The below listed questions need to be answered them by 29 Dec 2013 as comments under this post. Any confusions or doubts can be taken up as group discussion.
1. Identify the major obstacles in the smooth functioning of Parliamentary democracy in India.(250 Words)
2. “while economic growth is an important boon for enhancing living conditions, its reach depends greatly on what we do with the fruits of growth.” Comment. (250 Words)
3.Discuss the major extra constitutional factors influencing the working of federal polity in India. (250 words)
4.How does depreciating Rupee affect the CAD and Fiscal deficit? Explain. (250 Words)
5.Highlight the nature of the land reforms still needed in the country.(250 Words)
6.How is agricultural price policy is determined in India? Does the process take note of agricultural subsidies? (200 Words)
7. What do you understand by the term ‘Rule of Law’? How does the constitution of India seeks to establish it?
Parliamentary form or representative democracy is what our founding fathers of constitution envisaged for india in its constitution.The concept although borrowed from British parliamentary form of democracy differs from it , in that in india the head of state ie President is an elected head unilke a monarchical head in British parliamentary system.
ReplyDeleteAt the time of independence India faced many problems raning from underdevelopment to poverty and illiteracy but even after 66 years of independence still our democracy faces a number of challenges. Poverty, illiteracy have still not been wiped out which inturn have given rise to a number of other complex problems.Poverty has pushed the marginalised and deprived sections of society towards a separatist mindset resulting in various administrative and political problems for the smooth functioning of our democracy.
Casteism, regionalism, communalism are all ofshoots of neglect of govt to a particluar section of society and pose a challenge to the proper functioning of the parliamentary form of democracy.
Besides these there are inherent problems thst a parliamentary form of democracy has to grapple with continuously like Stability and Change of govt at centre which leads to change of policies .Many govts after independence have been dethroned by a single no confidence motion against them thus destabilising the democractic system time and again.Rise of coalition politics is another challenge faced by indian democracy wherein a govt which hasnt got a full majority works in collaboration with other parties which often dictate terms to it thus leading to a policy parlaysis at centre.Similarly every time a govt has changed at centre it has been accompanied by a change in policies too which further leads instability and uncertainity.
Despite all the challenges and problems our democracy might be facing it is best suited for satisfying the diverse indian ethos.Moreover all the above problems can be solved if govt puts sincere and single minded efforts towards resolving them.
Identify the major obstacles in the smooth functioning of Parliamentary democracy in India.(250 Words)
ReplyDeleteAns. Parliamentary democracy is system which is based on the principle of co-ordination and co-operation between legislative and executive organs of government. This system limits the scope of conflict between the two. The parliamentary democracy system ensures greater responsibility and answerability and that is what our forefathers had hoped for. Regrettably our Parliamentary democracy is facing obstacles in the smooth functioning, which may be listed as below:
1. Uneducated and Inexperienced representatives
The members of Parliament are increasingly uneducated and inexperienced. Politics is getting criminal and communal in nature. They lack working knowledge of Parliament. In most cases, they are divided along ideological lines and put their interest over public interest and disrupt parliamentary proceedings.
2. Ordinances over Legislation
Our constitution has provided for ordinances to be passed during emergencies. However now some of the important legislation like Food Security Bill, changes in Representation of People’s Act and amendments to Criminal law which need detailed deliberations are pushed through as ordinances.
3. Lack of accommodation ruling party and a correctly critical opposition:
The idea of parliamentary democracy is rooted in effective opposition and a listening ruling party. Unfortunately, there are many opposition parties divided among ideologies. The criticisms are not constructive and in most cases akin to mudslinging.
4. Political and Bureaucratic corruption also are major obstacles to smooth functioning of democracy. The roots of political corruption lay in need for money power and muscle power to capture political power. Political parties spend huge amounts of money beyond the norms prescribed by the election commission to secure votes. To attack this, public funding of elections as suggested by the EC can be implemented. The need for muscle power can only be eliminated through decriminalisation of politics. The major reasons for bureaucratic corruption are information asymmetry, lack of accountability, lack of stringent punitive measures and lack of transparency.
