participatory democracy. Even while the king was a hereditary ruler, his Sabha ensured he remained in touch with the people and looked after their welfare. In modern democratic republics, the practice of Sabha headed by the King has evolved into the Council of Ministers or the executive headed by the Prime Minister or the President, who are answerable to the ‘demos’ directly or to the legislature elected by the ‘demos’.
Why electoral reforms for a stronger democracy?
During British Raj in India, the monarchical form of governance gradually transformed to democratic form of governance for which our founding fathers had to make a lot of sacrifices. Therefore, democracy should not be taken for granted. Gandhiji said, “I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong.” To enliven the dreams of Mahatma, India adopted parliamentary form of democracy based on universal adult franchise right after independence despite huge socio-economic diversities. Hence, elections are one of the major pillars on which democracy stands. Today, India has over 800 million voters making it the largest democracy in the world. Since indendence, electoral politics has changed a lot and thus electroral reforms are pertinent to a stronger democracy.
There is a rising threat of ‘criminalization of politics’ that democracy is facing today. If left unchecked, democracy may turn into ‘mobocracy’ sooner than later. Hence, a strong electoral system is necessary which would facilitate transparent and fearless representation of dreams, aspirations, and needs of the voters. Another ill plaguing democracy is non-transparent electoral finance, which is connected to the first threat. This problem does not only threaten Indian democracy. Even in USA, world’s oldest modern democracy, electoral campaign finance has been a hot topic and its ulterior influence on public policy has come under a scanner. Hence, electoral reforms are necessary to strengthen the democratic structure. Timely reforms not only would give justice to the people but also to the ideals enshrined in the Constitution.
What reforms have been taken?
Our founding fathers were not oblivious of the corrupt practices. To check such practices, Representation of People Act was enacted in 1951. It has penal provisions against bribery, booth capturing, undue influence or attempt to promote enmity or hatred between different classes of the citizens of India. An independent Election Commission of India (ECI) was established to conduct free and fair elections. ECI has come up with its own Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for providing a level playing field to contestants during the elections. To make electoral funding transparent, all donations above Rs 20,000 need to be disclosed mandatorily. Apart from these, in order to reflect the changing demographics and make the franchise wider, voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. Photo IDs were issued to eliminate bogus voting. Electronic Voting Machines were introduced to check discrepancy between number of votes polled and number of votes counted. Making use of digital technology, ECI has also launched Systematic Voter’s Education and Electoral Participation portal to increase awareness and ensure as a citizen we perform our duty to vote in elections.
Who are other stakeholders in bringing electoral reforms?
Different actors play an important role in bringing electoral reforms. This should be seen as a sign of democratic consolidation. Apart from role of legislators and ECI, judiciary has been very proactive. For example, observing that casting of a vote by a misinformed or non-informed voter, is bound to affect the democracy seriously, the judiciary gave various directions making it obligatory on the part of candidates at the election to furnish information about their personal profile, background, qualifications and antecedents. Hence, the principle of transparency was established. Another important role is played by civil society in raising the awareness of masses and demanding cleaner politics. For example, Association for Democratic Reforms and People’s Union of Civil Liberties have done a commendable job in the decision behind None-Of-The-Above (NOTA) button, which will compel the political parties to nominate a sound candidate. This situation palpably tells us the dire need of negative voting.
What more can be done?
Despite above measures, we have observed huge amount of illegitimate expenditure in recent state elections. The government set up committes such as Dinesh Goswami Committee on electoral reforms, Indrajit Gupta Committee on state funding of elections, and the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution. Most experts have recommended partial, if not complete, funding of elections by the state to tackle the menace of non-transparent electoral finance and break criminals-politics nexus. However, such recommendations have not come into effect. Moreover, the political parties have shown reluctance to allow their funding and financial information under the purview of RTI. To check the flow of illegal money and also reduce the burden on ECI and expenditure on conduct of elections and remove hurdles in development activities (due to MCC), the governement recently came up with the idea of ‘One India, One Election’. However, international examples show that such a system succeeds when there is a direct democracy in a less diverse country with one or two parties. In India, a country of huge diversity and multi-party federal democracy, more research needs to be done on the feasibility of this idea. A suggestion could be to compress the time-frame of announcement, notification and conduct of elections. Instead of having one election for nation and the state, ECI could conduct state elections zone-wise, e.g. all Southern states election at the same time. For national elections, we can allow voters to vote from any constituency. However, we must also endeavour to do reforms outside electoral process.
