|
Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Foundation 1 Motilal Nehru Place, New Delhi 110 011; Tel: 91(11) 301-2712, 301-8279; Chairman: Sunil Shastri Second Freedom Struggle The institutions of our democracy have clearly failed us. They have made governance irresponsible and the political system self-seeking. The sovereign people are subjects of an exploitative colonial system and silent spectators to a sinking nation. It is obvious that if a referendum is held, the common people will overwhelmingly vote in favour of the basic structure of democracy defined below. It conforms to the Directive Principles which got neutralised by the colonial institutions in the Constitution. The political system should, therefore, gracefully accept the basic structure and set up a commission to work out the details. Social organisations and the media should mobilise public opinion for an early informed decision. New Delhi, April 30, 1998 SK Sharma Sunil Shastri Basic Structure of Democracy Democracy is commonly defined as government by the people, of the people and for the people. This outlines the spirit of democracy but does not help in evolving its basic structure. In a democracy, power flows from the people who constitute the sovereign. Democracy can therefore be truly defined as how the common people would like to be governed, not how some people, including elected representatives, think they ought to be governed. Given the choice, the common people would institute :
This constitutes the basic structure of democracy. G andhiji advocated such a democracy (Professor Shriman Narayan Agarwal, Gandhian Constitution for Free India, Kitabistan, 1946). It has great similarity with the best democracies of the world, notably the Swiss. Gandhi added some powerful features for containing consumption and promoting social justice and equity. These have become highly relevant today for global sustainability.Having control over local resources and decision-making, villages and districts will flourish. Every village, district, city and state functioning virtually as a self-sustaining entity, will satisfy regional and local aspirations, reduce wastage and promote national harmony, prosperity and integration. Directly elected local, state and national heads of governments, in keeping with the ethos of third world nations, can then be introduced. This will resolve the problems of instability inherent in the parliamentary system. The elected bodies will approve the budget and senior appointments and perform various watchdog functions but cannot be given any administrative functions. Functions clearly delineated between local, state and national governments, coupled with effective transparency laws, will prevent excessive concentration of power in one person, promote responsible politics, reduce bureaucratic strangleholds and increase political power at all levels, while making it accountable to the people. q
Managing Trustees: Ashok Khosla, SK Sharma B-32, Tara Crescent, Qutab Inst. Area, New Delhi 16; Tel: 91(11) 696-7938; Fax: 686-6031; Email: people@sdalt.ernet.in |