Gargi I like your answer.Its nice and directly attacks to the point.
DeleteWhile I digressed from the main issue a little bit .
I agree with you Luv. Though the write up is pretty good but not explaining the topic quiet well.
DeleteEconomic growth is an increase in the country's real level of level of national output which can be caused by an increase in the quality of resources (by education etc.), increase in the quantity of resources & improvements in technology or in another way
ReplyDeletean increase in the value of goods and services produced by every sector of the economy. Economic Growth can be measured by an increase in a country's GDP (gross domestic product) .
The reach and extense of economic growth is directly related to how the outputs of it are distributed within a society.The fruits of economic growth as they say will contributed further growth only if they are shared equally amongst all the sections of a society .They cant be allowed to become a monopoly of the privileged denying to rightful people there share in it.
Whether due to increase in quality or quantity of resources the gains from economic growth like creation of more job oppurtunities, more avenues for poverty alleviation need to be presented to every marginalised and neglected , deprived person in an equable way.A growth rate of 8-10% is useless until and unless its outcome changes the status quo for underprivileged, poor and impoverished communities in our society.
Uneven societal distribution of benefits of economic growth results in the short term cycles of growth fuelled by the inherent lack of equitable supply of the outputs of the economic growth.Unemployment which is a direct bearing of such a distribution further weakens the growth engine and harms the economic growth in long term.The results of economic growth should be visible in villages, farms and factories, schools and hospitals.
GDP and other such theoretical concepts might be of avid interest to an economist but are of least value to a poor person who is deprived of even a good meal to satisfy his hunger.
Economic growth in itself is nothing unless it helps in exterminating the miserable conditions of a penury that the population of a nation is struggling through.Not the GDP but the Human development indicators should be the real test and yardsticks for sustainable policies and economic growth of a country.
As the directive in the question is "Comment" some factual data has to be presented here.I have missed out on this aspect in my answer since I am not well versed with the factual economic indicators but I'll improve upon it slowly and gradually.
DeleteNo Problem Luv.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteConstitution of India rather being a fully federal document is rightly termed as quasi-federal or federal in form but unitary in spirit, a kind of cooperative federalism has been opted by the framers of our constitution.A strong centralising tendency is implicit as financial powers have been vested with Centre coupled by the fact that during emergency situation as per Article 352,365,356 and 360 centre can assume all the responsibilities of the state and can direct the executive to follow its directions.Apart from these major constitutional factors several extra-constitutional factors have emerged which are affecting the federal polity of India .These are ,
ReplyDelete(1).Increasing role of the Planning Commission : Though state representatives are sent to the PC to discuss and shape up various financial policies wrt their States but still in many other matters Planning commission affects the federal polity of indian democracy.It is enshrined with very important function of preparing FYPs .In addition to that it plans the discretionary grants which centre gives to the states.This has made its role even greater in shaping up the centre state relations.
(2).Emergence of various regional parties :Due to the coalition politics at centre various regional parties dictate terms to the centre to frame policies with an inherent bias towards their states.
(3).Central government favours the States where its party is in power while neglecting those states where some different political party's government is there thus making such states to bear the brunt of its policy bias.
(4).As discretionary grants under Article 282 of the constitution form a bulk of the grants given to the States so inadvertently states have to depend upon policy formulation of Centre which also affects the federal structure of our polity as discretion means Centre is not obligated to make such grants & in reality these form the major portion of the grants given to various States thereby elevating Centre to an important position wrt these financial resources in the form of grants.
The difficulty of any federalism is that there is no agreed definition of a federal state. India is federal but with of course striking unitary features. The federal polity of India is not just effected by the extra constitutional factors but also other factors. The rise of Planning Commission as a central body with no state representation has made the functioning tough. The states have to depend upon the Planning Commission for its financial needs. The arbitrary imposition of President’s Rule on the States in the past has created a deep distrust between the Centre and States. In today’s political scenario, it is unlikely that such an arbitrary exercise of power by the Union Government would be possible. Rise of regional parties and regionalization of national parties has affected the working of Indian Polity.
