India is plagued by many maladies and evils like corruption, nepotism and red-tapism, gender-bias etc in the political front, inflation, black money, unemployment and poverty etc in the economic front, caste system, child marriage, infanticide, dowry system, child labour, illiteracy and beggary etc in the social front. Some of these evils like poverty, beggary, dowry system etc are overlapping issues both in the economic and social front.
The root causes for many of the above mentioned issues are illiteracy, deeply ingrained superstitions and religious beliefs.
If we take up the political evils mentioned above, corruption has become the part and parcel of Indian political and social system and some political leaders even define corruption as a ‘world phenomenon’. A strong political will coupled with stern action from the political leaders is required to root out corruption in the public life. As far as common people are concerned they seemed to have resigned to the fact that corruption is a part of Indian political system. Corruption largely manifests itself and plays a vital role during the day to day administration of its bureaucracy and during the elections. The people who become victims of corruption or corruptive system, simply curse the system without playing any role on their part to root out corruption. They should come forward to play their role of desisting from co-operating in a corruptive system, though there may be hurdles or even hardships at the initial stage.
Nepotism is another political evil which has a monstrous growth in the Indian politics in the modern days.The Indian democracy being hailed as the largest democracy in the world, is gradually slipping towards ‘hereditary democracy’. The conspicuous feature of this ‘hereditary democracy’ is the planned upbringing by the political leaders of their wards as the political heirs or heir-apparent to the higher posts in politics. Similarly, in the name of fidelity and maintenance of secrecy and confidence,close relatives are frequently appointed or recommended to the responsible posts at the highest level, thereby depriving the common man any semblance of authority in politics.
No doubt the common man has a vital role to play in the Indian politics. He has to identify the genuine men of principles as politicians who are free from any ‘isms’ and personal motives and shun others who have ulterior motives and designs coupled with nepotism. Especially during elections he has to pick and choose the persons who are genuine. Otherwise, there is no use in cursing the system.
Similarly red-tapism plagues the Indian political system that rests responsibility with many a hands in the name of decentralisation, thereby driving the common man from pillar to post in search of his legitimate remedy. But when a common man remains vigilant and has sufficient political awareness, the evils of red-tapism may be largely reduced or even avoided.
Gender-bias is another important political issue which is spoiling the Indian political system. Though the Indian constitution has guaranteed equal political rights to both men and women, still men play a dominant role in Indian politics, thereby depriving women their legitimate share and role in Indian politics.Apart from India’s President Pratibha Patil, women politicians like Ms. Sonia Gandhi, Ms. Mayavati, Ms. Jayalalitha and Ms. Sushma Swaraj are some exceptions in Indian politics There are some people who still argue that there is no gender-bias in Indian politics since the Indian constitution does not discriminate on the basis of sex.But the reality is the women do not have adequate representation both in Parliament and the state assemblies, proportionate to their population strength and so the women’s organizations are clamouring for women’s empowerment and demand reservation for women in parliament and the state assemblies.
The Women’s Reservation Bill providing 33 % quota for women in parliament and state assemblies, recently introduced in the Indian Parliament amidst a high drama is a step in the right direction. However the bill has a long way to go before being enacted into a law.
Despite of boasting itself as the largest democracy in the world, India is being plagued by the above political evils. Apart from political consciousness and co-operation of the Indian people, a political messiah is needed to steer India on its right political course.
1. The Hindu (daily)
2. The Deccan Chronicle(daily)