1. Is Democracy successful in India?
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"Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth" -Abraham Lincoln
"Democracy" comes from Greek words Demos & Kratos.Demos which mean people & Kratos which mean power,
so democracy means the power of the people.
Democracy is a belief that focuses on the people. More importantly itfocuses on the individual.Itrevolves around
us. In democracy ittakes into accountthe self-decision,butwhat we want is as well as bestfor the others. It is not
only a belief,but also a greatpower when itput into practice.Democracy gives people a power to have a voice,
which is importantbecause we want to hear others opinion,but in the end we have the freedom to make our own
choices.In democracy we have the power to choose.As we can see The Superheroes "The Spiderman", "The
Batman" & "The Lord Krishna"with great power havinggreat responsibility.The power that we have, with our own
choices,comes with a lot of responsibility in democracy.Our responsibility in democracy starts with us. As the next
part of democracy as a citizen of India,we have to believe that we are the one, and we can create a difference. Our
Voice Counts, Our Choicecan make an impact, now itis up to us to do our part.
India is thesecond most populous country in the world,is one of the world's oldestcivilizationsisnowa Sovereign,
Socialist,Secular,Democratic & Republic country. After Mughal and Rajputcontrol, colonization by European
powers in the mid-eighteenth century. The world's largestdemocracy by electorate was created after
independence in 1947 under the leadership of Indian National Congress.Elections to its Parliamentareheld once
every five years.India is a constitutional republic governed under the world's longest written constitution,
federally consistingof 29 states and seven centrally administered union territories,with New Delhi as the nation's
capital.
Now the question is democracy successful in India? Accordingto Samuel Huntington, Indian democracy as an
institution was facingfew crises atthe eve of independence. They were: crises of national integration,crisesof
identity, crises of participation,crises of penetration and crises of legitimacy.Thus we can see the number of
challenges,which the newly independent and decolonized India was facingwhileadoptingthe system of
democracy. Besides there arelinguistic problems,castesystem, economic class,poverty and illiteracy.To add to
them malnutrition and poor health conditions reflected the clear pictureof India.
Another inescapabledifficulty in theway of Indian democracy is India'sgeographical location on the map of Asia.
All alongher frontiers,India is surrounded by countries on all sides whi ch havingsomehowkind of autocratic rule
in Afghanistan,Pakistan,Nepal,Bangladesh,Myanmar,Indonesia,Egypt, Iran,Iraq and even the communistic
China.India the lastdemocratic country in Asia is havinga real tough time surrounded by autocratic ideals.There
can be no real democracy where there are gross and glaringinequalities of various types and itshows in almostall
spheres of life.A largesections of people who livein poverty, to them democracy conveys littlemeaning; it only
fetches a contempt smile.There is no justicefor the poor, the weak, the helpless and the under-dog. Thus, India is
not fitto be described a full-fledged democracy. As longas there are religious,or caste,or class wars,therecan be
no real democracy in India.The protagonists of democracy must hang their heads in shame on hearingof
Bhagalpur blinding,gang-murders of rival castegroups in U.P. and Bihar,the communal notes in U.P. and Gujarat,
and the violencesituation over linguistic issuein Punjab,Assam,and in the South. This virus of casteand
communal hatred is bound to eat into the vitals of democracy in India.
Accordingto studies,the 2014 general election is likely to be the most expensive election in Indian history,with a
massiveRs.30,000 crores being spent by the government, political parties and candidates. TheElection
Commission of India (ECI) had seized over Rs. 217 crores in cash all over the country. The biggest portion of this
expense will bethe money spent by candidates and parties on election campaigning.As numerous loopholes and

2. Is Democracy successful in India?
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lack of transparency spoil thecurrent election financesystem in India,candidates and parties areableto raiseand
spend money without makingany declarationsof the sources.There is a need to take comprehensive steps and
corroboratefinancial information in order to ensure transparency and accountability in raisingand spending
money. Sincethere is no state funding of elections in India,candidates and parties haveto raisemoney on their
own for campaign expenses. Hence, there is no level playingfield for candidates.This is clearly shown by the data
from Lok Sabha 2004 and 2009,where the poorest 20 per cent of candidates,in terms of their declared financial
assets,had a one per cent chanceof winningparliamentary elections,whereas the richestone, in contrast,had a
greater than 25 percent chance.
But after all the turbulent in India,democracy still existsin its uniqueforms.Arguably it is the best form of
government. Democracy would thus appear differently to different classesof India.To more privilegeclasses of
society it would mean the freedom of enterprise and to the lower orders it would mean equality and
representation. But whatever the contradictionsdemocracy may offers, Indian democracy will continuein spiteof
its paradoxical and surprisinghistory.