Sunday, June 21, 2015

Let us think and Act with an open mind to
Develop a Vibrant Democracy – Article 23
SRB

Introduction

Following elaborate studies and discussions in Articles 1 to 20, Article 21 put together some important aspects highlighted in earlier articles to reemphasize the back ground for formulating necessary changes in our democracy. Article 22 emphasized the need to have a comprehensive democracy with many sub systems to overcome the misconception that democracy is required for governance only. It suggested the following aim and definition of comprehensive democracy:

Aim of comprehensive democracy: Ensure that people can live happily with good quality of life and dignity under peaceful environment.

Definition of comprehensive democracy: A system which ensures that people can live happily with good quality of life and dignity under peaceful environment.

To systematically develop comprehensive democracy, we should recognize the basic needs and principles it has to satisfy. Thereafter, holistic action has to be taken with determination and commitment to satisfy these needs and principles. While doing so we should (a) think out of the box and (b) prevent influential persons and power mongers from interfering to protect their vested interests.

This Article spells out the basic needs and principles which should guide formulation of comprehensive democracy.

A comprehensive democracy ought to have:

1. Collective leadership: Historically, democracy was thought of as an alternative to despicable monarchy in which all power was concentrated on one individual. In the type of democracy which was developed power was shifted to elected representatives of people. But, power became concentrated on one leader of representatives who became a sly monarch and the process of developing true democracy was not completed. To avoid such sly monarchy and effectively complete the vision of democracy true collective leadership is absolutely necessary.

2. Efficient sub systems: In addition to governance sub system, other sub-systems should be established for each of the other aspects which ensure that people can live happily with a good quality of life and dignity under a peaceful environment.

At present, sub systems other than governance have hardly received any attention and should be developed after proper studies, dialogues and debates. For example, “religion sub-system”, which ought to promote peace, love, harmony and brotherhood, has often led to disturbance of peace, loss of brotherhood, conflicts and even war. Comprehensive democracy ought to have a suitable professional authority to remove aberrations in religious activities and give proper sense of direction, without interfering in practice of any religion, after carrying out necessary studies, debates and dialogues. The emphasis should be on properly following religious principles to ensure that people can live happily with good quality of life (including spiritual development) and dignity, under peaceful environment.

3. Professional management: There can be no doubt that most efficient management can be provided only by professionally qualified and experienced persons, without hindrance from non-professionals. To ensure that each sub-system functions efficiently, professional management should be ensured and concurrent checks and balances should be provided.

4. Concurrent control by people: At present, elections are conducted once in five years to provide voice to people. This indirect method has completely failed (Articles 1 to 4). This should be replaced by the half yearly meetings suggested in Article 18. In these meetings, authorities under each sub-system, should inform people either directly or through their local leaders (without any exceptions), about their achievements as well as problems faced and future plans. People should give their assessment of the extent to which their needs and aspirations have been met. This direct method of ensuring that each sub system is answerable to people once in six months is far superior to giving indirect voice to people through elected representatives once in five years.

5. A mechanism to ensure systematic changes in the system: Through the frequent and direct control mentioned above, people can give frequent feed backs about how far each sub-system has satisfied their needs and aspirations. But most of them do not have capacity, inclination and time to suggest changes needed in sub-systems to (a) ensure that their needs and aspirations are fully met and (b) adjust to rapid changes occurring in the country and the world. Such ideas and visions can be provided only by a section of intelligentsia which is in touch with people and global changes. A mechanism has to be set up to encourage flow of ideas and visions from intelligentsia, to analyze these and to present useful ideas to authorities of each sub-system. This approach also makes intelligentsia feel much more involved in democracy than at present.

6. Independent authority to regulate and expand media activities: Media failed to systematically put continuous pressure on government to solve problems faced by people and the country and to provide an avenue or platform for interested people to freely spread and absorb positive ideas about development (Article 16). Media was not adequately involved in activities of non-government sub systems. A professional body should be created to regulate and expand media activities, without hindrance from government, power mongers and commercial interests. This body can also make people more knowledgeable and involved in all aspects of comprehensive democracy so that they can participate more effectively in six monthly meetings. Corporate bodies should be debarred from owning or controlling media to gain power to influence governance and mislead people to serve their selfish interests.

7. Adequate opportunities and services to aam admi: Vested interests often indirectly curtail opportunities and services to common people. For example, commercial enterprises, by providing costly sophisticated services which can be used only by the rich, have diverted attention away from providing affordable education and health care of good quality to common people. Honest journalists are hindered in their activities. Sportsmen have very little say in sports matters. Many talented people in the fields of arts and entertainments are bypassed because of vested interests which blow up persons of their choice only.  All these lead to frustrations among people and hinder proper development of these fields in a democratic manner. Therefore, full attention has to be given to provide adequate opportunities and services to people in all fields in a democratic manner.

