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ContentsForeword iii

A Letter for You v

Unit IChapter 1Power sharing 1Chapter 2

Federalism 13

Unit IIChapter 3Democracy and Diversity 29Chapter 4Gender, Religion and Caste 39

Unit IIIChapter 5Popular Struggles and Movements 57Chapter 6Political Parties 71

Unit IVChapter 7Outcomes of Democracy 89Chapter 8Challenges to Democracy 101

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Power sharing

Overview

With this chapter we resume the tour of democracy that we startedlast year. We noted last year that in a democracy all power does notrest with any one organ of the state. An intelligent sharing of poweramong legislature, executive and judiciary is very important to thedesign of a democracy. In this and the next two chapters we carrythis idea of power sharing forward. We start with two stories fromBelgium and Sri Lanka. Both these stories are about how democracieshandle demands for power sharing.The stories yield some generalconclusions about the need for power sharing in democracy. Thisallows us to discuss various forms of power sharing that will be takenup in the following two chapters.

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Belgium and Sri Lanka

I have a simpleequation in mind.Sharing power =dividing power =weakening thecountry. Why do westart by talking ofthis?

Ethnic: A socialdivision based onshared culture. Peoplebelonging to the sameethnic group believe intheir common descentbecause of similaritiesof physical type or ofculture or both. Theyneed not always havethe same religion ornationality.

Communitiesandregions ofBelgium

Belgium is a small country in Europe,smaller in area than the state ofHaryana. It has borders withNetherlands, France and Germany. Ithas a population of a little over onecrore, about half the population ofHaryana. The ETHNIC composition ofthis small country is very complex. Ofthe country’s total population, 59 percent lives in the Flemish region andspeaks Dutch language. Another 40 percent people live in the Wallonia regionand speak French. Remaining 1 per centof the Belgians speak German. In thecapital city Brussels, 80 per cent peoplespeak French while 20 per cent areDutch-speaking.

The minority French-speakingcommunity was relatively rich andpowerful. This was resented by theDutch-speaking community who gotthe benefit of economic development

and education much later. This led totensions between the Dutch-speakingand French-speaking communitiesduring the 1950s and 1960s. Thetension between the two communitieswas more acute in Brussels. Brusselspresented a special problem: theDutch-speaking people constituted amajority in the country, but a minorityin the capital.

Let us compare this to the situationin another country. Sri Lanka is anisland nation, just a few kilometres offthe southern coast of Tamil Nadu. Ithas about 2 crore people, about thesame as in Haryana. Like other nationsin the South Asia region, Sri Lanka hasa diverse population. The major socialgroups are the Sinhala-speakers (74 percent) and the Tamil-speakers (18 percent). Among Tamils there are two sub-groups. Tamil natives of the country

Walloon (French-speaking)

Flemish (Dutch-speaking)

German-speaking

Brussels-Capital Region

Look at the maps of Belgium and Sri Lanka. In whichregion do you find concentration of differentcommunities?

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Majoritarianism: Abelief that the majoritycommunity should beable to rule a country inwhichever way it wants,by disregarding thewishes and needs of theminority.

are called ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ (13 percent). The rest, whose forefathers camefrom India as plantation workers duringcolonial period, are called ‘IndianTamils’. As you can see from the map,Sri Lankan Tamils are concentrated inthe north and east of the country. Mostof the Sinhala-speaking people areBuddhist, while most of the Tamils areHindus or Muslims. There are about 7per cent Christians, who are both Tamiland Sinhala.

Just imagine what could happenin situations like this. In Belgium, the

Dutch community could takeadvantage of its numeric majority andforce its will on the French andGerman-speaking population. Thiswould push the conflict amongcommunities further. This could leadto a very messy partition of thecountry; both the sides would claimcontrol over Brussels. In Sri Lanka, theSinhala community enjoyed an evenbigger majority and could impose itswill on the entire country. Now, let uslook at what happened in both thesecountries.

Majoritarianism in Sri LankaSri Lanka emerged as an independentcountry in 1948. The leaders of theSinhala community sought to securedominance over government by virtueof their majority. As a result, thedemocratically elected governmentadopted a series of MAJORITARIAN

measures to establish Sinhala supremacy.

In 1956, an Act was passed torecognise Sinhala as the only officiallanguage, thus disregarding Tamil. Thegovernments followed preferentialpolicies that favoured Sinhalaapplicants for university positions andgovernment jobs. A new constitutionstipulated that the state shall protectand foster Buddhism.

All these government measures,coming one after the other, graduallyincreased the feeling of alienationamong the Sri Lankan Tamils. They feltthat none of the major political partiesled by the Buddhist Sinhala leaderswere sensitive to their language andculture. They felt that the constitution

and government policies denied themequal political rights, discriminatedagainst them in getting jobs and otheropportunities and ignored theirinterests. As a result, the relations

Ethnic Communitiesof Sri Lanka

SinhaleseSri Lankan Tamil

Indian TamilMuslim

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What kind of a solution isthis? I am glad ourConstitution does not saywhich minister will come fromwhich community.

Civil war: A violentconflict betweenopposing groups withina country that becomesso intense that it appearslike a war.

The Belgian leaders took a differentpath. They recognised the existence ofregional differences and culturaldiversities. Between 1970 and 1993,they amended their constitution fourtimes so as to work out an arrangementthat would enable everyone to livetogether within the same country. Thearrangement they worked out isdifferent from any other country andis very innovative. Here are some ofthe elements of the Belgian model:

Constitution prescribes that thenumber of Dutch and French-speakingministers shall be equal in the centralgovernment. Some special laws requirethe support of majority of membersfrom each linguistic group. Thus, no

What’s wrong ifthe majoritycommunityrules? If Sinhalasdon’t rule in SriLanka, whereelse will theyrule?

single community can make decisionsunilaterally.

Many powers of the centralgovernment have been given to stategovernments of the two regions of thecountry. The state governments are notsubordinate to the Central Government.

Brussels has a separate governmentin which both the communities haveequal representation. The French-speaking people accepted equalrepresentation in Brussels because theDutch-speaking community hasaccepted equal representation in theCentral Government.

Accommodation in Belgium

between the Sinhala and Tamilcommunities strained over time.

The Sri Lankan Tamils launchedparties and struggles for the recognitionof Tamil as an official language, forregional autonomy and equality ofopportunity in securing education andjobs. But their demand for moreautonomy to provinces populated bythe Tamils was repeatedly denied. By1980s several political organisationswere formed demanding anindependent Tamil Eelam (state) innorthern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.

The distrust between the twocommunities turned into widespreadconflict. It soon turned into a CIVIL WAR.As a result thousands of people of boththe communities have been killed. Manyfamilies were forced to leave the countryas refugees and many more lost theirlivelihoods. You have read (Chapter 1of Economics textbook, Class X) aboutSri Lanka’s excellent record of economicdevelopment, education and health. Butthe civil war has caused a terrible setbackto the social, cultural and economic lifeof the country.

The photograph here is of a streetaddress in Belgium. You will notice thatplace names and directions in twolanguages – French and Dutch.

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So you aresaying thatsharing of powermakes us morepowerful. Soundsodd! Let methink.Read any newspaper for one week and make clippings of

news related to ongoing conflicts or wars. A group of fivestudents could pool their clippings together and do the following:

Classify these conflicts by their location (your state, India,outside India).Find out the cause of each of these conflicts. How many ofthese are related to power sharing disputes?Which of these conflicts could be resolved by working out powersharing arrangements?

What do we learn from these two storiesof Belgium and Sri Lanka? Both aredemocracies. Yet, they dealt with thequestion of power sharing differently.In Belgium, the leaders have realisedthat the unity of the country is possibleonly by respecting the feelings andinterests of different communities and

regions. Such a realisation resulted inmutually acceptable arrangements forsharing power. Sri Lanka shows us acontrasting example. It shows us thatif a majority community wants to forceits dominance over others and refusesto share power, it can undermine theunity of the country.

European Union Parliament in Belgium

Apart from the Central andthe State Government, there is athird kind of government. This‘community government’ is elected bypeople belonging to one languagecommunity – Dutch, French andGerman-speaking – no matter wherethey live. This government has thepower regarding cultural, educationaland language-related issues.

You might find the Belgian modelvery complicated. It indeed is verycomplicated, even for people living inBelgium. But these arrangements haveworked well so far. They helped toavoid civic strife between the twomajor communities and a possibledivision of the country on linguisticlines. When many countries of Europecame together to form the European

Union, Brussels was chosen as itsheadquarters.

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Annette studies in a Dutch medium school in thenorthern region of Belgium. Many French-speaking students inher school want the medium of instruction to be French. Selvistudies in a school in the northern region of Sri Lanka. All thestudents in her school are Tamil-speaking and they want themedium of instruction to be Tamil.

If the parents of Annette and Selvi were to approachrespective governments to realise the desire of the childwho is more likely to succeed? And why?

Why power sharing is desirable?Thus, two different sets of reasons canbe given in favour of power sharing.Firstly, power sharing is good becauseit helps to reduce the possibility ofconflict between social groups. Sincesocial conflict often leads to violenceand political instability, power sharingis a good way to ensure the stability ofpolitical order. Imposing the will ofmajority community over others maylook like an attractive option in theshort run, but in the long run itundermines the unity of the nation.

Tyranny of the majority is not justoppressive for the minority; it oftenbrings ruin to the majority as well.

There is a second, deeper reasonwhy power sharing is good fordemocracies. Power sharing is the veryspirit of democracy. A democratic ruleinvolves sharing power with thoseaffected by its exercise, and who haveto live with its effects. People have aright to be consulted on how they areto be governed. A legitimategovernment is one where citizens,through participation, acquire a stakein the system.

Let us call the first set of reasonsPRUDENTIAL and the second moral. Whileprudential reasons stress that powersharing will bring out better outcomes,moral reasons emphasises the very actof power sharing as valuable.

Prudential: Based onprudence, or on carefulcalculation of gains andlosses. Prudential decisionsare usually contrasted withthose decisions basedpurely on moralconsiderations.

The cartoon at the left refers to theproblems of running the Germany’s grandcoalition government that include the twomajor parties of the country, namely theChristian Democratic Union and theSocial Democratic Party. The two partiesare historically rivals to each other. Theyhave to form a coalition governmentbecause neither of them got clear majorityof seats on their own in the 2005elections. They take divergent positionson several policy matters, but still jointlyrun the government.

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As usual, Vikram’s was driving the motorbike under a vowof silence and Vetal was the pillion rider. As usual, Vetalstarted telling Vikram a story to keep him awake while

driving. This time the story went as follows:

“In the city of Beirut there lived a man called Khalil. His parentscame from different communities. His father was an Orthodox Christian and mother aSunni Muslim. This was not so uncommon in this modern, cosmopolitan city. Peoplefrom various communities that lived in Lebanon came to live in its capital, Beirut. Theylived together, intermingled, yet fought a bitter civil war among themselves. One ofKhalil’s uncles was killed in that war.

At the end of this civil war, Lebanon’s leaders came together and agreed to some basicrules for power sharing among different communities. As per these rules the country’sPresident must belong to the Maronite sect of Catholic Christians. The Prime Ministermust be from the Sunni Muslim community. The post of Deputy Prime Minister is fixed forOrthodox Christian sect and that of the Speaker for Shi’a Muslim. Under this pact, theChristians agreed not to seek French protection and the Muslim agreed not to seekunification with the neighbouring state of Syria.When the Christians and Muslims came tothis agreement, they were nearly equal in population. Both sides have continued torespect this agreement though now the Muslims are in clear majority.

Khalil does not like this system one bit. He is a popular man with political ambition. Butunder the present system the top position is out of his reach barred from him. He doesnot practice either his father’s or his mother’s religion and does not wish to be knownby either. He cannot understand why Lebanon can’t be like any other ‘normal’democracy. “Just hold an election, allow everyone to contest and whoever winsmaximum votes becomes the president, no matter which community he comes from.Why can’t we do that, like in other democracies of the world?” he asks. His elders, whohave seen the bloodshed of the civil war, tell him that the present system is the bestguarantee for peace…”

The story was not finished, but they had reached the TVtower where they stopped every day. Vetalwrapped up quickly and posed hiscustomary question to Vikram: “If you hadthe power to rewrite the rules in Lebanon,what would you do? Would you adopt the‘regular’ rules followed everywhere, as Khalilsuggests? Or stick to the old rules? Or dosomething else?” Vetal did not forget toremind Vikram of their basic pact: “If youhave an answer in mind and yet do not speakup, your mobike will freeze, and sowill you!”

Can you help poor Vikram in answering Vetal?

Khalil’sdilemma

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Recently some new laws were made in Russia giving more powers toits president. During the same time the US president visited Russia.What, according to this cartoon, is the relationship between democracyand concentration of power? Can you think of some other examples toillustrate the point being made here?

The idea of power sharing hasemerged in opposition to the notionsof undivided political power. For along time it was believed that all powerof a government must reside in oneperson or group of persons locatedat one place. It was felt that if thepower to decide is dispersed, it wouldnot be possible to take quick decisionsand to enforce them. But thesenotions have changed with theemergence of democracy. One basicprinciple of democracy is that peopleare the source of all political power.In a democracy, people rulethemselves through institutions ofself-governance. In a good democraticgovernment, due respect is given todiverse groups and views that exist ina society. Everyone has a voice in theshaping of public policies. Therefore,it follows that in a democracy political

Forms of power sharingpower should be distributed amongas many citizens as possible.

In modern democracies, powersharing arrangements can take manyforms. Let us look at some of the mostcommon arrangements that we haveor will come across.

1 Power is shared among differentorgans of government, such as thelegislature, executive and judiciary. Letus call this horizontal distribution ofpower because it allows different organsof government placed at the same levelto exercise different powers. Such aseparation ensures that none of theorgans can exercise unlimited power.Each organ checks the others. Thisresults in a balance of power amongvarious institutions. Last year we studiedthat in a democracy, even thoughministers and government officialsexercise power, they are responsible tothe Parliament or State Assemblies.Similarly, although judges are appointedby the executive, they can check thefunctioning of executive or laws madeby the legislatures. This arrangement iscalled a system of checks and balances.

2 Power can be shared amonggovernments at different levels – ageneral government for the entirecountry and governments at theprovincial or regional level. Such ageneral government for the entirecountry is usually called federalgovernment. In India, we refer to itas the Central or Union Government.The governments at the provincial orregional level are called by differentnames in different countries. In India,

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In my school, theclass monitorchanges everymonth. Is thatwhat you call apower sharingarrangement?

we call them State Governments. Thissystem is not followed in all countries.There are many countries where thereare no provincial or stategovernments. But in those countrieslike ours, where there are differentlevels of governments, theconstitution clearly lays down thepowers of different levels ofgovernment. This is what they did inBelgium, but was refused in Sri Lanka.This is called federal division ofpower. The same principle can beextended to levels of governmentlower than the State government, suchas the municipality and panchayat. Letus call division of powers involvinghigher and lower levels ofgovernment vertical division ofpower. We shall study these at somelength in the next chapter.

3 Power may also be shared amongdifferent social groups, such as thereligious and linguistic groups.‘Community government’ in Belgiumis a good example of this arrangement.In some countries there areconstitutional and legal arrangementswhereby socially weaker sections andwomen are represented in thelegislatures and administration. Lastyear we studied the system of ‘reservedconstituencies’ in assemblies and theparliament of our country. This typeof arrangement is meant to give spacein the government and administrationto diverse social groups who otherwise

would feel alienated from thegovernment. This method is used togive minority communities a fair sharein power. In Chapter 3, we shall lookat various ways of accommodatingsocial diversities.

4 Power sharing arrangements canalso be seen in the way politicalparties, pressure groups andmovements control or influence thosein power. In a democracy, the citizensmust have freedom to choose amongvarious contenders for power. Incontemporary democracies this takesthe form of competition amongdifferent parties. Such competitionensures that power does not remain inone hand. In the long run power isshared among different political partiesthat represent different ideologies andsocial groups. Sometimes this kind ofsharing can be direct, when two ormore parties form an alliance tocontest elections. If their alliance iselected, they form a coalitiongovernment and thus share power. Ina democracy, we find interest groupssuch as those of traders, businessmen,industrialists, farmers and industrialworkers. They also will have a share ingovernmental power, either throughparticipation in governmentalcommittees or bringing influence onthe decision making process. InChapter 4, we shall study the workingof political parties, pressure groups andsocial movements.

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Here are some examples of power sharing. Which of the four types of powersharing do these represent? Who is sharing power with whom?The Bombay High Court ordered the Maharashtra state government to immediatelytake action and improve living conditions for the 2,000-odd children at sevenchildren’s homes in Mumbai.The government of Ontario state in Canada has agreed to a land claim settlement withthe aboriginal community. The Minister responsible for Native Affairs announced thatthe government will work with aboriginal people in a spirit of mutual respect andco-operation.Russia’s two influential political parties, the Union of Right Forces and the LiberalYabloko Movement, agreed to unite their organisations into a strong right-wingcoalition. They propose to have a common list of candidates in the nextparliamentary elections.The finance ministers of various states in Nigeria got together and demanded thatthe federal government declare its sources of income. They also wanted to know theformula by which the revenue is distributed to various state governments.

1. What are the different forms of power sharing in moderndemocracies? Give an example of each of these.

2. State one prudential reason and one moral reason for powersharing with an example from the Indian context.

3. After reading this chapter, three students drew differentconclusions. Which of these do you agree with and why? Giveyour reasons in about 50 words.

Thomman - Power sharing is necessary only in societies whichhave religiousm, linguistic or ethnic divisions.Mathayi – Power sharing is suitable only for big countries thathave regional divisions.Ouseph – Every society needs some form of power sharing evenif it is small or does not have social divisions.

4. The Mayor of Merchtem, a town near Brussels in Belgium, hasdefended a ban on speaking French in the town’s schools. Hesaid that the ban would help all non-Dutch speakers integratein this Flemish town. Do you think that this measure is inkeeping with the spirit of Belgium’s power sharingarrangements? Give your reasons in about 50 words.

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5. Read the following passage and pick out any one of theprudential reasons for power sharing offered in this.

“We need to give more power to the panchayats to realise thedream of Mahatma Gandhi and the hopes of the makers of ourConstitution. Panchayati Raj establishes true democracy. Itrestores power to the only place where power belongs in ademocracy – in the hands of the people. Giving power toPanchayats is also a way to reduce corruption and increaseadministrative efficiency. When people participate in the planningand implementation of developmental schemes, they wouldnaturally exercise greater control over these schemes. This wouldeliminate the corrupt middlemen. Thus, Panchayati Raj willstrengthen the foundations of our democracy.”

6. Different arguments are usually put forth in favour of and againstpower sharing. Identify those which are in favour of power sharingand select the answer using the codes given below? Power sharing:

A. reduces conflict among different communitiesB. decreases the possibility of arbitrarinessC. delays decision making processD. accommodates diversitiesE. increases instability and divisivenessF. promotes people’s participation in governmentG. undermines the unity of a country

7. Consider the following statements about power sharingarrangements in Belgium and Sri Lanka.A. In Belgium, the Dutch-speaking majority people tried to impose

their domination on the minority French-speaking community.B. In Sri Lanka, the policies of the government sought to ensure the

dominance of the Sinhala-speaking majority.C. The Tamils in Sri Lanka demanded a federal arrangement of

power sharing to protect their culture, language and equality ofopportunity in education and jobs.

D. The transformation of Belgium from unitary government to afederal one prevented a possible division of the country onlinguistic lines.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) A, B, C and D (b) A, B and D (c) C and D (d) B, C and D

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s(a) A B D F(b) A C E F(c) A B D G(d) B C D G

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9. Consider the following two statements on power sharing andselect the answer using the codes given below:A. Power sharing is good for democracy.B. It helps to reduce the possibility of conflict between social groups.

Which of these statements are true and false?

(a) A is true but B is false(b) Both A and B are true(c) Both A and B are false(d) A is false but B is true

List I List II

1. Power shared among differentorgans of government A. Community government

2. Power shared among governmentsat different levels B. Separation of powers

3. Power shared by different socialgroups C. Coalition government

4. Power shared by two or morepolitical parties D. Federal government

8. Match List I (forms of power sharing) with List II (forms of government)and select the correct answer using the codes given below in the lists:

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1 2 3 4(a) D A B C(b) B C D A(c) B D A C(d) C D A B

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Federalism

Overview

In the previous chapter, we noted that vertical division of power amongdifferent levels of governments is one of the major forms of powersharing in modern democracies. In this chapter, we focus on this formof power sharing. It is most commonly referred to as federalism. Webegin by describing federalism in general terms. The rest of the chaptertries to understand the theory and practice of federalism in India. Adiscussion of the federal constitutional provisions is followed by ananalysis of the policies and politics that has strengthened federalism inpractice. Towards the end of the chapter, we turn to the localgovernment, a new and third tier of Indian federalism.

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What is federalism?Let us get back to the contrast betweenBelgium and Sri Lanka that we saw inthe last chapter. You would recall thatone of the key changes made in theConstitution of Belgium was to reducethe power of the Central Governmentand to give these powers to the regionalgovernments. Regional governmentsexisted in Belgium even earlier. Theyhad their roles and powers. But all thesepowers were given to thesegovernments and could be withdrawnby the Central Government. Thechange that took place in 1993 was thatthe regional governments were givenconstitutional powers that were nolonger dependent on the centralgovernment. Thus, Belgium shiftedfrom a unitary to a federal form ofgovernment. Sri Lanka continues to be,

for all practical purposes, a unitarysystem where the national governmenthas all the powers. Tamil leaders wantSri Lanka to become a federal system.

