Chapter 1
Power-sharing

Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka-

• 1948- Sri Lanka emerged as an independent country
• The leaders of the Sinhala community sought to secure dominance over government by virtue of their majority.
• As a result, the democratically elected government adopted a series of MAJORITARIAN measures to establish Sinhala supremacy.
• 1956-An Act was passed to recognise Sinhala as the only official language, thus disregarding Tamil.
• The governments followed preferential policies that favoured Sinhala applicants for university positions and government jobs.
• A new constitution stipulated that the state shall protect and foster Buddhism.
• All these government measures, coming one after the other, gradually increased the feeling of alienation among the Sri Lankan Tamils.
• They felt that none of the major political parties led by the Buddhist Sinhala leaders was sensitive to their language and culture.
• They felt that the constitution and government policies denied them equal political rights, discriminated against them in getting jobs and other opportunities and ignored their interests.

• As a result, the relations between the Sinhala and Tamil communities strained over time.
• The Sri Lankan Tamils launched parties and struggles for the recognition of Tamil as an official language, for regional autonomy and equality of opportunity in securing education and jobs.
• But their demand for more autonomy to provinces populated by the Tamils was repeatedly denied.
• By 1980s several political organisations were formed demanding an independent Tamil Eelam (state) in northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.
• The distrust between the two communities turned into widespread conflict. It soon turned into a CIVIL WAR.
• As a result thousands of people of both the communities have been killed.
• Many families were forced to leave the country as refugees and many more lost their livelihoods.
• But the civil war has caused a terrible setback to the social, cultural and economic life of the country. It ended in 2009.

Accommodation in Belgium

• Belgium is a small country in Europe
• The Belgian leaders took a different path.
• They recognised the existence of regional differences and cultural diversities.
• Between 1970 and 1993, they amended their constitution four times so as to work out an arrangement that would enable everyone to live together within the same country.
• The arrangement they worked out is different from any other country and is very innovative.

Here are some of the elements of the Belgian model:

• Constitution prescribes that the number of Dutch and French-speaking ministers shall be equal in the central government.
• Some special laws require the support of majority of members from each linguistic group.
• Thus, no single community can make decisions unilaterally.
• Many powers of the central government have been given to state governments of the two regions of the country.
• The state governments are not subordinate to the Central Government.
• Brussels has a separate government in which both the communities have equal representation.
• The French speaking people accepted equal representation in Brussels because the Dutch-speaking community has accepted equal representation in the Central Government.
• Apart from the Central and the State Government, there is a third kind of government.
• This ‘community government’ is elected by people belonging to one language community – Dutch, French and German-speaking – no matter where they live.
• This government has the power regarding cultural, educational and language-related issues.
• Belgian model helped to avoid civic strife between the two major communities and a possible division of the country on linguistic lines.
• When many countries of Europe came together to form the European Union, Brussels was chosen as its headquarters

Forms of power-sharing

Power is shared among-

• different organs of government, such as the legislature, executive and judiciary
• Among governments at different levels – a general government for the entire country and governments at the provincial or regional level.
• among different social groups such as the religious and linguistic groups (Example- ‘Community government’ in Belgium)
• Political parties, pressure groups and movements control or influence those in power.

Chapter- 2
Federalism

Both these levels of governments enjoy their power independent of the other.

Key features of federalism

• 2 or more levels (or tiers) of government.
• Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each tier has its own JURISDICTION in specific matters of legislation, taxation and administration.
• The jurisdictions of the respective levels or tiers of government are specified in the constitution. So the existence and authority of each tier of government is constitutionally guaranteed.
• The fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot be unilaterally changed by one level of government.
• Such changes require the consent of both the levels of government
• Courts have the power to interpret the constitution and the powers of different levels of government.
• The highest court acts as an umpire if disputes arise between different levels of government in the exercise of their respective powers.
• Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.

The federal system thus has dual objectives:

• To safeguard and promote unity of the country,
• While at the same time accommodate regional diversity.

An ideal federal system has both aspects: mutual trust and agreement to live together.

