Defining democracy: the challenge on Independence Day
As India celebrates her 65th Independence Day, a potential spat between the government and members of so-called “civil society” raises important questions about the dichotomy in a democracy.
It is a tough balance between giving citizens the right to protest and making sure those protests don’t impinge upon the very rights a democracy guarantees.
Police on Monday denied permission for veteran social activist Anna Hazare to renew a fast to the death in New Delhi. Police say Hazare, who is campaigning for tougher laws against corruption, failed to meet certain conditions to conduct a mass fast.
While police conditions include ending the fast in three days and limiting the number of Hazare’s supporters to 5000, Team Hazare is relentless.
Kiran Bedi, a former police officer and an activist with Hazare, has said on local television the group is ready to court arrest, but will press on with the fast even if permission is denied.
Indeed, in a democracy, citizens must have the right to protest and make their voices heard. In that respect, Bedi’s argument holds.
However, the government’s arguments are not without credence. Several factors, including crowd control and traffic management, are also the responsibility of a democratic government. The police, therefore, has the right to impose certain restrictions on citizens, if they feel a particular action may threaten safety.
The dog days of India’s bizarre summer of politics
Perhaps the government’s decision to push back the opening of the upcoming monsoon session of parliament was not the best idea. For as the dog days of the sub-continent’s sweltering summer drag on, the parliament-less politicians sweat from the sublime to the ridiculous in the baking heat.
From the haphazard ensemble of senior ministers that flocked to New Delhi’s airport to greet yoga guru turned social activist Swami Ramdev with more fanfare than is reserved for visiting heads of state, to the current conspiracy swirling New Delhi surrounding espionage chewing gum found in the finance minister’s private chambers, it has been a bizarre summer for politics fuelled by the hungry media in the world’s largest democracy.
Kapil Sibal, as Human Resource and Development minister, could have spent his summer break drawing up plans to overhaul an education sector that looks dangerously inadequate to deal with the demographic dividend of millions of young Indians that New Delhi likes to trumpet. Instead, he spent his days holed up in five-star hotels begging Ramdev not to stop eating, and playing it coy in press conferences after quietly ignoring veteran activist Anna Hazare’s demands for a stronger anti-graft bill.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who has seen a series of economic data releases over the past month pour cold water on optimistic growth prospects, spent the majority of his summer trying to chair what appeared to be most unruly meetings on the anti-graft legislation, but has stolen the headlines recently with a mind-boggling story involving government secrets, ministerial rivalries and old-school espionage — all bonded together with chewing gum.
With TV channels and opposition politicians dubbing it “India’s Watergate”, and political figures from across the spectrum weighing in on the sticky mess, there appears little evidence to go on than a few errant pieces of gum stuck under various desks in Mukherjee’s chambers. With the minister himself telling the media to take their conspiracy theories elsewhere, it appears more a case of unhygienic office visitors than dastardly undercover spies.
Outside of the cabinet, the summer bug spread as the mercury rose.
Since over last 40 years Indian governments could never contain corruption comprehensively with any effective political/legal systems through the defaulters could be booked. As a result a large amount black money could easily take a ‘flight’ to foreign destinations and stashed by several corrupt officials, businessmen, politicians etc. Indian civil society has realised that Indians are still enslaved unnder corrupt government who has already proved limbless on containing corruption. Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev too this bold initiative to awaken the people of India on rampant corruption. Ministers representing government on Lokpal Bill drafting committee have started throwing misleading comments, impressions, casting aspersions on honest members of the civil society. None of the elected members of the parliament could ever come out openly against the ruling government on the issues of corruption. Now the government is holding a hot brick of pressures from civil society in one hand, while trying to keep corruption in place by the other. Civil Society’s draft is simple, straight forward, fit for implementation. In short the government is inviting a stiff stir and revolution from the people of India. This situation will indeed shatter Indian economy and security. We all shall have to pay a heavy price ultimately, and learn good lesson in a hard way.
M.F. Husain, Swami Ramdev and the world’s largest democracy
M.F. Husain, India’s most famous modern artist, died at the age of 95 this morning, not in Maharashtra, his home state, nor New Delhi, where many of his ground-breaking works were exhibited, but in London, where he lived in exile with Qatari citizenship. The ‘Picasso of India’ has for five years felt unable to live and work in his country of birth.
Husain fled India in 2006, leaving behind court cases and death threats against him, and continued vandalism of his works from right-wing Hindu groups that accused him of insulting their religion by painting deities in the nude.