Today, 543 members of Lok Sabha represent 1.28 billion people of India. That is about 1 representative for 2 million people! Nowhere else where representative democracy exists, this ratio is so skewed. Even though the motive behind limiting constituencies was a genuine one, it is time we revisit the delimitation of constituencies. Another urgent reform is to increase the representation of women in legislatures. In a developing country with almost half of population being women, their representation in legislatures being not even one-third is a shame. To strengthen democracy, we should give women more voice. Frequent disruption of parliamentary proceedings is an insult to the temple of democracy and the political class need to rethink that is this how they represent India of billion dreams and aspirations.
Conclusion
The poitical system of India is gradually maturing. Electoral reforms strengthen one of the major pillars on which democracy stands. Electoral reforms can deliver cleaner politics. Cleaner politics will strengthen other pillars of democracy, namely inclusiveness and socio-economic development. This will strengthen trust in democracy and hence create a virtuous cycle of welfare and growth, thus meeting the expectations of our forefathers and aspirations of our coming generations.
Yes, kindly copy the answer.
thank you @forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus for quick response. I cannot find my previous comment where I posted the link. Anyway, I will copy-paste the essay. Please review.
Good answer! Keep writing.
Yes, you can copy paste it here 🙂 directly.
It is approved! Not pending with us.
@disqus_io9HCM3eQ0:disqus Good one, multi dimensional. But I feel intro is bit weak. You may actually write the 1st part of your 2nd para as introduction.
@forumias-7f07ca326ce76cdde680e4b3d568bce8:disqus I have written my essay as a blog post on Quora. I posted the link here but it is waiting for approval. Please let me know if you do not allow external links, I will copy-paste the essay here.
I found your Essay so much knowledgeable. You have explained all the fact very much clearly. Thank you.
Ya sure sir….
Take care Abhilash!
Thank u…
As per the survey done by Forum, users requested us to post questions on both Static & Current issues. Most users requested us not to stick to news of the current day, as it would limit the scope.
From an aspirant point of view as well, we have limited daily questions to 3-4 questions only. This would be more practical for aspirants to implement.
You are free to select anyone 🙂
– ForumIAS Team
@Rashi27:disqus Good start. You may make your essay look better by elaborating the points. And conclusion should be comprehensive.
Hi Sir, A genuine query- I have been checking Manins Marathon for past 1 hour as I am about to start writing and confused between Insight Secure and ForumIAS Marathon. I must appreciate the quality of questions here is wonderful and unique. BUT.. The thing I am worried about is that I am really not getting Why the questions are not on the lines of same day news as Insight does. What is your idea of asking questions. They are either from past news (that to rare) or any other post (not from The Hindu) Why is it so.
Why don’t you give questions from same day The hindu or any other newspaper as UPSC asks questions from Current happenings only. You cover issues but it does not really coincides with same day news.
Please expain the idea behind this. I need to start ASAP.
Reply Awaited
Democracy is for the people by the people and of the people. people were given ultimate power to govern the country. There are two types of democracies: direct and indirect. In direct democracy people will vote for the particular issue or problem like the referendum which happened recently for BREXIT or in Italy for constitutional reforms. Whereas in indirect democracies like India people will vote for a political party of their choice and he/she will represent the people from the constituency. So either direct or indirect democracy, election is a much happen process and it will decide the future.
When we traced back to ancient times, election happened in different ways and in different names. The chola dynasty in Tamilnadu followed kudavolai system. Elections was conducted for 30 wards and one person will be elected. The people will write name of the candidate on the leaves and put in a pot. It would be shuffled and young boy pick it up. This kind of election was widely followed at that time. But in medieval time, there came monarchical regime and the element of elections was abandoned. That time was full of authoritative and peoples choice was completely ignored.