Federalism is a system ofgovernment in which the power isdivided between a central authority andvarious constituent units of thecountry. Usually, a federation has twolevels of government. One is thegovernment for the entire country thatis usually responsible for a few subjectsof common national interest. Theothers are governments at the level ofprovinces or states that look aftermuch of the day-to-day administeringof their state. Both these levels ofgovernments enjoy their powerindependent of the other.

I am confused.What do we callthe Indiangovernment? Isit Union, Federalor Central?

Though only 25 of the world’s 192 countries have federal political systems, their citizens make up 40 per cent ofthe world’s population. Most of the large countries of the world are federations. Can you notice an exception to thisrule in this map?

Source: Montreal and Kingston, Handbook of Federal Countries: 2002, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002.

Federalpolitical systems

Canada

United Statesof America

Mexico

PACIFIC OCEAN

MicronesiaArgentina

Venezuela

ATLANTICOCEANBrazil

St. Kittsand Nevis

BelgiumSwitzerlandSpain

Nigeria

EthiopiaComoros

Bosnia andHerzegovina

Austria

Pakistan

Russia

India

Malaysia

Australia

INDIANOCEAN

South Africa

PACIFIC OCEANUnitedArabEmirates

Germany

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Jurisdiction: The areaover which someonehas legal authority. Thearea may be defined interms of geographicalboundaries or in termsof certain kinds ofsubjects.

7 The federal system thus has dualobjectives: to safeguard and promoteunity of the country, while at the sametime accommodate regional diversity.Therefore, two aspects are crucial forthe institutions and practice offederalism. Governments at differentlevels should agree to some rules ofpower sharing. They should also trustthat each would abide by its part ofthe agreement. An ideal federal systemhas both aspects : mutual trust andagreement to live together.

The exact balance of powerbetween the central and the stategovernment varies from one federationto another. This balance dependsmainly on the historical context in whichthe federation was formed. There aretwo kinds of routes through whichfederations have been formed. The firstroute involves independent Statescoming together on their own to forma bigger unit, so that by poolingsovereignity and retaining identity theycan increase their security. This type of‘coming together’ federations includethe USA, Switzerland and Australia. Inthis first category of federations, all theconstituent States usually have equalpower and are strong vis-à-vis thefederal government.

The second route is where a largecountry decides to divide its powerbetween the constituent States and thenational government. India, Spain andBelgium are examples of this kind of‘holding together’ federations. Inthis second category, the centralgovernment tends to be more powerfulvis-à-vis the States. Very often differentconstituent units of the federation haveunequal powers. Some units aregranted special powers.

If federalismworks only in bigcountries, whydid Belgiumadopt it?

In this sense, federations arecontrasted with unitary governments.Under the unitary system, either thereis only one level of government or thesub-units are subordinate to the centralgovernment. The central governmentcan pass on orders to the provincial orthe local government. But in a federalsystem, the central government cannotorder the state government to dosomething. State government haspowers of its own for which it is notanswerable to the central government.Both these governments are separatelyanswerable to the people.

Let us look at some of the keyfeatures of federalism :1 There are two or more levels (or

tiers) of government.2 Different tiers of government

govern the same citizens, but each tierhas its own JURISDICTION in specificmatters of legislation, taxation andadministration.3 The jurisdictions of the respective

levels or tiers of government arespecified in the constitution. So theexistence and authority of each tier ofgovernment is constitutionallyguaranteed.4 The fundamental provisions of

the constitution cannot be unilaterallychanged by one level of government.Such changes require the consent ofboth the levels of government.5 Courts have the power to interpret

the constitution and the powers ofdifferent levels of government. Thehighest court acts as an umpire ifdisputes arise between different levelsof government in the exercise of theirrespective powers.

6 Sources of revenue for each levelof government are clearly specified toensure its financial autonomy.

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Isn’t thatstrange? Did ourconstitutionmakers not knowaboutfederalism? Ordid they wish toavoid talkingabout it?

Some Nepalese citizens were discussing the proposals on the adoptionof federalism in their new constitution. This is what some of them said:

Khag Raj: I don’t like federalism. It would lead to reservation of seats fordifferent caste groups as in India.Sarita: Ours in not a very big country. We don’t need federalism.Babu Lal: I am hopeful that the Terai areas will get more autonomy if they gettheir own state government.Ram Ganesh: I like federalism because it will mean that powers that were earlierenjoyed by the king will now be exercised by our elected representatives.

If you were participating in this conversation what would be your response to eachof these? Which of these reflect a wrong understanding of what federalism is?What makes India a federal country?

We have earlier seen how smallcountries like Belgium and Sri Lankaface so many problems of managingdiversity. What about a vast country likeIndia, with so many languages, religionsand regions? What are the powersharing arrangements in our country?

Let us begin with the Constitution.India had emerged as an independentnation after a painful and bloodypartition. Soon after Independence,several princely states became a part ofthe country. The Constitution declaredIndia as a Union of States. Although itdid not use the word federation, theIndian Union is based on the principlesof federalism.

Let us go back to the seven featuresof federalism mentioned above. We cansee that all these features apply to theprovisions of the Indian Constitution.The Constitution originally providedfor a two-tier system of government,the Union Government or what we callthe Central Government, representing

the Union of India and the Stategovernments. Later, a third tier offederalism was added in the form ofPanchayats and Municipalities. As inany federation, these different tiersenjoy separate jurisdiction. TheConstitution clearly provided a three-fold distribution of legislative powersbetween the Union Government andthe State Governments. Thus, itcontains three lists:

Union List includes subjects ofnational importance such as defenceof the country, foreign affairs, banking,communications and currency. Theyare included in this list because we needa uniform policy on these mattersthroughout the country. The UnionGovernment alone can make lawsrelating to the subjects mentioned inthe Union List.

State List contains subjects ofState and local importance such aspolice, trade, commerce, agricultureand irrigation. The State Governments

What makes India a federal country?

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alone can make laws relating to thesubjects mentioned in the State List.

Concurrent List includes subjectsof common interest to both the UnionGovernment as well as the StateGovernments, such as education, forest,trade unions, marriage, adoption andsuccession. Both the Union as well asthe State Governments can make lawson the subjects mentioned in this list.If their laws conflict with each other,the law made by the UnionGovernment will prevail.

What about subjects that do notfall in any of the three lists? Or subjectslike computer software that came upafter the constitution was made?According to our constitution, theUnion Government has the power tolegislate on these ‘residuary’ subjects.

We noted above that mostfederations that are formed by ‘holdingtogether’ do not give equal power toits constituent units. Thus, all States inthe Indian Union do not have identicalpowers. Some States enjoy a specialstatus. Jammu and Kashmir has its ownConstitution. Many provisions of theIndian Constitution are not applicableto this State without the approval ofthe State Assembly. Indians who arenot permanent residents of this Statecannot buy land or house here. Similarspecial provisions exist for some otherStates of India as well.

If agriculture andcommerce arestate subjects,why do we haveministers ofagriculture andcommerce in theUnion cabinet?

Listen to one national and one regional news bulletin broadcast by All IndiaRadio daily for one week. Make a list of news items related to government policies or

decisions by classifying these into the following categories:News items that relate only to the Central Government,News items that relate only to your or any other State Government,News items about the relationship between the Central and State Governments.

There are some units of the IndianUnion which enjoy very little power.These are areas which are too small tobecome an independent State butwhich could not be merged with anyof the existing States. These areas, likeChandigarh, or Lakshadweep or thecapital city of Delhi, are called UnionTerritories. These territories do nothave the powers of a State. The CentralGovernment has special powers inrunning these areas.

This sharing of power between theUnion Government and the Stategovernments is basic to the structureof the Constitution. It is not easy tomake changes to this power sharingarrangement. The Parliament cannoton its own change this arrangement.Any change to it has to be first passedby both the Houses of Parliament withat least two-thirds majority. Then it hasto be ratified by the legislatures of atleast half of the total States.

The judiciary plays an importantrole in overseeing the implementationof constitutional provisions andprocedures. In case of any dispute aboutthe division of powers, the High Courtsand the Supreme Court make a decision.The Union and State governmentshave the power to raise resources bylevying taxes in order to carry on thegovernment and the responsibilitiesassigned to each of them.

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Pokharan, the place where India conducted its nuclear tests, liesin Rajasthan. Suppose the Government of Rajasthan was opposed to

the Central Government’s nuclear policy, could it prevent the Government ofIndia from conducting the nuclear tests?Suppose the Government of Sikkim plans to introduce new textbooks in its schools.But the Union Government does not like the style and content of the newtextbooks. In that case, does the state government need to take permission fromthe Union Government before these textbooks can be launched?Suppose the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa havedifferent policies on how their state police should respond to the naxalites. Can thePrime Minister of India intervene and pass an order that all the Chief Ministers willhave to obey?

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Constitutional provisions are necessaryfor the success of federalism but theseare not sufficient. If the federalexperiment has succeeded in India, itis not merely because of the clearly laidout constitutional provisions. The realsuccess of federalism in India can beattributed to the nature of democraticpolitics in our country. This ensuredthat the spirit of federalism, respectfor diversity and desire for livingtogether became a shared ideal in ourcountry. Let us look at some of themajor ways in which this happened.

Linguistic StatesThe creation of Linguistic States wasthe first and a major test for democraticpolitics in our country. If you look at

the political map of India when itbegan its journey as a democracy in1947 and that of 2006, you will besurprised by the extent of the changes.Many old States have vanished andmany new States have been created.Areas, boundaries and names of theStates have been changed.

In 1947, the boundaries of severalold States of India were changed inorder to create new States. This wasdone to ensure that people who spokethe same language lived in the sameState. Some States were created not onthe basis of language but to recognisedifferences based on culture, ethnicityor geography. These include States likeNagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.

Has your village or townremained under the same Statesince Independence? If not,what was the name of theearlier State?Can you identify three Statenames in 1947 that havechanged later?Identify any three States whichhave been carved out of abigger State.

How is federalism practiced?

2006

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When the demand for theformation of States on the basis oflanguage was raised, some nationalleaders feared that it would lead to thedisintegration of the country. TheCentral Government resisted linguisticStates for some time. But theexperience has shown that theformation of linguistic States hasactually made the country, more united.It has also made administration easier.

Language policyA second test for Indian federation isthe language policy. Our Constitutiondid not give the status of nationallanguage to any one language. Hindi wasidentified as the official language. ButHindi is the mother tongue of onlyabout 40 per cent of Indians. Therefore,there were many safeguards to protectother languages. Besides Hindi, there are21 other languages recognised asScheduled Languages by theConstitution. A candidate in anexamination conducted for the CentralGovernment positions may opt to takethe examination in any of theselanguages. States too have their ownofficial languages. Much of thegovernment work takes place in theofficial language of the concerned State.

Unlike Sri Lanka, the leaders of ourcountry adopted a very cautiousattitude in spreading the use of Hindi.According to the Constitution, the useof English for official purposes was tostop in 1965. However, many non-Hindi speaking States demanded thatthe use of English continue. In TamilNadu, this movement took a violentform. The Central Governmentresponded by agreeing to continue theuse of English along with Hindi forofficial purposes. Many critics thinkthat this solution favoured the English-speaking elite. Promotion of Hindi

continues to be the official policy ofthe Government of India. Promotiondoes not mean that the CentralGovernment can impose Hindi onStates where people speak a differentlanguage. The flexibility shown byIndian political leaders helped ourcountry avoid the kind of situation thatSri Lanka finds itself in.

Centre-State relationsRestructuring the Centre-Staterelations is one more way in whichfederalism has been strengthened inpractice. How the constitutionalarrangements for sharing power workin reality depends to a large extent onhow the ruling parties and leadersfollow these arrangements. For a longtime, the same party ruled both at theCentre and in most of the States. Thismeant that the State governments didnot exercise their rights as autonomousfederal units. As and when the rulingparty at the State level was different,the parties that ruled at the Centre triedto undermine the power of the States.In those days, the Central Governmentwould often misuse the Constitutionto dismiss the State governments thatwere controlled by rival parties. Thisundermined the spirit of federalism.

All this changed significantlyafter 1990. This period saw the riseof regional political parties in manyStates of the country. This was alsothe beginning of the era ofCOALITION GOVERNMENTS at theCentre. Since no single party got aclear majority in the Lok Sabha, themajor national parties had to enterinto an alliance with many partiesincluding several regional parties toform a government at the Centre.This led to a new culture of powersharing and respect for the autonomyof State Governments. This trend was

Coalition government:A government formedby the coming togetherof at least two politicalparties. Usually partnersin a coalition form apolitical alliance andadopt a commonprogramme.

Why Hindi?Why notBangla orTelugu?

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Here are two cartoons showing the relationship between Centre and States. Should theState go to the Centre with a begging bowl? How can the leader of a coalition keep thepartners of government satisfied?

Are yousuggesting thatregionalism isgood for ourdemocracy? Areyou serious?

The States Plead for More Powers

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supported by a major judgement ofthe Supreme Court that made itdifficult for the Central Governmentto dismiss state governments in an

arbitrary manner. Thus, federalpower sharing is more effective todaythan it was in the early years afterthe Constitution came into force.

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Linguistic diversity of IndiaLinguistic diversity of IndiaLinguistic diversity of IndiaLinguistic diversity of IndiaLinguistic diversity of India

How many languages do we havein India? The answer depends onhow one counts it. The latestinformation that we have is fromthe Census of India held in 1991.This census recorded more than1500 distinct languages whichpeople mentioned as their mothertongues. These languages weregrouped together under somemajor languages. For examplelanguages like Bhojpuri, Magadhi,Bundelkhandi, Chhattisgarhi,Rajasthani, Bhili and many otherswere grouped together under‘Hindi’. Even after this grouping,the Census found 114 majorlanguages. Of these 22 languagesare now included in the EighthSchedule of the Indian Constitutionand are therefore called ‘ScheduledLanguages’. Others are called ‘non-Scheduled Languages’. In terms oflanguages, India is perhaps themost diverse country in the world.

A look at the enclosed tablemakes it clear that no onelanguage is the mother tongue ofthe majority of our population. Thelargest language, Hindi, is themother tongue of only about 40per cent Indians. If we add to thatall those who knew Hindi as theirsecond or third language, the totalnumber was still less than 50 percent in 1991. As for English, only0.02 per cent Indians recorded it astheir mother tongue. Another 11per cent knew it as a second orthird language.

Read this table carefully, butyou do not need to memorise it.Just do the following:

Make a bar or pie chart onthe basis of this information.

Prepare a map of linguisticdiversity of India by shading theregion where each of theselanguages is spoken on the mapof India.

Find out about threelanguages that are spoken inIndia but are not included in thistable.

Scheduled Languages of IndiaLanguage Proportion of

speakers (%)Assamese 1.6Bangla 8.3Bodo 0.1Dogri 0.2Gujarati 4.9Hindi 40.2Kannada 3.9Kashmiri 0.5Konkani 0.2Maithili 0.9Malayalam 3.6Manipuri 0.2Marathi 7.5Nepali 0.3Oriya 3.4Punjabi 2.8Sanskrit 0.01Santhali 0.6Sindhi 0.3Tamil 6.3Telugu 7.9Urdu 5.2Note: The first column in this table lists all the languagescurrently included in the Eighth Schedule of the IndianConstitution. The second column gives the proportion of thespeakers of each of these languages as per cent of the totalpopulation of India. These figures are based on the Census ofIndia, 1991. The figures for Kashmiri and Dogri are based onestimates, as the Census was not conducted in Jammu andKashmir in 1991.

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Read the following excerpts from an article by noted historian,Ramachandra Guha, that appeared in the Times of India on November 1,2006:

Take the example of your own state or any other state that was affected bylinguistic reorganisation. Write a short note for or against the argument given bythe author here on the basis of that example.

‘ ‘

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We noted above that federalgovernments have two or more tiersof governments. We have so fardiscussed the two-tiers of governmentin our country. But a vast country likeIndia cannot be run only through thesetwo-tiers. States in India are as large asindependent countries of Europe. Interms of population, Uttar Pradesh isbigger than Russia, Maharashtra isabout as big as Germany. Many ofthese States are internally very diverse.There is thus a need for power sharingwithin these States. Federal powersharing in India needs another tier ofgovernment, below that of the Stategovernments. This is the rationale fordecentralisation of power. Thus,resulted a third-tier of government,called local government.

When power is taken away fromCentral and State governments and givento local government, it is calleddecentralisation. The basic idea behinddecentralisation is that there are a largenumber of problems and issues whichare best settled at the local level. Peoplehave better knowledge of problems intheir localities. They also have better ideason where to spend money and how tomanage things more efficiently. Besides,at the local level it is possible for thepeople to directly participate in decisionmaking. This helps to inculcate a habitof democratic participation. Localgovernment is the best way to realise oneimportant principle of democracy,namely local self-government.

The need for decentralisation wasrecognised in our Constitution. Sincethen, there have been several attemptsto decentralise power to the level ofvillages and towns. Panchayats in

So, we are like athree-tier coachin a train! Ialways prefer thelower berth!

villages and municipalities in urbanareas were set up in all the States. Butthese were directly under the controlof state governments. Elections tothese local governments were not heldregularly. Local governments did nothave any powers or resources of theirown. Thus, there was very littledecentralisation in effective terms.

A major step towards decentra-lisation was taken in 1992. TheConstitution was amended to make thethird-tier of democracy more powerfuland effective.

Now it is constitutionallymandatory to hold regular elections tolocal government bodies.

Seats are reserved in the electedbodies and the executive heads ofthese institutions for the ScheduledCastes, Scheduled Tribes and OtherBackward Classes.

At least one-third of all positionsare reserved for women.

An independent institution calledthe State Election Commission hasbeen created in each State to conductpanchayat and municipal elections.

The State governments are requiredto share some powers and revenue withlocal government bodies. The nature ofsharing varies from State to State.

Rural local government ispopularly known by the namepanchayati raj. Each village, or a groupof villages in some States, has a grampanchayat. This is a council consistingof several ward members, often calledpanch, and a president or sarpanch.They are directly elected by all theadult population living in that ward

Decentralisation in India

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or village. It is the decision-makingbody for the entire village. Thepanchayat works under the overallsupervision of the gram sabha. All thevoters in the village are its members.It has to meet at least twice or thricein a year to approve the annual budgetof the gram panchayat and to reviewthe performance of the grampanchayat.

The local government structuregoes right up to the district level. Afew gram panchayats are groupedtogether to form what is usually calleda panchayat samiti or block or mandal.The members of this representativebody are elected by all the panchyatmembers in that area. All the panchayatsamitis or mandals in a district together

constitute the zilla (district) parishad.Most members of the zilla parishad areelected. Members of the Lok Sabhaand MLAs of that district and someother officials of other district levelbodies are also its members. Zillaparishad chairperson is the politicalhead of the zilla parishad.

Similarly, local government bodiesexist for urban areas as well.Municipalities are set up in towns. Bigcities are constituted into municipalcorporations. Both municipalities andmunicipal corporations are controlledby elected bodies consisting of people’srepresentatives. Municipal chairpersonis the political head of the municipality.In a municipal corporation such anofficer is called the mayor.

Prime Minister runsthe country. ChiefMinister runs thestate. Logically,then, thechairperson of ZillaParishad shouldrun the district.Why does the D.M.or Collectoradminister thedistrict?

What do these newspaper clippings have to say about efforts of decentralisation in India?

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This new system of localgovernment is the largest experimentin democracy conducted anywhere inthe world. There are now about 36 lakhelected representatives in thepanchayats and municipalities etc., allover the country. This number is biggerthan the population of many countriesin the world. Constitutional status forlocal government has helped to deependemocracy in our country. It has also

increased women’s representation andvoice in our democracy. At the sametime, there are many difficulties. Whileelections are held regularly andenthusiastically, gram sabhas are notheld regularly. Most state governmentshave not transferred significant powersto the local governments. Nor havethey given adequate resources. We arethus still a long way from realising theideal of self-government.

Find out about the local government in the village or town you live in.

If you live in a village, find out the names of the following: your panch or wardmember, your sarpanch, your panchayat samiti, the chairperson of your zillaparishad. Also find out when did the last meeting of the gram sabha take place andhow many people took part in that.

If you live in urban areas, find out the name of your municipal councillor, and themunicipal chairperson or mayor. Also find out about the budget of your municipalcorporation, municipality and the major items on which money was spent.

+ An experiment in Brazil

A city called Porto Alegre in Brazil has carried out an extraordinary experimentin combining decentralisation with participative democracy. The city has set up aparallel organisation operating alongside the municipal council, enabling localinhabitants to take real decisions for their city. The nearly 13 lakh people in thiscity get to participate in making the budget for their own city. The city is dividedinto many sectors or what we call wards. Each sector has a meeting, like that ofthe gram sabha, in which anyone living in that area can participate. There aresome meetings to discuss issues that affect the entire city. Any citizen of the citycan participate in those meetings. The budget of the city is discussed in thesemeetings. The proposals are put to the municipality that takes a final decisionabout it.