Husain, a Muslim, felt unsafe and unable to practice his particular art form in the world’s largest democracy. And he’s not the only one. Salman Rushdie, who was born in Mumbai but lives in the UK, saw New Delhi ban his Satanic Verses for its perceived depiction of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
And Husain’s death presents a timely reminder to India of the multi-faceted obligations of an open, secular democracy, as anti-graft movements swell against the government.
On Thursday morning, India’s news channels cut to the breaking news of Husain’s death from pictures of Swami Ramdev, the yoga guru turned social activist being treated by doctors monitoring his health during a hunger fast that entered its sixth day on Thursday.
The country’s Home Minister P. Chidambaram, in an effort to undermine Ramdev’s stand against corruption, sought on Wednesday to paint the guru as an agent of the Hindu-nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organisation, and raise his worries of an upsurge in far-right extremism against the government – currently headed by his secular Congress party – to discredit the wider anti-graft movement.
4. corruption is gift of nehru_gandhi party. in more than 60 yr congress has done nothing for it. certainly most of congress neta wud have swiss account thats why they are restless on this issue.
5. freedom of expression does not mean expressing anything it must be for greater wellbeing of people. why always sm kind of vulgarity is advocated by saying these lines.
Disruptive opposition blames government for parliament woes
A lack of accountability from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a failure of consultation by his ruling Congress-led coalition and too few days of legislative business, rather than opposition protests that smothered months of legislative debate, are to blame for the paralysis of India’s parliamentary democracy, the leader of India’s opposition party wrote on Monday.
Making no reference to the weeks of protest by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that saw opposition members shouting, chanting and waving placards in the well of both houses to force the cancellation of an entire legislative session and threaten the passage of the 2011-12 budget, Arun Jaitley called for more “proper conduct” from Indian MPs in an opinion piece in The Indian Express that appeared to lay the blame of parliamentary disruption at the government’s door.
“In the last few decades the participation of prime ministers in parliamentary debates has declined. Their effective intervention is confined to reading written texts prepared by their offices. This is unacceptable… The PM has to be the most accountable in a democracy. His depleting presence in Parliament compels one to suggest (the British system of Prime Minister’s Questions) be successfully replicated in India,” Jaitley wrote.
Reticent Singh is typically media-shy, but a slew of corruption charges against his party compelled him to hold a rare press conference live on national television in February, where he vowed he would not step down despite increasing pressure from Jaitley’s party.
“To meet for less than 70 days in a year is inadequate. Short durations lead to paucity of time available for debates, issues of public importance and legislation. When members, particularly from the opposition, want to raise several issues, the privilege is denied for paucity of time. The gagging of debate leads to obstructionism. Parliamentary obstructionism then becomes an acceptable mode to highlight an issue of public importance,” Jaitley wrote, without making reference to the BJP protest of parliament.
“The government and the opposition both have a key role to play in Parliament. Conflicting opinions and at times even tensions between the two bring out the best in Indian democracy. However, there must be healthy communication between the political leadership in government and the opposition,” Jaitley continued.
Government has a responsibility to see parliament runs smoothly irrespective of conditions prevailed. I think as a citizen the Government utilizing opposition protests as an opportunity to evade issues in the parliament.
The bitter truth behind BJP’s deafening budget silence
To some, the parliamentary walkout by India’s opposition prior to the vote on the country’s annual budget motion marked the failure of India’s ruling Congress party to engage with its primary adversary, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), over its claims that the Prime Minister had lied to parliament to protect his own reputation.
To others, the sight of BJP leader Sushma Swaraj leading her MPs out of the chamber as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee prepared to deliver the most important parliamentary bill of the year encapsulated the sorry state of India’s increasingly bitter partisan politics that show no signs of repair since trumpeting corruption became the opposition’s raison d’etre. Swaraj would later tell The Hindu that her walkout was to avoid disrupting the passage of the bill, but the damning point rang out loud and clear: the opposition had decided the corruption drumbeat was more important than the budget.
Mukherjee had earlier pleaded with senior BJP leaders to allow the budget to be debated prior to any discussion on a parliamentary privilege motion submitted against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by Swaraj, promising a two-and-a-half hour debate on the issue after the budget had passed.
But as the budget was given precedent over the privilege motion, out trooped the opposition in protest, leaving a half-empty chamber to pass the bill that will keep the country financed on April 1.
