India's Democracy Implementation Needs An Upgrade - Introduction to Inclusive Democracy
Numerous implementations of democracies exists around the world. While we do have democratic system in India , the current implementation is not completely inclusive.
A few series of events last year were targeted against corruption in India. The parliament didn't pass a Lokpall bill, even when the provisions against corrupt people were not very strict. What a mockery show!
Before we move to inclusive democracy, let's see a few steps which will
1. Right to Reject- This is like not sending a team if we cannot win a game? If team is not capable, you will provide training to the team, mental and moral support, motivate people to take up sports. The same holds good for politics. India needs to address the dearth of good people in politics. Right to reject will not help.
2. Right to Recall - This should be done. A company will give warnings to under-performers, give them time to catch up and if they are not up to mark, unfortunately it will fire them. And those who mess up badly are fired instantly. Running a constituency is much like running a company in this sense. There should be goals assigned and the performance measured. A standard process of choosing a replacement should be in place, and the replacement should be elected after a recall is voted. Right to recall can be implemented to be an indirect implementation of direct democracy.
3. Giving more powers to Gram Sabhas - This will be a correct step towards inclusive democracy. Every now and then one hears news of lands taken away from farmers, plight of Adivasis, problems in funds getting released for local development and if the decision making power is delegated to locals it will quicken decision making and make sure that a view of all parties are taken into account before a decision is made.Gram sabhas can be implemented such that we create a stateless society.
No doubt our democracy implementation needs an upgrade, without which the system will fall or get fully paralyzed going forward. This is where inclusive democracy comes into picture. And of course, technology has bigger role to play because inclusive democracy cannot be implemented without effective use of technology.
Inclusive democracy is a political theory and political project that aims for direct democracy, economic democracy in a stateless, moneyless and marketless economy, self-management (democracy in the social realm), and ecological democracy [from Wikipedia]