8. Full focus on prosperity, dignity, peace, humanity and happiness: The single track concentration on GDP growth has resulted in many shameful situations (Article 15). Inclusive prosperity was conspicuous by its absence. Hardly any attention has been given to ensure that people live happily with dignity and peace.  Comprehensive democracy has to give highest priority to a humanitarian approach to provide prosperity, dignity, peace, and happiness to maximum number of people. While growth of economy of the country is desirable, it is not essential for fulfilling the aim of comprehensive democracy.

9. Provide speedy justice with transparency: Justice sub system needs a thorough overhaul (Article 11). Common people find it extremely difficult to get justice even after many years. This leads to prolonged suffering and worry. Lack of transparency in judgments is another serious problem.

NHRC (another wing of justice sub system) miserably failed to have a check on human rights violations (Article 10).
A justice sub system which can provide speedy affordable justice with transparency and avoid human rights violations is an absolute necessity for comprehensive democracy.

10. Reduce inequalities: For many years we have unsuccessfully stressed on removal of inequalities. This idea is utopian and can never succeed. We have to be pragmatic and fix limits for inequalities, without removing incentives for striving for betterment. 

11. Accept change as a part of evolution: Historically, human race has come a long way from living in caves and walking on bare feet to living in multistoried buildings and traveling by aero planes and even planning to travel to other planets. All these happened because of some persons who boldly strived for change despite majority of people opposing change. It is relevant that after some time, those who opposed changes quietly took advantage of these changes and benefitted from these changes. Even more important, though drastic changes were opposed more forcefully and with scepticism, these were the ones which benefited even the sceptics better. It deserves to be repeatedly emphasized that all eminently worthwhile changes in the past were considered as drastic or impossible changes and were vehemently opposed and ridiculed when these were initiated. These repeated experiences over centauries emphasize the need to accept change, even drastic ones, as a part of evolution.

Those who oppose scrapping of present system of democracy which has failed miserably may argue that many modern countries are having similar system of democracy. This is so because they were not bold enough to try better methods despite internal exposes and demands or were not allowed to do so by vested interests. According to a celebrated academician, “governments all over the world have reached a point where they can do nothing at all for the society”. (Article 22)

Moreover, the above argument shows an inferiority complex that we will only copy others.  Even when change is badly needed, we are not prepared to use our ingenuity to set an example for others to copy. It is pertinent that there were times when India had set examples for others to follow.

Over the past sixty odd years there have been 98 amendments to the Constitution. Even this is not the full story. Hidden within there are changes that have been made to over 230 Articles we swear by.(Times of India dated 01-03-14, page 20). Those who oppose change of democracy because the Constitution has to be changed ought to remember that we have already made more than 230 changes in our sacrosanct Constitution!!
                                  
Another argument may be that changes will upset stability. This belittles the need for evolution and the fact that historically stability has existed only for short periods of time. Otherwise, we would have continued to live in caves and walk bare foot!!

In stead of opposing changes on any pretext, what change is required and when should be studied objectively and decision taken with an open and constructive mind.

A relevant question to those who oppose change is: Are they prepared to live, eat, work, travel and enjoy life as their ancestors did? If not, opposition to change, after enjoying benefits of change, is hypocrisy.

Needed action: Without further waste of time, people with vision among politicians, social activists, legal experts, authors, celebrities in different fields, the media and younger generation ought to take keen and sustained interest to thoroughly study all aspects of developing comprehensive democracy and act to make it a reality.

As a prerequisite for kick starting badly needed restructuring of our democracy, mass awareness mobilization and healthy dialogues, discussions and debates should be undertaken to arrive at a broad consensus. Then a new Constituent Assembly should be set up to discuss this consensus and finalize changes in the Constitution.

These steps form the peaceful way to develop comprehensive   democracy before violent protests against our sinking democracy (e.g., by Maoists) spread widely and rock the country.  If we do not make joint efforts now to build a better India with comprehensive democracy, posterity will blame us for our callousness which led to anarchy and violence.

Mahatma Gandhi (who successfully fought for independence against a mighty empire) has shown us that extraordinary changes can be made when ordinary people come together to do extraordinary things.

Swami Vivekananda exhorted us: “Arise, awake and sleep not till you reach your goal”.

                   
Note:
You can help to replace our sinking democracy by a truly vibrant comprehensive democracy by making as many people as possible aware of the basic needs and principles which should guide formulation of the revised system of democracy through personal group discussions, newspaper articles, e-mail and social media like face book and twitter so that we can have healthy debates and arrive at some innovative ideas to replace our sinking democracy.