About 20,000 people participate in this decision making exercise every year.This method has ensured that the money cannot be spent only for the benefit ofthe colonies where rich people live. Buses now run to the poor colonies andbuilders cannot evict slum-dwellers without resettling them.

In our own country, a similar experiment has taken place in some areas inKerala. Ordinary people have participated in making a plan for the developmentof their locality.

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1. Locate the following States on a blank outline political map of India:Manipur, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh and Goa.

2. Identify and shade three federal countries (other than India) on ablank outline political map of the world.

3. Point out one feature in the practice of federalism in India that issimilar to and one feature that is different from that of Belgium.

4. What is the main difference between a federal form of governmentand a unitary one? Explain with an example.

5. State any two differences between the local government before andafter the Constitutional amendment in 1992.

6. Fill in the blanks:

Since the United States is a ___________________ type offederation, all the constituent States have equal powers and Statesare ______________vis-à-vis the federal government. But India is a_____________________ type of federation and some States havemore power than others. In India, the ____________ governmenthas more powers.

7. Here are three reactions to the language policy followed in India.Give an argument and an example to support any of these positions.

Sangeeta: The policy of accommodation have strengthenednational unity.Arman: Language based States has divided us by makingeveryone conscious of their language.Harish: This policy has only helped to consolidate thedominance of English over all other languages.

8. The distinguishing feature of a federal government is:(a) National government gives some powers to the provincial

government.(b) Power is distributed among the legislature, executive and

judiciary.(c) Elected officials exercise supreme power in the government.(d) Governmental power is divided between different levels of

government.

9. A few subjects in various Lists of the Indian Constitution are givenhere. Group them under the Union, State and Concurrent Lists asprovided in the table below.

A. Defence; B. Police; C. Agriculture; D. Education;E. Banking; F. Forests; G. Communications; H. Trade; I. Marriages

Union ListState ListConcurrent List

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1 2 3 4(a) D A B C(b) B C D A(c) A C D B(d) C D A B

(a) State government State List(b) Central government Union List(c) Central and State governments Concurrent List(d) Local governments Residuary powers

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India and the powers of the government at that level to make lawson the subjects mentioned against each. Which of the following pairsis not correctly matched?

11. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer usingthe codes given below the lists:

List I List II1. Union of India A. Prime Minister2. State B. Sarpanch3. Municipal Corporation C. Governor4. Gram Panchayat D. Mayor

12. Consider the following two statements.A. In a federation the powers of the federal and provincial

governments are clearly demarcated.B. India is a federation because the powers of the Union and State

Governments are specified in the Constitution and they haveexclusive jurisdiction on their respective subjects.

C. Sri Lanka is a federation because the country is divided intoprovinces.

D. India is no longer a federation because some powers of the Stateshave been devolved to the local government bodies.

Which of the statements given above are correct?(a) A, B and C (b) A, C and D (c) A and B only (d) B and C only

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DemocracyandDiversity

Overview

In the last chapter, we saw how power can be distributed toaccommodate linguistic and regional diversities. But language andregion are not the only features that give a distinct identity topeople. Sometimes, people also identify themselves and relate withothers on the basis of their physical appearance, class, religion,gender, caste, tribe, etc. In this chapter, we study how democracyresponds to social differences, divisions and inequalities. We beginwith an example of public expression of social divisions. We thendraw some general lessons about how social differences can takevarious forms. We then turn to how democratic politics affects andis affected by these social diversities.

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A Story from Mexico Olympics

Civil Rights Movementin the USA (1954-1968)refers to a set of eventsand reform movementsaimed at abolishing legalracial discriminationagainst African-Americans.Led by Martin LutherKing Jr., this movementpracticed non-violentmethods of civildisobedience againstracially discriminatorylaws and practices.African-American,Afro-American, BlackAmerican, or Black are theterms used to refer mainlyto the descendants ofAfricans who werebrought into America asslaves between the 17th

century and early 19th

century.The Black Powermovement emerged in1966 and lasted till 1975,which was a more militantanti-racist movement,advocating even violenceif necessary to end racismin the US.

The pictures on thispage depict animportant landmark inthe history of the CIVIL

RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN

THE UNITED STATES.These represent the medal ceremonyof the 200 metres race in the 1968Olympics held at Mexico City. The twomen standing with clenched fistsupraised and heads bowed, while theAmerican national anthem wasplayed, are the US athletes, TommieSmith and John Carlos. They areAFRICAN-AMERICANS. They had won thegold and bronze medals respectively.They received their medals wearingblack socks and no shoes to representBlack poverty. With this gesture, they

tried to draw international attention toracial discrimination in the UnitedStates. The black-gloved and raisedclenched fists were meant to symboliseBLACK POWER. The silver medallist,white Australian athlete, Peter Norman,wore a human rights badge on his shirtduring the ceremony to show hissupport to the two Americans.

Do you think that Carlos andSmith should have raised an internalmatter of American society in aninternational forum? Would you saythat what they did was political? Whydo you think Peter Norman, who wasneither Black nor American, joined inthe gesture of protest? If you were inNorman’s place what would you do?

In 2005, the San Jose State University installed a 20-foot high sculpture representing theprotest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos. A photograph of the original medal ceremonyin 1968 is on the top.

My salute toCarlos andSmith! Will I everhave the courageto do what theydid?

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The International OlympicAssociation held Carlos and Smith guiltyof violating the Olympic spirit bymaking a political statement. Theirmedals were taken back. Back home,they were subjected to a lot of criticism.Norman too suffered for his action andwas not included in the Australian teamfor the next Olympic. But their action

succeeded in gaining internationalattention for the Civil Rights Movementin the US. Recently, the San Jose(pronounced ‘Saan Hoze’) StateUniversity, of which they were formerstudents, honoured them and installedtheir statue in the University campus.When Norman died in 2006, Smith andCarlos were pallbearers at his funeral.

Some Dalit groups decided to participate in the UN ConferenceAgainst Racism in Durban in 2001, demanding the inclusion of caste

in the agenda of this conference. Here are three reactions to this move:Amandeep Kaur (a government official): Our Constitution declarescaste discrimination to be illegal. If some caste discriminationcontinues, it is an internal matter. I am opposed to this being raised inan international forum.Oinam (a sociologist): I am opposed to this because caste and race arenot similar divisions. Caste is a social division, while race is a biologicalone. Raising caste in this conference on racism would mean equatingthe two.Ashok (a Dalit activist): The argument about internal matter is away of preventing open discussion of oppression anddiscrimination. Race is not purely biological. It is as much a legaland sociological category as caste. Caste discrimination must beraised in this conference.

Which of the three opinions do you agree with most and why?

Differences, similarities, divisions

The athletes in the example above wereresponding to social divisions andsocial inequalities. But does thathappen only in societies which haveracial divisions? In the previous twochapters we have already noted someother forms of social divisions. Theexamples of Belgium and Sri Lanka

show both regional and social divisions.In the case of Belgium we noted thatpeople who live in different regionsspeak different languages. In Sri Lanka,we noted linguistic as well as religiousdifferences. Thus social diversity cantake different forms in differentsocieties.

I met this groupof girls fromPakistan and feltthat I had morein common withthem than manygirls from otherparts of my owncountry. Is thisanti-national tofeel so?

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A cartoon like this can be read by differentpeople to mean different things. What doesthis cartoon mean to you? How do otherstudents in your class read this?

Origins of social differencesThese social differences are mostlybased on accident of birth. Normallywe don’t choose to belong to ourcommunity. We belong to it simplybecause we were born into it. We allexperience social differences based onaccident of birth in our everyday lives.People around us are male or female,they are tall and short, have differentkinds of complexions, or have differentphysical abilities or disabilities. But allkinds of social differences are notbased on accident of birth. Some ofthe differences are based on ourchoices. For example, some people areatheists. They don’t believe in God orany religion. Some people choose to

follow a religion other than the one inwhich they were born. Most of uschoose what to study, whichoccupation to take up and whichgames or cultural activities to take partin. All these lead to formation of socialgroups that are based on our choices.

Every social difference does notlead to social division. Socialdifferences divide similar people fromone another, but they also unite verydifferent people. People belonging todifferent social groups sharedifferences and similarities cuttingacross the boundaries of their groups.In the instance above, Carlos andSmith were similar in one way (bothwere African-American) and thusdifferent from Norman who waswhite. But they were also all similar inother ways – they were all athletes whostood against racial discrimination.

It is fairly common for peoplebelonging to the same religion to feelthat they do not belong to the samecommunity, because their caste or sectis very different. It is also possible forpeople from different religions to havethe same caste and feel close to eachother. Rich and poor persons from thesame family often do not keep closerelations with each other for they feelthey are very different. Thus, we allhave more than one identity and canbelong to more than one social group.We have different identities in differentcontexts.

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Overlapping and cross-cuttingdifferencesSocial division takes place when somesocial difference overlaps with otherdifferences. The difference betweenthe Blacks and Whites becomes a socialdivision in the US because the Blackstend to be poor, homeless anddiscriminated against. In our countryDalits tend to be poor and landless.They often face discrimination andinjustice. Situations of this kindproduce social divisions, when onekind of social difference becomesmore important than the other andpeople start feeling that they belong todifferent communities.

If social differences cross cut oneanother, it is difficult to pit one groupof people against the other. It meansthat groups that share a commoninterest on one issue are likely to be indifferent sides on a different issue.Consider the cases of NorthernIreland and the Netherlands. Both arepredominantly Christian but dividedbetween Catholics and Protestants. InNorthern Ireland, class and religionoverlap with each other. If you areCatholic, you are also more likely to bepoor, and you may have suffered ahistory of discrimination. In theNetherlands, class and religion tend tocut across each other. Catholics andProtestants are about equally likely tobe poor or rich. The result is thatCatholics and Protestants have hadconflicts in Northern Ireland, whilethey do not do so in the Netherlands.Overlapping social differences createpossibilities of deep social divisionsand tensions. Cross-cutting socialdifferences are easier to accommodate.

Social divisions of one kind oranother exist in most countries. It doesnot matter whether the country is smallor big. India is a vast country with manycommunities. Belgium is a small countrywith many communities. Even thosecountries such as Germany and Sweden,that were once highly HOMOGENEOUS, areundergoing rapid change with influx ofpeople from other parts of the world.MIGRANTS bring with them their ownculture and tend to form a differentsocial community. In this sense mostcountries of the world are multi-cultural.

Homeogenous society:A society that has similarkinds of people,especially where thereare no significant ethnicdifferences.Migrant: Anybody whoshifts from one regionor country to anotherregion within a countryor to another country,usually for work or othereconomic opportunities.

Read these two poems by Dalit writers. Why do you think theposter is titled ‘Hidden Apartheid’ ?

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Politics of social divisionsHow do these social divisions affectpolitics? What does politics do to thesesocial divisions? At first sight, it wouldappear that the combination of politicsand social divisions is very dangerousand explosive. Democracy involvescompetition among various politicalparties. Their competition tends todivide any society. If they startcompeting in terms of some existingsocial divisions, it can make socialdivisions into political divisions andlead to conflict, violence or evendisintegration of a country. This hashappened in many countries.

Range of outcomesTake the case of Northern Ireland thatwe referred to above. This region ofthe United Kingdom has been for many

years the site of a violent and bitterethno-political conflict. Its populationis divided into two major sects ofChristianity: 53 per cent areProtestants, while 44 per cent areRoman Catholics. The Catholics wererepresented by Nationalist parties whodemanded that Northern Ireland beunified with the Republic of Ireland,a predominantly Catholic country. TheProtestants were represented byUnionists who wanted to remain withthe UK, which is predominantlyprotestant. Hundreds of civilians,militants and security forces were killedin the fight between Unionists andNationalists and between the securityforces of the UK and the Nationalists.It was only in 1998, that the UKgovernment and the Nationalists

Imrana is a student of Class X, section B. She and all her classmates areplanning to help students of Class XI in giving a farewell party to the

students of Class XII. Last month she played for section team in a game ofkho-kho against the team of Class X, section A. She goes back home in a busand joins all the students from various classes. They all come from trans-Yamuna area in Delhi. Back home, she often joins her elder sister, Naima, incomplaining against her brother who does no work at home, while the sistersare asked to help their mother. Her father is looking for a good match for herelder sister, from a Muslim family with a similar economic status from theirown ‘biradari’.

Can you list the various kinds of identities Imrana has?At home she is a girlIn terms of religion she is ………….In the school she is ………….…………… she is ………………………. she is ………….

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India?India?India?India?India?RomaniaRomaniaRomaniaRomaniaRomaniaororororor

Bulgaria,Bulgaria,Bulgaria,Bulgaria,Bulgaria, Ganesh had come back from his trip and was talking to Mahashwetaabout the Roma people who live in many countries of EasternEurope. He met Yordanka who works as a nurse in Bulgaria. This iswhat she has to say about Roma people:

“Being a nurse you can’t refuse to look after some people, butthese Roma people are very dirty. Even when something small

happens to any one in their family, all the family and even theneighbours just march to our hospital. And once they are in the hospital

they don’t know how to keep quiet. They talk aloud, smoke and drop ashes allover and spit on the wall! They have no patience, and they just start pestering ourdoctors! And when they are just hanging out like that any way they look soaggressive. After all these dark skinned people don’t look like us. They have astrange sense of colour. Look at their dress, why can’t they try to look likeeveryone else in the country? And we all know they are thieves. I have heardpeople say that these Roma people live by selling their blood. None of them canafford the hospital fees. But when they are ill they just rush to hospital at the costof good Bulgarians who pay their taxes!”

“That sounds familiar’ said Mahashweta.

Ganesh went on to talk about Modruzeni, a Romani who lives in Romania. Whenshe was eighteen years old, she went to the hospital, to give birth to her firstchild. She had no money to pay to the doctor or nurse. Though she was in thehospital, nobody bothered to come and take care of her. Finally the sweeper, whowas also a Romani, helped her give birth to a boy. And then the nurse appeared onthe scene and said, “Here we have another criminal”. Talking about how the Romapeople are treated in public hospitals, she says: “These doctors keep us waiting

outside their cabins. On one occasion one doctor asked me to take a bath if Ineeded to be examined! Of course, I smelled. During the pregnancy I ate

from the garbage containers, because I was so hungry all the time. Myhusband had left me. I had two children, and I was pregnant with thethird.The social worker refused my request for food assistance. My neighbourhelped me to deliver the baby. I often feel it is better not to visit these

hospitals.”

Mahashweta heard him out and said, “Ganesh, why do you have to travelhalfway across the world to find this out? This is not a story about Romania

and Bulgaria or about the Roma people. This is as much a story about ourown country and about our people who are branded as criminals by our

system.”

Do you think Mahashweta is right? Do you know of some communityin your area that is treated like the Romas?

Have you heard people say things similar to what Yordanka orModruzeni say here? If yes, try to think of what the story would sound like if

you heard it from the other side?

Do you think the Bulgarian government should try to ensure that theRoma people dress and behave like other people from Bulgaria?

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reached a peace treaty after which thelatter suspended their armed struggle.In Yugoslavia, the story did not have ahappy end. Political competition alongreligious and ethnic lines led to thedisintegration of Yugoslavia into sixindependent countries.

Such examples lead some peopleto conclude that politics and socialdivisions must not be allowed to mix.They think that it would be best if thereare no social divisions in any country.If social divisions do exist in a country,they must never be expressed in politics.

At the same time every expressionof social divisions in politics does notlead to such disasters. We have alreadyseen that social divisions of one kindor another exist in most countries ofthe world. Wherever they exist, thesedivisions are reflected in politics. In ademocracy it is only natural thatpolitical parties would talk about these

So, it happens allover the world,even in Europe!I thought it wasonly in countrieslike India that wehave socialdivisions.

divisions, make different promises todifferent communities, look after duerepresentation of various communitiesand make policies to redress thegrievances of the disadvantagedcommunities. Social divisions affectvoting in most countries. People fromone community tend to prefer someparty more than others. In manycountries there are parties that focusonly on one community. Yet all thisdoes not lead to disintegration of thecountry.

Three determinantsThree factors are crucial in decidingthe outcome of politics of socialdivisions. First of all the outcomedepends on how people perceive theiridentities. If people see their identitiesin singular and exclusive terms, itbecomes very difficult toaccommodate. As long as people innorthern Ireland saw themselves asonly Catholic or Protestant, theirdifferences were difficult to reconcile.It is much easier if the people see thattheir identities are multiple and arecomplementary with the nationalidentity. A majority of Belgians nowfeel that they are as much Belgian asthey are Dutch or German-speaking.This helps them to stay together. Thisis how most people in our country seetheir identity: they think of themselvesas Indian as well as belonging to a stateor a language group or a social orreligious community.

Second, it depends on howpolitical leaders raise the demands ofany community. It is easier toaccommodate demands that are withinthe constitutional framework and arenot at the cost of another community.

In some societies of Northern Ireland, the colonies of Protestant andCatholic communities are divided by walls. These walls are sometimesfilled with graffiti as you can see here. The Irish Republican Army andBritish Government signed an agreement in 2005. What does the graffitihere tell about the conflict in the society?

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The demand for ‘only Sinhala’ was atthe cost of the interest and identity ofthe Tamil community in Sri Lanka. InYugoslavia, the leaders of differentethnic communities presented theirdemands in such a way that these couldnot be accommodated within a singlecountry.

Third, it depends on the how thegovernment reacts to demands ofdifferent groups. As we saw in theexamples of Belgium and Sri Lanka,if the rulers are willing to share powerand accommodate the reasonabledemands of minority community,social divisions become lessthreatening for the country. But if theytry to suppress such a demand in thename of national unity, the end resultis often quite the opposite. Suchattempts at forced integration oftensow the seeds of disintegration.

Thus the assertion of socialdiversities in a country need not be seenas a source of danger. In a democracy,political expression of social divisionsis very normal and can be healthy. Thisallows various disadvantaged andmarginal social groups to express theirgrievances and get the government toattend to these. Expression of variouskinds of social divisions in politicsoften results in their cancelling oneanother out and thus reducing their

intensity. This leads to strengtheningof a democracy.

But a positive attitude towardsdiversity and a willingness toaccommodate it do not come abouteasily. People who feel marginalised,deprived and discriminated have tofight against the injustices. Such a fightoften takes the democratic path,voicing their demands in a peaceful andconstitutional manner and seeking afair position through elections.Sometimes social differences can takethe form of unacceptable level ofsocial inequality and injustice. Thestruggle against such inequalitiessometimes takes the path of violenceand defiance of state power. Howeverhistory shows that democracy is thebest way to fight for recognition andalso to accommodate diversity.

Draw or collect someimages of social divisionsin different aspects of life.Can you think of someexamples of socialdivision or discriminationin the field of sports?

So, you aresaying that toomany smalldivisions arebetter than asingle bigdivision? Are youalso saying thatpolitics is a forceof unity?

1. Discuss three factors that determine the outcomes of politics ofsocial divisions.

2. When does a social difference become a social division?

3. How do social divisions affect politics? Give two examples.

4. ________________ social differences create possibilities of deepsocial divisions and tensions. ___________________ socialdifferences do not usually lead to conflicts.

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s5. In dealing with social divisions which one of the following statements

is NOT correct about democracy?(a) Due to political competition in a democracy, social divisions get

reflected in politics.(b) In a democracy it is possible for communities to voice their

grievances in a peaceful manner.(c) Democracy is the best way to accommodate social diversity.(d) Democracy always leads to disintegration of society on the basis

of social divisions.

6. Consider the following three statements.A. Social divisions take place when social differences overlap.B. It is possible that a person can have multiple identities.C. Social divisions exist in only big countries like India.

Which of the statements is/are correct?(a) A, B and C (b) A and B (c) B and C (d) Only C

7. Arrange the following statements in a logical sequence and selectthe right answers by using the code given below.A. But all political expression of social divisions need not be always

dangerous.B. Social divisions of one kind or the other exist in most countries.C. Parties try to win political support by appealing to social

divisions.D. Some social differences may result in social divisions.

(a) D, B, C, A (b) D, B, A, C (c) D, A, C, B (d) A, B, C, D

8. Among the following, which country suffered disintegration due topolitical fights on the basis of religious and ethnic identities?

(a) Belgium (b) India (c) Yugoslavia (d) Netherlands

9. Read the following passage from a famous speech by Martin LutherKing Jr. in 1963. Which social division is he talking about? What arehis aspirations and anxieties? Do you see a relationship between thisspeech and the incident in Mexico Olympics mentioned in thischapter?

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in anation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skinbut by the content of their character. Let freedom ring. And whenthis happens, and when we allow freedom ring—when we let itring from every village and every hamlet, from every state andevery city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’schildren—black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles,Protestants and Catholics—will be able to join hands and sing inthe words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! Free at last!Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’ I have a dream thatone day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning ofits creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all menare created equal’.”

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Gender,Religion andCaste

Overview

In the previous chapter we noted that the existence of social diversitydoes not threaten democracy. Political expression of social differencesis possible and sometimes quite desirable in a democratic system. Inthis chapter we apply these ideas to the practice of democracy inIndia. We look at three kinds of social differences that can take theform of social divisions and inequalities. These are social differencesbased on gender, religion and caste. In each case we look at thenature of this division in India and how it gets expressed in politics.We also ask whether different expressions based on these differencesare healthy or otherwise in a democracy.