In the British India, elections undergone numerous changes. In the company rule, it was similar to the kind of medieval rule and fully authoritative. But after the first revolt of 1857, there were changes and first Indians were recognized in the legislative assemblies. People from upper class , and educated people were allowed to vote and women were completely ignored. So in independent India, the forefathers while making constitutions without any negations unanimously passed universal adult franchise where people above 18 years were allowed to vote in elections. And this history of elections shows how important a process of elections in a democratic country like India.
Constitution of India created a election commission as a constitutional and independent body with provisions detailing the process of elections. The trust towards the electoral process or democracy in recent times started vanishing in the minds of people with people advocating that they dont need a government or elections and they will see to themselves. This distrust was due to the failure in the electoral process and to an extent failure in the democracy. This is reflected in the voter turnouts in metro cities. Chennai in the recent assembly elections had a lowest turnout in elections due to distrust over the elections and its process.
The problems in current electoral process is manifold. Corruption plays a wider role where electorates were given money for vote. The elections to Thanjavur and aravauruichi constituencies of tamilnadu were debarred due to the widespread use of money for vote. This challenges the democracy and the very use of elections went wrong.
The electoral list prepared by the election department sometimes has fake voters which needs to addressed immediately by linking every voter through aadhaar card. Even in polling booths there were cases of fake voters which needs to be hindered by replacing the polling process to fully computerized elections.
At the level of candidates there are series of reforms need to be taken. Minimum educational background should need to be introduced so that they can comprehend the policies made and they can address the local problems easily. Rajasthan which amended their act, to make minimum education compulsory should also need to be brought in parliamentary elections. Criminal background candidature also need to be reformed so that people will have a trust over the electoral process.Judicial activism over elections and election commission is also on the high. This needs to be addressed by making election commission even more strong. There should not be political party influence also in the election commission.
The election is conducted to show the larger will of the people. but it is not being achieved in recent elections either in direct or indirect democracy. Eg. Scotland people were against BREXIT but the results were totally against their will. This makes people of Scotland distrust over referendum process. Lot of coalition government formation was also a result of it. This needs to be addressed.
The behavior of the people also need to be tuned to trust the electoral process,democratic process etc. They need to come and vote , so that larger interest of people will govern. Art.326 should need to be inculcated in the minds of people right from the school age will make them feel that vote is their right. Representation of people act,1951 needed to be amended to the recent changes as election process is very dynamic.
Institutional change along with the behavioral change in the electoral process will have a strong impact on the democracy. Democracy and elections both should reflect the larger interest of people and both affect each other.
The start of the essay was fab. The points are comprehensive. If you work on flow, it will become even more beautiful!!
Keep writing.
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Ohh.. hope she gets well soon.. 🙂
In democratic form of government people choose representatives by casting their VOTE and directly or indirectly they take participation in forming government.election is celebration of DEMOCRACY. voters and representatives connected differently with electoral process. by the time representatives know the limitations of system and weakness of it and they start manipulating system for their electoral gain. voters have less option so they choose the less worse and this is overall dangerous for democracy. electoral reforms are need of the hour because every law must be reviewed and every institutions must restructured in order to cope up with time ,to gain more efficiency and to match peoples demand.
few suggested electoral reforms are:-
1) Education = we need to fix minimum education of any public representative, education makes him/her more productive and more clear about their duty and job. specific rural areas which are having low education ration can be exempted from this.
2) Decriminalization = person with any criminal background must be prevented to enter into system. those who are in system and having criminal charges must suspend till inquiry get completed
3) single seat constituency = right now there is provision about one person can contest election from two seats differently. this must be stopped because there is no provision in constitution that one person can represent two constituency. reelection on one seat is likely to happen after election this cost us without any productivity.
4) disqualification standard = any of representative give misinformation in election form must be disqualify without asking for any clarification.
5) economic discipline = representative must spend money for election as per given guideline those who found using illegal money to impress voters disqualified instantly.
6) Minority representation = Woman , SC ,ST other minority groups must have their voice in system. govt must secure their voice by giving them reservation or any other recommendation.
7) retirement age = we have min require age to vote or to contest election, but we have no age limitation to serve it. in order to make parliament more efficient, effective and vibrant we need retirement age of every public representative. this will give more opportunities to youth.