Comments (especially those which point out errors or deficiencies, if any, in this article and thereby help to improve it) are welcome. Please send these to StartRemovingBlocks@outlook.com. I shall make use of all befitting suggestions to modify the outline of the revised system of democracy (Article 24).




Thursday, June 18, 2015

Let us think and Act with an open mind
to Develop a Vibrant DemocracyArticle 22
SRB
Introduction

Articles 1 to 20 of this series have described thirty obstacles which resulted in a distorted and ineffective democracy. These articles also gave some skeleton suggestions to overcome these. Article 21 reiterated some important aspects in earlier articles to reemphasize the back ground for formulating necessary changes in democracy.

It is crystal clear that tinkering with individual aspects of present system, with naïve and unrealistic expectations, is thoroughly inadequate because of following reasons:

1.  There were too many faults in implementing it (30 have been identified in these articles – there may be more).
2.  It had some fundamental mistakes (highlighted in some of these articles.)
3.  There is a need to replace current restricted democracy with a comprehensive democracy to meet needs and aspirations of people (Artivcle 18  
4.  The new cannot be built correctly without discarding the old
5.  To tackle basic issues bravely it is essential to think out of the box, starting with a fresh approach to concept of democracy.

Concept of democracy: As explained in Article 18, a fundamental mistake in present concept of democracy is to consider that democracy is needed only for good governance. Many more aspects e.g., religion, culture, entertainment, recreation etc., have influence on quality of life – may be even more than governance. To live happily with good quality of life and dignity under peaceful environment all these aspects require careful attention and proper direction, which are lacking at present. Present day democracy ignores the fact that conflicts in some of these activities have been responsible for many unhappy situations and disturbance of peace and harmony.  For example, all religions have laudable principles which if channeled properly, without interfering with their freedom, can lead to peace and harmony. If not, it can lead to disharmony and even fights, riots and wars as had happened number of times in the past all over the world. Evidently, a more comprehensive concept of democracy which takes into account all aspects, which have influence on living happily with good quality of life and dignity under peaceful environment, is essential.

Keeping this in view the following aim and definition of comprehensive democracy are suggested:

Aim of comprehensive democracy: Ensure that people can live happily with good quality of life and dignity under peaceful environment.

Definition of comprehensive democracy: A system which ensures that people can live happily with good quality of life and dignity under peaceful environment.

The above aim and definition does not specifically mention about need for governance , health, education, employment or enterprise, prosperity, dignity etc. because these are essential to live happily with good quality of life and dignity.

Government cannot and should not be involved in all aspects mentioned earlier. To ensure proper use of economic, social, religious, cultural and entertainment activities to serve the aim of democracy, it is important to establish some more authorities under the system, in addition to governance authority (government). Details of setting up these authorities and allocation of responsibilities between them have to be formulated by expert groups and debated to arrive at a consensus. This consensus should not be rigid and should be reviewed at suitable intervals to adapt to changes in socio-economic, religious, cultural and entertainment environment.

As pointed out in a number of earlier articles, highest priority should be given to various professional activities which are essential for welfare of people. For this, each Authority should be managed only by professionally qualified and experienced staff and should be allowed to function without any hindrance from non-professionals and with full accountability. To ensure that these independent authorities continue to perform properly, a system of checks and balances should be created.

Democracy should continuously ascertain needs and aspirations of people and carry out activities to fulfill these as best as possible. Mechanisms should also be created to (a) involve people in planning and implementation of all types of activities, (b) get their assessment of performance (e.g., through the six-monthly meetings suggested in Article 18) and (c) ensure proper functioning of all checks and balances. We (the people) also have responsibility to ensure happy and peaceful surroundings which are not subjected to jealousy, hatred, vengeance and fear. This is the way to have a true, vibrant and comprehensive democracy.

We have not visualized some important aspects which ought to form the back bone of a true, vibrant and comprehensive democracy which aims at dignity, happiness, peace and good quality of life under peaceful surroundings for people. For example, because ensuring the noble idea of equality is impractical, democracy can and should set limits for inequalities in income and expenditure, ownership of land etc.

These important aspects are discussed further in a later article.




Some realities:

Mahatma Gandhi, who had fought for freedom, dignity and swaraj (democracy) throughout his life, would be most unhappy if he were alive today. But how many present leaders, who religiously pay tributes to him on his birth and death anniversaries, really care to reach the goals set by him? For reaching these goals, utmost care has to be taken to avoid discontinuities in purposeful activities.

Government has been sitting for more than eight years on poll reforms suggested by Election Commission. Therefore, it is naïve to depend on government to develop the new type of comprehensive democracy, despite many advantages.

According to Howard Zinn the real problem is silent obedience of people to the dictates of their leaders who are running the country:

“Our problem is the numbers of people all over the world who have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience.

Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world, in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war and cruelty.

Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country.

That’s our problem.”

