DEMOCRACY IN INDIA-HOW IT CAN BE BETTERED.

 

One of my cousins has questioned me as to what ails Democracy in our country and how it can be bettered. She wanted a one liner on that, but I felt the question is very complex and replied it in 2 pages which I give below:

I find it impossible to express what to do in a one liner. For this unless we go into its evolution and the need for it, one cannot pin point what can be done to implement it effectively.

Democracy is something that automatically comes in nature. Each animal (including humans) have a right to do whatever they want. They are equal in possessing that right to decide what to hunt, what to eat, where to live, whom to mate and so on. But this right in nature is restricted by some factors like physical strength and the environment.

With time society slowly evolved when humans (being the species with better brains) realised that living in a society provided more security than living alone or in small groups and they would be able to protect themselves and fulfil their aspirations better if they give up some of their rights and elected a headman to bring in cooperation in the group. This change happened over thousands of years. In fact the change happened in other species too like lions and other herd of animals which move together, but due to their limited way of thinking it remained rudimentary.

Yes, apes (all hominids) too have such a structure which is bigger, but their structure is at a rudimentary level where a group of say a maximum of 100 in number would be its members, so their societal structure remained simple. However, in the case of humans, the number of members in the groups went on increasing and with it came complexity of the societal structure. Internal relations in the group had to be regulated and elaborate rules had to be laid down. Again this system slowly evolved itself and nobody forcefully implemented it from above. However, these rules evolved differently in different groups but later when those individual groups coalesced to form a bigger group, proto towns/cities emerged and when a number of such cities and communities coalesced slowly they formed into a nation. Now the headman had turned into a King and he usurped the full powers to regulate the group and punish those who transgressed the regulations of the group.

By this time, society had become more complex and a need arose to document such rules arose lest their voluntary practice deteriorate into a free for all behaviour because in humans their animal instinct remained beneath the veneer of society.. The first king who did that in recorded history was Hammurabi of Babylon in the 18^th century BC. He merely codified the laws of his time in the world and got them carved on rocks and displayed them to his subjects. This same practice was adopted by our King Ashoka much later in the 3^rd century BC.    

In larger societies in the world, it is the Kingship that evolved with time. But, there are also some societies which while electing a king made sure that his powers do not become absolute like in the case of kingship and also retained the right to elect their king unlike in the case of monarchy the succession became automatic with the kings son taking over the fathers domain. This happened in many parts of the world and in India we can see tribal republics in the 6^th century BC like the Sakyas of Buddha and the Vrijjis which are an alliance of many tribes led by the Licchavis. Their territory is on the border of Himalayas.

For humans, Democracy is a superior system because it restored the right of the people to decide who should be their leader through an election and what their laws should be which right they originally possessed even when they existed as small groups under a headman.    

Having defined the background of Democracy thus, we proceed to see what rights a Democracy offers to its people. They are summarily:

 

1. Equality before law.

2. The freedom to do whatever they want provided it does not violate the societal norms and impinge on others rights.

3. The freedom to elect their head.

 

The most important in this chain is “Equality before law”. It is this pillar of Democracy that guards all other aspects of Democracy. The law has the power to check even the elected head from transgressing the law that is laid down.

So, an effective justice system is the one that delivers effective Democracy. So, every effort should be made to strengthen the justice system first.  If the justice system is ineffective as it happens in India abetted by a corrupt Police force then that is the aspect on which every citizen should concentrate and contribute.

What can an ordinary citizen do to correct the Justice system? Very little, but the only thing people can do is to elect good representatives so they in turn influence the law making in Parliament. This would sound more like a utopia because the current society accepts corruption and making money is viewed as the epitome of life. The means by which the money is made does not matter at all. So our society abets corruption by the way it thinks. It is the society that has to first change, but unless efforts are made in that direction Democracy can never be successful.

What has to be done to change is the moral of the society. It should realize that it is the law and justice system that protects its members and delivers them the fruits of Democracy. The Justice system can function effectively only when the moral structure of the society changes. How does one change the moral of the society? Is that possible?

One has to go to its basics for that, what is Law? It is merely a set of rules laid down over generations in order to protect the society and give security to individuals who are its members. Humans have something known as a conscience, and the society instils into their minds what is right and what is wrong. It is this conscience that chains the humans and prevents them from deteriorating into animals of the jungle. How can morals be changed? By emphasising that a particular behaviour is right and another behaviour is wrong.

The most effective way to do that is to tackle society at the foundation itself, by inculcating what are the right things to do in the minds of children. Teach them moral science and make it compulsory in all classes up to say 6^th. This is nothing new and the society had already tried it but dropped it with time. I studied in Saint Joseph’s convent at Kakinada till 3^rd (as it was a girls school and allowed boys then only till that class) and we had a subject called moral science which taught us what is the model behaviour. Why the Governments think it is unnecessary to teach any morals beats me, because no Government school teaches that now. We learn history, Geography, Science and Math but not a model code of conduct perhaps because it is deemed unnecessary to be a good citizen. The governments feel that to be a good human being in society is passé.

No doubt what is read in moral science may not be followed, but humans have this thing called conscience and it keeps on pricking a person if he does anything against it. With all that teaching strong ideas of good and bad would get imprinted into young minds and they would grow up to be better citizens than without any education on morals.