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Gender and politics

Let us begin with gender division. Thisis a form of hierarchical social divisionseen everywhere, but is rarely recognisedin the study of politics. The genderdivision tends to be understood as naturaland unchangeable. However, it is notbased on biology but on socialexpectations and stereotypes.

Public/private divisionBoys and girls are brought up to believethat the main responsibility of women ishousework and bringing up children.This is reflected in a SEXUAL DIVISION OF

LABOUR in most families: women do allwork inside the home such as cooking,cleaning, washing clothes, tailoring,looking after children, etc., and men doall the work outside the home. It is notthat men cannot do housework; theysimply think that it is for women toattend to these things. When these jobsare paid for, men are ready to take upthese works. Most tailors or cooks inhotels are men. Similarly, it is not thatwomen do not work outside their home.In villages, women fetch water, collectfuel and work in the fields. In urbanareas, poor women work as domestichelper in middle class homes, whilemiddle class women work in offices. Infact the majority of women do somesort of paid work in addition todomestic labour. But their work is notvalued and does not get recognition.

The result of this division of labouris that although women constitute halfof the humanity, their role in public life,especially politics, is minimal in mostsocieties. Earlier, only men were allowedto participate in public affairs, vote andcontest for public offices. Gradually thegender issue was raised in politics.Women in different parts of the worldorganised and agitated for equal rights.There were agitations in differentcountries for the extension of votingrights to women. These agitationsdemanded enhancing the political andlegal status of women and improving

A poster from Bengal affirming women’sstrength.

Sexual division of labour:A system in which all workinside the home is eitherdone by the women of thefamily, or organised bythem through thedomestic helpers.

Why not? Ifpolitics is aboutpower, thensurely maledominance in thehousehold shouldbe consideredpolitical.

Why are wediscussing thingslike householdwork in thistextbook onPolitical Science?Is this politics?

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their educational and careeropportunities. More radical women’smovements aimed at equality in personaland family life as well. These movementsare called FEMINIST movements.

Political expression of genderdivision and political mobilisation on this

Discuss all these perceptions of an ideal woman that prevail in our society. Do youagree with any of these? If not, what is your image of an ideal woman?

Feminist: A womanor a man whobelieves in equal rightsand opportunities forwomen and men.

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question helped to improve women’srole in public life. We now find womenworking as scientists, doctors, engineers,lawyers, managers and college anduniversity teachers which were earlier notconsidered suitable for women. In someparts of the world, for example in

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Patriarchy: Literally,rule by father, thisconcept is used to referto a system that valuesmen more and givesthem power overwomen.

Activities Men Women

Income generating work 6:00 2:40

Household and related work 0:30 5:00

Talking, Gossip 1:25 1:20

No work/ Leisure 3:40 3:50

Sleep, self-care, reading etc. 12:25 11:10

Daily time use (hours: minutes)

Source: Government of India, Time Use Survey, 1998-99.

+A ‘time use survey’ was conducted in six states of our country. Itshows that an average woman works every day for a little overseven and half hours while an average man works for six and ahalf hours. Yet the work done by men is more visible becausemost of their work leads to generation of income. Women also doa lot of direct income generating work, but the bulk of their workis household related. This work remains unpaid and invisible.

Scandinavian countries such as Sweden,Norway and Finland, the participationof women in public life is very high.

In our country, women still lag muchbehind men despite some improvementsince Independence. Ours is still a male-

dominated, PATRIARCHAL society. Womenface disadvantage, discrimination andoppression in various ways:

The literacy rate among women isonly 54 per cent compared with 76 percent among men. Similarly, a smaller

You can conduct a similar time use survey in your own household.Observe all the adult male and female members of your family forone week. Every day note down the number of hours each ofthem spends on the following activities: income generatingactivity (working at the office or shop or factory or field, etc.),household related activity (cooking, cleaning, washing, fetchingwater, looking after children or elders, etc.), reading andrecreation, talking/gossiping, self-care, taking rest or sleeping. Ifnecessary make new categories. Add up the time taken on eachactivity for a week and calculate the daily average for each activityfor each member. Do women work more in your family as well?

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Mummy alwayssays to outsiders:“I don’t work. Iam a housewife.”But I see herworking non-stopall the time. Ifwhat she does isnot work, whatelse is work?

Map not to scale

proportion of girl students go for higherstudies. When we look at school results,girls perform as well as boys, if notbetter in some places. But they drop outbecause parents prefer to spend theirresources for their boys’ education ratherthan spending equally on their sons anddaughters.

No wonder the proportion ofwomen among the highly paid andvalued jobs is still very small. On anaverage an Indian woman works onehour more than an average man everyday. Yet much of her work is not paid

and therefore often not valued.The Equal Wages Act provides that

equal wages should be paid to equalwork. However in almost all areas ofwork, from sports and cinema, tofactories and fields, women are paid lessthan men, even when both do exactlythe same work.

In many parts of India parentsprefer to have sons and find ways tohave the girl child aborted before she isborn. Such sex-selective abortion led toa decline in child sex ratio (number ofgirl children per thousand boys) in the

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Can you identify your district on this map?What is the child sex ratio in it? How is itdifferent from others with a different colour?

Identify the States where most districts havechild sex ratio below 850.

Compare this map with the poster on the nextpage. How do the two of them tell us about thesame issue?

CHILD SEX RATIO

NATIONAL AVERAGE 927

BELOW 800800-849850-899900-949950 AND ABOVEDATA NOT AVAILABLE

DELHI

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country to merely 927. As the mapshows, this ratio has fallen below 850 oreven 800 in some places.

There are reports of various kindsof harassment, exploitation and violenceagainst women. Urban areas havebecome particularly unsafe for women.

They are not safe even within their ownhome from beating, harrassment andother forms of domestic violence.

Women’s politicalrepresentationAll this is well known. Yet issues relatedto women’s well being or otherwise arenot given adequate attention. This has ledmany feminists and women’s movementsto the conclusion that unless womencontrol power, their problems will notget adequate attention. One way toensure this is to have more women aselected representatives.

In India, the proportion of womenin legislature has been very low. Forexample, the percentage of electedwomen members in Lok Sabha has neverreached even 10 per cent of its totalstrength. Their share in the stateassemblies is less than 5 per cent. In thisrespect, India is among the bottomgroup of nations in the world (see thegraph below). India is behind the

Could you think of somereasons why women’srepresentation is so lowin India? Do you thinkAmerica’s and Europehave achieved asatisfactory level ofwomen’s representation?

WorldAverage

Women in national parliaments in differentregions of the world (in%)

16.8

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Note: Figures are for the per cent of women in the directly elected chambers of parliament in 2006Source: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm

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This cartoon offers an understanding of why the Women’s Reservation Bill has not been passed in theParliament. Do you agree with this reading?

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If casteism andcommunalism arebad, what makesfeminism a goodthing? Why don’twe oppose allthose who dividethe society onany lines – caste,religion orgender?

averages for several developing countriesof Africa and Latin America. In thegovernment, cabinets are largely all-maleeven when a woman becomes the ChiefMinister or the Prime Minister.

One way to solve this problem is tomake it legally binding to have a fairproportion of women in the electedbodies. This is what the Panchayati Rajhas done in India. One-third of seats inlocal government bodies – in panchayatsand municipalities – are now reservedfor women. Now there are more than10 lakh elected women representativesin rural and urban local bodies.

Women’s organisations andactivists have been demanding a similar

reservation of at least one-third ofseats in the Lok Sabha and StateAssemblies for women. A bill with thisproposal has been pending before theParliament for more than a decade. Butthere is no consensus over this amongall the political parties. The bill has notbeen passed.

Gender division is an example thatsome form of social division needs tobe expressed in politics. This also showsthat disadvantaged groups do benefitwhen social divisions become a politicalissue. Do you think that women couldhave made the gains we noted above iftheir unequal treatment was not raisedin the political domain?

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Religion, communalism and politics

Let us now turn to a very different kindof social division, the division based onreligious differences. This division is notas universal as gender, but religiousdiversity is fairly widespread in the worldtoday. Many countries including Indiahave in their population, followers ofdifferent religions. As we noticed in thecase of Northern Ireland, even whenmost of the people belong to the samereligion, there can be serious differencesabout the way people practice thatreligion. Unlike gender differences, thereligious differences are often expressedin the field of politics.

Consider the following:

Gandhiji used to say that religion cannever be separated from politics. Whathe meant by religion was not any

I am not religious.Why should Ibother aboutcommunalism andsecularism?

particular religion like Hinduism or Islambut moral values that inform all religions.He believed that politics must be guidedby ethics drawn from religion.

Human rights groups in our countryhave argued that most of the victims ofcommunal riots in our country arepeople from religious minorities. Theyhave demanded that the governmenttake special steps to protect religiousminorities.

Women’s movement has arguedthat FAMILY LAWS of all religionsdiscriminate against women. So theyhave demanded that government shouldchange these laws to make them moreequitable.

All these instances involve arelationship between religion and politics.

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But they do not seem very wrong ordangerous. Ideas, ideals and valuesdrawn from different religions can andperhaps should play a role in politics.People should be able to express inpolitics their needs, interests and demandsas a member of a religious community.Those who hold political power shouldsometimes be able to regulate thepractice of religion so as to preventdiscrimination and oppression. Thesepolitical acts are not wrong as long asthey treat every religion equally.

CommunalismThe problem begins when religion is seenas the basis of the nation. The exampleof Northern Ireland in Chapter 3 showsthe dangers of such an approach tonationalism. The problem becomesmore acute when religion is expressedin politics in exclusive and partisan terms,when one religion and its followers arepitted against another. This happens whenbeliefs of one religion are presented assuperior to those of other religions,when the demands of one religiousgroup are formed in opposition toanother and when state power is usedto establish domination of one religiousgroup over the rest. This manner ofusing religion in politics is communalpolitics.

Communal politics is based on theidea that religion is the principal basis ofsocial community. Communalisminvolves thinking along the followinglines. The followers of a particularreligion must belong to one community.Their fundamental interests are the same.Any difference that they may have isirrelevant or trivial for community life.It also follows that people who followdifferent religions cannot belong to the

Family laws: Thoselaws that deal withfamily related matterssuch as marriage,divorce, adoption,inheritance, etc. In ourcountry, different familylaws apply to followersof different religions.

same social community. If the followersof different religion have somecommonalities these are superficial andimmaterial. Their interests are bound tobe different and involve a conflict. In itsextreme form communalism leads to thebelief that people belonging to differentreligions cannot live as equal citizenswithin one nation. Either, one of themhas to dominate the rest or they have toform different nations.

This belief is fundamentally flawed.People of one religion do not have thesame interests and aspirations in everycontext. Everyone has several other roles,positions and identities. There are manyvoices inside every community. All thesevoices have a right to be heard. Thereforeany attempt to bring all followers of onereligion together in context other thanreligion is bound to suppress many voiceswithin that community.

Communalism can take variousforms in politics:

The most common expression ofcommunalism is in everyday beliefs.These routinely involve religiousprejudices, stereotypes of religiouscommunities and belief in the superiorityof one’s religion over other religions. Thisis so common that we often fail to noticeit, even when we believe in it.

A communal mind often leads to aquest for political dominance of one’sown religious community. For thosebelonging to majority community, thistakes the form of majoritariandominance. For those belonging to theminority community, it can take theform of a desire to form a separatepolitical unit.

Political mobilisation on religiouslines is another frequent form of

I often crackjokes aboutpeople from onereligion. Doesthat make mecommunal?

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communalism. This involves the use ofsacred symbols, religious leaders,emotional appeal and plain fear in orderto bring the followers of one religiontogether in the political arena. In electoralpolitics this often involves special appealto the interests or emotions of votersof one religion in preference to others.

Sometimes communalism takes itsmost ugly form of communal violence,riots and massacre. India and Pakistansuffered some of the worst communalriots at the time of the Partition. Thepost-Independence period has also seenlarge scale communal violence.

Secular stateCommunalism was and continues tobe one of the major challenges todemocracy in our country. The makersof our Constitution were aware of thischallenge. That is why they chose themodel of a secular state. This choice wasreflected in several constitutionalprovisions that we studied last year:

There is no official religion for theIndian state. Unlike the status ofBuddhism in Sri Lanka, that of Islam inPakistan and that of Christianity inEngland, our Constitution does not givea special status to any religion.

We remain strangersEven after so many meetingsBlood stains remainEven after so many rains

‘Faiz’

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The Constitution provides to allindividuals and communities freedom toprofess, practice and propagate anyreligion, or not to follow any.

The Constitution prohibitsdiscrimination on grounds of religion.

At the same time the Constitutionallows the state to intervene in thematters of religion in order to ensureequality within religious communities.For example, it bans untouchability.

Understood in this sense, secularismis not just an ideology of some partiesor persons. This idea constitutes one ofthe foundations of our country.Communalism should not be seen as athreat to some people in India. Itthreatens the very idea of India. That iswhy communalism needs to becombated. A secular Constitution likeours is necessary but not sufficient tocombat communalism. Communalprejudices and propaganda needs to be

countered in every day life and religionbased mobilisation needs to becountered in the arena of politics.

Caste and politicsWe have seen two instances of theexpression of social divisions in the arenaof politics, one largely positive and theother largely negative. Let us turn to ourfinal case, that of caste and politics, thathas both positive and the negative aspects.

Caste inequalitiesUnlike gender and religion, caste divisionis special to India. All societies have somekind of social inequality and some formof division of labour. In most societies,occupations are passed on from onegeneration to another. Caste system is anextreme form of this. What makes itdifferent from other societies is that in

this system, hereditary occupationaldivision was sanctioned by rituals.Members of the same caste group weresupposed to form a social communitythat practiced the same or similaroccupation, married within the castegroup and did not eat with membersfrom other caste groups.

Caste system was based on exclusionof and discrimination against the‘outcaste’ groups. They were subjectedto the inhuman practice of untouchabilityabout which you have studied in ClassIX. That is why political leaders and socialreformers like Jotiba Phule, Gandhiji,B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar Ramaswami

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Social and Religious Diversity of IndiaThe Census of India records the religion of each and every Indian after every tenyears. The person who fills the Census form visits every household and records thereligion of each member of that household exactly the way each person describes it.If someone says she has ‘no religion’ or that he is an ‘atheist’, this is exactly how it isrecorded. Thus we have reliable information on the proportion of different religiouscommunities in the country and how it has changed over the years. The pie chartbelow presents the population proportion of six major religious groups in the country.Since Independence, the total population of each group has increased substantiallybut their proportion in the country’s population has not changed much. In percentageterms, the population of the Hindus, Jains and Christians has declined marginally since1961. The proportion of Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist population has increased slightly.There is a common but mistaken impression that the proportion of the Muslims in thecountry’s population is going to overtake other religious groups. Expert estimates donefor the Prime Minister’s High Level Committee (popularly known as Sachar Committee)show that the proportion of the Muslims is expected to go up a little, by about 3 to 4per cent, in the next 50 years. It proves that in overall terms, the population balanceof different religious groups is not likely to change in a big way.

The same is true of the major caste groups. The Census of India counts two socialgroups: the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Both these broad groupsinclude hundreds of castes or tribes whose names are listed in an official Schedule.Hence the prefix ‘Scheduled’ in their name. The Scheduled Castes, commonly knownas Dalits, include those that were previously regarded as ‘outcaste’ in the Hindu socialorder and were subjected to exclusion and untouchability. The Scheduled Tribes, oftenreferred to as Adivasis, include those communities that led a secluded life usually inhills and forests and did not interact much with the rest of society. In 2001, theScheduled Castes were 16.2 percent and the Scheduled Tribes were8.2 per cent of the country’spopulation.

The Census does not yet count theOther Backward Classes, the groupwe discussed in class IX. Hencethere are some differences abouttheir proportion in the country’spopulation. The National SampleSurvey of 2004-05 estimates theirpopulation to be around 41 percent. Thus the SC, ST and theOBC together account for abouttwo-thirds of the country’spopulation and about three-fourthsof the Hindu population.

Population of different religiousgroup in India, 2001

Hindu80.5%

Muslim13.4%

Others 1.9%Christian 2.3%

Sikh 1.9%Others include Buddhist 0.8% Jain 0.4%All other religions 0.6% No religion 0.1%Source: Census of India, 2001

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Naicker advocated and worked toestablish a society in which casteinequalities are absent.

Partly due to their efforts and partlydue to other socio-economic changes,castes and caste system in modern Indiahave undergone great changes. Witheconomic development, large scaleURBANISATION, growth of literacy andeducation, OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY andthe weakening of the position oflandlords in the villages, the old notionsof CASTE HIERARCHY are breaking down.Now, most of the times, in urban areasit does not matter much who is walkingalong next to us on a street or eating atthe next table in a restaurant. TheConstitution of India prohibited anycaste-based discrimination and laid thefoundations of policies to reverse theinjustices of the caste system. If a personwho lived a century ago were to returnto India, she would be greatly surprisedat the change that has come about inthe country.

Yet caste has not disappeared fromcontemporary India. Some of the olderaspects of caste have persisted. Evennow most people marry within theirown caste or tribe. Untouchability hasnot ended completely, despiteconstitutional prohibition. Effects ofcenturies of advantages anddisadvantages continue to be felt today.The caste groups that had access toeducation under the old system havedone very well in acquiring moderneducation as well. Those groups that didnot have access to education or wereprohibited from acquiring it have naturallylagged behind. That is why there is adisproportionately large presence of‘upper caste’ among the urban middleclasses in our country. Caste continues to

be closely linked to economic status.(See Plus Box on Page 52.)

Caste in politicsAs in the case of communalism, casteismis rooted in the belief that caste is thesole basis of social community.According to this way of thinking,people belonging to the same castebelong to a natural social community andhave the same interests which they donot share with anyone from another caste.As we saw in the case of communalism,such a belief is not borne out by ourexperience. Caste is one aspect of ourexperience but it is not the only relevantor the most important aspect.

Caste can take various forms in politics:

When parties choose candidates inelections, they keep in mind the castecomposition of the electorate andnominate candidates from differentcastes so as to muster necessary supportto win elections. When governments areformed, political parties usually take carethat representatives of different castes andtribes find a place in it.

Urbanisation: Shift ofpopulation from ruralareas to urban areasOccupationalmobility: Shift fromone occupation toanother, usually when anew generation takes upoccupations other thanthose practiced by theirancestors.Caste hierarchy: Aladder like formation inwhich all the castegroups are placed fromthe ‘highest’ to the‘lowest’ castes.

I don’t care whatmy caste is. Whyare we discussingall this in thetextbook? Are wenot promotingcasteism bytalking aboutcaste?

Now you don’t likeit! Didn’t you tellme that whereverthere is domination,we should discuss itin Political Science?Will caste disappearif we keep mumabout it?

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Caste inequality todayCaste is an important source of economic inequality because it regulates accessto resources of various kinds. For example, in the past, the so-called‘untouchable’ castes were denied the right to own land, while only the so-called‘twice born’ castes had the right to education. Although this kind of explicit andformalised inequality based on caste is now outlawed, the effects of centuries ofaccumulated advantages and disadvantages continue to be felt. Moreover, newkinds of inequalities have also developed.

The relationship between caste and economic status has certainly changed a lot.Today, it is possible to find very rich and very poor people in every caste,whether ‘low’ or ‘high’. This was not true even twenty or thirty years ago – itwas very rare indeed to find rich people among the ‘lowest’ castes. However, asthis evidence from the National Sample Survey shows, caste continues to be verystrongly linked to economic status in many important ways:

The average economic status (measured by criteria like monthly consumptionexpenditure) of caste groups still follows the old hierarchy – the ‘upper’ castesare best off, the Dalits and Adivasis are worst off, and the backward classes arein between.

Although every caste has some poor members, the proportion living inextreme poverty (below the official ‘poverty line’) is much higher for the lowestcastes and much lower for the upper castes, with the backward classes onceagain in between.

Although every caste has some members who are rich, the upper castes areheavily over-represented among the rich while the lower castes are severelyunder-represented.

Percentage of poulation living below the poverty line, 1999-2000Caste and Community groups Rural UrbanScheduled Tribes 45.8 35.6

Scheduled Castes 35.9 38.3

Other Backward Classes 27.0 29.5

Muslim Upper Castes 26.8 34.2

Hindu Upper Castes 11.7 9.9

Christian Upper Castes 9.6 5.4

Sikh Upper Castes 0.0 4.9

Other Upper Castes 16.0 2.7

All Groups 27.0 23.4Note: ‘Upper Caste’ here means those who are not from SC, ST, or OBC. Below the poverty linemeans those who spent Rs 327 or less per person per month in rural and Rs 454 or less perperson per month in urban areas.Source: National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), Government of India, 55th Round, 1999-2000

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Political parties and candidates inelections make appeals to caste sentimentto muster support. Some political partiesare known to favour some castes andare seen as their representatives.

Universal adult franchise and theprinciple of one-person-one-votecompelled political leaders to gear upto the task of mobilising and securingpolitical support. It also brought newconsciousness among the people ofcastes that were hitherto treated asinferior and low.

The focus on caste in politics cansometimes give an impression thatelections are all about caste and nothingelse. That is far from true. Just considerthese:

No parliamentary constituency inthe country has a clear majority of onesingle caste. So, every candidate and partyneeds to win the confidence of morethan one caste and community to winelections.

No party wins the votes of all thevoters of a caste or community. Whenpeople say that a caste is a ‘vote bank’of one party, it usually means that a largeproportion of the voters from that castevote for that party.