DeleteWhile dealing with the security issues, it can be observed that there is centralizing influence on the Government. Proposal of the Union Home Ministry to set up a National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) was rejected unilaterally by the state governments stating that the public order and police came under the state list. Even while dealing with external affairs like Bangladesh Land Agreement, which was opposed by the West Bengal govt, Union faced a stiff opposition. With the trend of increasing interlinkages with the world in security, developments and economic concerns, trend of increasing centralization is seen.
Though our Constitution has nowhere mentioned that India is a federation but it states that it is a union of states. Looking at the current political paradigm shift, the leaders and bureaucrats at Union will have to accept the change and give up their authoritarian tendencies to ride roughshod over the State Chief Ministers, Ministers and civil servants. They have to come to terms with a federal polity in which the Centre and States are coequal. That would be the new meaning of the term ‘cooperative federalism’.
@luv and @ Gargi you both included constitutional provision in the answer while que is about extra constitutional obstacles otherwise you would have more space to include other ideas. except it all other things are quite well.
Delete“while economic growth is an important boon for enhancing living conditions, its reach depends greatly on what we do with the fruits of growth.” Comment. (250 Words)
ReplyDeleteIndian Economy in recent few years has been able to achieve impressive growth figures. With economic growth I refer to an increase in country’s real level of national output. The growth in economy is by an increase in the quality of resources and improvement in the technology or an increase in the value of goods and services. The GDP of the economy had touched 8% in 2008. One good thing about the economic growth is that the government generates greater resources to be spent on priorities. But for an economic development along with economic growth the increased resources need to be spent on human capital development. A true indicator of economic development is Human Development Index. According to which India stands way behind its neighbours. The life expectancy in India was reported to be just 64.4 years where as in china it stands at 73.5 yrs while the adult literacy rate in India is just 65% and that of china is 94%. These number are upsetting but the reality is that the public expenditure in social sector has gone up but it is not as good as our closest competitor China. Public expenditure for health and nutrition, education etc would not only develop human capital but it will also lead developing a better living conditions. One result of the relatively low allocation to public health care in India is the development of a remarkable reliance of many poor people across the country on private doctors, many of whom have little medical training, if any. There is very definitive evidence of a combination of quackery and crookery in the premature privatisation of basic health care. This is the result not only of shameful exploitation, but ultimately of the sheer unavailability of public health care in many localities around India. There are large numbers of people for whom growth alone does just fine, since they are already privileged and need no social assistance. Economic growth only adds to their economic and social opportunities. But the grass certainly is not greener on the other side. The media displays the riches of one section but the atrocities of the other sections are not being answered effectively. “while economic growth is an important boon for enhancing living conditions, its reach depends greatly on what we do with the fruits of growth” rightly points it out that the economic growth needs to be properly supplemented so that it can be a huge contributor to making things better for people, and it is extremely important to understand the relevance and role of growth with clarity. The social inequality if tackled in a better way, the fruits of our economic growth will be enjoyed by every sect.
answer is no doubt nice but
Delete1. u took twice the words than require not a good practice
2. no need to elaborate what is GDP how it is calculated etc in introduction
3. i think the lines about media and privatisation of health sector is not needed here but not sure about it
4. your comment about supporting view of que should be in introduction i think again i m not sure that it is good or not to give view in conclusion but i think conclusion should sum up what u said above
positive point about answer
1. an unbroken flow means almost all the thing in a order
2. inclusion of comparative fact essentially will fetch more mark
3. central body of answer is excellent.
Sandeep thanks for reviewing. I believe tht the use of health sectir here was necessary as eco dev was supposed to be refered.
Delete@ right gargi but in limited space otherwise it will make answer more focused on health sector rather than whole social sector.
