Continuity or Change? India’s Democracy Dance Begins

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Pooja Paswan
April 14, 2019

The world’s largest and the most active democracy goes for polls in the next few days, sealing its fate for the next five years. The general elections to the 17^th Lok Sabha 2019 will be humungous with nearly 900 million voters, of which 15 million are young adults, who are eligible to vote for 543 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country. The elections will be conducted in 7 phases from April 11, 2019 and continue until May 19, 2019. The counting will be held on May 23, 2019 thus deciding the verdict for the people of India.

Continuity or Change?

India is a land of contradictions where people don’t just cast their votes, but vote their castes. The country has polar variations in almost everything a mind can fathom. From income levels that are ultra-rich to destitute poor, from a highly unrestricted mindset to an extremely conservative ideology and also from a secular mindset to a violently intolerant mob mentality, the Indian subcontinent encompasses all the hues.

The 17^th Lok Sabha election will unleash a tug-of-war for power between the current ruling party, Bhartiya Janta Party (B.J.P,) and the Indian National Congress (I.N.C) as well as several other regional parties such as Samajwadi Party (S.P), Lok Janshakti Party (L.J.P), Bahujan Samaj Party (B.S.P), D.M.K, Communist Party of India (C.P.I), etc. A total of approximately 83 parties are either forming an alliance with the current ruling party, known as National Democratic Alliance (N.D.A), or with the Indian National Congress, known as United Progressive Alliance (U.PA). Or parties are forming the Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan) or the Left Front and the rest are competing independently. The expected voter turnout is expected to be higher than 67 percent, which was the figure in the last 2014 general elections.

Since independence, the manifesto of most political parties have been centered around five core development agendas : Achieving food security, increasing literacy rates, improving health standards (both rural and urban), developing infrastructure and increasing the employment rate to alleviate poverty. Regardless of who emerged to power, every political party adopted the same blueprint as their agenda for development. Incidentally, the voters responded positively towards schemes which were oriented along the aforesaid five key elements.   

Right from the time Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru led the Indian National Congress, to when Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the Bhartiya Janta Party, several welfare schemes have been implemented to provide a holistic and sustainable development.

Housing

Several schemes to provide affordable housing in rural areas such as Indira Awas Yojna have now launched since PM Awas Yojna was initiated. These schemes increase the number of home owners in rural areas since  the 1960 and provide a sense of security to thier targeted beneficiaries.

Education

The irony of Indian society’ contradictions is very well established in the area of education. On one hand, India boasts of the glorious past of international universities such as Nalanda and Vikramshila, which were visited by many international scholars. On the other hand, India has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. The problem lies in access to education and the mindset which prioritizes employment without education. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All), accompanied by the Mid-Day Meal scheme, modelled on the lines of the Hot Meal Program in the United States, motivated several families to send their kids to school solely for the purpose of avoiding starvation (food security preceded education, as stated in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs). Nonetheless, the literacy rate increased to 74.04 percent since its implementation and the school dropout rate was reduced to 4.36 percent.

Public Health

India has one of the highest Maternal Mortality Rates (M.M.R) and Child Mortality Rates (C.M.R) and  a striking number of delivery deaths coupled with anemic mothers and malnourished children under the age of 5. The government launched several schemes such as Jnani Suraksha Yojna (Protecting Mothers) to monitor stages of pregnancy and encourage delivery in primary health centers. Kishori Shakti Yojna (scheme for adolescent girls) monitored nutritional intake through supplements and several other schemes which provided state-led benefits in cash and through counseling. These efforts, combined with political will and public partnerships, helped in lowering the MMR by 22 percent and CMR to by 62 percent.

Infrastructure

India has come a long way in the field of both rural and urban infrastructure. Owing to the unique character of each village and district, the government needs to overcome numerous challenges in order to provide basic service delivery.  However, one prime mistake which all governments have made in the past is to equate development with urbanization. India’s rural development is sector-specific and needs-based. The diversity demands a custom-based approach to development. Having said that, the rural economy in the past 10 years has grown and the urban infrastructure has expanded rapidly to accommodate migration from rural and the semi-urban sectors.

Great expectations

Aside from the delivery of public services, Indian voters’ demands dictate citizens’ sense of security in employment, access to basic services and above all ability to coexist in harmony with dignity. It is hard to escape the general conclusion that economic performance, social opportunity and political voice are deeply interrelated. The seven-week long dance of democracy will conclude on May 23 only to reveal the architectural structure of development for the next five years. May the best hand win.

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Author: Pooja Paswan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India. She has Ph. D in Public Administration and specializes in Public Policy. She was recipient of the ASPA 2019 Founders Fellow. She has worked extensively in the area of development administration and policy. She can be reached at https://jmi.academia.edu/PoojaPaswan and [email protected]. Twitter @poojapaswan.

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