• The exact balance of power between the central and the state government varies from one federation to another.
• This balance depends mainly on the historical context in which the federation was formed.
• There are two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed.
• The first route involves independent States coming together on their own to form a bigger unit, so that by pooling sovereignty and retaining identity they can increase their security.
• This type of ‘coming together’ federations includes the USA, Switzerland and Australia.
• In this first category of federations, all the constituent States usually have equal power and are strong vis-à-vis the federal government
• The second route is where a large country decides to divide its power between the constituent States and the national government.
• India, Spain and Belgium are examples of this kind of ‘holding together’ federations.
• In this second category, the central government tends to be more powerful vis-à-vis the States.
• Very often different constituent units of the federation have unequal powers.
• Some units are granted special powers.

What makes India a federal country?

• After Independence, The Constitution declared India as a Union of States.
• Although it did not use the word federation, the Indian Union is based on the principles of federalism.
• Originally provided for a two-tier system of government, the Union Government or Central Government (Union of India) and the State governments.
• Later, a third tier of federalism was added in the form of Panchayats and Municipalities.
• All States in the Indian Union do not have identical powers. Some States enjoy a special status.
• Jammu and Kashmir has its own Constitution.
• Many provisions of the Indian Constitution are not applicable to this State without the approval of the State Assembly.
• Indians who are not permanent residents of this State cannot buy land or house here.
• UTs like Chandigarh, or Lakshadweep or the capital city of Delhi do not have the powers of a State.
• The Central Government has special powers in running these areas.

Amendments to Constitution-

• Any change to structure of the Constitution has to be first passed by both the Houses of Parliament with at least 2/3^rd majority.
• Then it has to be ratified by the legislatures of at least half of the total States.
• The judiciary plays an important role in overseeing the implementation of constitutional provisions and procedures.
• In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the High Courts and the Supreme Court make a decision.
• The Union and State governments have the power to raise resources by levying taxes in order to carry on the government and the responsibilities assigned to each of them.

How is federalism practised?

• The real success of federalism in India can be attributed to the nature of democratic politics in our country.
• This ensured that the spirit of federalism, respect for diversity and desire for living together became shared ideals in our country.

Linguistic States

• The creation of linguistic States was the first and a major test for democratic politics in our country.
• Some States were created not on the basis of language but to recognise differences based on culture, ethnicity or geography.
• These include States like Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.

Fear for Linguistic States-

• When the demand for the formation of States on the basis of language was raised, some national leaders feared that it would lead to the disintegration of the country.
• The Central Government resisted linguistic States for some time.
• But the experience has shown that the formation of linguistic States has actually made the country, more united.
• It has also made administration easier.

Language policy

• Our Constitution did not give the status of national language to any one language.
• Hindi was identified as the official language.
• Scheduled Languages by the Constitution- 22
• A candidate in an examination conducted for the Central Government positions may opt to take the examination in any of these languages.
• States too have their own official languages.
• According to the Constitution, the use of English for official purposes was to stop in 1965.
• However, many non- Hindi speaking States demanded that the use of English continue.
• In Tamil Nadu, this movement took a violent form.
• The Central Government responded by agreeing to continue the use of English along with Hindi for official purposes.

Centre-State relations

• Restructuring the Centre-State relations is one more way in which federalism has been strengthened in practice.
• As and when the ruling party at the State level was different, the parties that ruled at the Centre tried to undermine the power of the States.
• In those days, the Central Government would often misuse the Constitution to dismiss the State governments that were controlled by rival parties.
• This undermined the spirit of federalism.
• All this changed significantly after 1990.
• This period saw the rise of regional political parties in many States of the country.
• This was also the beginning of the era of COALITION GOVERNMENTS at the Centre.
• Since no single party got a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the major national parties had to enter into an alliance with many parties including several regional parties to form a government at the Centre.
• This trend was supported by a major judgement of the Supreme Court that made it difficult for the Central Government to dismiss state governments in an arbitrary manner.
• Thus, federal power sharing is more effective today than it was in the early years after the Constitution came into force.

Linguistic diversity of India

As per Census of India 2001-

• Languages like Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Bundelkhandi, Chhattisgarhi, Rajasthani, Bhili and many others were grouped together under ‘Hindi’.
• Even after this grouping, the Census found 114 major languages. 
• Of these 22 languages are now included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and are therefore called ‘Scheduled Languages’.
• Others are called ‘non- Scheduled Languages’.

Decentralisation in India

• When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to local government, it is called decentralisation.
• A major step towards decentralisation was taken in 1992.
• The Constitution was amended to make the third-tier of democracy more powerful and effective.
• Now it is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to local government bodies.
• Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads of these institutions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
• At least 1/3^rd of all positions are reserved for women.
• An independent institution called the State Election Commission has been created in each State to conduct Panchayat and municipal elections.
• The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local government bodies.
• The nature of sharing varies from State to State.