Many political parties may put upcandidates from the same caste (if thatcaste is believed to dominate theelectorate in a particular constituency).Some voters have more than onecandidate from their caste while manyvoters have no candidate from theircaste.

The ruling party and the sitting MPor MLA frequently lose elections in ourcountry. That could not have happenedif all castes and communities werefrozen in their political preferences.

Clearly, while caste matters inelectoral politics, so do many otherfactors. The voters have strongattachment to political parties which isoften stronger than their attachment totheir caste or community. People withinthe same caste or community havedifferent interests depending on theireconomic condition. Rich and poor ormen and women from the same casteoften vote very differently. People’sassessment of the performance of thegovernment and the popularity rating ofthe leaders matter and are often decisivein elections.

Politics in casteWe have so far looked at what caste doesto politics. But it does not mean that thereis only a one-way relation between casteand politics. Politics too influences thecaste system and caste identities bybringing them into the political arena.

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Thus, it is not politics that gets caste-ridden, it is the caste that gets politicised.This takes several forms:

Each caste group tries to becomebigger by incorporating within itneighbouring castes or sub-castes whichwere earlier excluded from it.

Various caste groups are required toenter into a coalition with other castes orcommunities and thus enter into adialogue and negotiation.

New kinds of caste groups havecome up in the political arena like‘backward’ and ‘forward’ caste groups.

Thus, caste plays different kinds ofroles in politics. In some situations,expression of caste differences in politicsgives many disadvantaged communitiesthe space to demand their share ofpower. In this sense-caste politics hashelped people from Dalits and OBCcastes to gain better access to decisionmaking. Several political and non-politicalorganisations have been demanding andagitating for an end to discriminationagainst particular castes, for more dignityand more access to land, resources andopportunities.

At the same time exclusive attentionto caste can produce negative results aswell. As in the case of religion, politicsbased on caste identity alone is not veryhealthy in a democracy. It can divertattention from other pressing issues likepoverty, development and corruption. Insome cases caste division leads totensions, conflict and even violence.

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1. Mention different aspects of life in which women are discriminatedor disadvantaged in India.

2. State different forms of communal politics with one example each.

3. State how caste inequalities are still continuing in India.

4. State two reasons to say that caste alone cannot determineelection results in India.

5. What is the status of women’s representation in India’s legislativebodies?

6. Mention any two constitutional provisions that make India asecular state.

7. When we speak of gender divisions, we usually refer to:(a) Biological difference between men and women(b) Unequal roles assigned by the society to men and women(c) Unequal child sex ratio(d) Absence of voting rights for women in democracies

8. In India seats are reserved for women in(a) Lok Sabha(b) State legislative assemblies(c) Cabinets(d) Panchayati Raj bodies

9. Consider the following statements on the meaning of communalpolitics. Communal politics is based on the belief that:A. One religion is superior to that of others.B. People belonging to different religions can live together happily

as equal citizens.C. Followers of a particular religion constitute one community.D. State power cannot be used to establish the domination of

one religious group over others.

Which of the statements is/are correct?(a) A, B, C, and D (b) A, B, and D (c) A and C (d) B and D

10. Which among the following statements about India’s Constitutionis wrong? It(a) prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.(b) gives official status to one religion.(c) provides to all individuals freedom to profess any religion.(d) ensures equality of citizens within religious communities.

11. Social divisions based on _________ are peculiar to India. Exer

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List I List II

1. A person who believes in equal rightsand opportunities for women and men A. Communalist

2. A person who says that religion is theprincipal basis of community B. Feminist

3. A person who thinks that caste is theprincipal basis of community C. Secularist

4. A person who does not discriminateothers on the basis of religious beliefs D. Castiest

1 2 3 4(a) B C A D(b) B A D C(c) D C A B(d) C A B D

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codes given below the Lists:

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Chap

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PopularStruggles andMovements

Overview

In the earlier chapters we discussed why power sharing is importantin a democracy and how different tiers of government and varioussocial groups share power. In this chapter we will carry this discussionfurther and see how those who exercise power are constrained by theinfluence and pressure exerted on them. Democracy almost invariablyinvolves conflict of interests and viewpoints. These differences areoften expressed in organised ways. Those who are in power are requiredto balance these conflicting demands and pressures. We begin thischapter with a discussion of how struggles around conflicting demandsand pressures shape democracy. This leads to an analysis of thedifferent ways and organisations through which ordinary citizen canplay a role in democracy. In this chapter, we look at the indirect waysof influencing politics, through pressure groups and movements.This leads us in the next chapter to the direct ways of controllingpolitical power in the form of political parties.

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Popular struggles in Nepal and BoliviaDo you remember the story of thetriumph of democracy in Poland? Westudied it last year in the first chapterof class IX. The story reminded usabout the role played by the peoplein the making of democracy. Let usread two recent stories of that kindand see how power is exercised indemocracy.

Movement for democracy inNepalNepal witnessed an extraordinarypopular movement in April 2006. Themovement was aimed at restoringdemocracy. Nepal, you might recall, wasone of the ‘third wave’ countries that hadwon democracy in 1990. Although the

king formally remained the head of thestate, the real power was exercised bypopularly elected representatives. KingBirendra, who has accepted this transitionfrom absolute monarchy to constitutionalmonarchy, was killed in a mysteriousmassacre of the royal family in 2001.King Gyanendra, the new king of Nepal,was not prepared to accept democraticrule. He took advantage of the weaknessand unpopularity of the democraticallyelected government. In February 2005,the king dismissed the then Prime Ministerand dissolved the popularly electedParliament. The movement of April2006 was aimed at regaining popularcontrol over the government fromthe king.

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All the major political parties in theparliament formed a Seven PartyAlliance (SPA) and called for a four daystrike in Kathmandu, the country’s capital.This protest soon turned into anindefinite strike in which MAOIST

insurgents and various otherorganisations joined hands. People defiedcurfew and took to the streets. Thesecurity forces found themselves unableto take on more than a lakh people whogathered almost every day to demandrestoration of democracy. The numberof protesters reached between three tofive lakhs on 21 April and they servedan ultimatum to the king. The leadersof the movement rejected the half-hearted concessions made by the king.They stuck to their demand for

Maoists: Thosecommunists who believein the ideology of Mao, theleader of the Chineserevolution. They seek tooverthrow the governmentthrough an armedrevolution so as toestablish the rule of thepeasants and workers.

restoration of parliament, power toan all-party government and a newconstituent assembly.

On 24 April 2004, the last day ofthe ultimatum, the king was forced toconcede all the three demands. The SPAchose Girija Prasad Koirala as the newPrime Minister of the interimgovernment. The restored parliamentmet and passed laws taking away mostof the powers of the king. The SPA andthe Maoists came to an understandingabout how the new ConstituentAssembly was going to be elected. Thisstruggle came to be known as Nepal’ssecond movement for democracy. Thestruggle of the Nepali people is a sourceof inspiration to democrats all overthe world.

Political parties and people of Nepal in a rally demanding restoration of democracy in their country

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Bolivia’s Water WarThe story of Poland and that of Nepalapply to the struggle for establishing orrestoring democracy. But the role ofpopular struggles does not come to anend with the establishment of democracy.People’s successful struggle againstprivatisation of water in Bolivia remindsus that popular struggles are integral tothe working of democracy.

Bolivia is a poor country in LatinAmerica. The World Bank pressurised thegovernment to give up its control ofmunicipal water supply. The governmentsold these rights for the city ofCochabamba to a multi-nationalcompany (MNC). The companyimmediately increased the price of waterby four times. Many people receivedmonthly water bill of Rs 1000 in acountry where average income is aroundRs 5000 a month. This led to aspontaneous popular protest.

In January 2000, a new alliance oflabour, human rights and communityleaders organised a successful four-daygeneral strike in the city. The governmentagreed to negotiate and the strike wascalled off. Yet nothing happened. Thepolice resorted to brutal repression whenthe agitation was started again in February.Another strike followed in April and thegovernment imposed martial law. But thepower of the people forced the officialsof the MNC to flee the city and madethe government concede to all thedemands of the protesters. The contractwith the MNC was cancelled and watersupply was restored to the municipalityat old rates. This came to be known asBolivia’s water war.

Democracy and popularstrugglesThese two stories are from very differentcontexts. The movement in Nepal wasto establish democracy, while the strugglein Bolivia involved claims on an elected,democratic government. The popularstruggle in Bolivia was about one specificpolicy, while the struggle in Nepal wasabout the foundations of the country’spolitics. Both these struggles weresuccessful but their impact was atdifferent levels.

Despite these differences, both thestories share some elements which arerelevant to the study of the past andfuture of democracies. Both these areinstances of political conflict that led topopular struggles. In both cases thestruggle involved mass mobilisation.Public demonstration of mass supportclinched the dispute. Finally, bothinstances involved critical role of politicalorganisations. If you recall the firstchapter of class IX textbook, this is howdemocracy has evolved all over theworld. We can therefore draw a fewconclusions from these examples:

Democracy evolves throughpopular struggles. It is possible that somesignificant decisions may take placethrough consensus and may not involveany conflict at all. But that would be anexception. Defining moments ofdemocracy usually involve conflictbetween those groups who haveexercised power and those who aspirefor a share in power. These momentscome when the country is going throughtransition to democracy, expansion ofdemocracy or deepening of democracy.

Democratic conflict is resolvedthrough mass mobilisation. Sometimes

Are yousuggesting thatstrike, dharna,bandh anddemonstrationare a good thing?I thought ithappened only inour country,because we arenot a maturedemocracy yet.

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Does it mean thatwhichever sidemanages tomobilise a biggercrowd gets awaywith whatever itwants? Are wesaying that ‘Mightis Right’ in ademocracy?

it is possible that the conflict is resolvedby using the existing institutions like theparliament or the judiciary. But whenthere is a deep dispute, very often theseinstitutions themselves get involved in thedispute. The resolution has to comefrom outside, from the people.

These conflicts and mobilisations are

based on new political organisations.True, there is an element of spontaneityin all such historic moments. But thespontaneous public participationbecomes effective with the help oforganised politics. There can be manyagencies of organised politics. Theseinclude political parties, pressure groupsand movement groups.

In 1984, the Karnataka government set up a company called Karnataka PulpwoodLimited. About 30,000 hectares of land was given virtually free to this company for 40years. Much of this land was used by local farmers as grazing land for their cattle.However the company began to plant eucalyptus trees on this land, which could be usedfor making paper pulp. In 1987, a movement called Kittiko-Hachchiko (meaning, pluck andplant) started a non-violent protest, where people plucked the eucalyptus plants andplanted saplings of trees that were useful to the people.

Suppose you belong to any of the following groups, what arguments would you putforward to defend your side: a local farmer, an environmental activist, a governmentofficial working in this company or just a consumer of paper.

Mobilisation and organisationsLet us go back to our two examples andlook at the organisations that made thesestruggles successful. We noted that thecall for indefinite strike was given by theSPA or the Seven Party Alliance in Nepal.This alliance included some big partiesthat had some members in theParliament. But the SPA was not the onlyorganisation behind this mass upsurge.The protest was joined by the NepaleseCommunist Party (Maoist) which did notbelieve in parliamentary democracy. This

party was involved in an armed struggleagainst the Nepali government and hadestablished its control over large partsof Nepal.

The struggle involved manyorganisations other than political parties.All the major labour unions and theirfederations joined this movement. Manyother organisations like the organisationof the indigenous people, teachers,lawyers and human rights groupsextended support to the movement.

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I don’t like thisword‘mobilisation’.Makes it feel as ifpeople are likesheep.

The protest against waterprivatisation in Bolivia was not led byany political party. It was led by anorganisation called FEDECOR. Thisorganisation comprised of localprofessionals, including engineers andenvironmentalists. They were supportedby a federation of farmers who reliedon irrigation, the confederation offactory workers’ unions, middle classstudents from the the University ofCochabamba and the city’s growingpopulation of homeless street children.The movement was supported by theSocialist Party. In 2006, this party cameto power in Bolivia.

From both these examples we cansee that in a democracy several differentkinds of organisations work behind anybig struggle. These organisations play

their role in two ways. One obvious wayof influencing the decisions in ademocracy is direct participation incompetitive politics. This is done bycreating parties, contesting elections andforming governments. But every citizendoes not participate so directly. Theymay not have the desire, the need orthe skills to take part in direct politicalactivity other than voting.

There are many indirect ways inwhich people can get governments tolisten to their demands or their point ofview. They could do so by forming anorganisation and undertaking activities topromote their interest or their viewpoint.These are called interest groups orpressure groups. Sometimes peopledecide to act together without formingorganisations.

Governments initiate schemes and programme to alleviate the suffering of the poorand meet their basic needs. But poverty remains in the country? What could be thereasons for such a situation?

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Pressure groups and movementsPressure groups are organisations thatattempt to influence governmentpolicies. But unlike political parties,pressure groups do not aim to directlycontrol or share political power. Theseorganisations are formed when peoplewith common occupation, interest,aspirations or opinions come togetherin order to achieve a common objective.

In the course of the discussionabove we came across entities that arenot quite an organisation. The strugglein Nepal was called a movement fordemocracy. We often hear the word

people’s movement to describe manyforms of collective action: NarmadaBachao Andolan, Movement for Rightto Information, Anti-liquor Movement,Women’s Movement, EnvironmentalMovement. Like an interest group, amovement also attempts to influencepolitics rather than directly take part inelectoral competition. But unlike theinterest groups, movements have aloose organisation. Their decisionmaking is more informal and flexible.They depend much more onspontaneous mass participation than aninterest group.

Can you identify thepressure groupsfunctioning in the newsclippings given here?What demand are theymaking?

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Sectional interest groups andpublic interest groupsUsually interest groups seek to promotethe interests of a particular section orgroup of society. Trade unions, businessassociations and professional (lawyers,doctors, teachers, etc.) bodies are someexamples of this type. They are sectionalbecause they represent a section ofsociety: workers, employees, business-persons, industrialists, followers of areligion, caste group, etc. Their principalconcern is the betterment and well beingof their members, not society in general.

Sometimes these organisations arenot about representing the interest of onesection of society. They represent somecommon or general interest that needsto be defended. The members of theorganisation may not benefit from thecause that the organisation represents. TheBolivian organisation FEDECOR is anexample of that kind of an organisation.In the context of Nepal, we noted theparticipation of human rightsorganisations. We read about theseorganisations in class IX.

These second type of groups arecalled promotional groups or publicinterest groups. They promote collectiverather than selective good. They aim tohelp groups other than their ownmembers. For example, a group fightingagainst bonded labour fights not for itselfbut for those who are suffering undersuch bondage. In some instances themembers of a public interest group mayundertake activity that benefits them aswell as others too. For example,BAMCEF (Backward and MinoritiesCommunity Employees Federation) is anorganisation largely made up ofgovernment employees that campaignsagainst caste discrimination. It addresses

Land rights protest: farmers of West Java, Indonesia. On June 2004,about 15,000 landless farmers from West Java, travelled to Jakarta,the capital city. They came with their families to demand land reform, toinsist on the return of their farms. Demonstrators chanted, “No land, Novote” declaring that they would boycott Indonesia’s first presidentialelection if no candidate backed land reform.

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the problems of its members who sufferdiscrimination. But its principal concernis with social justice and social equalityfor the entire society.

Movement groupsAs in the case of interest groups, thegroups involved with movements alsoinclude a very wide variety. The variousexamples mentioned above alreadyindicate a simple distinction. Most ofthe movements are issue specificmovements that seek to achieve a singleobjective within a limited time frame.Others are more general or genericmovements that seek to achieve a broadgoal in the very long term.

The Nepalese movement fordemocracy arose with the specificobjective of reversing the king’s ordersthat led to suspension of democracy. InIndia, Narmada Bachao Andolan is agood example of this kind ofmovement. The movement started with

the specific issue of the people displacedby the creation of Sardar Sarovardam on the Narmada river. Its objectivewas to stop the dam from beingconstructed. Gradually it became awider movement that questioned allsuch big dams and the model ofdevelopment that required such dams.Movements of this kind tend to have aclear leadership and some organisation.But their active life is usually short.

These single-issue movements canbe contrasted with movements that arelong term and involve more than oneissue. The environmental movement andthe women’s movement are examplesof such movements. There is no singleorganisation that controls or guides suchmovements. Environmental movementis a label for a large number oforganisations and issue-specificmovements. All of these have separateorganisation, independent leadershipand often different views on policy

Social movements andpressure groups try tomobilise citizens inmany ways. The collagehere show some ofthem.

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related matters. Yet all of these share abroad objective and have a similarapproach. That is why they are called amovement. Sometimes these broadmovements have a loose umbrellaorganisation as well. For example, the

National Alliance for Peoples’Movements (NAPM) is an organisationof organisations. Various movementgroups struggling on specific issues areconstituents of this loose organisationwhich coordinates the activities of alarge number of peoples’ movementsin our country.

How do they influence politics?

Pressure groups and movements exertinfluence on politics in a variety of ways:

They try to gain public support andsympathy for their goals and their activityby carrying out information campaigns,organising meetings, file petitions, etc.Most of these groups try to influencethe media into giving more attention tothese issues.

They often organise protest activitylike strikes or disrupting government

The Right to InformationAct is one of the recentlegislations passed byParliament? Who isshown as obstructing theimplementation of thelegislation?

What are the social movements listed in these news clippings? What efforts are theymaking? Which sections are they trying to mobilise?

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programmes. Workers’ organisations,employees’ associations and most of themovement groups often resort to thesetactics in order to force the governmentto take note of their demand.

Business groups often employprofessional lobbyists or sponsorexpensive advertisements. Some personsfrom pressure groups or movementgroups may participate in official bodiesand committees that offer advice to thegovernment.

While interest groups and movementsdo not directly engage in party politics,they seek to exert influence on politicalparties. Most of the movement groupstake a political stance without being a party.They have political ideology and politicalposition on major issues. The relationshipbetween political parties and pressuregroups can take different forms, somedirect and others very indirect:

In some instances the pressuregroups are either formed or led by theleaders of political parties or act asextended arms of political parties. Forexample, most trade unions and students’organisations in India are eitherestablished by or affiliated to one or theother major political party. Most of theleaders of such pressure groups areusually activists and leaders of party.

Sometimes political parties grow outof movements. For example, when theAssam movement led by students againstthe ‘foreigners’ came to an end, it led tothe formation of the Asom GanaParishad. The roots of parties like theDMK and the AIADMK in Tamil Naducan be traced to a long drawn socialreform movement during the 1930 and1940s.

In most cases the relationshipbetween parties and interest ormovement groups is not so direct. Theyoften take positions that are opposed toeach other. Yet they are in dialogue andnegotiation. Movement groups haveraised new issues that have been takenup by political parties. Most of the newleadership of political parties comesfrom interest or movement groups.

Is their influence healthy?It may initially appear that it is not healthyfor groups that promote interest of onesection to have influence in democracy.A democracy must look after the interestof all, not just one section. Also, it mayseem that these groups wield powerwithout responsibility. Political partieshave to face the people in elections, butthese groups are not accountable to thepeople. Pressure groups and movementsmay not get their funds and support

Follow the news on any news TV channel for one week. Make a note of news relatedto pressure groups or movements representing the following sectors or sections: farmers,traders, labour, industry, environment and women. Which of these are mentioned most ontelevision news? Which sections or interests get mentioned the least? You may follow anewspaper if you don’t have TV at home.

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The Green Belt Movement has planted 30 million trees across Kenya. Itsleader Wangari Maathai is very disappointed with the response of government

officials and politicians:

“In the 1970s and 1980s, as I was encouraging farmers to plant trees on theirland, I also discovered that corrupt government agents were responsible for much

of the deforestation by illegally selling off land and trees towell-connected developers. In the early 1990’s, thelivelihoods, the rights and even the lives of many Kenyans inthe Rift Valley were lost when elements of President DanielArap Moi’s government encouraged ethnic communities toattack one another over land. Supporters of the ruling partygot the land, while those in the pro-democracy movementwere displaced. This was one of the government’s ways ofretaining power; if communities were kept busy fighting overland, they would have less opportunity to demand democracy.”

In the above passage what relationship do you see betweendemocracy and social movements? How should this movementrespond to the government?

from the people. Sometimes, pressuregroups with small public support but lotsof money can highjack public discussionin favour of their narrow agenda.

On balance, however, pressuregroups and movements have deepeneddemocracy. Putting pressure on the rulersis not an unhealthy activity in a democracyas long as everyone gets this opportunity.Governments can often come underundue pressure from a small group of

rich and powerful people. Publicinterest groups and movements

perform a useful role of counteringthis undue influence and reminding

the government of the needs andconcerns of ordinary citizens.

Even the sectional interest groupsplay a valuable role. Where differentgroups function actively, no one singlegroup can achieve dominance oversociety. If one group brings pressure ongovernment to make policies in itsfavour, another will bring counterpressure not to make policies in the waythe first group desires. The governmentgets to hear about what different sectionsof the population want. This leads to arough balance of power andaccommodation of conflicting interests.

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1. In what ways do pressure groups and movements exert influenceon politics?

2. Describe the forms of relationship between pressure groups andpolitical parties?

3. Explain how the activities of pressure groups are useful in thefunctioning of a democratic government.

4. What is a pressure group? Give a few examples.

5. What is the difference between a pressure group and apolitical party?

6. Organisations that undertake activities to promote the interestsof specific social sections such as workers, employees, teachers,and lawyers are called _____________________ groups.