8) STRONG ELECTION COMMISSION = to fulfill all of above recommendations we need powerful EC. without strong EC we can not achieve actual meaning of reform.
few suggestion for voters reforms
1) Registration = everyday new voter added to system. registration process should continue whole year so that every voter can register them self any time to enjoy their RIGHT TO VOTE
2) Distance vote = there must be some provision for inter state migrants. ballet voting or E voting can help them.
3) data = EC have strong data bank which can add new voters and delete unavailable voters.
यथा राजा तथा प्रजा is popular hindi saying means Like ruler like ruled.
we can make India grate again if we make right choice. in democracy choosing right representatives in the only way to predict best future.
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom – Thomas Jefferson.
“Education without values is useless”. It is true because one may be very knowledgeable but if he misapplied his knowledge and create disaster in society then that knowledge is meaningless. Our socialization starts with home itself. At home we are taught good virtues so that we can become responsible human beings. Among all such virtues, Honesty is greatest virtue. It is a virtue which if inculcated in life then the person will have psychological happiness and have high subjective well-being.
From Aristotle to contemporary thinkers all had felt the importance of Honesty in life. For example-Gandhi ji was known for this cardinal virtue only. During NCM when people were to be mobilized then he said that if the person is honest in his life then he can easily adopt the path of Satyagrah. Through this statement he meant to say that, Honesty brings courage and confidence to do something.
Domain of honesty is very wide. It is not only speaking truth or not telling lie, practically honesty means punctuality, sincerity, responsive, not using cheap tricks to gain advantage, hardworking, managing any conflict of interest, have healthy balance between personal and professional life etc. If a person is honest then s/he will be honest in his words and deeds. He will never break the rules or norms of institutions, show abiding nature towards constitutional and legal laws, he will follow fundamental duty sincerely, respect fundamental rights and these all characteristics make him a good and productive citizen.
Now one can argue how honesty is related with all these characteristics. Let me explain you with one incident. Gandhi ji said “Honesty is best Policy”. Actually he meant to say that if a person has internalize honesty then s/he will never choose the wrong means to achieve the goals. Throughout the process in achieving goal he will show honesty irrespective of any adversities. This will make him a strong and confident person which will ultimately enhances his personality. When Gandhi ji was in South Africa and fighting for racial discrimination, he fought for just and honesty. He said that administration is not honest in their deeds that’s why there is discrimination. He wanted to bring honesty in administration.
An honest person will be honest in his relations, his work and attitude. His social acceptance will be high. People will value him. Psychologically also, if a person is honest then his self-esteem his high. Similarly an honest student will be sincere towards his study which will be reflected in his academic success. At all stages of life honesty plays a vital role because it converts a normal person into fully-functional person.
All virtues like integrity, truth, probity, transparency etc. follows honesty. If an administration is honest then there will be no space for corruption or black money. Then there will be no need of schemes like Income declaration or demonetisation. But to inculcate honesty, nurturing from childhood is required. For this parents, society, teachers, elders all must show honest behaviour. Because child learns from his surroundings. If a society values honesty then automatic a child will learn this.
Thus culture of honesty should be practiced and internalised in our heart. It is the first chapter in the book of wisdom which makes a person reliable, trust worthy and valuable.
Ya sure…as my mom is addmited in hospital so little bit delay in posting answer…but surely I will post my answer by the end of day…
Thanks Abhilash for review..
I totally agree with it should be different from GS answers but whike I was writing, i really had no idea of how to make it different than a GS answer..
At the end of the day i will read few essays to know that probably 🙂
Waitinh to read your essay too 🙂
Raashi good attempt…but
1)need to be more elaborate…
2)as lots of candidate r writing the same topic so something should be done from uurside to make it effective nd unique
3)u hv to be carefull abt the flow…
4)try to write eassy in such way that it should be different from that of normal answer…
Anyway…it’s our starting…we can improve alot with time…keep writing…good efforts…!!!
Electoral Reforms for a Stronger Democracy.