Purpose-

• There are a large number of problems and issues which are best settled at the local level.
• Local government is the best way to realise one important principle of democracy, namely local self-government.

PRI

• Rural local government is popularly known by the name Panchayati raj.
• Each village, or a group of villages in some States, has a gram panchayat.
• This is a council consisting of several ward members, often called panch, and a president or Sarpanch.
• They are directly elected by all the adult population living in that ward or village.
• Works under the overall supervision of the gram sabha.
• All the voters in the village are its members.
• It has to meet at least twice or thrice in a year to approve the annual budget of the gram panchayat and to review the performance of the gram panchayat.
• The local government structure goes right up to the district level.
• A few gram Panchayats are grouped together to form what is usually called a Panchayatsamitis or block or Mandal.
• The members of this representative body are elected by all the Panchayat members in that area.
• All the Panchayat samitis or mandals in a district together constitute the Zila (district) Parishad.
• Most members of the Zila Parishad are elected.
• Members of the Lok Sabha and MLAs of that district and some other officials of other district level bodies are also its members.
• Zila Parishad chairperson is the political head of the Zila Parishad.

Municipalities

• Similarly, local government bodies exist for urban areas as well.
• Municipalities are set up in towns.
• Big cities are constituted into municipal corporations.
• Both municipalities and municipal corporations are controlled by elected bodies consisting of people’s representatives.
• Municipal chairperson is the political head of the municipality.
• In a municipal corporation such an officer is called the mayor.

Chapter- 3
Democracy and Diversity

Origins of social differences

• Mostly based on accident of birth.
• Some of the differences are based on our choices.
• For example, some people are atheists. They don’t believe in God or any religion.
• Some people choose to follow a religion other than the one in which they were born.
• Most of us choose what to study, which occupation to take up and which games or cultural activities to take part in.

Three determinants

• Three factors are crucial in deciding the outcome of politics of social divisions.

1. First of all, the outcome depends on how people perceive their identities. If people see their identities in singular and exclusive terms, it becomes very difficult to accommodate.
2. Second, it depends on how political leaders raise the demands of any community.
3. Third, it depends on how the government reacts to demands of different groups.

Chapter- 4
Gender, Religion and Caste

Gender and politics

Public/private division-

SEXUAL DIVISION OF LABOUR

• On an average an Indian woman works one hour more than an average man every day. Yet much of her work is not paid and therefore often not valued.
• The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 provides that equal wages should be paid to equal work. However in almost all areas of work, from sports and cinema, to factories and fields, women are paid less than men, even when both do exactly the same work.
• In many parts of India parents prefer to have sons and find ways to have the girl child aborted before she is born. (led to a decline in child sex ratio)

Women’s political representation

• In India, the proportion of women in legislature has been very low.
• For example, the percentage of elected women members in Lok Sabha has touched 12 per cent of its total strength for the first time in 2014.
• Their share in the state assemblies is less than 5 per cent.

• One-third of seats in local government bodies – in panchayats and municipalities – are now reserved for women.
• Women’s organisations and activists have been demanding a similar reservation of at least one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women.
• A bill with this proposal has been pending before the Parliament for more than a decade.
• But there is no consensus over this among all the political parties.
• The bill has not been passed.

Communalism

• The problem begins when religion is seen as the basis of the nation.
• When beliefs of one religion are presented as superior to those of other religions, when the demands of one religious group are formed in opposition to another and when state power is used to establish domination of one religious group over the rest.
• This manner of using religion in politics is communal politics.

Communalism can take various forms in politics:

• The most common expression of communalism is in everyday beliefs.
• These routinely involve religious prejudices, stereotypes of religious communities and belief in the superiority of one’s religion over other religions.
• For those belonging to majority community, this takes the form of majoritarian dominance.
• For those belonging to the minority community, it can take the form of a desire to form a separate political unit.
• Political mobilisation on religious lines is another frequent form of communalism.
• This involves the use of sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeal and plain fear in order to bring the followers of one religion together in the political arena.
• In electoral politics this often involves special appeal to the interests or emotions of voters of one religion in preference to others.
• Sometimes communalism takes its most ugly form of communal violence, riots and massacre.
• India and Pakistan suffered some of the worst communal riots at the time of the Partition.
• The post-Independence period has also seen large scale communal violence.

