Republic of India: Planet’s only billion people democracy calls for broader perspective

Democracy in India has been the subject of much critical debate lately in International Media. Echoes of this global debate have also been heard in India. The debate to a large extent has arisen from a few so called “indices of democracy” such as the V-Dem. The debate has focused substantially on what appears to be a slide registered by these indices leading to a chorus of global voices on the so called “backsliding of democracy” in India. Lost in this din are several fundamental questions about the nature of democracy in the world’s most populous nation and whether the “one size fits all” approach of these “indices of democracy” is relevant to India. With a more than billion population India is the outlier amongst democracies across the world. The next nearest democracy, the United States has less than a third of India’s population and perhaps far less of the socio-economic complexity underlying the Indian Democracy. Challenges of one size fits all approach It is a matter of debate whether the scale of Indian democracy ought to matter in judging the health of democracy of India. However, it is also pertinent to ask if the models underlying the “indices of democracy” have adequately accounted for the unique challenges that democracy at the scale of a billion people poses. After all, when a billion people democracy goes to the polls in a first past the post system, the winning coalition’s vote share alone would be greater than the population of the next nearest democracy. The one size fits all approach of indices of democracy means that the same number of country specific experts assess a billion-scale democracy like India when compared to a much smaller democracy of a few million people. Scale of the democracy when combined with the socio-economic complexity also means wide disparities across India in maturity of Institutions, state capacity in dealing with law and order and in delivery of justice all of which tend to have an influence on how the health of the democracy is perceived externally. Global debate on Indian democracy: Flawed and misplaced A hostile neighbourhood also has a bearing on how the health of the democracy is perceived externally given the many conflict zones and the need for exceptional state interventions in these conflict zones to ensure territorial integrity. By narrowly focusing on what these “indices of democracy” call “liberal democracy”, it is quite clear that the global debate on Indian democracy is both flawed in its understanding and misplaced in its priorities. At a time when globally, democracy continues to be under siege across continents, the world’s only billion people democracy ought to be a global miracle that needs to be celebrated rather than derided. Rather than suitably modify the underlying models to accommodate the unique challenges faced by India, these “indices of democracy” are ending up doing great disservice to their purported cause of advocacy for democracy globally with their alarmism over the health of democracy in India. Even if one were to apply yardsticks of “liberalism” to judge India it would be in order to point out that it was not the Indian Supreme Court that denied a constitutional right to reproductive choice nor was it in India where thousands of school textbooks stood banned across the country. These are issues on which India stands far more liberal compared to the next largest democracy, the United States. If one were to dig deeper in to what issues specifically have riled up the advocates of “liberal democracy” causing them to react in such an alarmist manner on India, it becomes clear that much of the angst arises from a lack of understanding how democracy is constitutionally structured in India. As an example, one of the dimensions on which India is judged has to do with freedom of speech which is ostensibly measured based on the number of journalists arrested for various reasons. This is a flawed measure owing to the fact that law enforcement in federal India is the domain of the states and different states are ruled by different political dispensations. It is deeply flawed to draw sweeping national conclusions on the health of Indian Democracy based on what are mostly independent, individual actions of various autonomous state governments and local authorities. It also begs the question if these instances are adequately normalised on a per capita basis given that a billion people democracy is bound to have more, number of occurrences statistically speaking which may significantly distort perception when compared to much smaller countries that may record fewer occurrences. It also begs the question if the indices accurately assess the state of Indian democracy from a federal structure standpoint. As an example, while it was routine in past decades for the central government to routinely invoke Article 356 to dismiss duly elected state governments, there is not a single instance of misapplication of Article 356 in the past 8 years. Another aspect that is routinely cited is regarding institutional checks and balances, where being adversarial is equated with liberalism and institutional gridlock on partisan considerations is privileged as being more liberal. It is little wonder that the health of Indian Democracy when viewed from the narrow prism of what passes for liberal democracy has been a cause of alarm within a section of activists and commentators. However, assessing the planet’s only billion people democracy calls for a broader perspective that factors in both the challenges of scale and the complexities of socio-economic diversity. Adversarial Institutional checks are no measure of liberalism or democracy but are partisan tools that end up serving vested interests to the detriment of the ability of democratically elected governments to deliver. Ultimately democracy is a means to an end and not an end in itself. A point that is largely lost on those who have been wrongly judgemental of democracy in India. The writer is the former CEO, Prasar Bharti. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. 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