To overcome these we have to break our silence and take meaningful actions in a peaceful manner.

This series of articles clearly show that development, sustenance and growth of democracy are the responsibility of all citizens, organized groups and statutory institutions, besides government. All of them have to wake up and act peacefully if they sincerely want a true, vibrant and comprehensive democracy.  

Most democracies are predominantly influenced by the rich and the powerful and have become pseudo democracies. According to Henry Montzberg, celebrated academician, author and faculty of McCall University, Canada “governments all over the world have reached a point where they can do nothing at all for the society” (Deccan Chronicle dated 06-02-13, page 6). 

The fundamental mistake that democracy is needed only for good governance, which is a global phenomenon, seems to be the main culprit besides the rich and the powerful who are hoodwinking people.

Because absence of comprehensive democracy is a global reality we have to act without looking for guidance or models from other countries. Moreover, when we develop the new type of comprehensive democracy people from many more countries may follow suit.

Some questions:  

It is high time we ask ourselves:

Are we happy with the present distorted and ineffective democracy which is more like a subtle invisible dictatorship?

Is the present pseudo democracy not against the spirit of our Constitution?

Why do we spent lakhs of crores of public money to maintain  Parliament (and assemblies) whose members have become enemies of democracy and are lacking in  accountability and an ethics of care for aam admi?
Why should we have a distorted Parliament with majority of crorepati members who favour the rich?

Why have a Parliament with members who became enemies of democracy? (Articles 15, 19 and 20)

Why should we not abolish Parliament which has been spinelessly tolerating breaking of promises by government thousands of times, without the dignity expected from the august supreme body in stead of exercising its responsibility of having a check on functioning of government?

Why should we continue to have politicians who are not qualified in the art or science of governance, have some disqualifications and have become enemies of democracy? (Article 19)

Why should we not get rid of political party system which is more a hindrance than help to democracy? (Article 20)  

Is the need for a through change of the present system not obvious? Why should we not strive for a comprehensive democracy

Can we depend on government and political parties to really take interest in bringing in reforms which are suicidal to the greedy and selfish interests of some influential political leaders and powerful individuals or groups?

How can we motivate society to develop the will for a thorough change, which is absolutely necessary to create a true, vibrant and comprehensive democracy, without looking for guidance or models from other countries?

Should we not wake up and act in a peaceful manner to usher in true, vibrant and comprehensive democracy?

Many more crucial questions can be added.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning” - Albert Einstein

I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?
                                                                       - Robert F Kennedy 

(Please keep these articles within easy reach for referring back till the series is completed.)


Note:

You can help to replace our sinking democracy with a truly vibrant comprehensive democracy by making as many people as possible aware of the definition of comprehensive democracy, some general observations, questions and suggestions given above through personal group discussions, newspaper articles, e-mail and social media like face book and twitter so that we can have healthy debates and arrive at some innovative ideas to save our sinking democracy.

Comments (especially those which point out errors or deficiencies, if any, in this article and thereby help to improve it) are welcome. Please send these to StartRemovingBlocks@outlook.com. I shall make use of all befitting suggestions to modify the outline of the revised system of democracy (Article 24).








                                                                                                                                                                                                       
Let us think and Act with an open mind to
Develop a Vibrant Democracy Article 21
SRB

Introduction: Articles 1 to 20 had focused on thirty obstacles which caused a distorted and ineffective democracy and suggested possible solutions for these.  The present article reiterates some important aspects in earlier articles to provide back ground for formulating necessary changes in democracy. Constitution provided some checks and balances to ensure proper functioning of democracy. To what extent these were effective is also included in this back ground. I am constrained to focus on all unpleasant negative findings which need correction because we have to be fully conscious of these if we want to improve matters.

Large proportions of voters make mockery of democracy by either not making independent choice (being influenced by caste, religion, intimidation etc.) or by selling” votes (Article 2). This mocked approval” has resulted in the incongruity that political parties were supported only by a negligible minority who had honestly voted without being influenced by extraneous considerations (Article 20). Another mockery is that during last 50 years, number of women left out from electoral roll increased fourfold from already large 15 millions to 68 millions, showing gross and increasing undervaluation of right of women to vote (Article 2).

Out of 543 MPs elected in 2009, vast majority of 78% had even mocked approval of only less than half of the electorate and did not qualify to be representatives.  Even after spectacular success of  BJP in 2014 elections, it had even mocked approval  of only 31% of  electorate!! Thus, its claim of being representative of people is outright hollow.

Constitution had put a bar on criminals getting registered as voters or becoming MPs / MLAs. Shockingly, 162 Lok Sabha members and 1,268 MLAs, with declared criminal records might have violated this bar (Article 2). It is likely that present Parliament also has this defect. This large scale suspected violation of Constitution casts doubt on legitimacy of Parliament.