Secular state

• Communalism was one of the major challenges to democracy in our country.
• The makers of our Constitution were aware of this challenge.
• That is why they chose the model of a secular state.
• This choice was reflected in several constitutional provisions that we studied last year:
• There is no official religion for the Indian state.
• Unlike the status of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, that of Islam in Pakistan and that of Christianity in England, our Constitution does not give a special status to any religion.
• The Constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion, or not to follow any.
• The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.
• At the same time, the Constitution allows the state to intervene in the matters of religion in order to ensure equality within religious communities.
• For example, it bans untouchability.

Caste and politics

• Caste system was based on exclusion of and discrimination against the ‘outcaste’ groups.
• They were subjected to the inhuman practice of untouchability
• That is why political leaders and social reformers like Jotiba Phule, Gandhiji, B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar Ramaswami Naicker advocated and worked to establish a society in which caste inequalities are absent.
• Partly due to their efforts and partly due to other socio-economic changes, castes and caste system in modern India have undergone great changes.
• With economic development, large scale URBANISATION, growth of literacy and education, OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY and the weakening of the position of landlords in the villages, the old notions of CASTE HIERARCHY are breaking down.
• The Constitution of India prohibited any caste-based discrimination and laid the foundations of policies to reverse the injustices of the caste system.

Caste in politics

• Caste can take various forms in politics:
• When parties choose candidates in elections, they keep in mind the caste composition of the electorate and nominate candidates from different castes so as to muster necessary support to win elections.
• Political parties and candidates in elections make appeals to caste sentiment to muster support.
• Universal adult franchise and the principle of one-person-one-vote compelled political leaders to gear up to the task of mobilising and securing political support.
• It also brought new consciousness among the people of castes that were hitherto treated as inferior and low.

• The focus on caste in politics can sometimes give an impression that elections are all about caste and nothing else.
• No parliamentary constituency in the country has a clear majority of one single caste.
• So, every candidate and party needs to win the confidence of more than one caste and community to win elections.
• No party wins the votes of all the voters of a caste or community.
• When people say that a caste is a ‘vote bank’ of one party, it usually means that a large proportion of the voters from that caste vote for that party.

Politics in caste

• Politics too influences the caste system and caste identities by bringing them into the political arena.
• Thus, it is not politics that gets caste ridden; it is the caste that gets politicised.
• This takes several forms:
• Each caste group tries to become bigger by incorporating within it neighbouring castes or sub-castes which were earlier excluded from it.
• Various caste groups are required to enter into a coalition with other castes or communities and thus enter into a dialogue and negotiation.
• New kinds of caste groups have come up in the political arena like ‘backward’ and ‘forward’ caste groups.
• Thus, caste plays different kinds of roles in politics.
• In some situations, expression of caste differences in politics gives many disadvantaged communities the space to demand their share of power.
• In this sense-caste politics has helped people from Dalits and OBC castes to gain better access to decision making.
• Several political and non-political organisations have been demanding and agitating for an end to discrimination against particular castes, for more dignity and more access to land, resources and opportunities.
• At the same time exclusive attention to caste can produce negative results as well.
• As in the case of religion, politics based on caste identity alone is not very healthy in a democracy.
• It can divert attention from other pressing issues like poverty, development and corruption.
• In some cases caste division leads to tensions, conflict and even violence.

Chapter- 5
Popular Struggles and Movements

Democracy and popular struggles

• These two stories are from very different contexts.
• The movement in Nepal was to establish democracy, while the struggle in Bolivia involved claims on an elected, democratic government.
• The popular struggle in Bolivia was about one specific policy, while the struggle in Nepal was about the foundations of the country’s politics.
• Both these struggles were successful but their impact was at different levels.
• Despite these differences, both the stories share some elements which are relevant to the study of the past and future of democracies.
• Both these are instances of political conflict that led to popular struggles.
• In both cases the struggle involved mass mobilisation.
• Public demonstration of mass support clinched the dispute.
• Finally, both instances involved critical role of political organisations.

