We place faith in non-democratic institutions in our country such as the SC and the ECI for the seeming non-partiality of their activities without recognising the limitations of their power.
The immense legitimacy and popularity of the Supreme Court of India (SC) and Election Commission of India (ECI) can be attributed to their actions of delivering well on the core functions of these institutions - rendering judgements on fundamentals rights issues and organising the elections.
These tasks have been carried out very well with the Supreme Court defining and sometimes expanding the notion of fundamental rights, which one can situate at the core of the constitution; while the ECI dramatically improved the conduct of elections by making the exercise of casting a ballot as free and fair as possible.
These two institutions have been successful in expanding the scope of their activities by adopting innovative techniques in expanding the definition of fundamental rights and also defining what constitutes a poll related activity. For example, the SC defining the issue of pollution in Delhi as a matter of right to life was welcomed by the people who applauded the introduction of CNG gas in public transport vehicles, while the introduction of electronic voting machines (EVMs) by the ECI has facilitated a freer conduct of elections and removed the term 'booth-capturing' from the lexicon of Indian elections.
These publicly visible activities have been at the centre of the their high standing in the eyes of the people. But these actions also expose the limitations of these institutions. The exponential increase in the use of private diesel vehicles in Delhi has negated any marginal improvement in the air quality of Delhi while the use of money and doling out favours at the local level has led to some parties or candidates to develop 'safe seats'.
The immense legitimacy and popularity of the Supreme Court of India (SC) and Election Commission of India (ECI) can be attributed to their actions of delivering well on the core functions of these institutions - rendering judgements on fundamentals rights issues and organising the elections.
These tasks have been carried out very well with the Supreme Court defining and sometimes expanding the notion of fundamental rights, which one can situate at the core of the constitution; while the ECI dramatically improved the conduct of elections by making the exercise of casting a ballot as free and fair as possible.
These two institutions have been successful in expanding the scope of their activities by adopting innovative techniques in expanding the definition of fundamental rights and also defining what constitutes a poll related activity. For example, the SC defining the issue of pollution in Delhi as a matter of right to life was welcomed by the people who applauded the introduction of CNG gas in public transport vehicles, while the introduction of electronic voting machines (EVMs) by the ECI has facilitated a freer conduct of elections and removed the term 'booth-capturing' from the lexicon of Indian elections.
These publicly visible activities have been at the centre of the their high standing in the eyes of the people. But these actions also expose the limitations of these institutions. The exponential increase in the use of private diesel vehicles in Delhi has negated any marginal improvement in the air quality of Delhi while the use of money and doling out favours at the local level has led to some parties or candidates to develop 'safe seats'.
Hi ra,
ReplyDeleteThis was such a good start for an article that I thought was left unfinished :). I was kind of craving for more of it - for example, So what are the implications of such limitations on the system? What needs to be done to address the limitations? How can the well-functioning 'non-democratic' institutions 'prode' the ultimate democratic institution to do THEIR job and are they already doing it? If not what can be done? This is all of course opinion that's subject to my limited knowledge in this area :)
It is wrong to expect the judiciary or regulatory bodies like the ECI to prod democratic institutions like the Parliament to function better. My observations on how things function, especially when engaging with the state, shows that greater involvement by people can possibly make a dent in the inefficiencies and malpractices that beset government work. For example, it has taken me over 13 months to get my driving license from Sonipat District office without paying a bribe. As a researcher who focuses on transparency and accountability issues I decided to not pay a bribe, so it has taken me almost 15 trips to complete the process and encounter the delays before I got my license issued. The process of issuing a driving license is beset with limited manpower, inefficient scheduling of payment of challan (license fee), processing of application, capturing digital photos for license, and use of bonafide documents which prove date of birth, residency and other matters. The district office uses a system where applications are given on alternate days while applications are accepted on the other alternate days in a week. This means that it is not possible to prepare and submit an application in a single day. Tackling just this issue will mean that people have to be willing to not pay a bribe or use middlemen to get their licenses. And that is a task complicated by simple cost benefit calculations to ethical and moral values one carries. In such a situation, if we had the local courts or other regulatory bodies intervene, they would be not able to enforce their will and quickly lose legitimacy. That is the reason why local courts do not pass strictures against local governments.
ReplyDeleteEven the adoption of Aadhar Card or Unique Identification Card has not changed the situation yet, as Sonipat which was a model district to implement Aadhar Card linked payment of subsidy did not have the necessary instruments in the District Office to utilize the Aadhar system.
My brief note suggests that if one is interested in addressing various issues pertaining to the government, a focus on the district level might be a good place to start.