7. Which among the following is the special feature thatdistinguishes a pressure group from a political party?(a) Parties take political stances, while pressure groups do not

bother about political issues.(b) Pressure groups are confined to a few people, while parties

involve larger number of people.(c) Pressure groups do not seek to get into power, while political

parties do.(d) Pressure groups do not seek to mobilise people, while parties

8. Match List I (organisations and struggles) with List II and selectthe correct answer using the codes given below the lists:do.

List I List II

1. Organisations that seek to promote A. Movementthe interests of a particular sectionor group

2. Organisations that seek to promote B. Political partiescommon interest

3. Struggles launched for the resolution C. Sectional interestof a social problem with or without groupsan organisational structure

4. Organisations that mobilise people D. Public interestwith a view to win political power groups

1 2 3 4(a) C D B A(b) C D A B(c) D C B A(d) B C D A

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sList I List II

1. Pressure group A. Narmada Bachao Andolan

2. Long term movement B. Asom Gana Parishad

3. Single issue movement C. Women’s movement

4. Political party D. Fertilizer dealers’ association

1 2 3 4(a) D C A B(b) B A D C(c) C D B A(d) B D C A

9. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using thecodes given below the lists:

10. Consider the following statements about pressure groups andparties.A. Pressure groups are organised expression of the interests and

views of specific social sections.B. Pressure groups take positions on political issues.C. All pressure groups are political parties.

Which of the statements given above are correct?(a) A, B, and C (b) A and B (c) B and C (d) A and C

11. Mewat is one of the most backward areas in Haryana. It used tobe a part of district Gurgaon and Faridabad. The people of Mewatfelt that the area will get better attention if it were to become aseparate district. But political parties were indifferent to thissentiment. The demand for a separate district was raised byMewat Educational and Social Organisation and Mewat SakshartaSamiti in 1996. Later Mewat Vikas Sabha was founded in 2000 andcarried out a series of public awareness campaigns. This forcedboth the major parties, Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal,to announe their support for the new district before the assemblyelections held in February 2005. The new district came intoexistence in July 2005.

In this example what is the relationship that you observe among

movement, political parties and the government? Can you think of an

example that shows a relationship different from this one?

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Overview

In this tour of democracy we have come across political parties severaltimes. In Class IX, we noticed the role of political parties in the rise ofdemocracies, in the formation of constitutional designs, in electoralpolitics and in the making and working of governments. In thistextbook, we have glanced at political parties as vehicles of federalsharing of political power and as negotiator of social divisions in thearena of democratic politics. Before concluding this tour, let us takea close look at the nature and working of political parties, especiallyin our country. We begin by asking two common questions: Why dowe need parties? How many parties are good for a democracy? In thelight of these we introduce the national and regional political partiesin today’s India and then look at what is wrong with political partiesand what can be done about it.

Political Parties

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Why do we need political parties?Political parties are easily one of the mostvisible institutions in a democracy. Formost ordinary citizens, democracy is equalto political parties. If you travel to remoteparts of our country and speak to theless educated citizens, you could comeacross people who may not knowanything about our Constitution or aboutthe nature of our government. Butchances are that they would knowsomething about our political parties. Atthe same time this visibility does not meanpopularity. Most people tend to be verycritical of political parties. They tend to

blame parties for all that is wrong withour democracy and our political life.Parties have become identified withsocial and political divisions.

Therefore, it is natural to ask – dowe need political parties at all? Abouthundred years ago there were fewcountries of the world that had anypolitical party. Now there are few thatdo not have parties. Why did politicalparties become so omnipresent indemocracies all over the world? Let usfirst answer what political parties are andwhat they do, before we say why we needthem.

MeaningA political party is a group of peoplewho come together to contest electionsand hold power in the government. Theyagree on some policies and programmesfor the society with a view to promotethe collective good. Since there can bedifferent views on what is good for all,

So, you agreewith me. Partiesare partial,partisan and leadto partitions.Parties donothing butdivide people.That is their realfunction!

Election Commission has officially banned wallwriting by parties during election times. Mostpolitical parties argue that was the cheapest way fortheir campaign. These election times used tocreate amazing graffiti on the walls. Here are someexamples from Tamil Nadu.

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Partisan: A personwho is stronglycommitted to a party,group or faction.Partisanship is markedby a tendency to take aside and inability to takea balanced view on anissue.

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parties try to persuade people why theirpolicies are better than others. They seekto implement these policies by winningpopular support through elections.

Thus, parties reflect fundamentalpolitical divisions in a society. Parties areabout a part of the society and thusinvolve PARTISANSHIP. Thus a party isknown by which part it stands for, whichpolicies it supports and whose interestsit upholds. A political party has threecomponents:

the leaders,the active members andthe followers

FunctionsWhat does a political party do? Basically,political parties fill political offices andexercise political power. Parties do soby performing a series of functions:

1 Parties contest elections. In mostdemocracies, elections are fought mainly

among the candidates put up by politicalparties. Parties select their candidates indifferent ways. In some countries, suchas the USA, members and supportersof a party choose its candidates. Nowmore and more countries are followingthis method. In other countries like India,top party leaders choose candidates forcontesting elections.

2 Parties put forward differentpolicies and programmes and thevoters choose from them. Each of usmay have different opinions and viewson what policies are suitable for thesociety. But no government can handlesuch a large variety of views. In ademocracy, a large number of similaropinions have to be grouped togetherto provide a direction in which policiescan be formulated by the governments.This is what the parties do. A partyreduces a vast multitude of opinions into

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Okay, grantedthat we can’t livewithout politicalparties. But tellme how do welive with the kindof political partieswe have?

a few basic positions which it supports.A government is expected to baseits policies on the line taken by theRULING PARTY.

3 Parties play a decisive role in makinglaws for a country. Formally, laws aredebated and passed in the legislature. Butsince most of the members belong to aparty, they go by the direction of theparty leadership, irrespective of theirpersonal opinions.

4 Parties form and run governments.As we noted last year, the big policydecisions are taken by political executivethat comes from the political parties.Parties recruit leaders, trains them andthen make them ministers to run thegovernment in the way they want.

5 Those parties that lose in the electionsplay the role of opposition to the partiesin power, by voicing different views andcriticising government for its failures orwrong policies. Opposition parties alsomobilise opposition to the government.

6 Parties shape public opinion. Theyraise and highlight issues. Parties havelakhs of members and activists spreadall over the country. Many of the pressuregroups are the extensions of politicalparties among different sections ofsociety. Parties sometimes also launchmovements for the resolution ofproblems faced by people. Oftenopinions in the society crystallise on thelines parties take.

7 Parties provide people access togovernment machinery and welfareschemes implemented by governments.For an ordinary citizen it is easy toapproach a local party leader than agovernment officer. That is why they feelclose to parties even when they do notfully trust them. Parties have to be

responsive to people’s needs anddemands. Otherwise people can rejectthose parties in the next elections.

NecessityThis list of functions in a sense answersthe question asked above: we needpolitical parties because they perform allthese functions. But we still need to askwhy modern democracies cannot existwithout political parties. We canunderstand the necessity of politicalparties by imagining a situation withoutparties. Every candidate in the electionswill be independent. So no one will beable to make any promises to the peopleabout any major policy changes. Thegovernment may be formed, but itsutility will remain ever uncertain. Electedrepresentative will be accountable to theirconstituency for what they do in thelocality. But no one will be responsiblefor how the country run.

We can also think about it by lookingat the non-party based elections to thepanchayat in many states. Although, theparties do not contest formally, it isgenerally noticed that the village gets splitinto more than one faction, each ofwhich puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates.This is exactly what the party does. Thatis the reason we find political parties inalmost all countries of the world,whether these countries are big or small,old or new, developed or developing.

The rise of political parties is directlylinked to the emergence ofrepresentative democracies. As we haveseen, large scale societies needrepresentative democracy. As societiesbecame large and complex, they alsoneeded some agency to gather differentviews on various issues and to presentthese to the government. They needed

Ruling Party: Politicalparty that runs

government.

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some way to bring variousrepresentatives together so that aresponsible government could beformed. They needed a mechanism tosupport or restrain the government,

Categorise these photographs by the functions of political parties theyillustrate. Find one photograph or news clipping from your own area for

each of the functions listed above.

make policies, justify or oppose them.Political parties fulfill these needs thatevery representative government has.We can say that parties are a necessarycondition for a democracy.

How many parties should we have?In a democracy any group of citizens isfree to form a political party. In thisformal sense there are a large numberof political parties in each country. Morethan 750 parties are registered with theElection Commission of India. But notall these parties are serious contenders inthe elections. Usually only a handful of

parties are effectively in the race to winelections and form the government. Sothe question then is: how many majoror effective parties are good for ademocracy?

In some countries only one party isallowed to control and run the government.These are called one-party systems.

1: Activists of BJP Mahila Morcha demonstrating against hike in prices of onions and LPG inVisakhapatnam

2: Minister distributes Rs One lakh cheque to the hooch victims family at their houses.3: Activists of CPI (M), CPI, OGP and JD (S) take out a rally in Bhubaneswar to protest against

POSCO, the Korean steel company for being permitted by the State Government to export ironore from Orissa to feed steel plants in China and Korea

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What did Kishenji mean by an alternative political formation? Thequestion came up in a conversation between Sudha, Karuna,

Shaheen and Gracy. All four women had led very powerful people’smovements in different parts of the country. They were meeting in

a village in Orissa, away from their day-to-day struggles, to think afresh the future ofpeople’s movements.

The discussion naturally turned to Kishenji, who was regarded as a friend, politicalphilosopher and moral guide by all the movement groups in the country. He had arguedthat people’s movement should embrace politics openly. His argument was simple yetpowerful. Movements focused on a single issue are suitable as long as we wish to achievelimited changes in a particular aspect of life. But if we wish to bring about a fundamentalsocial transformation, or basic change even in one aspect of life, we would need a politicalorganisation. People’s movement must establish a new political formation to act as a moralforce in politics. This was an urgent task, he said, because all the existing political partieshad become irrelevant for social transformation.

“But Kishenji never clarified what that organisation will be. He talked of an alternativepolitical formation or a third force in politics. But did he mean a political party?” saidGracy. She felt that an old style political party was not the right instrument for socialchange.

Sudha agreed with her. “I have thought about it several times. I agree that all thestruggles that we are involved with – the struggle against displacement, againstglobalisation, against caste and gender oppression and for an alternative kind ofdevelopment – all this is political. But the moment we form a party, all the goodwill wehave earned all these years will be lost. People will think of us as no different from otherpoliticians.”

“Besides”, added Karuna, “we have seen that a lotcan be achieved by putting pressure on theexisting political parties. We tried putting upcandidates in panchayat elections, but the resultswere not very encouraging. People respect ourwork, they even adore us, but when it comes tovoting they go for the established politicalparties.”

Shaheen did not agree with them: “Let us be veryclear. Kishenji wanted all the people’s movementsto forge a new political party. Of course hewanted this party to be a different kind of a party.He was not for political alternatives, but for analternative kind of politics.”

Kishenji is no more. What would be youradvice to these four activists? Should theyform a new political party? Can a politicalparty become a moral force in politics? Whatshould that party be like?

politics?

A moral force in

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In Class IX, we noted that in China, onlythe Communist Party is allowed to rule.Although, legally speaking, people arefree to form political parties, it does nothappen because the electoral system doesnot permit free competition for power.We cannot consider one party system asa good option because this is not ademocratic option. Any democraticsystem must allow at least two partiesto compete in elections and provide afair chance for the competing parties tocome to power.

In some countries, power usuallychanges between two main parties.Several other parties may exist, contestelections and win a few seats in thenational legislatures. But only the twomain parties have a serious chance ofwinning majority of seats to formgovernment. Such a party system is calledtwo-party system. The United States ofAmerica and the United Kingdom areexamples of two-party system.

If several parties compete forpower, and more than two partieshave a reasonable chance of comingto power either on their own strengthor in alliance with others, we call it amulti-party system. Thus in India, wehave a multi-party system. In thissystem, the government is formed byvarious parties coming together in a

coalition. When several parties in amulti-party system join hands for thepurpose of contesting elections andwinning power, it is called an allianceor a front. For example, in India therewere three such major alliances in 2004parliamentary elections– the NationalDemocratic Alliance, the UnitedProgressive Alliance and the Left Front.The multi-party system often appearsvery messy and leads to politicalinstability. At the same time, this systemallows a variety of interests andopinions to enjoy polit icalrepresentation.

So, which of these is better? Perhapsthe best answer to this very commonquestion is that this is not a very goodquestion. Party system is not somethingany country can choose. It evolves overa long time, depending on the nature ofsociety, its social and regional divisions,its history of politics and its system ofelections. These cannot be changed veryquickly. Each country develops a partysystem that is conditioned by its specialcircumstances. For example, if India hasevolved a multi-party system, it isbecause the social and geographicaldiversity in such a large country is noteasily absorbed by two or even threeparties. No system is ideal for all countriesand all situations.

I don’t like somany parties. It’ssuch a mess. Iwonder how thepoliticiansmanage thesecoalitions. I can’teven rememberthe names of allthe parties.

Let us apply what we have learnt about party systems to the variousstates within India. Here are three major types of party systems that

exist at the State level. Can you find the names of at least two States for eachof these types?

Two-party systemMulti-party system with two alliancesMulti-party system

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PopularPopularPopularPopularPopularinininininpolitical partiespolitical partiespolitical partiespolitical partiespolitical parties

participationparticipationparticipationparticipationparticipationIt is often said that political parties are facing

a crisis because they are very unpopular andthe citizens are indifferent to political parties.

The available evidence shows that this belief is onlypartly true for India. The evidence, based on a series of

large sample surveys conducted over several decades, showsthat:

Political parties do not enjoy much trust among the people inSouth Asia. The proportion of those who say their trust in politicalparties is ‘not much’ or ‘not at all’ is more than those who have‘some’ or ‘great’ trust.

The same is true of most other democracies as well. Politicalparties are one of the least trusted institutions all over the world.

Yet the level of participation in the activities of political partieswas fairly high. The proportion of those who said they weremembers of some political party was higher in India than manyadvanced countries like Canada, Japan, Spain and South Korea.

Over the last threedecades the proportion ofthose who report to bemembers of political partiesin India has gone upsteadily.

The proportion of thosewho say they feel ‘close toa political party’ has alsogone up in India in thisperiod.

Source: SDSA Team, State of Democracy in South Asia, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007

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National political partiesDemocracies that follow a federal systemall over the world tend to have two kindsof political parties: parties that are presentin only one of the federal units andparties that are present in several or allunits of the federation. This is the case inIndia as well. There are some country-wide parties, which are called ‘nationalparties’. These parties have their units invarious states. But by and large all theseunits follow the same policies,programmes and strategy that is decidedat the national level.

Every party in the country has toregister with the Election Commission.While the Commission treats all partiesequally, it offers some special facilities tolarge and established parties. Theseparties are given a unique symbol – onlythe official candidates of that party canuse that election symbol. Parties that getthis privilege and some other special

facilities are ‘recognised’ by the ElectionCommission for this purpose. That iswhy these parties are called, ‘recognisedpolitical parties’. The ElectionCommission has laid down detailedcriteria of the proportion of votes andseats that a party must get in order to bea recognised party. A party that securesat least 6 per cent of the total votes in anelection to the Legislative Assembly of aState and wins at least two seats isrecognised as a State party. A party thatsecures at least six per cent of total votesin Lok Sabha elections or Assemblyelections in four States and wins at leastfour seats in the Lok Sabha is recognisedas a national party.

According to this classification, therewere six national recognised parties inthe country in 2006. Let us learnsomething about each of these parties.

Does the cartoonist reflect the data graphics shown in theprevious page?

Crunching Numbers

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Indian National Congress(INC): Popularly known asthe Congress Party. One ofthe oldest parties of the

world. Founded in 1885 and hasexperienced many splits. Played adominant role in Indian politics at thenational and state level for several decadesafter India’s Independence. Under theleadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, the partysought to build a modern seculardemocratic republic in India. Rulingparty at the centre till 1977 and then from1980 to 1989. After 1989, its supportdeclined, but it continues to be presentthroughout the country, cutting acrosssocial divisions. A centrist party (neitherrightist nor leftist) in its ideologicalorientation, the party espousessecularism and welfare of weakersections and minorities. Supports neweconomic reforms but with a humanface. Emerged as the largest party with145 members in the Lok Sabha electionsheld in 2004. Currently leads the rulingUnited Progressive Alliance coalitiongovernment at the Centre.

Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP): Founded in 1980 byreviving the erstwhileBharatiya Jana Sangh.

Wants to build a strong and modernIndia by drawing inspiration from India’sancient culture and values. Culturalnationalism (or ‘Hindutva’) is animportant element in its conception ofIndian nationhood and politics. Wantsfull territorial and political integration ofJammu and Kashmir with India, auniform civil code for all people livingin the country irrespective of religion,and ban on religious conversions. Itssupport base increased substantially inthe 1990s. Earlier limited to north and

west and to urban areas, the partyexpanded its support in the south, east,the north-east and to rural areas. Cameto power in 1998 as the leader of theNational Democratic Alliance includingseveral state and regional parties. Lostelections in 2004 and is the principalopposition party in the Lok Sabha.

Bahujan SamajParty (BSP): Formedin 1984 under theleadership of Kanshi

Ram. Seeks to represent and securepower for the bahujan samaj whichincludes the dalits, adivasis, OBCs andreligious minorities. Draws inspirationfrom the ideas and teachings of SahuMaharaj, Mahatma Phule, PeriyarRamaswami Naicker and BabasahebAmbedkar. Stands for the cause ofsecuring the interests and welfare of thedalits and oppressed people. It has itsmain base in the state of Uttar Pradeshand substantial presence in neighbouringstates like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Uttarakhand, Delhi and Punjab. Formedgovernment in Uttar Pradesh severaltimes by taking the support of differentparties at different times. In the LokSabha elections held in 2004, it polledabout 5 per cent votes and secured 19seats in the Lok Sabha.

Communist Party ofIndia - Marxist (CPI-M):Founded in 1964.Believes in Marxism-

Leninism. Supports socialism, secularismand democracy and opposes imperialismand communalism. Accepts democraticelections as a useful and helpful meansfor securing the objective of socio-economic justice in India. Enjoys strongsupport in West Bengal, Kerala andTripura, especially among the poor,

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factory workers, farmers, agriculturallabourers and the intelligentsia. Criticalof the new economic policies that allowfree flow of foreign capital and goodsinto the country. Has been in power inWest Bengal without a break for 30 years.In 2004 elections, it won about 6 percent of votes and 43 seats in the LokSabha. Currently supports the UPAgovernment from outside, withoutjoining the government.

Communist Party ofIndia (CPI): Formedin 1925. Believes inMarxism-Leninism,

secularism and democracy. Opposed tothe forces of secessionism andcommunalism. Accepts parliamentarydemocracy as a means of promotingthe interests of the working class, farmersand the poor. Became weak after thesplit in the party in 1964 that led to theformation of the CPI(M). Significantpresence in the states of Kerala, West

Bengal, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh andTamil Nadu. Its support base hadgradually declined over the years. Itsecured about 1.4 per cent votes and 10seats in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.Advocates the coming together of all leftparties to build a strong left front.Currently supports UPA governmentfrom outside.

Nationalist CongressParty (NCP): Formed in1999 following a split in theCongress party. Espouses

democracy, Gandhian secularism, equity,social justice and federalism. Wants thathigh offices in government be confinedto natural born citizens of the country.A major party in Maharashtra and has asignificant presence in Meghalaya,Manipur and Assam. A coalition partnerin the state of Maharashtra in alliancewith the Congress. Since 2004, a memberof the United Progressive Alliance.

State partiesOther than these six parties, most of themajor parties of the country are classifiedby the Election Commission as ‘Stateparties’. These are commonly referredto as regional parties. Yet these partiesneed not be regional in their ideologyor outlook. Some of these parties areall India parties that happen to havesucceeded only in some states. Parties likethe Samajwadi Party, Samata Party andRashtriya Janata Dal have national levelpolitical organisation with units in severalstates. Some of these parties like BijuJanata Dal, Sikkim Democratic Frontand Mizo National Front are consciousabout their State identity.

Over the last three decades, thenumber and strength of these parties hasexpanded. This made the Parliament ofIndia politically more and more diverse.No one national party is able to secureon its own a majority in Lok Sabha. Asa result, the national parties are compelledto form alliances with State parties. Since1996, nearly every one of the Stateparties has got an opportunity to be apart of one or the other national levelcoalition government. This hascontributed to the strengthening offederalism and democracy in ourcountry. (See the map on the next pagefor details of these parties).

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Challenges to political partiesWe have seen how crucial political partiesare for the working of democracy. Sinceparties are the most visible face ofdemocracy, it is natural that people blameparties for whatever is wrong with theworking of democracy. All over theworld, people express strongdissatisfaction with the failure of politicalparties to perform their functions well.This is the case in our country too.Popular dissatisfaction and criticism hasfocussed on four problem areas in the

working of political parties. Politicalparties need to face and overcome thesechallenges in order to remain effectiveinstruments of democracy.