Movement for democracy in Nepal

• Nepal witnessed an extraordinary popular movement in April 2006.
• The movement was aimed at restoring democracy.
• Although the king formally remained the head of the state, the real power was exercised by popularly elected representatives.
• King Birendra, who has accepted this transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy, was killed in a mysterious massacre of the royal family in 2001.
• King Gyanendra, the new king of Nepal, was not prepared to accept democratic rule.
• He took advantage of the weakness and unpopularity of the democratically elected government.
• February 2005- the king dismissed the then Prime Minister and dissolved the popularly elected Parliament.
• The movement of April 2006 was aimed at regaining popular control over the government from the king.
• All the major political parties in the parliament formed a Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and called for a four-day strike in Kathmandu, the country’s capital.
• This protest soon turned into an indefinite strike in which MAOIST insurgents and various other organisations joined hands.
• People defied curfew and took to the streets.
• The security forces found themselves unable to take on more than a lakh people who gathered almost every day to demand restoration of democracy.
• The number of protesters reached between three and five lakhs on 21 April and they served an ultimatum to the king.
• The leaders of the movement rejected the half- hearted concessions made by the king.
• They stuck to their demands for restoration of parliament, power to an all-party government and a new constituent assembly.
• On 24 April 2006, the last day of the ultimatum, the king was forced to concede all the three demands.
• The SPA chose Girija Prasad Koirala as the new Prime Minister of the interim government.
• The restored parliament met and passed laws taking away most of the powers of the king.
• The SPA and the Maoists came to an understanding about how the new Constituent Assembly was going to be elected.
• In 2008, the monarchy was abolished and Nepal became a federal democratic republic.
• In 2015, it adopted a new constitution.

Bolivia’s Water War

• The story of Poland and that of Nepal apply to the struggle for establishing or restoring democracy.
• But the role of popular struggles does not come to an end with the establishment of democracy.
• People’s successful struggle against privatisation of water in Bolivia reminds us that popular struggles are integral to the working of democracy.
• Bolivia is a poor country in Latin America.
• The World Bank pressurised the government to give up its control of municipal water supply.
• The government sold these rights for the city of Cochabamba to a multi-national company (MNC).
• The company immediately increased the price of water by four times.
• Many people received monthly water bill of Rs 1000 in a country where average income is around Rs 5000 a month.
• This led to a spontaneous popular protest.
• In January 2000, a new alliance of labour, human rights and community leaders organised a successful four-day general strike in the city.
• The government agreed to negotiate and the strike was called off.  Yet nothing happened.
• The police resorted to brutal repression when the agitation was started again in February.
• Another strike followed in April and the government imposed martial law.
• But the power of the people forced the officials of the MNC to flee the city and made the government concede to all the demands of the protesters.
• The contract with the MNC was cancelled and water supply was restored to the municipality at old rates. This came to be known as Bolivia’s water war.

Mobilisation and organisations

• Seven Party Alliance in Nepalhad included some big parties that had some members in the Parliament.
• But the SPA was not the only organisation behind this mass upsurge.
• The protest was joined by the Nepalese Communist Party (Maoist) which did not believe in parliamentary democracy.
• This party was involved in an armed struggle against the Nepali government and had established its control over large parts of Nepal.
• The struggle involved many organisations other than political parties.
• All the major labour unions and their federations joined this movement.
• Many other organisations like the organisation of the indigenous people, teachers, lawyers and human rights groups extended support to the movement.
• The protest against water privatisation in Bolivia was not led by any political party.
• It was led by an organisation called FEDECOR.
• This organisation comprised local professionals, including engineers and environmentalists.
• They were supported by a federation of farmers who relied on irrigation, the confederation of factory workers’ unions, middle class students from the University of Cochabamba and the city’s growing population of homeless street children.
• The movement was supported by the Socialist Party.
• In 2006, this party came to power in Bolivia.
• From both these examples, we can see that in a democracy several different kinds of organisations work behind any big struggle.
• These organisations play their role in two ways.
• One obvious way of influencing the decisions in a democracy is direct participation in competitive politics.
• This is done by creating parties, contesting elections and forming governments.
• But every citizen does not participate so directly.
• They may not have the desire, the need or the skills to take part in direct political activity other than voting.
• There are many indirect ways in which people can get governments to listen to their demands or their points of view.
• They could do so by forming an organisation and undertaking activities to promote their interests or their viewpoints.
• These are called interest groups or pressure groups.