India’s parliament was paralysed in November by opposition protests demanding an inquiry into allegations a minister had lost the exchequer up to $39 billion in a telecom spectrum scam, which eventually resulted in the entire winter session being abandoned. Since it reopened in February, after extensive negotiations between Congress and the BJP, various protests from the opposition over other corruption charges have resulted in adjournments and cancellation of parliamentary business.
With a slew of economic reforms seen crucial to India’s continued growth momentum gathering dust as MPs exchange insults and chants across the floor of both houses of parliament, the partisan politics that have turned India’s much-vaunted parliamentary democracy into a slanging match between government and opposition risk ruining far more than just the reputation of the primary belligerents.
India is witnessing the most corrupt and arrogant government meeting the most week and divided opposition. The prime minister says on the floor of parliament that he is not aware of most of corruption charges and opposition has not been able to put enough pressure on president to get the governmnent adjourned or at least sack the current PM. Soniya has broken all records in corruption that were set by her mother in law back then. God save us!!
Suu Kyi underlines India’s strategic approach to Myanmar
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmarese pro-democracy leader who was released from seven years of continuous house detention on Nov 13, used her first interview with an Indian media organisation to criticise the world’s largest democracy for its foreign policy towards the military junta-ruled nation.
“I am saddened with India. I would like to have thought that India would be standing behind [the pro-democracy movement]. That it would have followed in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru,” Suu Kyi told the Indian Express on Wednesday.
“I do not oppose relations with the Generals but I hope that the Indian government would talk to us as well. I would like to see talks begin immediately. I would like to see close and friendly relations, like those that have not been seen recently.”
India has developed close ties with Myanmar over the past two decades, largely in reaction to China’s strong presence in the country and New Delhi’s fears that large Chinese investments in the wider region are part of a plan to encircle India in a “string of pearls”.
Suu Kyi’s comments follow similar remarks from U.S. President Barack Obama, who chastened India for shying away from “violations of human rights” during his landmark speech to parliament in New Delhi last month.
“When peaceful democratic movements are suppressed — as in Burma — then the democracies of the world cannot remain silent,” Obama told the assembled lawmakers.
Having initially supported Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, New Delhi shifted its strategy in the early 1990s to court the military regime.
I have gone through the synopsis of subject matter under discussion and the two comments on it. It is for the first time that a Lady out of personal practical experience spelled out the bitter truth with sadness, which she would never have if she had had a word of sympathy from India on and for Burmese democracy during her days of detention.
Suu Kyi forgot that India is that country that can lay itself to any country, and can betray a friend in time of danger for money. It is a greedy country, as is reported that India has established a puppet government and through it is running a single party rule in a nascent democratic country in the east. The population of that country is reported to hate India for its interference and helping one party rule openly, opined a number of political Observers of the area.
Over and above it, various disputes like water, border marking, and sea demarcations is pending for decades they said. They further added that as it is a small country the opposition alleges that India gag them not to talk with show of their might.
Foreigners are amazed seeing the surface of Indian beauty but only few know them what monstrous they look like from inside. Chinese know them better as the lived, ate and slept together with Indian for many decades. That is why Chinese have already trapped them through Myanmar in lucrative trade or business deal. Here US are too late to enter.
Say, do and support how much the Indian will not buzz an inch from where they are now because of one fear Chinese may not attack their back when they are at sleep, over and above by the time US to help, the game would be over by then.
So Suu Kyi may have grievances against India but India cares a damn about her feeling and comments.
India is a coward nation. It can boast of its military power in the region, but when it comes to confrontation with equals it is on record it could not do well with its opponent Pakistan. Except in 1971 when India with the help of Russia helped the then East Pakistan to secede. India is very good in conspiratorial, genocide committal and in Human Rights violation activities..
Political Observers opined that Suu Kye should shun Indian help in her fight to establish democracy in Myanmar or else accepting help from India may cost much more that she can estimate in figures.
from Pakistan: Now or Never?:
Pakistan, India and the value of democracy
Of the many comments I heard in Pakistan, one question particularly flummoxed me. Was democracy really the right system for South Asia? It came, unsurprisingly, from someone sympathetic to the military, and was couched in a comparison between Pakistan and India.
What had India achieved, he asked, with its long years of near-uninterrupted democracy, to reduce the gap between rich and poor? What of the Maoist rebellion eating away at its heartland? Its desperate poverty? The human rights abuses from Kashmir to Manipur, when Indian forces were called in to quell separatist revolts? Maybe, he said, democracy was just not suited to countries like India and Pakistan.