The first challenge is lack ofinternal democracy within parties. Allover the world there is a tendency inpolitical parties towards theconcentration of power in one or fewleaders at the top. Parties do not keepmembership registers, do not holdorganisational meetings, and do notconduct internal elections regularly.Ordinary members of the party do notget sufficient information on whathappens inside the party. They do not

have the means orthe connectionsneeded to influencethe decisions. As aresult the leadersassume greaterpower to makedecisions in thename of the party.Since one or fewleaders exerciseparamount powerin the party, thosewho disagree withthe leadership find it

Why don’t partiesgive enoughtickets towomen? Is thatalso due to lackof internaldemocracy?

Berlusconi was the PrimeMinister of Italy. He is alsoone of the top business manin Italy. He is the leader of theForza Italia founded in 1993.His company owns TVchannels, the most importantpublishing company, a football club (AC Milan) and abank. This cartoon wasmade during the lastelections.©

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difficult to continue in the party. Morethan loyalty to party principles andpolicies, personal loyalty to the leaderbecomes more important.

The second challenge of dynasticsuccession is related to the first one. Sincemost political parties do not practiceopen and transparent procedures fortheir functioning, there are very few waysfor an ordinary worker to rise to the topin a party. Those who happen to be theleaders are in a position of unfairadvantage to favour people close tothem or even their family members. Inmany parties, the top positions are alwayscontrolled by members of one family.This is unfair to other members of thatparty. This is also bad for democracy,since people who do not have adequateexperience or popular support come tooccupy positions of power. Thistendency is present in some measure allover the world, including in some ofthe older democracies.

The third challenge is about thegrowing role of money and musclepower in parties, especially duringelections. Since parties are focussed onlyon winning elections, they tend to useshort-cuts to win elections. They tend tonominate those candidates who have orcan raise lots of money. Rich people andcompanies who give funds to the partiestend to have influence on the policies anddecisions of the party. In some cases,parties support criminals who can winelections. Democrats all over the worldare worried about the increasing role ofrich people and big companies indemocratic politics.

The fourth challenge is that veryoften parties do not seem to offer ameaningful choice to the voters. Inorder to offer meaningful choice, partiesmust be significantly different. In recentyears there has been a decline in theideological differences among parties inmost parts of the world. For example,the difference between the Labour Partyand the Conservative Party in Britain is

very little. They agree on morefundamental aspects but differonly in details on how policiesare to be framed andimplemented. In our countrytoo, the differences among all themajor parties on the economicpolicies have reduced. Thosewho want really different policieshave no option available to them.Sometimes people cannot evenelect very different leaders either,because the same set of leaderskeep shifting from one party toanother.

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How can parties be reformed?In order to face these challenges, politicalparties need to be reformed. Thequestion is: Are political parties willingto reform? If they are willing, what hasprevented them from reforming so far?If they are not willing, is it possible toforce them to reform? Citizens all overthe world face this question. This is nota simple question to answer. In ademocracy, the final decision is made byleaders who represent political parties.People can replace them, but only byanother set of party leaders. If all of

them do not wish to reform, how cananyone force them to change?

Let us look at some of the recentefforts and suggestions in our countryto reform political parties and its leaders:

The Constitution was amended toprevent elected MLAs and MPs fromchanging parties. This was done becausemany elected representatives wereindulging in DEFECTION in order tobecome ministers or for cash rewards.Now the law says that if any MLA or

Defection: Changingparty allegiance fromthe party on which aperson got elected (to alegislative body) to adifferent party.

Most cartoons caricature politicians. From the cartoons (on page 83 to 85), canyou identify which of the challenges described in this section is being highlighted

in these cartoons. They relate to Italy, US and India.

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MP changes parties, he or she will losethe seat in the legislature. This new lawhas helped bring defection down. At thesame time this has made any dissent evenmore difficult. MPs and MLAs have toaccept whatever the party leaders decide.

The Supreme Court passed an orderto reduce the influence of money andcriminals. Now, it is mandatory for everycandidate who contests elections to filean AFFIDAVIT giving details of his propertyand criminal cases pending against him.The new system has made a lot ofinformation available to the public. Butthere is no system of check if theinformation given by the candidates istrue. As yet we do not know if it has ledto decline in the influence of the rich andthe criminals.

The Election Commission passed anorder making it necessary for politicalparties to hold their organisationalelections and file their income tax returns.The parties have started doing so butsometimes it is mere formality. It is not

clear if this step has led to greater internaldemocracy in political parties.

Besides these, many suggestions areoften made to reform political parties:

A law should be made to regulatethe internal affairs of political parties. Itshould be made compulsory for politicalparties to maintain a register of itsmembers, to follow its own constitution,to have an independent authority, to actas a judge in case of party disputes, tohold open elections to the highest posts.

It should be made mandatory forpolitical parties to give a minimumnumber of tickets, about one-third, towomen candidates. Similarly, there shouldbe a quota for women in the decisionmaking bodies of the party.

There should be state funding ofelections. The government should giveparties money to support their electionexpenses. This support could be given inkind: petrol, paper, telephone etc. Or itcould be given in cash on the basis ofthe votes secured by the party in the lastelection.

These suggestions have not yet beenaccepted by political parties. If and whenthese are accepted these could lead tosome improvement. But we must bevery careful about legal solutions topolitical problems. Over-regulation ofpolitical parties can be counter-productive. This would force all partiesto find ways to cheat the law. Besides,political parties will not agree to pass alaw that they do not like.

There are two other ways in whichpolitical parties can be reformed. One,people can put pressure on politicalparties. This can be done throughpetitions, publicity and agitations.

Affidavit: A signeddocument submitted to

an officer, where aperson makes a sworn

statement regarding herpersonal information.

Do you agree that this form of reforming political parties will beacceptable to them?

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Ordinary citizens, pressure groups andmovements and the media can play animportant role in this. If political partiesfeel that they would lose public supportby not taking up reforms, they wouldbecome more serious about reforms.Two, political parties can improve ifthose who want this join political parties.

The quality of democracy depends onthe degree of public participation. It isdifficult to reform politics if ordinarycitizens do not take part in it and simplycriticise it from the outside. The problemof bad politics can be solved by moreand better politics. We shall return to thistheme in the final chapter.

1. State the various functions political parties perform in ademocracy.

2. What are the various challenges faced by political parties?

3. Suggest some reforms to strengthen parties so that they performtheir functions well?

4. What is a political party?

5. What are the characteristics of a political party?

6. A group of people who come together to contest elections andhold power in the government is called a _____________________.

7. Match List I (organisations and struggles) with List II and selectthe correct answer using the codes given below the lists:

8. Who among the following is the founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party?A. Kanshi RamB. Sahu MaharajC. B.R. AmbedkerD. Jotiba Phule

9. What is the guiding philosophy of the Bharatiya Janata Party?A. Bahujan SamajB. Revolutionary democracyC. Integral humanismD. Modernity

1 2 3 4(a) C A B D(b) C D A B(c) C A D B(d) D C A B

List I List II

1. Congress Party A. National Democratic Alliance

2. Bharatiya Janata Party B. State party

3. Communist Party of India C. United Progressive(Marxist) Alliance

4. Telugu Desam Party D. Left Front

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A. Political parties do not enjoy much trust among the people.

B. Parties are often rocked by scandals involving top party leaders.

C. Parties are not necessary to run governments.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) A, B, and C (b) A and B (c) B and C (d) A and C

11. Read the following passage and answer the questions given below:

Muhammad Yunus is a famous economist of Bangladesh. Hereceived several international honours for his efforts topromote economic and social development for the benefit ofthe poor. He and the Grameen Bank he started jointly,received the Nobel Peace Prize for the 2006. In February2007, he decided to launch a political party and contest in theparliamentary elections. His objective was to foster properleadership, good governance and build a new Bangladesh. Hefelt that only a political party different from the traditionalones would bring about new political culture. His party wouldbe democratic from the grassroots level.

The launching of the new party, called Nagarik Shakti(Citizens’ Power), has caused a stir among the Bangladeshis.While many welcomed his decision, some did not like it. “Now Ithink Bangladesh will have a chance to choose between goodand bad and eventually have a good government,” saidShahedul Islam, a government official. “That government, wehope, would not only keep itself away from corruption but alsomake fighting corruption and black money a top priority.”

But leaders of traditional political parties who dominatedthe country’s politics for decades were apprehensive. “Therewas no debate (over him) winning the Nobel, but politics isdifferent – very challenging and often controversial,” said asenior leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Some otherswere highly critical. They asked why he was rushing intopolitics. “Is he being planted in politics by mentors fromoutside the country,” asked one political observer.

Do you think Yunus made a right decision to float a new politicalparty?

Do you agree with the statements and fears expressed by variouspeople? How do you want this new party organised to make itdifferent from other parties? If you were the one to begin thispolitical party how would you defend it?

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Outcomes ofDemocracy

Overview

As we begin to wind up our tour of democracy, it is time to movebeyond our discussion of specific themes and ask a general set ofquestions: What does democracy do? Or, what outcomes can wereasonably expect of democracy? Also, does democracy fulfil theseexpectations in real life? We begin by thinking about how to assessthe outcomes of democracy. After some clarity on how to think onthis subject, we proceed to look at the expected and actual outcomesof democracy in various respects: quality of government, economicwell-being, inequality, social differences and conflict and finallyfreedom and dignity. Our final verdict – positive but qualified –leads us to think about the challenges to democracy in the nextand final chapter.

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How do we assess democracy’s outcomes?Do you remember how students inMadam Lyngdoh’s class argued aboutdemocracy? This was in Chapter 2 ofClass IX textbook. It emerged from thatconversation that democracy is a betterform of government when comparedwith dictatorship or any other alternative.We felt that democracy was betterbecause it:

Promotes equality among citizens;Enhances the dignity of theindividual;Improves the quality of decision-making;Provides a method to resolveconflicts; andAllows room to correct mistakes.

Are these expectations realised underdemocracies? When we talk to peoplearound us, most of them supportdemocracy against other alternatives,such as rule by a monarch or military orreligious leaders. But not so many ofthem would be satisfied with thedemocracy in practice. So we face adilemma: democracy is seen to be good

in principle, but felt to be not so good inits practice. This dilemma invites us tothink hard about the outcomes ofdemocracy. Do we prefer democracyonly for moral reasons? Or are theresome prudential reasons to supportdemocracy too?

Over a hundred countries of theworld today claim and practice somekind of democratic politics: they haveformal constitutions, they hold elections,they have parties and they guarantee rightsof citizens. While these features arecommon to most of them, thesedemocracies are very much differentfrom each other in terms of their socialsituations, their economic achievementsand their cultures. Clearly, what may beachieved or not achieved under each ofthese democracies will be very different.But is there something that we can expectfrom every democracy, just because it isdemocracy?

Our interest in and fascination fordemocracy often pushes us into taking aposition that democracy can address allsocio-economic and political problems.If some of our expectations are not met,we start blaming the idea of democracy.Or, we start doubting if we are living ina democracy. The first step towardsthinking carefully about the outcomesof democracy is to recognise thatdemocracy is just a form of government.It can only create conditions for achievingsomething. The citizens have to takeadvantage of those conditions andachieve those goals. Let us examine someof the things we can reasonably expectfrom democracy and examine the recordof democracy.

Did we reachtheseconclusions inMadam Lyngdoh’sclass? I lovedthat classbecausestudents werenot beingdictated anyconclusions.

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Accountable, responsive and legitimate governmentThere are some things that democracymust provide. In a democracy, we aremost concerned with ensuring thatpeople will have the right to choose theirrulers and people will have control overthe rulers. Whenever possible andnecessary, citizens should be able toparticipate in decision making, that affectsthem all. Therefore, the most basicoutcome of democracy should be thatit produces a government that isaccountable to the citizens, andresponsive to the needs and expectationsof the citizens.

Before we go into this question, weface another common question: Is thedemocratic government efficient? Is iteffective? Some people think thatdemocracy produces less effectivegovernment. It is, of course, true thatnon-democratic rulers do not have tobother about deliberation in assemblies orworry about majorities and public opinion.So, they can be very quick and efficient indecision making and implementation.Democracy is based on the idea ofdeliberation and negotiation. So, some delayis bound to take place. Does that makedemocratic government inefficient?

Let us think in terms of costs.Imagine a government that may takedecisions very fast. But it may takedecisions that are not accepted by thepeople and may therefore face problems.In contrast, the democratic governmentwill take more time to followprocedures before arriving at a decision.But because it has followed procedures,its decisions may be both moreacceptable to the people and moreeffective. So, the cost of time thatdemocracy pays is perhaps worth it.

Now look at the other side –democracy ensures that decision makingwill be based on norms and procedures.So, a citizen who wants to know if adecision was taken through the correctprocedures can find this out. She has theright and the means to examine theprocess of decision making. This isknown as transparency. This factor isoften missing from a non-democraticgovernment. Therefore, when we aretrying to find out the outcomes ofdemocracy, it is right to expectdemocracy to produce a governmentthat follows procedures and isaccountable to the people. We can alsoexpect that the democratic governmentdevelops mechanisms for citizens to holdthe government accountable andmechanisms for citizens to take part indecision making whenever they think fit.

If you wanted to measuredemocracies on the basis of thisexpected outcome, you would look forthe following practices and institutions:regular, free and fair elections; openpublic debate on major policies and

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Can you think of whatand how thegovernment knowsabout you and yourfamily (for exampleration cards andvoter identity cards)?What are the sourcesof information for youabout thegovernment?

Governmental Secrecy

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So, the bestoutcome ofdemocracy isthat it is ademocracy! Thatis what we havediscovered afterall this mentalgymnastics?

legislations; and citizens’ right toinformation about the government andits functioning. The actual performanceof democracies shows a mixed recordon this. Democracies have had greatersuccess in setting up regular and freeelections and in setting up conditions foropen public debate. But mostdemocracies fall short of elections thatprovide a fair chance to everyone and insubjecting every decision to public debate.Democratic governments do not have avery good record when it comes tosharing information with citizens. All onecan say in favour of democratic regimesis that they are much better than anynon-democratic regime in these respects.

In substantive terms it may bereasonable to expect from democracy agovernment that is attentive to the needsand demands of the people and is largelyfree of corruption. The record ofdemocracies is not impressive on thesetwo counts. Democracies often frustratethe needs of the people and often ignorethe demands of a majority of its

population. The routine tales ofcorruption are enough to convince us thatdemocracy is not free of this evil. At thesame time, there is nothing to show thatnon-democracies are less corrupt ormore sensitive to the people.

There is one respect in whichdemocratic government is certainlybetter than its alternatives: democraticgovernment is legitimate government.It may be slow, less efficient, not alwaysvery responsive or clean. But ademocratic government is people’s owngovernment. That is why there is anoverwhelming support for the idea ofdemocracy all over the world. As theaccompanying evidence from SouthAsia shows, the support exists incountries with democratic regimes aswell as countries without democraticregimes. People wish to be ruled byrepresentatives elected by them. Theyalso believe that democracy is suitablefor their country. Democracy’s abilityto generate its own support is itself anoutcome that cannot be ignored.

Source: SDSA Team, State of Democracy in South Asia, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007

Democracy is preferredover dictatorship

everywhere exceptPakistanSouth Asia28

621062

Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan Sri LankaDemocracy ispreferable 69 70 62 37 71Sometimes dictatorshipis better 6 9 10 14 11Doesn’tmatter to me 25 21 28 49 18

Those who agree with one ofthe statements

Very few doubt the suitability of democracyfor their own countryHow suitable is democracy for your country?

Very suitable SuitableSouth Asia 88

Bangladesh 93Sri Lanka 92

India 92Pakistan 84

Nepal 790 50 100

Overwhelming support for democracyThose who agree with the rule of leaders elected by the people

Strongly agree AgreeSouth Asia 94

Sri Lanka 98Bangladesh 96

India 95Nepal 94

Pakistan 81

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Economic growth and developmentIf democracies are expected to producegood governments, then is it not fair toexpect that they would also producedevelopment? Evidence shows that inpractice many democracies did not fulfilthis expectation.

If you consider all democracies andall dictatorships for the fifty years between1950 and 2000, dictatorships have slightlyhigher rate of economic growth. Theinability of democracy to achieve highereconomic development worries us. Butthis alone cannot be reason to rejectdemocracy. As you have already studiedin economics, economic developmentdepends on several factors: country’spopulation size, global situation,

The Rich Get Buff

cooperation from other countries,economic priorities adopted by thecountry, etc. However, the difference inthe rates of economic developmentbetween less developed countries withdictatorships and democracies isnegligible. Overall, we cannot say thatdemocracy is a guarantee of economicdevelopment. But we can expectdemocracy not to lag behinddictatorships in this respect.

When we find such significantdifference in the rates of economicgrowth between countries underdictatorship and democracy, it is betterto prefer democracy as it has severalother positive outcomes.

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Cartoon on this pageand next three pages tellus about the disparitiesbetween the rich andpoor. Should the gainsof economic growth beevenly distributed? Howcan the poor get a voicefor a better share in anation? What can thepoor countries do toreceive a greater sharein the world’s wealth?

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Arguments about democracy tend tobe very passionate. This is how itshould be, for democracy appeals tosome of our deep values. Thesedebates cannot be resolved in asimple manner. But some debatesabout democracy can and should beresolved by referring to some factsand figures. The debate about theeconomic outcomes of democracy isone such debate. Over the yearsmany students of democracy havegathered careful evidence to seewhat the relationship of democracywith economic growth and economicinequalities is. The tables and thecartoon here present some of the evidences:

Table 1 shows that on an average dictatorial regimes have had a slightly better recordof economic growth. But when we compare their record only in poor countries, there isvirtually no difference.

Table 2 shows that within democracies there can be very high degree of inequalities. Indemocratic countries like South Africa and Brazil, the top 20 per cent people take awaymore than 60 per cent of the national income, leaving less than 3 per cent for the bottom20 per cent population. Countries like Denmark and Hungary are much better in this respect.

You can see in the cartoon, there is often inequality of opportunities available to thepoorer sections.

What would be your verdict on democracy if you had to base it purely on economicperformance of democratic regimes in terms of growth and equal distribution?

Table 1Rates of economic growth for different countries,1950-2000

Table 2Inequality of income in selected countries

Type of regimes and countriesAll democratic regimesAll dictatorial regimesPoor countries under dictatorshipPoor countries under democracy

Growth Rate3.954.424.344.28

Name of the % share of nationalCountries income

Top 20 % Bottom 20 %South Africa 64.8 2.9Brazil 63.0 2.6Russia 53.7 4.4USA 50.0 4.0United Kingdom 45.0 6.0Denmark 34.5 9.6Hungary 34.4 10.0

Source: A Przeworski, M E Alvarez, J A Cheibub and F Limongi, Democracy andDevelopment: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950-1990.Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Poor Kids

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Reduction of inequality and povertyPerhaps more than development, it isreasonable to expect democracies toreduce economic disparities. Even whena country achieves economic growth, willwealth be distributed in such a way thatall citizens of the country will have ashare and lead a better life? Is economicgrowth in democracies accompanied byincreased inequalities among the people?Or do democracies lead to a justdistribution of goods and opportunities?

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Democracies are based on politicalequality. All individuals have equal weightin electing representatives. Parallel to theprocess of bringing individuals into thepolitical arena on an equal footing, wefind growing economic inequalities. Asmall number of ultra-rich enjoy a highlydisproportionate share of wealth andincomes. Not only that, their share in thetotal income of the country has beenincreasing. Those at the bottom of thesociety have very little to depend upon.Their incomes have been declining.Sometimes they find it difficult to meettheir basic needs of life, such as food,clothing, house, education and health.

In actual life, democracies do notappear to be very successful in reducingeconomic inequalities. In Class IXEconomics textbook, you have already

studied about poverty in India. Thepoor constitute a large proportion

of our voters and no party willlike to lose their votes. Yet

democratically electedgovernments do notappear to be as keen toaddress the question ofpoverty as you wouldexpect them to. Thesituation is much worse insome other countries. InBangladesh, more thanhalf of its population livesin poverty. People inseveral poor countries arenow dependent on the richcountries even for foodsupplies.

Voice of the Poor

Democracy is arule of themajority. Thepoor are inmajority. Sodemocracy mustbe a rule of thepoor. How canthis not be thecase?

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World’s Wealth Owned by a Few

Accommodation of social diversity

All you are sayingis thatdemocracyensures thatpeople do notbreak eachother’s head.This is notharmony. Shouldwe be happyabout it?

Do democracies lead to peaceful andharmonious life among citizens? It willbe a fair expectation that democracyshould produce a harmonious social life.We have seen in the earlier chapters howdemocracies accommodate various socialdivisions. We saw in the first chapter howBelgium has successfully negotiateddifferences among ethnic populations.Democracies usually develop a procedureto conduct their competition. This reducesthe possibility of these tensions becomingexplosive or violent.

No society can fully and permanentlyresolve conflicts among different groups.But we can certainly learn to respect thesedifferences and we can also evolvemechanisms to negotiate the differences.Democracy is best suited to produce thisoutcome. Non-democratic regimes oftenturn a blind eye to or suppress internal

social differences. Ability to handle socialdifferences, divisions and conflicts is thusa definite plus point of democraticregimes. But the example of Sri Lankareminds us that a democracy must fulfiltwo conditions in order to achieve thisoutcome:

It is necessary to understand thatdemocracy is not simply rule by majorityopinion. The majority always needs towork with the minority so thatgovernments function to represent thegeneral view. Majority and minorityopinions are not permanent.