Moreover, 30% of ministers in present central government had filed affidavits that they had criminal cases against them (Deccan Chronicle dated 08-06-15). This casts doubt about legality of this government.

All these raise three important questions. Knowing that Constitution had put a bar on criminals getting registered as voters or becoming MPs / MLAs: (1) why have our government, legal experts and hon’ble judges not fulfilled their moral responsibility to clear the doubts and ensure that there is no illegal Parliament and government? (2) why were these suspected criminals not keen to prove that they are innocent by taking prior/quick action? (3) why are we so dumb and callous that we tolerate being governed by suspected criminals, justifying the remark that “A nation of sheep gets a government of wolves”

An MP or MLA has to perform important functions of governance.  The expectation that voters have knowledge and expertise to select persons who can perform these functions efficiently is a fundamental fault of election system (Article 14). This shows that most elected persons not only did not have even mocked majority approval but also may not have the required capacity because of being selected by laymen, that too mainly on extraneous considerations.

With five-yearly elections, even efficient representatives are compulsorily weeded out along with  inefficient and tainted ones, unlike management machinery which has continuity. This lack of continuity in top levels leads to avoidable distortions and distractions in governance. A flexible election system guided solely by need to weed out only inefficient and tainted representatives to improve governance can avoid these (Article 3).

Sole purpose of election is to give voice to people.  But, election system could not give voice to majority of people. A better method for giving voice to people, not once in five years as an ineffective ritual as at present, but more frequently and effectively is needed (Article 4).

Method of government formation led to subtle and concealed dictatorship rather than democracy (Article 5). This also resulted in dictatorial attitude that listening to others is a weakness. It has not been realized that real strength of democracy lies in its ability to (1) listen to people, (2) accept useful ideas and (3) act on these with vision and commitment (Article 6).

Attitude of not acting on important information provided by even a constitutional authority (CAG) is another instance of  dictatorial approach and a serious blow to democracy.

Government is obsessed with GDP growth and revenue collection. It becomes upset if GDP growth falls but is not bothered if people suffer. The fact that higher GDP has only resulted in widening gap between the rich and the poor is not its concern.

Successful governance requires qualified professionals to be in charge of various activities which can be properly handled by them only. But most technical departments are headed by Indian Administration Service (IAS) officers. This illogical positioning allows professionals to be supervised by non-professionals and thereby hinders progress and accountability.

Faced with problems of faulty governance, strategy of escapism and buying time is chosen by referring to Commissions, Standing Committees of Parliament etc. Findings of these top bodies are seldom acted upon.

During last 10 years government broke its promise to Parliament 1,024 times as reported by Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (Article 6).  Surprisingly, this shocking information did not cause even ripples!! (Article 15). This speaks volumes about government’s lack of credibility and  respect for Parliament.

Management infrastructure, consisting of ministers and government officials, has some basic faults. (Article 7)  They lack uniform perceptions about (a) democracy, (b) different aspects of management of democracy and (c) a mind set to comply with democratic principles. Therefore, it is not functioning as a well-knit unit with full focus on democracy.

When senior officers, after thorough study based on their long experience, submit “proposals” to minster, quite often these are modified or rejected by  minster in a dictatorial manner to serve party interests or selfish interests or vested interests. These obviously dishonest and dictatorial practices not only score over merit of proposals but also destroy belief of officers in honest functioning, in addition to belittling their expertise and longer experience compared to those of minister. Therefore, many of them lose their sense of commitment and / or become cynical - both detrimental to efficient functioning. Even worse, some of them are tempted or forced to form a nexus with minster for undemocratic and non-transparent activities. These result in misgovernance and scams.

When tackling any problem faced by people, an arrogant and negative attitude of denial of help to people has been all pervasive in a government intended for people!!
Avoiding effective actions to punish dishonesty are quite common. Moreover, honest officers are frequently transferred as punishment, with some officers being transferred 40 times or more!!

Police have earned a reputation of being corrupt in dealing with problems faced by people. (Article 8) Most people are afraid to complain to police. Filing of FIR is subject to whims of police or pressures they face. Burking of crime is so common that every year about 60 lakh cases are not registered.

Most people are unhappy with police who are “criminals in uniform” and “armed militia of politicians”, as stated by a former police commissioner. There are only 106 policemen for one lakh people, which is less than half of the recommended 222. Even worse, available policemen are frequently misused or deputed for non-governmental activities. Consequently, there are at least three policemen for every VIP and just one for every 8,000 people!!

MPs and MLAs often close their eyes to dreadful realities and allow matters to drift.

Besides corruption being rampant, mega scams have been exposed with alarming frequency (Article 9). Punishment of culprits is dragging on and causing concern and cynicism among people.