“Constitution like a machine is lifeless thing. It acquires life because of men who control it and operate it . If people who are elected are capable and men of strong character and integrity then they can make the best even of a defective Constitution. And if not, then even the perfect Constitution can’t help the country !” – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
The Constitution of India was designed by men of great values to give us the most elaborate document which would help us in the effective functioning of democracy. After 67years of successful adoption of the Constitution by the people of India, we have made little changes to elections. The state has progressed in these years but the reforms has not been at the pace of growth. The problems with elections are many which makes the electoral reforms evident.
Elections form the bedrock of a functioning democracy but we often find cases of bribing voters through promising gifts and liquor, booth capturing, rigging of votes, criminalization of politics, ineffective legislation etc Therefore, it is very important to initiate reforms where men of high character and integrity are elected for legislative business.
Many electoral reforms has already been taken like-
1. Election staff is deemed to be on deputation of ECI for the duration of elections. In this period, all such staff personnel are under control, superintendence and discipline of ECI.
2. Representation of people’s Act was amended to facilitate Electronic Voting Machine to prevent rigging of votes. Now, ECI is experimenting with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system so as to ensure transparency in electronic voting and provide feedback to the voter.
3. ECI was given power to tackle booth capturing by either declaring the election void in the area where booth capturing occurred or countermanding it.
4. Insult to national honour i.e. national flag and National anthem invites disqualification for 6 years from contesting elections in Parliament and State Legislature.
5. The amount of security deposit and proposers for contecting elections to the Parliament and State Legislative Assembly has been increased to check the seriousness of the candidate.
6. Going armed with any kind of arms as defined in Arms Act 1959 within the neighbourhood of a pooling station is now a cognizable offence punishable with imprisonment up to two years or with fine or with both.
7. No liquor or other intoxicants shall be sold off, given or distributed within a polling area during the period of 48 hours.
8. In every election, the EC issues a Model Code of Conduct for political parties and candidates to conduct elections in a free and fair manner. The Commission circulated its first Code at the time of the fifth general elections, held in 1971. A provision was made under the Code that from the time the elections are announced by the Commission, Ministers and other authorities cannot announce any financial grant, or intiate any project which may have the effect of influencing the voters in favour of the ruling party. MCC has no statutory backing and many of its provisions are not legally enforceable. However, public opinion is the moral sanction for its enforcement and hence, the Model Code of Conduct has evolved to be a Moral Code of Conduct.
Apart from the reforms already undertaken, some areas where reform is needed are-
1. A statutory backing to the paid news during elections so as to prevent voter influencing with the use of money power
2. Regulation of the amount of black money circulated during elections. This can be done by state funding of parties in kind or cash.
3. Simultaneous elections of state legislatures and Parliament. This will ensure that the moral code of conduct is not applicable every year during elections and will ensure that development projects are implemented continuously.
4. Criminalization of Politics- Many legislatiors are alleged to have committed crime or have been convicted by the courts but have went for appeal to higher courts and therefore are legible to contest elections and be a legislator. Criminalized politics prevents implementation of laws which are a necessity to curb corruption in the system like WhistleBlower Prevention Act, Lokpal etc.
5. Provision of voting to the undertrials- it is ironical that a person in India cannot vote if he is undertrial but can contest election and become a legislator. Therefore, a provision should be made for voting by undertrials especially when most of them belong to poor sections of society.
Effective elections ensure healthy democracy but a vicious cycle has been formed where the legislators do not want to initiate reforms as they fear losing their seats as most of them have criminal cases filed against them but since they have been elected to the Parliament, they are representing voice of the people and only they can amend laws to initiate reforms. To break this vicious cycle, Supreme Court of India has taken various steps for electoral reforms like it made it comoulsory for candidates to disclose their information in Affidavits, and made an order to all the courts in the country to fast-track the cases of candidates to the election.
A healthy and functioning democracy is not only about elections but a continuous participation from people. Elections are means to caste a vote for choice but if the process is not fair, then it breaches the trust of millions of people. The ECI enjoys a great trust from the people of the country due to the independence and watchdog status given to it by the Constitution of India and therefore, it needs to sharpen its teeth by reforming to the illegitimate practices of present situations in elections so as to keep the process of election fair.
About 1000-1200 words.
Word limit?
🙂
Start writing Purva!
thanks sir….
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