It is also necessary that rule bymajority does not become rule bymajority community in terms of religionor race or linguistic group, etc. Rule bymajority means that in case of everydecision or in case of every election,different persons and groups may and

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can form a majority. Democracy remainsdemocracy only as long as every citizenhas a chance of being in majority at somepoint of time. If someone is barred

The two images depict two different kinds ofeffects democratic politics can have on socialdivisions. Take one example for each imageand write a paragraph each on the outcomeof democratic politics in both situations.

from being in majority on the basis ofbirth, then the democratic rule ceasesto be accommodative for that personor group.

Dignity and freedom of the citizensDemocracy stands much superior to anyother form of government inpromoting dignity and freedom of theindividual. Every individual wants toreceive respect from fellow beings.Often conflicts arise among individualsbecause some feel that they are nottreated with due respect. The passion forrespect and freedom are the basis ofdemocracy. Democracies throughout theworld have recognised this, at least in

principle. This has been achieved invarious degrees in various democracies.For societies which have been built forlong on the basis of subordination anddomination, it is not a simple matter torecognize that all individuals are equal.

Take the case of dignity of women.Most societies across the world werehistorically male dominated societies.Long struggles by women have createdsome sensitivity today that respect to and

Enemies

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equal treatment of women are necessaryingredients of a democratic society. Thatdoes not mean that women are actuallyalways treated with respect. But once theprinciple is recognised, it becomes easierfor women to wage a struggle againstwhat is now unacceptable legally andmorally. In a non-democratic set up, thisunacceptability would not have legal basisbecause the principle of individualfreedom and dignity would not have thelegal and moral force there. The same istrue of caste inequalities. Democracy inIndia has strengthened the claims of thedisadvantaged and discriminated castesfor equal status and equal opportunity.There are instances still of caste-basedinequalities and atrocities, but these lackthe moral and legal foundations. Perhapsit is the recognition that makes ordinarycitizens value their democratic rights.

Expectations from democracy alsofunction as the criteria for judging anydemocratic country. What is most

distinctive about democracy is that itsexamination never gets over. Asdemocracy passes one test, it producesanother test. As people get some benefitsof democracy, they ask for more andwant to make democracy even better.That is why when we ask people aboutthe way democracy functions, they willalways come up with more expectations,and many complaints. The fact thatpeople are complaining is itself atestimony to the success of democracy:it shows that people have developedawareness and the ability to expect andto look critically at power holders andthe high and the mighty. A publicexpression of dissatisfaction withdemocracy shows the success of thedemocratic project: it transforms peoplefrom the status of a subject into that ofa citizen. Most individuals today believethat their vote makes a difference to theway the government is run and to theirown self-interest.

The above cartoon and graph. Illustrates a point made in this section(Dignity and freedom of the citizens). Underline the sentences fromthis section which connect to the cartoon or graph.

I am anxiousabout my boardexams. Butdemocracy hasso many exams.And millions ofexaminers!

Source: SDSA Team, State of Democracy in SouthAsia, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Rosa Still Inspires

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South Asia 65

Bangladesh 66India 67

Nepal 75Pakistan 50

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1. How does democracy produce an accountable, responsive andlegitimate government?

2. What are the conditions under which democracies accommodatesocial diversities?

3. Give arguments to support or oppose the following assertions:Industrialised countries can afford democracy but the poorneed dictatorship to become rich.Democracy can’t reduce inequality of incomes betweendifferent citizens.Government in poor countries should spend less on povertyreduction, health, education and spend more on industries andinfrastructure.In democracy all citizens have one vote, which means thatthere is absence of any domination and conflict.

4. Identify the challenges to democracy in the following descriptions.Also suggest policy/institutional mechanism to deepen democracyin the given situations:

Following a High Court directive a temple in Orissa that hadseparate entry doors for dalits and non-dalits allowed entryfor all from the same door.A large number of farmers are committing suicide in differentstates of India.Following allegation of killing of three civilians in Gandwara in afake encounter by Jammu and Kashmir police, an enquiry hasbeen ordered.

5. In the context of democracies, which of the following ideas iscorrect – democracies have successfully eliminated:

A. conflicts among peopleB. economic inequalities among peopleC. differences of opinion about how marginalised sections

are to be treatedD. the idea of political inequality

6. In the context of assessing democracy which among the followingis odd one out. Democracies need to ensure:

A. free and fair electionsB. dignity of the individualC. majority ruleD. equal treatment before law

7. Studies on political and social inequalities in democracy show thatA. democracy and development go together.B. inequalities exist in democracies .C. inequalities do not exist under dictatorship.D. dictatorship is better than democracy.

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s8. Read the passage below:

Nannu is a daily wage earner. He lives in Welcome MazdoorColony, a slum habitation in East Delhi. He lost his rationcard and applied for a duplicate one in January 2004. Hemade several rounds to the local Food & Civil Supplies officefor the next three months. But the clerks and officials wouldnot even look at him, leave alone do his job or bother to tellhim the status of his application. Ultimately, he filed anapplication under the Right to Information Act asking for thedaily progress made on his application, names of theofficials, who were supposed to act on his application andwhat action would be taken against these officials for theirinaction. Within a week of filing application under the Right toInformation Act, he was visited by an inspector from theFood Department, who informed him that the card had beenmade and he could collect it from the office. When Nannuwent to collect his card next day, he was given a very warmtreatment by the Food & Supply Officer (FSO), who is thehead of a Circle. The FSO offered him tea and requested himto withdraw his application under the Right to Information,since his work had already been done.

What does Nannu’s example show? What impact did Nannu’saction have on officials? Ask your parents their experienceswhen they approach government officials to attend to theirproblems.

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Challenges toDemocracy

Overview

This concluding chapter draws upon all that you have learnt in thelast two years so as to address the fundamental questions ofdemocratic politics : What are the challenges that democracy facesin our country and elsewhere? What can be done to reform democraticpolitics? How can our democracy become more democratic in itspractice and outcomes? This chapter does not answer thesequestions. It only makes some suggestions about the way in whichwe can approach the questions of challenges and reforms. It invitesyou to think on your own and come up with your own reading ofthe challenges, your recipe of how to overcome these and your owndefinition of democracy.

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Thinking about challengesDo you remember the first chapter of your PoliticalScience textbook of Class IX? There we tracked theexpansion of democracy all over the world in the lasthundred years. Our reading thereafter has confirmedour initial impression: democracy is the dominant formof government in the contemporary world. It doesnot face a serious challenger or rival. Yet our explorationof the various dimensions of democratic politics hasshown us something else as well. The promise ofdemocracy is far from realised anywhere in the world.Democracy does not have a challenger, but that doesnot mean that it does not face any challenges.

At different points in this tour of democracy, wehave noted the serious challenges that democracy facesall over the world. A challenge is not just any problem.We usually call only those difficulties a ‘challenge’ whichare significant and which can be overcome. A challengeis a difficulty that carries within it an opportunity forprogress. Once we overcome a challenge we go up toa higher level than before.

Different countries face different kinds ofchallenges. Can you recall the map of democraticgovernments in the year 2000 that was included in yourtextbook? At least one fourth of the globe is still notunder democratic government. The challenge fordemocracy in these parts of the world is very stark.

These countries face the foundational challenge ofmaking the transition to democracy and then institutingdemocratic government. This involves bringing downthe existing non-democratic regime, keeping militaryaway from controlling government and establishing asovereign and functional state.

Most of the established democracies face thechallenge of expansion. This involves applying thebasic principle of democratic government across allthe regions, different social groups and variousinstitutions. Ensuring greater power to localgovernments, extension of federal principle to all theunits of the federation, inclusion of women andminority groups, etc., falls under this challenge. Thisalso means that less and less decisions should remainoutside the arena of democratic control. Mostcountries including India and other democracies likethe US face this challenge.

The third challenge of deepening of democracyis faced by every democracy in one form or another.This involves strengthening of the institutions andpractices of democracy. This should happen in such away that people can realise their expectations ofdemocracy. But ordinary people have differentexpectations from democracy in different societies.Therefore, this challenge takes different meanings andpaths in different parts of the world. In general terms,

it usually means strengthening those institutionsthat help people’s participation and control.This requires an attempt to bring down thecontrol and influence of the rich andpowerful people in making governmentaldecision.

We have noted or hinted at thesechallenges in all the various examples andstories that we studied in our textbook ofClass IX and in the earlier chapters of this

book. Let us go back to all the major stopsin our tour of democracy, refresh our

memory and note down the challengesthat democracy faces in each of these.

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Different contexts, different challengesEach of these cartoons represents a challenge to democracy. Please describe what that challenge is. Also place itin one of the three categories mentioned in the first section.

Mubarak Re-elected Seeing the democracy

Liberal Gender Equality Campaign Money

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Case and context Your description of the challenges for democracy in thatsituation

Chile: General Pinochet’s [Example] Establishing civilian control over all governmentalgovernment defeated, but institutions, holding the first multi-party elections, recalling allmilitary still in control of political leaders from exile.many institutions

Poland: After the firstsuccess of Solidarity, thegovernment imposedmartial law and bannedsolidarity

Ghana: Just attainedindependence, Nkrumahelected president

Myanmar: Suu Kyi underhouse arrest for more than15 years, army rulersgetting global acceptance

Internationalorganisations:US as the only superpower disregards the UNand takes unilateral action

Mexico: Second freeelection after the defeatof PRI in 2000; defeatedcandidate alleges rigging

China: Communist Partyadopts economic reformsbut maintains monopolyover political power

Pakistan: GeneralMusharraf holdsreferendum, allegationsof fraud in voters’ list

Iraq: Widespreadsectarian violence as thenew government fails toestablish its authority

South Africa: Mandelaretires from active politics,pressure on his successorMbeki to withdraw someconcessions given toWhite minority

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US, Guantanamo Bay:UN Secretary Generalcalls this a violation ofinternational law,US refused to respond

Saudi Arabia: Women notallowed to take part inpublic activities,no freedom of religion forminorities

Yugoslavia: Ethnictension between Serbsand Albanians on the risein the province of Kosovo.Yugoslavia disintergrated

Belgium: One round ofconstitutional changetaken place, but the Dutchspeakers not satisfied;they want more autonomy

Sri Lanka: The peace talksbetween the governmentand the LTTE breakdown, renewed violence

US, Civil Rights: Blackshave won equal rights, butare still poor, lesseducated and marginalised

Northern Ireland: Thecivil war has ended butCatholics and Protestantsyet to develop trust

Nepal: ConstituentAssembly about to beelected, unrest inTerai areas, Maoists havenot surrendered arms

Bolivia: Morales, asupporter of water struggle,becomes Prime Minister,MNCs threaten to leavethe country

Case and context Your description of the challenges for democracy in thatsituation

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Different types of challengesNow that you have noted down all these challenges, let us group these together into some broad categories.Given below are some spheres or sites of democratic politics. You may place against each of these the specificchallenges that you noted for one or more countries or cartoons in the previous section. In addition to that writeone item for India for each of these spheres. In case you find that some challenges do not fit into any of thecategories given below, you can create new categories and put some items under that.

Constitutionaldesign

Democraticrights

Working ofinstitutions

Elections

Federalism,decentralisation

Accommodationof diversity

Politicalorganisations

Any other category

Any other category

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Let us group these again, this time by the nature of these challenges as per the classification suggested in the firstsection. For each of these categories, find at least one example from India as well.

Foundationalchallenge

Challenge ofexpansion

Challenge ofdeepening

Now let us think only about India. Think of all the challenges that democracy faces in contemporary India. Listthose five that should be addressed first of all. The listing should be in order of priority, i.e, the challenge youfind most important or pressing should be mentioned at number 1, and so on. Give one example of thatchallenge and your reasons for assigning it the priority.

Priority Challenges to Example Reasons for preferencedemocracy

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2.

3.

4.

5.

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Thinking about political reformsEach of these challenges is linked to the possibilityof reforms. As mentioned above, we discusschallenges only because we think these can beovercome. Generally all the suggestions or proposalsabout overcoming various challenges to democracyare called ‘democracy reform’ or ‘political reform’.We are not going to give here a list of desirablepolitical reforms, for there cannot be any such list. Ifall the countries do not have the same challenges, itfollows that everyone cannot follow the same recipeof political reforms. We cannot prescribe a procedurefor car repair without knowing which model the caris, what the defect is and what tools are available,where the car has broken down, etc.

Can we at least have a list of such reforms for ourcountry in today’s context? We can develop someproposals for reforms at the national level. But thereal challenge of reforms may not lie at the nationallevel. Some of the crucial questions need to be thoughtat the State or local level. Besides, such a list maybecome irrelevant after some time. So, instead of thatlet us think of some broad guidelines that can be keptin mind while devising ways and means for politicalreforms in India:

It is very tempting to think of legal ways ofreforming politics, to think of new laws to banundesirable things. But this temptation needs to beresisted. No doubt, law has an important role to playin political reform. Carefully devised changes in lawcan help to discourage wrong political practices andencourage good ones. But legal-constitutional changesby themselves cannot overcome challenges todemocracy. This is like the rules of cricket. A changein rules for LBW decisions helped to reduce negativebatting tactics. But no one would ever think that thequality of cricket could be improved mainly throughchanges in the rules. This is to be done mainly by theplayers, coaches and administrators. Similarly,democratic reforms are to be carried out mainly by

political activists, parties, movements and politicallyconscious citizens.

Any legal change must carefully look at what resultsit will have on politics. Sometimes the results may becounter-productive. For example, many states havebanned people who have more than two childrenfrom contesting panchayat elections. This has resultedin denial of democratic opportunity to many poorand women, which was not intended. Generally, lawsthat seek to ban something are not very successful inpolitics. Laws that give political actors incentives to dogood things have more chances of working. The bestlaws are those which empower people to carry outdemocratic reforms. The Right to Information Act isa good example of a law that empowers the peopleto find out what is happening in government and actas watchdogs of democracy. Such a law helps tocontrol corruption and supplements the existing lawsthat banned corruption and imposed strict penalties.

Democratic reforms are to be brought aboutprincipally through political practice. Therefore, themain focus of political reforms should be on ways tostrengthen democratic practice. As we discussed in thechapter on political parties, the most important concernshould be to increase and improve the quality ofpolitical participation by ordinary citizens.

Any proposal for political reforms should think notonly about what is a good solution but also about whowill implement it and how. It is not very wise to thinkthat the legislatures will pass legislations that go againstthe interest of all the political parties and MPs. Butmeasures that rely on democratic movements, citizens’organisations and the media are likely to succeed.

Let us keep these general guidelines in mind andlook at some specific instances of challenges todemocracy that require some measure of reform. Letus try to come up with some concrete proposals ofreform.

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Here are some challenges that require political reforms. Discuss these challenges in detail study the reformoptions offered here and give your preferred solution with reasons. Remember that none of the optionsoffered here is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. You can opt for a mix of more than one options, or come up with somethingthat is not offered here. But you must give your solution in details and offer reasons for your choice.

Doctors’ absenteeismChallenge:

Uttar Pradesh government got a survey done andfound out that most of the doctors posted in the ruralprimary health centres are simply not there. They livein a town, carry out private practice and visit the villagewhere they are posted only once or twice in the entiremonth. Villagers have to travel to towns and pay veryhigh fee to private doctors even for common ailments.

Reform proposals:

The government should make it compulsoryfor the doctors to live in the village where they areposted, otherwise their service should be terminated.

District administration and police should carryout surprise raids to check the attendance of thedoctors.

Village panchayat should be given the power towrite the annual report of the doctor which shouldbe read out in the gram sabha meeting.

Problems like this can be solved only if UttarPradesh is split into several smaller states which canbe administered more efficiently.

Political fundingChallenge:

On an average, every candidate who contested thelast Lok Sabha elections owned a property of morethan Rs one crore. There is a fear that only wealthypeople or those with their support can afford tofight elections. Most of the political parties aredependent on money given by big business houses.The worry is that the role of money in politics willreduce whatever little voice the poor have in ourdemocracy.

Reform proposals:

The financial accounts of every political partyshould be made public. These accounts should beexamined by government auditors.

There should be state funding of elections.Parties should be given some money by thegovernment to meet their election expenditure.

Citizens should be encouraged to give moredonations to parties and to political workers.Such donations should be exempt from incometax.

Any other problem of your choiceChallenge:

Reform proposals:

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ReformingReformingReformingReformingReformingRose managed to catch Madam Lyngdoh outside theclassroom,

something she had beenplanning to do for some time. “Ma’am! Ireally liked that Canadian cartoon”. Roseneeded something to open theconversation. “Which one?” MadamLyngdoh could not recall. “Ma’am, the onewhich says 98% Canadians want all thepoliticians to be locked in the trunk of acar and thrown into Niagara falls. I wasthinking of our politicians. We would need abigger vehicle and a river as mighty asBrahmaputra!”

Lyngdoh Ma’am smiled at Rose. Like mostIndians, she is also very much unhappywith the way politicians of the country have been behaving and running the parties andgovernments. But she wanted Rose to appreciate the complexity of the problem: “Do youthink our problems will be solved if we get rid of our politicians?,” she asked.

“Yes, Ma’am. Aren’t these mean politicians responsible for all the problems in our country?I mean corruption, defection, casteism, communal violence, criminality… everything.”

Lyngdoh Madam: “So, all we need is to get rid of the current lot. Are you sure that thosewho replace them will not do these things?”

Rose: “Well, I had not thought of it, but may be not. May be we will get leaders of bettercharacter”.

Lyngdoh Madam: “I agree with you that the situation will change if people show more careand alertness to reject corrupt and bad politicians and elect the right ones. And, maybe,all politicians are not corrupt…”

“How can you say that Ma’am” interrupted Rose.

Lyngdoh Madam: “I did not say that politicians are not corrupt. Maybe when you think ofpoliticians you think of these big people whose photos appear in newspapers. I think ofpolitical leaders that I have known. I don’t think that the political leaders I know are morecorrupt than my own colleagues, government officials, contractors or other middle classprofessionals that I know. The corruption of the politician is more visible and we get theimpression that all politicians are corrupt. Some of them are and some of them are not.”

Rose did not give up. “Ma’am, what I meant is that there should be strict laws to curbcorruption and wrong practices like appeals to caste and community.

Lyngdoh Madam: “I am not sure Rose. For one thing there is already a law banning anyappeal to caste and religion in politics. Politicians find a way to bypass that. Laws canhave little impact unless people resist attempts to mislead and divide people in the nameof caste and religion. You cannot have democracy in a real sense unless people andpoliticians overcome the barriers of caste and religion.

politicianspoliticianspoliticianspoliticianspoliticians

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Redefining democracyWe began this tour of democracy last year with aminimal definition of democracy. Do you rememberthat? This is what Chapter 2 of your textbook said lastyear: democracy is a form of government in whichthe rulers are elected by the people. We then looked atmany cases and expanded the definition slightly to addsome qualifications:

the rulers elected by the people must take all themajor decisions;

elections must offer a choice and fair opportunityto the people to change the current rulers;

this choice and opportunity should be available toall the people on an equal basis; and

the exercise of this choice must lead to agovernment limited by basic rules of the constitutionand citizens’ rights.

You may have felt disappointed that the definitiondid not refer to any high ideals that we associate withdemocracy. But in operational terms, we deliberatelystarted with a minimalist but clear definition ofdemocracy. It allowed us to make a clear distinctionbetween democratic and non-democratic regimes.

You may have noticed that in the course of ourdiscussions of various aspects of democraticgovernment and politics, we have gone beyond thatdefinition:

We discussed democratic rights at length and notedthat these rights are not limited to the right to vote,stand in elections and form political organisations. Wediscussed some social and economic rights that ademocracy should offer to its citizens.

We have taken up power sharing as the spirit ofdemocracy and discussed how power sharing betweengovernments and social groups is necessary ina democracy.

We saw how democracy cannot be the brute ruleof majority and how a respect for minority voice isnecessary for democracy.

Our discussion of democracy has gone beyondthe government and its activities. We discussed howeliminating discrimination based on caste, religion andgender is important in a democracy.

Finally, we have had some discussion about someoutcomes that one can expect from a democracy.

In doing so, we have not gone against the definitionof democracy offered last year. We began then with adefinition of what is the minimum a country musthave to be called a democracy. In the course of ourdiscussion we moved to the set of desirable conditionsthat a democracy should have. We have moved fromthe definition of democracy to the description of agood democracy.

How do we define a good democracy? What areits features? Which are the features a democracy musthave to be called a good democracy? And what mustnot take place in a democracy if it is a good democracy?

You decide that.

Reading between the Lines

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Here is your space for writing your own definition of good democracy.

(Write your name here) ________________________ ’s definition of gooddemocracy (not more than 50 words):

Features (use only as many points as you want. Try to compress it in as few points aspossible)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

How did you like this exercise? Was it enjoyable? Very demanding? A little frustrating? And a little scary? Areyou a little resentful that the textbook did not help you in this crucial task? Are you worried that your definitionmay not be ‘correct’?

Here then is your last lesson in thinking about democracy: there is no fixed definition of good democracy.A good democracy is what we think it is and what we wish to make it. This may sound strange. Yet, think of it:is it democratic for someone to dictate to us what a good democracy is?