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has grossly inadequate staff and resources to investigate corruption in more than 1500 central government ministries and departments. CVC can investigate corruption against government officials only after government permits it!! Government is not confident that there is nothing to hide and prefers a toothless CVC.

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) regularly reports deficiencies observed and system failures and suggests improvements. But hardly any worthwhile action was taken even on serious matters.

In 2009, CAG requested government to amend Audit Act 1971 to bring all private-public partnerships (PPP), Panchayti Raj Institutions and societies getting government funds within the ambit of CAG and to enhance CAG’s powers to access information because almost 30% of documents demanded by CAG were denied. Though projects worth millions of rupees are executed under PPP model, these projects are not audited by CAG. About 65% of government spending does not come under scrutiny of CAG!! But government has not cared to amend the Act even after six years. Thus, the very purpose of having this authority to provide checks has been callously defeated.

Government control on appointments to CBI at all levels is a travesty. CBI, being dependent on many government departments for staff etc., has innate problems in investigating government actions. Despite repeated court orders, CBI continues to be hampered and cannot function independently. A former director and joint director of CBI exposed government for engaging in nepotism, wrongful prosecution and corruption. CBI has not been able to make a dent on rampant corruption all over the country.

Creation of Lokpal to probe complaints against top level public functionaries was pending for 44 years!! A bill for this was passed in Lok Sabha in 1969, but rejected nine times up to 2008 by Rajya Sabha. Giving equal importance to direct and indirect representatives of people is questionable, particularly when functioning of important checks and balances are involved.

Subsequently, the bill was revived several times. Each time, after introduction in Parliament, it was stalled using devious methods. These repeated impediments show lack of interest in passing such an important bill. At last, a bill was passed and approved by President. Considering the series of obstacles in passing the bill, it is reasonable to believe that implementation of the bill also will have to face lot of obstacles which will cause long delays.

In 1966, Administrative Reforms Commission recommended setting up of “Lok Ayukta” in all states for redressal of citizens' grievances. Despite a long interval of 49 years, 10 states do not have Lok Ayuktas. Even in states with Lok Ayukta, proper action was not taken against persons charged with corruption by it. It has no power to take independent action to penalize those found guilty. Its capacity has been further downgraded by not providing adequate staff and other facilities. Evidently state governments want to avoid checks on dishonest activities.

Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI) provides access to information under control of public authorities in order to promote transparency and accountability. Even during limited use by people, many government departments either delayed or refused to give information. Moreover, government wanted to make changes in the Act to curtail its use. When Chief Information Commissioner ruled that political parties are answerable under the Act about public funds given to them, government planned to introduce an amendment to the Act to nullify this.
Many RTI activists have been harassed and some even murdered.  Government has not taken any worthwhile action to protect RTI activists. This confirms callous approach of government towards this important check on its functioning by people. 

Multiple instances of threat and harassment of whistleblowers and even some murders have occurred. Whistleblowers' Protection Bill, 2011 was passed by Lok Sabha but is pending in Rajya Sabha!! This is another instance of indirectly elected representatives” blocking an important bill passed by “directly elected representatives” of people – a blow to democracy!!

These examples of inaction for many problems show that peoples’ representatives do not care to set things right because of lopsided preferences.

Article 10 pointed out two atrocious facts. (1) On an average every year, about 90,000 people had complained to NHRC about violation of human rights and (2) NHRC had no qualms in refusing to examine about two-thirds of these complaints. NHRC did not amend an obsolete Regulation, which stood in its way, using its statutory powers to regulate its own procedure for disposal of complaints.  NHRC had failed miserably to have a check on human rights violations. Thus even the last channel of hope has been cruelly cut off for lakhs of possible sufferers from human rights violations.

Cases have been pending in courts and delaying justice for many years to lakhs of people (Article 11). In 2009, India had the largest backlog of cases in the world. Roughly, more than 30 million cases are pending now. Yet, serious attempts were not made to remove shortage of judges. Judges enjoyed the exceptional privilege of vacations regularly, unlike many officers who even worked overtime!! Judges did not apply their mind to remove archaic procedures which cause delay. Because of high cost it is almost impossible for most people to get justice. Neither Parliament nor government nor judges sincerely applied their mind to provide quick affordable justice.

While government claims lack of resources for appointing more judges, there are innumerable instances of wastage. This shows that meager allocations made are due to low priority and not lack of resources.

Transparency of courts is increasingly questioned by people. When a complainant sought file “notings” and reason for judgment, Supreme Court stated that it does not maintain any such records  and nobody has right to question its judgments. The former shows that SC functions in an unsystematic manner without keeping proper records!!  The latter shows a deplorable attitude that people have no right to ask for grounds for judgment. This is anti-democratic and an act of contempt of people who are masters in a democracy.