DeleteAnswer to Question 4 :
ReplyDeleteCurrent Account deficit is simply defined as the measurement of a country's trade in which the value of goods and services it imports exceeds the value of goods and services it exports .A CAD represents a negative net sales abroad.
Similarly the term fiscal deficit has been coined to reflect the excess of a governments expenditures as compared to its revenues that it accrues.
The value of a country's currency can seriously impact both CAD and Fiscal deficit .
If rupee falls in value as it recently did plummeting to its lowest value ever against dollar in August 2013 , it increases the Current Account Deficit of a country.CAD means imports are more than imports which means that govt has to pay for imports in dollars from its forex reserve and due to low exports and a fall in rupees value the net influx of forex is less as compared to it outflow thereby contributing towards the depletion of forex reserves and increase of Current Account Deficit.A CAD of 2.5% of GDP is seen as sustainable .During rupees fall CAD reached 5% of GDP .
Fiscal deficit I think contributes to the rupees fall.As India is currently spending more which is explicit by its large fiscal deficit so to bridge this deficit India has to take loans from outside which itself accumulate interests overtime.Government is spending more in subsidies than it can accrue by tax collection thereby resulting in a mounting fiscal deficit.This deficit results in a negative investor sentiment wherein they start to pull their money out of India resulting in rupee's depreciation.
I think a high fiscal deficit contributes to rupee's fall rather than a fall in rupee value affecting fiscal deficit because its just the net of expenditures and revenues excluding any imports and exports.
DeleteCorrect me if I am wrong .
Answer to question 6 :
ReplyDeleteAgricultural Price Policy is a tool to influence the price of agricultural product.It is an incentive to producer to produce a particular product according to the desired quantity.The fluctuations in the price of agricultural product affects the income and standard of living of farmers & rural population.So government ensures that prices don't go beyond a certain level .If prices fall too much it can discourage farmers from growing that crop next year resulting in shortage of production of that particular crop.
The CACP(Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices) advises the government with a view to evolve a balanced and integrated price structure in the perspective of overall needs of the economy & with due respect to the interests of the producer and the consumer.Assurance of a remunerative and stable price environment is vital for increasing the Agricultural production and productivity.
Towards this end , MSP or minimum support price for major agricultural products are fixed by the government each year after taking into account the recommendations of CACP. In formulation of its recommendations in respect of level of MSPs the CACP takes into account various factors like Cost of production, Demand-Supply and implications of subsidies and so on.
The Government of India intervenes in Agricultural pricing and market in order to achieve developmental objectives like food security and price stability. The interventions are attempted to bring in regulation of various agricultural activities to protect the interests of producers and consumers. Government of India’s pricing policy is determined the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. While formatting the recommendation on pricing policy, CACP considers a number of important factors. The factors thus considered are cost of production, changes in input prices, trends in market prices, demand and supply situations etc. MSP is also one of recommendations of the commission. MSP has been a major contributing factors among others for sustained increase in agricultural production. In practice the notified prices have been consistently higher than the MSP recommended by the CACP in recent years. The estimates of Cost of Cultivation/Cost of Production, an important input for forming the recommendation of MSP, are made available to the Commission through the Comprehensive Scheme for Studying the Cost of Cultivation of Principal Crops. These estimates take into account real factors of production and include all actual expenses in cash and kind incurred by the farmer in production, rent paid for leased in land, imputed value of family labour, interest value of owned capital assets (excluding land), rental value of owned land depreciation on farm implements and buildings and other miscellaneous expenses.
DeleteAnswer to question 7 :
ReplyDeleteRule of the law is a concept propounded by A.V. Dicey, a British Jurist.It has following elements ,
(i).Absence of the arbitrary power , that is , no man can be punished except for a breach of law.
(ii).Equality before law , that is , equal subjection of all citizens (richer poor, high or low, official or non-official)to ordinary laws of the land administered by ordinary law courts.
(iii).The primacy of the rights of the individual , that is, the constitution is the result of the rights of individuals rather than constitution being the source of individual rights.