The question surprised me, in part because I had never really been forced before to defend democracy, possibly because in the West we take it so much for granted that we have forgotten why it matters. It also surprised me for the sheer conviction of the sentiment.
In Pakistan, this is not a mere academic debate. Just last week, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said there was no threat to democracy and the army had no intention of taking power. Yet the very fact he had to say so at all spoke of deep disquiet in the country over the civilian government's handling of Pakistan's floods, which with it has brought new mutterings of an eventual return to military rule.
"Why the prime minister needed to hammer this point home once again could be anybody’s guess," the Daily Times said in an editorial. "The diminishing returns of a corrupt and incompetent democracy are leading to the inescapable suspicion that something is in the air, in the possible shape of an anti-democratic intervention."
To be clear, there is no sign of an imminent military coup. The army neither wants to, nor needs to take power, since it already calls the shots on the issues that matter to it -- foreign and security policy. But equally, the army's lead role in flood relief has increased its clout and encouraged misgivings about the value of democracy which could act as a slow-burning fuse if the civilian government is not able to improve its performance. And according to some, it is a slow-burning fuse lit by the military itself -- or by what Dawn columnist Cyril Almedia calls the 800-pound gorilla of Pakistani politics, the army.
Democracy must deliver or else, seems to be the refrain currently gripping Pakistan. So far, however, few have spelled out the value of democracy, nor for that matter said precisely what they mean by "or else".
Democracy in India does not compare with that in the developed Western nations. It has its own unique flavor. I can compare the roads in India to those in the developed West. In Indian roads one sees pedestrians, bicycles, bullock carts, cows, old trucks, motor bikes, cars, beggars and everything is on a slow move with constant honks filling the background. In Western roads, one finds clean and spotless quality with honks seldom heard, modern vehicles going much faster. Both are transportation systems. But they appear vastly different.
What matters is the exercise. India has not achieved full maturity in democracy. It will probably take a couple of centuries to get to that level. But the exercise cannot be given up because it does not resemble that in developed nations which have dabbled with it for more than two hundred years.
For democracy to thrive, all one needs is wisdom. One does not have to be literate or elitist. The poor man in India has enough political wisdom to throw out candidates. Through a persistent exercise, Indian democracy has reached a somewhat elementary school level from kindergarten. Until about twenty years ago, one family and one political party dominated the Indian political scene. It was much like Pakistan being under military rule and a preference for it by Pakistanis for lack of alternatives.
I’d say that the Nehru dynasty simply mothered Indian democracy until it could crawl and move on its own. Now there are regional parties that have taken on the stage at the center and coalition governments have become the norm. In the 1970s, regional parties had no clout at the center. At the state level, dynastic politics still continues. But with more economic progress, this should change.
India has vast variation in terms of development on one side and utter backwardness on the other. The Maoist issue has arisen mostly due to political neglect and utter backwardness in those states. Like Arundhati Roy says, the barrel of the gun will not subdue it. But it is all part of the overall mosaic.
Democracy in India has gained some kind of momentum. No one can take away people’s right anymore. Many oppressed communities like Dalits and Muslims have realized the power of voter blocks. They vote en masse and politicians want their votes.
In Pakistan, cold war geo-politics wiped out the roots of democracy. The US always prefers dictators in other countries for quick returns. Its business like attitude has destroyed many small countries. Pakistan became a victim of American geo-politics. The US encouraged and supported Pakistani military generals, showered them with state of the art weapons, turned a blind eye to their regional ambitions and never helped democracy take root. A military that had become blood thirsty will never allow any other system to take its power away.
Pakistan has the same type of people as India does. If India managed to keep its democratic system alive all the way through, Pakistanis are fully capable of the same. It is just that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sixty years later, one cannot simply plug in democracy there and expect it to mature fast. The foundations for that have been destroyed. Though Pakistan sports a democratic government, it is its military that is the real power.
Corruption is a big menace in Indian politics. But we have not given up on our democracy. It definitely has become better compared to before. We’ll run along this road filled with bullock carts, cows, bicycles, pedestrians, beggars, luxury cars, auto rikshaws, buses and old trucks. We know there are many pot holes everywhere. But with time, things will improve.
A shoddy democracy is better than no democracy at all.
Is it time to end the death penalty in India?