Pressure groups and movements

• Examples- Narmada Bachao Andolan, Movement for Right to Information, Anti-liquor Movement, Women’s Movement, Environmental Movement
• Like an interest group, a movement also attempts to influence politics rather than directly take part in electoral competition.
• But unlike the interest groups, movements have a loose organisation. Their decision making is more informal and flexible.
• They depend much more on spontaneous mass participation than an interest group.
• Sometimes these organisations are not about representing the interest of one section of society.
• They represent some common or general interest that needs to be defended.
• The Bolivian organisation, FEDECOR is an example of that kind of an organisation.
• In the context of Nepal, we noted the participation of human rights organisations.
• These second type of groups are called promotional groups or public interest groups. They promote collective rather than selective good.
• They aim to help groups other than their own members.
• For example, a group fighting against bonded labour fights not for itself but for those who are suffering under such bondage.
• In some instances the members of a public interest group may undertake activity that benefits them as well as others too.
• For example, BAMCEF (Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation) is an organisation largely made up of government employees that campaign against caste discrimination.
• It addresses the problems of its members who suffer discrimination.

Sectional interest groups and public interest groups

• Usually interest groups seek to promote the interests of a particular section or group of society.
• Trade unions, business associations and professional (lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc.) bodies are some examples of this type.

They are sectional because they represent a section of society:

1. Workers, employees, businesspersons, industrialists, followers of a religion, caste group, etc.
2. Their principal concern is the betterment and well-being of their members, not society in general.

Movement groups

• Most of the movements are issue-specific movements that seek to achieve a single objective within a limited time frame.
• Others are more general or generic movements that seek to achieve a broad goal in the very long term.
• The Nepalese movement for democracy arose with the specific objective of reversing the king’s orders that led to suspension of democracy.
• In India, Narmada Bachao Andolan is a good example of this kind of movement.
• The movement started with the specific issue of the people displaced by the creation of Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada River.
• Its objective was to stop the dam from being constructed
• These single-issue movements can be contrasted with movements that are long term and involve more than one issue.
• Examples- environmental movement and the women’s movement
• There is no single organisation that controls or guides such movements.
• For example, the National Alliance for Peoples’ Movements (NAPM) is an organisation of organisations.
• Various movement groups struggling on specific issues are constituents of this loose organisation which coordinates the activities of a large number of peoples’ movements in our country.

How do they influence politics?

Pressure groups and movements exert influence on politics in a variety of ways:

• They try to gain public support and sympathy for their goals and their activities by carrying out information campaigns, organising meetings, filing petitions, etc.
• They often organise protest activity like strikes or disrupting government programmes.
• Workers’ organisations, employees’ associations and most of the movement groups often resort to these tactics in order to force the government to take note of their demands.
• Business groups often employ professional lobbyists or sponsor expensive advertisements.
• Some persons from pressure groups or movement groups may participate in official bodies and committees that offer advice to the government.
• While interest groups and movements do not directly engage in party politics, they seek to exert influence on political parties.
• Most of the movement groups take a political stance without being a party.
• They have political ideology and political position on major issues.

The relationship between political parties and pressure groups can take different forms, some direct and others very indirect:

• In some instances, the pressure groups are either formed or led by the leaders of political parties or act as extended arms of political parties.
• For example, most trade unions and students’ organisations in India are either established by, or affiliated to one or the other major political party.
• Most of the leaders of such pressure groups are usually activists and leaders of party.
• Sometimes political parties grow out of movements.
• For example, when the Assam movement led by students against the ‘foreigners’ came to an end, it led to the formation of the Asom Gana Parishad.
• The roots of parties like the DMK and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu can be traced to a long-drawn social reform movement during the 1930s and 1940s.
• In most cases the relationship between parties and interest or movement groups is not so direct.
• They often take positions that are opposed to each other.

Chapter- 6
Political Parties

• A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
• They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good.
• They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through elections.
• Thus, parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society.
• Parties are about a part of the society and thus involve PARTISANSHIP.
• Thus a party is known by which part it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds.

A political party has three components:

1. The leaders,
2. The active members and
3. The followers

Functions

• Parties contest elections.
• Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them.
• Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country
• Parties form and run governments
• Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the parties in power, by voicing different views and criticising government for its failures or wrong policies.
• Parties shape public opinion
• Parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes implemented by governments.

One party System-

• In some countries, only one party is allowed to control and run the government.
• These are called one-party systems.

