Indian democracy, often celebrated as the world’s largest, is at crossroads. Contemporary, democracy watch dogs agree that today India resides somewhere in a nether region between full democracy and full autocracy. Like a ‘hybrid regime’—that is, neither a full democracy nor a full autocracy. In 2021, Freedom House dropped India’s rating from Free to Partly Free, the same year, the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project relegated India to the status of ‘electoral autocracy’. The Economist Intelligence Unit moved India into the ‘flawed democracy’.
The question of whether India is a democracy today is pivotal to the country’s political future. A truly democratic system is one where governance is transparent, inclusive, and accountable to the people.
The mere presence of democratic institutions does not guarantee the health of democracy. India’s democracy is increasingly skewed in practice. The need for democratisation within Indian democracy is not just desirable but essential for its survival and relevance.
India’s democratic framework was designed to reflect the ideals of equality, justice, and representation. Over time, this vision has faced challenges from systemic inequalities, centralised power structures, and socio-political hierarchies. The growing influence of money and muscle power undermines the democratic process. According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 43% of MPs elected in 2019 had criminal cases against them, raising questions about the quality of representation. Institutions like the Election Commission of India should function without bowing down to political masters. In recent years, India’s media landscape has faced challenges from corporate ownership, and dwindling journalistic ethics. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and activists have often been at the forefront of advocating for rights and justice. However, increasing restrictions on their functioning undermine their ability to contribute to democracy.
The growing centralisation of power at the Union level has undermined federalism, a cornerstone of India’s democracy. State governments often face constraints in decision-making due to financial dependencies and overreach by the Centre. Restoring the balance of power between the Centre and states is imperative for democratisation. Institutions such as the Parliament, Election Commission, and Judiciary form the backbone of democracy. Their perceived erosion through political interference, inefficiency, or lack of transparency weakens democratic governance. Strengthening institutional autonomy and fostering a culture of accountability are critical. The most fundamental link between democracy, development and participation of the community is in deep confusion and great stress today. It has tended to become accountable to none, and responsible to nothing.
The most recent example is the ‘Swachh Bharat Yojana’ (Clean India Project) could have transformed India into a global entity with a cascading effect on education, health, development and orientation of the younger generation of Indians. But it has largely failed because the implementation agencies were the same old unaccountable government entities.
In fact, the bureaucracy itself has become the main hurdle for delivery of goods and services to the poor. There is much less accountability, horrendous leakages and no capacity-building. There have been negligible efforts to empower the grass roots and the downtrodden across anti-poverty interventions. There are two main challenges in injecting democracy at the grass roots. First, the empowerment and participation of local people and their ability to handle the activities so far run by the governmental machinery, besides having institutional infrastructure and integrity in taking collective responsibility is lacking.
The more serious question is that the grass roots have joined the larger corruption dynamics centralised bureaucracy, thus spreading of roots of corruption, wider and deeper in almost all aspects of the life of the Nation, compelling one to recall the words of, one who is most hated by all Indians, the Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
“If Independence is granted to India, power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles. A day would come when even air and water would be taxed in India.”
A statement every Indian would want to prove as untrue, but the reality of the country and the unprecedented enrichment of the politicians and the increasing poverty of the common and the less privileged in India makes one rethink, and realise that the present reality of the nation is entirely different from what was promised and what was dreamt by the people of India. Yet the present day politicians boldly and shamelessly continue this tirade of being mere dream merchants, promising great things but doing precisely nothing except looting the Nation to fill themselves and their families with wealth and privileges.
Goa is a sad illustration of how a wealthy and progressive State could be made poorer by bad politics and greedy politicians. Goa’s total outstanding debt at the end of March 2023 was Rs 31,104 crore and Goa’s gross fiscal deficit has increased by 680% since 2004.
The political manoeuvring in Goa is a worrying sign of the shrinking democratic spaces. The absence of a transparent and consultative process in policy making deprives Goans of their rightful voice in decisions that shape their future. Goa’s electorate has repeatedly expressed frustration with defections, yet the lack of strict penalties allows such behaviour to continue unchecked. Goa, being a tourism-dependent State, has seen the growing influence of powerful business lobbies, raising concerns over environmental sustainability and public welfare. The people of Goa have consistently shown their willingness to engage in public discourse, be it the protests against the coal corridor in Vasco or the agitation against uncontrolled tourism expansion. A structured mechanism, such as citizen referendums or participatory town hall meetings, should be institutionalised to give people a direct say in major policy decisions.
As Goa stands at the crossroads of rapid urbanisation, environmental challenges, and political realignments, it is imperative that the voices of its people are not drowned out by political opportunism and corporate interests. This beautiful earth is what we all have in common. Let not a few greedy ones destroy it.