It's time again for the world's biggest showcase of the amount of resources that can be expended to implement and justify an incongruous philosophy called Democracy!
So why do I say that now?? No... Am not one of these opportunists to take advantage of an occasion (Do you by any chance think that I used that word to refer to a politician? well...Yeah..you got it right then!!!....;)) The truth is: Democracy is just not right for us (us meaning Indians..) or it makes more sense to put it the other way...India in its current state is (err...it never has been as I have always been saying, to be very frank) not right in embracing democracy. Before someone gets ready to send me to the heavens (or hell it is??) for this sacrilege of the very foundation of our country, I would like to state the reasons that I have in mind:
1. Democracy, according to Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy) is, 'a form of government in which state-power is held by the majority of citizens within a country or a state'. Need I say more? The average voter turnout in Indian polls ranges from 50% to 60% (I guess, on quite some occasions, it is less than 50% and the beauty of statistics acts as the saving grace...I don't know how, but do extremities average to this number?!!I leave this to the number crunchers to answer). So what about the other significant lot who either choose not to vote or do not know that they have to??? If you ask me as to what the solution to this is, I do not have any right now. But am not the Devil's advocate content with identifying what doesn't work with this system. Given the amount of laziness inherent in me, this process of coming up with a sensible suggestion is going to take quite some time.
2. Democracy is a system that has to be customized and is not a 'one size fits all' solution. Given India's literacy rates @ 60% or less (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_literacy_rate_of_india_in_2008), it hardly makes sense to focus on empowering first when education is left unattended. I say this because, education is the cornerstone for a good decision making system. So how would a decision made by a 40% non-educated population be right? By this I do not mean to slight or belittle any particular section (read not-so-fortunate-to-be-educated). I only wish to stress the importance of better primary education.
3. Democracy in India has just been given another meaning by our politicians (beginning with a lower case p, intentional :)). It has been taken to be the Right to Plunder and is the justification for perpetrating corruption all through the system. In short, it is a system that enables the empowered few to enrich themselves at the cost of the enslaved lot (well.. that was just an attempt to see how many e* words i knew..not bad eh...huh..that spoiled the mood of the post :(..)
So why do I stop with 3? Here is the reason for that. Is not Democracy a form of rule 'by the people, of the people and for the people' as its proponents say?
In the reasons stated above, 1 violates 'by', 2 violates 'of' and 3 violates 'for' (to ensure clarity, all the above only apply when taken for India . What else do I need to say??So what are we waiting for...CHANGE...
Warren Buffet remarked "Derivatives are the financial Weapons of Mass Destruction." Here is my take: Democracy is the political version of the same! :)
PS: To set the context right, this post was started on the day of the elections (May 13) and left half-way through then only to be completed today! This is the first in probably a series of 2 posts on Democracy in India!!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I agree with all your arguments. Also the point to be noted is that of the poeple who dont vote are also those like me who feel all the ones begging for votes and power dont qualify to be elected and hence wish to exercise none of the above option while voting but laziness makes sure it becomes abstain from voting. But at the same time what we need to think is- Is there any other way to be ruled? Will a return to Pre-British era of kings or any other alternative forms of governance serve us any better? Atleast in democracy we have a glimmer of hope that we may elect a proper leader once in 20 years.
Rightly said Pradeep..It is very true and disheartening to note that when the system provides you the power to select, it doesn't offer a way to build qualified talent worthy of selection (and that is where it has to be backed by Education)!But then laziness is something we can always work on! As I said in the post, I don't have an alternative right now, but then I can say this for sure: Democracy survives only by giving you that "glimmer of hope", that is the horizon..always existent and never reachable!!!
Post a Comment