Crisis of Governance in India
27 Sep, 2001 · 588
Saurabh highlights the various factors responsible for the crisis of governance in India
Democratic governance is measured by the level of people’s participation, free and fair elections, accountable elected representatives, availability of information, people’s role in decision making, women’s participation and fulfilling the expectations of the poor.
India
. But, our democracy faces challenges from corruption, poverty, fickle coalitions, regionalism, and violence. Real decision-making is controlled by powerful elite groups. Sovereignty is conceived in terms of powerful governments, not free citizens; democracy begins and ends with the ballot box. Only Parliament is exposed to the public mandate.
Kashmir
during the forties. Since then, various ethnic groups in
Punjab
, Haryana,
Tamilnadu , Assam
, and
Northeast India
have demanded political rights and even autonomy to form a state that would protect their interests. The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi highlights the culture of political violence prevailing in the country since independence.
India
. The Vohra Committee Report, 1995, highlighted the nexus between crime syndicates, police, bureaucracy, and politicians. Former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Narshimha Rao were investigated on corruption charges. This has made institutions weak leading to plunder of public money, lowering of trust, and decay of governance.
India
reveals a variety of corrupt practices. Persons, with criminal records, including kidnapping, rape, and murder have easily won elections by muscle power. Parliamentary proceedings are poorly attended and alliances are notoriously fickle. Now, regional parties have become stronger; fragmented parliaments have made unstable coalitions unavoidable. The country had faced its third election in as many years at immense financial cost.
India
without getting better. Despite increase in per capita government expenditure, the total number of poor and illiterates has increased, since these funds do not touch the lives of ordinary people. Increased resources for social services become meaningless due to wrong priorities, improper implementation of policies, and financial leakage.
India
have failed to provide social, economic and political opportunities to its teeming millions, who happen to be born poor and are thus marginalized. Increasing levels of crime, violence, and conflicts also reflect this reality. Progress towards better governance will be impossible without the protection of the basic rights of the people and their participation in development activities.
Competitive elections, positive discrimination and involvement of diverse social forces have created space for popular participation in
Democracy has not changed the lives of millions of ordinary people in the country, who are still unable to read and write, drink clean water, or earn a decent living. In democracies, elections are necessary to legitimize the state; but there is a life beyond the elections, which must be ensured.
Legitimate governments are not necessarily good governments. Human lives shrivel and the poor remain voiceless because of sharp income inequalities, widespread feudalism, absence of internal democracy within political parties, inadequate checks and balances, institutions and ignorance of elected representatives.
The moral foundations of the Indian state have been eroded by electoral fraud, money politics, steady criminalization of the political system, and increasing corruption in public life. Electorates have lost their faith in elections, which reflects in poor voters’ turnout. The political process no longer commands the confidence of the people. Marginalised groups, desperate for representation and bypassed by the mainstream, take up arms against the state. Human lives, lost in these conflicts, represent the brutal costs of poor governance.
Tndia has been ridden with civil tensions ever since the first signs of dissent in
State resources are the most valued prize for politicians and their constituencies. Ultimate authority over resources has passed into the hands of individuals, not formal institutions. The rise of businessmen and industrialists has led to money-politics. The license-quota-permit Raj forged an alliance between industry and politics; lack of transparency makes their transactions suspect. No large party has opened its accounts for independent audit. The election process is thus reduced to an auction of political power and patronage through lucrative government contracts. Industrialists are making illegal donations, and enjoy political clout as part of the ruling elite.
The spread of political corruption is challenging orderly governance in
The Parliamentary system in
The role of the judiciary lies in protecting individuals and minorities against the misuse of power by public authorities. Despite judicial review and public interest litigation there is an erosion of public confidence in the system itself due to lack of effective access to justice, huge backlog of cases, long delays, and persistent corruption.
Governments are getting larger in
Despite amounting to half the electorate, women occupy just seven per cent of parliament seats. There are repeated calls to reserve seats in the Parliament for women, but they have gone unheeded.
Clearly, the institutions of governance in
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