Multiparty system

If several parties compete for power, and more than two parties have a reasonable chance of coming to power either on their own strength or in alliance with others

Alliance or a front

• When several parties in a multi-party system join hands for the purpose of contesting elections and winning power, it is called an alliance or a front.

For example,

In India there were three such major alliances in 2004 parliamentary elections– the National Democratic Alliance, the United Progressive Alliance and the Left Front.

National parties

1. Has to register with the Election Commission
2. Given a unique symbol
3. Recognised political parties- Parties that get this privilege and some other special facilities are ‘recognised’ by the Election Commission
4. A party that secures at least six per cent of the total votes in an election to the Legislative Assembly of a State and wins at least two seats is recognised as a State party
5. A party that secures at least six per cent of the total votes in Lok Sabha elections or Assembly elections in four States and wins at least four seats in the Lok Sabha is recognised as a National party.

State parties

These are commonly referred to as regional parties.

Challenges to political parties

• Lack of internal democracy within parties.
• Challenge of dynastic succession is related to the first one.

Since most political parties do not practice open and transparent procedures for their functioning, there are very few ways for an ordinary worker to rise to the top in a party.

• Growing role of money and muscle power in parties, especially during elections.
• The fourth challenge is that very often parties do not seem to offer a meaningful choice to the voters

How can parties be reformed?

• The Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing parties.
• This was done because many elected representatives were indulging in DEFECTION in order to become ministers or for cash rewards.
• Now the law says that if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose the seat in the legislature.
• The Supreme Court passed an order to reduce the influence of money and criminals.
• Now, it is mandatory for every candidate who contests elections to file an AFFIDAVIT giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against him.
• The new system has made a lot of information available to the public.
• But there is no system of check if the information given by the candidates is true.
• The Election Commission passed an order making it necessary for political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their income tax returns.
• A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties.
• It should be made mandatory for political parties to give a minimum number of tickets, about one-third, to women candidates.
• There should be state funding of elections.
• The government should give parties money to support their election expenses.

There are two other ways in which political parties can be reformed-

• One, people can put pressure on political parties. This can be done through petitions, publicity and agitations
• Ordinary citizens, pressure groups and movements and the media can play an important role in this.
• If political parties feel that they would lose public support by not taking up reforms, they would become more serious about reforms.
• Two, political parties can improve if those who want this join political parties.
• The quality of democracy depends on the degree of public participation.
• It is difficult to reform politics if ordinary citizens do not take part in it and simply criticise it from the outside.

Chapter- 7
Outcomes of Democracy

How do we assess democracy’s outcomes?

• Promotes equality among citizens;
• Enhances the dignity of the individual;
• Improves the quality of decision making;
• Provides a method to resolve conflicts; and
• Allows room to correct mistakes.

Chapter- 8
Challenges to Democracy

• Countries face the foundational challenge of making the transition to democracy and then instituting democratic government.
• Most of the established democracies face the challenge of expansion
• The third challenge of deepening of democracy is faced by every democracy in one form or another
• Democratic reforms are to be brought about principally through political practice.
• Therefore, the main focus of political reforms should be on ways to strengthen democratic practice.
• The most important concern should be to increase and improve the quality of political participation by ordinary citizens
• Any proposal for political reforms should think not only about what is a good solution but also about who will implement it and how.
• It is not very wise to think that the legislatures will pass legislations that go against the interest of all the political parties and MPs.
• But measures that rely on democratic movements, citizens’ organisations and the media are likely to succeed.

Political reforms

Sometimes the results may be counter-productive.

• For example, many states have banned people who have more than two children from contesting panchayat elections.
• This has resulted in denial of democratic opportunity to many poor and women, which was not intended.
• Generally, laws that seek to ban something are not very successful in politics.
• Laws that give political actors incentives to do good things have more chances of working.
• The best laws are those which empower people to carry out democratic reforms.
• The Right to Information Act is a good example of a law that empowers the people to find out what is happening in government and act as watchdogs of democracy.
• Such a law helps to control corruption and supplements the existing laws that banned corruption and imposed strict penalties.

Redefining democracy

• The rulers elected by the people must take all the major decisions;
• Elections must offer a choice and fair opportunity to the people to change the current rulers;
• This choice and opportunity should be available to all the people on an equal basis; and
• The exercise of this choice must lead to a government limited by basic rules of the constitution and citizens’ rights.