Suddenly, everyone in India is talking about executions.
Grim hangings are a topic of animated conversation at water coolers, cocktail parties and chat shows. Everyone seems to favour them, the quicker the better.
Just weeks ago, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistani gunman convicted in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was sentenced to death by hanging.
Everywhere in Mumbai, where 166 people were gunned down by Kasab and his accomplices, people cheered and fought to express their joy to newspapers and TV channels.
But Kasab, who has the right to appeal his sentence at a higher court, is in queue. Ahead of him is Afzal Guru, who was convicted in the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.
Guru had filed a mercy petition, which is doing the rounds between ministries in Delhi.
No human being has the right to kill other(s). Even killing animals are considered a sin, except for livelihood or in self-defense.
The sinner(s), if not today, shall regret and repent for his wrong-deeds.
Give every sinner his right for penance (Sanskrit-Prayaschit).
Greatest justice is forgiveness and must not been seen as act of weakness.
“Love the creatures for the sake of God and not for themselves. You will never become angry or impatient if you love them for the sake of God. Humanity is not perfect. There are imperfections in every human being, and you will always become unhappy if you look toward the people themselves. But if you look toward God, you will love them and be kind to them, for the world of God is the world of perfection and complete mercy. Therefore, do not look at the shortcomings of anybody; see with the sight of forgiveness.”
— `Abdu’l-Bahá.
Sympathy for the devil? Maoist supporters get flak
Hours after Maoist rebels detonated a landmine under a bus in central India on Monday, killing about 35 people including policemen, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram was unapologetic in his criticism of civil society organisations that he said were getting in the way of the state’s efforts to contain the rebels.
It is “almost fashionable” to be sympathetic to the Maoist cause, Chidambaram said in an interview to NDTV news channel.
In defending the rebels and questioning the motives of the government — and not of the rebels — they were weakening the apparatus of the state, he said.
Maoist rebels have been romanticised by some writers and filmmakers, portrayed as modern-day Robin Hoods fighting the establishment and corporate greed to protect the rights of the poor and the marginalised.
Rights activists, some NGOs and writers, including Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy, have slammed the government for failing to address what they say is the root cause of the Maoists’ fight: isolation from India’s economic growth party.
The government offensive has brought charges of excessive force and human rights abuses. This is set to grow with Chidambaram indicating there was broad support for the use of air strikes against the rebels.
“….stifling criticism is no way to win hearts and minds.”
Who has stifled criticism? By this logic, it is ok for others to criticise and point out failings of the government, but if the government rebuts that criticism it is charged with stifling criticism? Strange logic. Please allow the government also the same liberty of ctiricising and answering their critics, without accusations of being despotic. After all, what is fair for the activists is fair for the government too.
In fact, if you look at it discerningly, you will find that the administration has admitted its lapses regarding the so called ‘root causes’ and has accepted that criticism. How many activists have we heard asking the Maoistis to lay down arms and refrain from attacks on innocents and to accept government offers of talks?
I am not aware of a single activist, including the most celebrated and oft quoted, Arundhati Roy, of ever having offered even one constructive suggestion towards solving this problem. They are merely criticising for the sake of criticising, there is nothing constructive coming from them. Surely, as so called intellectuals and those who shed copious tears for the downtrodden, they should be interested in finding a solution and at least have some suggestions?
Some questions on the Women’s Reservation Bill
The Women’s Reservation Bill has been introduced in the Rajya Sabha on the International Women’s Day.
It may be the most consequential act of lawmaking since independence.
It is probably too late to discuss alternative proposals for getting more women into parliament or the opinion of those women who don’t agree with the reservation route to political empowerment.
How far will women’s reservation empower women and the society?
There are questions on its provisions as they have been reported.
The bill seeks to bring more women into parliament by reserving seats.
While this widens the choice for the voter by putting women leaders into circulation it also decreases the choice of candidates for voters in reserved constituencies.
Hi, I really don’t feel that there should be any kind of reservation in the parliament.
I know that women should get a better world to live but giving reservation is not the only key.
They should be well educated, there should be groups..working for their rights.
Parliament is the place that represents us. We elect people we like
U cannot make us to chooose from those which we don’t wana to be our leader………….we are free to chooose our leaders, that’s our fundamental right.
Reservation is not the only key.
Reservation in parliament will make our democracy much weaker just think how much risk we are going to take.
If you think opposite just tell me I will clear all your doubt or u clear mine.
Thankyou!