The first and second elements are applicable to Indian system whereas third one is not.In Indian system , Constitution is the source of the individual rights.
The principle of "Rule of law" has been embodied in Indian constitution as Article 14 which guarantees equality before law and through Articles 15,16,19,20 & 21 .
SC can issue various writs to enforce fundamental rights of citizens under Article 32.Moreover , power of judicial review has been conferred upon SC by the constitution under which any law which it finds to be against the Rule of Law , it can term it ultra vires of the constitution .
No institution has any arbitrary power in India .SC and even the government derives its power from the laws enshrined by the constitution thereby establishing supremacy of law.
Although President and governors have been given various exemptions under Article 361 but these provisions have also been derived from various laws enumerated in the constitution.
SC has held that Rule of law as embodied in Article 14 is the basic structure of the constitution and it can't be destroyed even by an Amendment of Constitution under Article 368.
Identify the major obstacles in the smooth functioning of Parliamentary democracy in India.(250 Words) ?
ReplyDeleteour founding fathers adopted parliamentary democracy after elaborate and purposive debate among our visionary and sagacious leaders. they adopted it with the conviction that it best suits our ethos, culture and specification of our nation.we have sustained the vibrancy of our democracy inspite of many obstacle such ethnic, religious and linguistic cleavage, poor economic condition, socio-economic inequality, lack of transparency in government functioning, disruptive parliament, corruption, violation of principle of separation of power etc. however in last 6 decades we showed the world that democracy can be a viable option in highly heterogeneous country but these factors also retarded the smooth functioning of parliamentary democracy.
diversity among people on the basis of religion, language, culture and region not resulted into the eruption of riots time to time but also give rise to birth of regionalism. rise of regional parties are the result of this regionalism which weaken the government as well as PM for vested interest. rise of coalition government with indecorous and unruly behavior and increasing tendency to stall the parliamentary proceeding to register protest undermined the true potential. lack of interest of elected representative leads to the decrease in the effective business hour of state legislative assembly and parliament causing accumulation of necessary bills to be passed. lack of transparency in government functioning and corruption resulted in the decline trends of people's faith in democracy. violation of principle of separation of power also dented the very structure of constitution and democracy.
constitution of India envisaged various measure to halt the progress of anti democratic factor, what we need is the political commitment and will to address these issue. despite these obstacle parliamentary system is best suited for India with sincere attempt to implement measures provided in the constitution.
Highlight the nature of the land reforms still needed in the country.(250 Words)
ReplyDeleteIn India, over 70% of the population resides in rural areas with majority depending on land based activities for their livelihood. Major problem faced by the rural population is of landlessness. The vulnerable section of the population i.e. women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are worst affected by this problem. The answer to the problems posed by landlessness lies in effective land reform legislation. Land reform is the redistribution of land from those who have excess of land to those who have none, with the objective of increasing the income and bargaining power of the rural poor. India’s history of land reform legislation has been erratic and its success partial at best. One of the major negative features of agrarian transition in India is the continued concentration of land in the hands of the upper strata of rural society. There should be a comprehensive assessment of all land available with the government including ceiling surplus land, uncultivated wasteland and so on. Land should be distributed among disadvantaged women and farmers. Apart from distributing all surplus land available with the government to disadvantaged women and farmers schemes should be instituted to enable the landless and land-poor to themselves purchase lands. Land leasing mechanism should be introduced for bringing fallow or little used land under cultivation and tenancy should be legalized. Public land banks should be created at panchayat level. This would regulate and rationalize the land demand and supply. Group farming under Kudumbashree project has been instituted to ease multiple constraints.
The rule of law is an ambiguous term that can mean different things in different contexts. In one context the term means rule according to law. No individual can be ordered by the government to pay civil damages or suffer criminal punishment except in strict accordance with well-established and clearly defined laws and procedures. In a second context the term means rule under law. No branch of government is above the law, and no public official may act arbitrarily or unilaterally outside the law. In a third context the term means rule according to a higher law. No written law may be enforced by the government unless it conforms with certain unwritten, universal principles of fairness, morality, and justice that transcend human legal systems.
