The Vigilante바카라�s Quills

Like oxygen, democracy is vital for life. However, as long as it is present, one doesn바카라�t necessarily value its importance. Unlike many newly-independent countries, India has always had a democracy dividend, barring a brief aberration in mid-1970s. Indeed, India바카라�s timeline of universal suffrage compares favourably with many developed societies. The empirical basis for a democracy tax, as trade-off against growth, is suspect. Assuming it exists, democracy is non-negotiable.

Democracy doesn바카라�t mean Parliament and state legislatures alone. It바카라�s also the third tier and countervailing pressure by civil society (not just media) to make elected representatives more accountable. The electoral system isn바카라�t without ble­mishes and proposals for reform have floated around for years. The Preamble to the Constitution says, 바카라�We the People바카라�. Unless we the people  exert pressure, the system won바카라�t change. Cynicism and secession of the relatively rich and relatively powerful from the system doesn바카라�t help. It바카라�s evident from recent elections that there바카라�s greater interest, especially amongst youth, in democracy. Under­standably, there바카라�s scepticism about criminalisation of politics (or politicisation of criminals) and electoral funding, not to speak of functioning of elected representatives. Ideally, there should have been change in time for the 2014 general elections. But those reforms have now been pushed back to 2019, or further beyond.

If we are becoming more conscious of a stake in the system, we ought to know how elections work and what the Ele­ction Commission of India (eci) does. Esp­ecially since 1992, it has been fairly effective, notwithstanding criticism (disabled voters, electoral rolls in Maha­rashtra) and disparaging remarks by politicians (Salman Khurshid) who should have known better. S.Y. Quraishi has been election commissioner/chief election commissioner and has been talking, lecturing, writing and tweeting on electoral reforms. One can바카라�t think of a better person to document the Indian electoral process. This book does it in 13 chapters, with anecdotes, photos and even cartoons (Sudhir Tailang) thr­own in. Bro­adly, there are four segments. Firstly, what it takes to undertake elections in India and what the eci바카라�s powers are; two, what has been done to get citizens, especially the young, interested; why the eci can바카라�t do more about the model code of conduct, money, criminals and manipulation by media, and lastly, what the agenda for reform is. On all four, there바카라�s a wealth of information.

Having said this, I have two complaints. First, beyond information on everything else, most interest will centre on the reform agenda. That바카라�s also what much of citizens groups바카라� talk (adr, prs to name two) centres around. Quraishi deals with the issue in a single chapter; it could have been expanded into several. Secondly, the 12 remaining chapters are about the first three aforementioned issues. With better editing, it should have been possible to collapse much of this into fewer chapters, providing scope to expand on the reform bit, unless Quraishi plans a separate book on it. He also quotes Churchill: 바카라�Democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried.바카라� The complete sentence goes thus: 바카라�Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time; but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, continuously rule, and that public opinion, expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and control the actions of ministers who are their servants and not their masters.바카라� This is from a November 1947 House of Commons speech. Earlier in the speech, Churchill had said, 바카라�This essential British wisdom is expressed in many foreign constitutions which followed our parliamentary system, outside the totalitarian zone.바카라�

Democracy isn바카라�t only about elections. It is much more than the electoral process. The cynicism about the three organs of the state mentioned in the Constitution (executive, legislature, judiciary) isn바카라�t healthy. The Cons­titution is the bedrock of Indian polity and it is up to citizens to strengthen, not weaken, its organs. The eci is a small part of the jigsaw. Nor is electoral reforms something the eci can push on its own. But in collectively pushing for that, this book arms us with the necessary information. One possible antonym for democracy is kakistocracy. If our democracy dividend degenerates into that, we will have only ourselves to blame.