National integration is essential to develop best possible democracy for whole country (Article 12).  This needs planning and implementation of multiple innovative approaches with determination and sense of commitment. One approach is to encourage (1) inter state migration, (2) Inter caste, inter religious and inter state marriages, (3) “know your country” education trips for school children and college students and (4) national script for all languages.

Article 13 emphasized that democracy will function better if the country is divided into small states of optimum size. It suggested setting up another States Reorganization Commission with instructions to ascertain optimum size of state to have successful democracy in different demographic situations and carve out small compact states which can satisfy needs and aspirations of different identity groups to maximum extent possible.

Article 14 pointed out three fundamental weaknesses of present system:

(1) People with out required knowledge and expertise are asked to elect efficient persons with qualifications and experience to enact laws, make policies and govern the country.

(2) Politicians who usurped power from qualified professionals under the claim that they were elected by people often have even mocked support of less than 35% of people in their constituencies!! 

(3) There is no system to assess efficiency of performance of political leaders involved in governance every year, unlike for officials.

To overcome these, Article 14 stressed the need to  (a) consider an alternative for election system, (b) train elected representatives before they start functioning, (c) assess efficiency of elected representatives every year and (d) thoroughly overhaul the system using a professional approach which is badly needed.

The country faced many shameful situations covering almost all crucial sectors (Article 15). Parliament did not care to rectify any of these shameful situations. Moreover, it lacked guts to punish government for breaking promises thousands of times and spinelessly tolerated disrespect from government thousands of times, without dignity expected from the august supreme body.

In previous Parliament, 86% of Rajya Sabha members and 58% of Lok Sabha members were crorepatis. With this highly imbalanced and unhealthy representation of people, it favoured the rich against the poor.

Significantly, most dismal failures of democracy were contributed by Parliament and Assemblies which did not exercise supreme power bestowed on them to ensure checks. 

We should ask ourselves: why do we spent lakhs of crores of public money to maintain a Parliament which lacks accountability, ethics of care for aam admi, dignity and guts to punish government for braking promises thousands of times? Why should we not try another system which is cheaper and can uphold voice of people more efficiently and gracefully? If a way cannot be found to avoid mostly crorepatis being elected to Parliament, abolition of Parliament with such distorted and unhealthy representation of people is further justified.  

Effective functioning of democracy requires an alert media with broad vision which functions as watch dog for providing feed back to government for corrective action, informs people about state of affairs and provides platform for public debate. Media needs to improve its functioning in all these aspects (Article 16).

Article 15 listed number of deplorable situations which are shameful for the country. Media did not adequately question government, MPs and MLAs about these and insist on corrective measures.

Printed media did not adequately encourage journalists and social activists to publish articles which discuss need and suggestions for improving democracy.

Media’s value system needs review. For example, media gives more importance to one death from terror attack than to about 10,000 deaths from accidents. It has not realized that terrorists themselves know that they are incapable of doing any harm on a large scale and plan only isolated instances to create scare and publicity only. By splashing such emotional news media has helped them exceedingly well to achieve their aim!! Innovative ideas are essential to tackle this situation cleverly and spoil their aim.

One way is to completely suppress news of terrorist attacks in public interest and confidentially take up with government the need to ensure proper preventive steps. Such a blackout of news will make terrorists frustrated, exasperated and miserable.

Another problem is lopsided priorities. Important aspects of governance and peoples’ welfare do not receive adequate attention. Lot of space / TV time is used for inter and intra political party disputes. Space for proper news is often displaced by photos of VIPs and gossip about their activities!!

Often, front page of newspapers which should get priority for main news has given way to advertisements, even full page, which fetch enormous amounts of money. This is in addition to space for advertisements far outstretching space for news.

Our President had expressed concern over “aberrations” like “paid news” and “sensationalism” in stead of objective assessment and truthful reporting.  

Media has a short memory even for important matters, which is exploited by government.  It should develop a system of persistent follow up of all serious matters till government action produces desired results.

Thinking out of the box is a rare phenomenon. 

Introspection on all aspects mentioned in Article 16 is essential. This should be undertaken by colleges teaching journalism, media establishments, working journalists and organizations like Press Council, Editors’ Guild, newspaper associations etc. They ought to evolve a code of ethics to guide their activities.

Before independence, the country had leaders who sacrificed a lot to fight for independence (Article 17). Later on, some politicians acquired many disqualifications for a leader of democracy (Article 19). Our President expressed concern and disappointment at “eroding commitment among the legislators who are expected to be custodians of public interests and rights”.