ReplyDeleteThe Constitution of India seeks to establish the rule of law in following ways:
The constitution of India guarantees equality before the law, as an aspect of the rule of law, under Article-14.
Under Article 32, the Supreme Court has power to issue writes in the nature of Habeas Corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warrantor and certiorari. It is also given power of judicial review to prevent any ultra vires law,"to preserve 'Rule of Law' Article 15 and 16 of right to equality and Article 19, 20 and 21 in form of right to life and liberty are provisions of our constitution to this affect.
In India, no one has very arbitrary power, except the powers given by the law. The constitution is the Supreme Court law of the land and even the government derives its authority from it. This effectuates the supremacy of law.
Everyone, in India are subject to same laws, without any discrimination, court takes into account no rank or condition
However, the president and the governors (under Article 361) are given special exemptions. Armed forces personnels are treated by armed laws, officials are given same immunities etc. But these provision do not negate the effectiveness of the rule of law in India, because their provisions are also made by laws, under various provisions of the constitution.
From a poor person to the president, be it a police constable or a collector, are treated by law.
Thus, the Indian constitution effectively applies the rule of law. The Supreme Court in the case of India Nehru, Gandhiji vs. Raj Narain - 1975 held that the rule of law embodied in Article 14 is the 'basic structure' of the Indian constitution and hence it cannot be destroyed even by an amendment of the constitution under Article 368 of the constitution.
Ans to que 2.
ReplyDeleteEconomic growth is a narrower concept which is related with the increase in GDP of a country in a year however it does not take into account the wellbeing of people. It is true that for economic development, economic boon or growth is prerequisite but it also depend on the supplementation. GNP or GDP is not invariably a good predictor of valuable features of our life like standard of living, education etc.
Economic growth generate resources for the government to spend on its priorities and these priorities decide the wellbeing of people. There are various countries where government used their resources to improve wellbeing of their people by spending it on social sector. It is true that in India expenditure on social sector has certainly gone up in last 1-2 decades but we are still lagging behind in comparison to other emerging economies like china. Expenditure on health sector in china in relative terms is twice than India while in GDP value it is 5 times more as china has her per capita income than India. China has impressive social sector parameter like infant mortality rate in china is 17 per thousand per year while for India it is 50, percentage of DPT immunized children is 97 while 66 for India. Low spending on social sector force people to rely on costly private service, leaving less in their hand to spend on improving living of standard.
The central point is that economic growth is essential for improving living standards of people but its reach depend on where government choose to spend it fruits. Economic growth properly supplemented has huge potential in making things better for people.
Discuss the major extra constitutional factors influencing the working of federal polity in India. (250 words)
ReplyDeleteIndian constitution nowhere mention federalism, the very first article of Indian constitution said that India is union of states. However Indian polity has basic feature of federalism e.g. separation of power and administration between centre and states, independency of both organ in his own sphere. There are various provision in the constitution which influence the working of federalism but in the process of evolution and development of democracy in last 6 decades various extra-constitutional factor come to the fore affecting federal nature positively as well as negatively.
One of the first extra-constitutional feature is constitution of planning commission by executive order and assigning him the power to formulate and distribute the plan expenditure. It undermined the power as well as functioning of constitutional finance commission. It ensured the equal development of all arrears of country but on other hand it also made state government creature of central government by making them dependent on the centre government for financial resources.
After the undisputed reign of congress coalition era of politics shown the increased interference of state government in the matter comes solely under central government. Continuous interference by regional parties in the matter of foreign policy are some example.
Also the dynamics of political power influenced the working of deferral polity. In last two decades none of the Prime minster has the similar influence on the people as once jawahar lal Nehru has.
It is the high time for the central government to consider that centre of gravity of power has shifted and should give up their authoritarian tendencies over the states. They have to come to terms with the federal polity and in which the centre and states are co-equal.
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