CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN PRESENT INDIAN DEMOCRACY

Abstract

Hi Dears, We are proud to be the largest democracy in the world. For more than sixty five years we have witnessed the conduct of successful elections, peaceful changes of government at the Centre and in the States, people exercising freedom of expression, movement and religion. India has also been developing and transforming economically and socially many Western governments continue to point to India’s status as the world’s largest democracy as one of the key justifications for deepening engagement with the country. Meanwhile, New Delhi employs its democratic credentials as part of its claim to an expanded global role. In this context, it is important to understand what India’s democratic status means for its foreign policy and the nature (and limits) of its engagement with the West. Long back, former President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln said, “Democracy is a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.” The term ‘democracy’ comes from the Greek word demokratia which means “rule of the people”. It was coined from two words: demos that means “people” and Kratos which refers to “power”. That is, in a democracy the power rests with the people. This meaning is based on the experiences of the governments that existed in some of the Greek city-states, notably Athens. And, today also, democracy is defined as a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodic free elections. When you examine the definitions of democracy, as suggested above, you will find that most of those definitions define democracy as a form of government which is run by the elected representatives.