Most survivors among freedom fighters became cynical and disgruntled and suffer from a defeatist mentality. Younger generations of potential upholders of democracy are confused without proper leadership. To overcome this, both groups should dare to think and act and organize themselves to save democracy. For a start, they should create awareness among people, mobilize their support and provide them leadership to fight for a truly vibrant democracy

We, the people, have failed in our responsibility to elect representatives who have qualifications and experience needed for fulfilling responsibilities of governance and will to commit themselves to fulfill these responsibilities. (Article 18)

Another major failure is that after voting once in five years, we sit back and allow our representatives and the government they form to govern as they like. We are not alert enough to question when they do not act for welfare of people and repeatedly act ignoring principles of democracy and promises made at election time.

We should insist that once in six months our MLA and our MP should report their achievements as well as problems faced and future plans to overcome these, in a meeting of all groups of people (without any exceptions and  including local leaders). These six-monthly review meetings should also be made use of to give a feed back about the extent to which government has met needs and aspirations of people and to make wise selection of efficient leaders, out of elected and local leaders who attend these meetings. We have to play dual roles of partners in democracy and watch dogs to detect deficiencies in democracy.

Another major failure is misconception that government alone can provide good governance. This resulted in totally negative and callous view about cooperating with government efforts and supplementing these. Even worse, we often create problems because of narrow selfish interests and intolerance of others.

A fundamental mistake is to consider that democracy is needed only for good governance. Many more aspects e.g., those relating to religion, culture, entertainment, recreation, sports etc., have influence on quality of life – may be even more than governance. To enjoy a happy life these require careful attention and proper direction, which are lacking at present. These cannot and should not be taken up by government. We also have responsibility to organize ourselves to ensure happy and peaceful surroundings which are not subjected to hatred and fear. We should develop a sense of discipline to help to reduce problems and to avoid creating other problems.

All these show that we, the people, have some wrong perceptions which hinder development and maintenance of vibrant democracy leading to a happy life. To overcome these we have to change our mindset.

In addition to lack of qualification in the art or science of governance, many political leaders have acquired at least some disqualifications (Article 19).

Because of other interests political leaders not only lacked professional approach but also curbed professionals in their work.

Moreover, by creating a politician-cum-bureaucrat nexus and regularly harassing those who did not fall in line, politicians destroyed the innate strength of our system of governance, without realizing the serious harm they have done to the back bone of our democracy.

Qualifications, experience, duties and responsibilities have been prescribed for each position, except for elected representatives even though MPs and MLAs have to hold more highly responsible positions. This impropriety becomes more glaring because they have to exercise control over activities carried out by qualified and experienced professionals in different fields.

Article 19 also describes five ways in which politicians became enemies of democracy. Because of this, the worst attack Parliament has been facing is from within and it has eminently qualified itself for self destruction.

Political parties have created large armies of workers with conflicting ideologies and party interests only and without any vision about national interests (Article 20).  They often start inter party disputes and quarrels. Resort to violence is quite common and even murders have occurred. Another problem is that their hero worship has led to many unfortunate situations.

Similarly, they have diverted attention of college students  from studies and a positive attitude to peoples’ problems to a negative one of raving and fighting for party interests. When these young minds grow up in this background they will imbibe some undesirable traits. Because of misdirected party interests, many of them may become faction leaders, manipulators and traders of hatred. This deplorable situation can lead to many undesirable possibilities for the future!!

Using their large army of grass root level workers, political parties cleverly manipulate creation of caste, linguistic, religious and other group conflicts as well as cliques, crimes and other situations to safeguard their selfish interests. Thus, political parties are responsible for many crimes and creation of hatred and violence in many parts of the country.

Another serious drawback of having political parties is creation of duel power centres (multiple in case of coalition governments) which lead to obstacles and delays in decision making.

Article 19 showed that politicians became enemies of democracy.  Party system is the main cause for this.

Abolition of political parties will free police from malignant and suffocating political control and improve law and order situation in the country by leaps and bounds.

Main reason for having political parties is to have a check on misgovernance by party in power. But, these articles show that they have in stead become root cause of misgovernance!!

While advantage of having party system has not materialized, abolishing it will have 17 advantages (Article 20). Evidently, there is absolutely no doubt that party system should be abolished.
These articles also show that all checks and balances envisaged in Constitution have failed in one way or the other. To overcome this situation, a Commission should be constituted to regularly review working of all checks and balances.

(Please keep all these articles within easy reach for referring back till the series is completed.)

Note:
You can help to save our sinking democracy by making as many people as possible aware of these obstacles and possible solutions, through personal group discussions, newspaper articles, e-mail and social media like face book and twitter so that we can have healthy debates and arrive at some innovative ideas to save our sinking democracy.

Comments (especially those which point out errors or deficiencies, if any, in this article and thereby help to improve it) are welcome. Please send these to StartRemovingBlocks@outlook.com. I shall make use of all befitting suggestions to modify the outline of the revised system of democracy (Article 24).