Challenges within the Indian Political System

Article on Indian Political System

India is a country with unity in diversity with a hodgepodge of various cultures spanned across 29 states. Being the largest democratic country with the longest written constitution in the worth old, the parliamentary form of government was preferred over the presidential system by the members of the constituent assembly, mainly by B.R Ambedkar, an architect of the Indian constitution to bolster the harmony between the legislature and executive, to make ministers responsible to parliament for all their omissions and commissions, and to prevent dictatorial tendencies of the executive by disbursing executive authority in a group of individuals(Ministers) rather than in a single person.

The executive, legislature, and judiciary are the three pillars of democratic India since the era of independence in 1947. The legislature is tasked with the formulation of policy, the executive implements the policies and the judiciary upholds the spirit of the law. In India, the executive and legislature work in tandem with each other to streamline the flow o the Indian administration.

The executive is of mainly two types’ political executive (ministers) and permanent executive (bureaucrats). Political executives implement the policies under the aegis of permanent executives. Despite the structured politico-administrative system India has, many loopholes are deeply entrenched within it and are burgeoning into major ones attenuating the democracy and insidious collapse of the state.

Even after 70 years of independence armed with technological advancement, still, there is a widespread prevalence of unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, gender discrimination, and greater engulfment between rich and poor.

Get quality help now

Marrie pro writer

Verified

Proficient in: Black Money

5 (204)

“ She followed all my directions. It was really easy to contact her and respond very fast as well. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

This poignant situation in India can be attributed to the breeding centers of corruption and bloating inefficiencies in the Indian political system. Though, many young bureaucrats enter the system with the hope to clean the Aegean stables but falter in their duties towards the country and people in due course of time because of political dominance and become puppets in the hands of politicians.

So, let us examine some of the factors that have crippled and paralyzed the Indian politico-administrative system from many perspectives.

1. Nepotism: “Nepotism” as the term connotes is favoritism towards one’s relatives. Indian political parties have engulfed this term as their way of life to run the country. Nowadays it is very rampant among politicians, bureaucrats, and administrators. Political leaders assuming public offices have misused power and authority in giving due allowance to their kinsmen relegating capable personalities to the subsidiary place. At all hierarchical levels (from nadir to zenith) nepotism has become ubiquitous and unabashedly leaders have left no stone unturned to do undue favors to their relatives, which exposes their corrupt actions and low-level mentality.
2. Reservation system: The term equality has been put up to death after the reservation had been extended to minorities, women, and BCs by the successive government is nothing but a political gimmick and vote-catching device. As a result, there is a brain drain in the country as talented persons are deprived of rightful opportunities in matters of education and employment. This apart, the reservation system which was initially introduced by the architect of the constitution, B.R Ambedkar for a limited period of 10 years i.e. by which period the oppressed & suppressed layer of the society falls into the mainstream of the society. Baba Saheb was also under the apprehension that if the reservation system is continued beyond the period stipulated, it may again create discrimination and will be against the spirit of Art 14(Right to equality) of the constitution.
3. Corruption: It is one of the blatant social evils that had blighted the country’s democratic structure and people’s trust in the politico-administrative system. It has made inroads into the system due to the failure in enforcement of the laws concerned. Politicians and administrators without any coy have adopted this practice of making quick bucks by illegal means to become richer in the shortest period. It not only leads to abuse/misuse of power but also gross dereliction of moral and legal duties assigned to them. Unless this system is nipped in the bud it will pave the way for disproportionate assets plummeting the growth of the Indian economy. The black money is being hoarded and stashed away in the secret foreign bank accounts by our political leaders and administrators which has led to the evisceration of money being apportioned to the public. They lead an opulent life and bother less about the welfare of the people. Sometimes, they take this as an opportunity to intimidate the common man using money and Muscle power. As a result of this, there is a yawning gap between the rich and poor. The politicians think only of their next elections rather than the next generation. The latter in fact should be the guiding torch/Rope to the politicians
4. Illiteracy: Article 326 of the Indian constitution has amplified the scope of adult suffrage by giving the right to vote to every citizen of India over 18 years of age irrespective of caste, creed, color, religion, or gender but still the large proportioned people in India are illiterate and politically naive especially when it comes in electing a representative to our country. The politicians often masquerade as philanthropists to the masses at the time of elections and promise them to provide a decent standard of living like employment, housing and shelter, Provision of food grains at cheaper rates through the public distribution system (PDS), and better infrastructure and educational facilities in government-run schools but after sweeping into power, they renegade on their promises and disparage them as trivial issues. In this way, the poor masses are becoming a scapegoat in the hands of cruel and foul-minded politicians. So it is necessary to educate the poor about the political fabric of India to make them elect the best leader, who has a vision and mission and acts as a guiding principle for them.
5. Educational qualifications: During the era of independence in 1947, most of our leaders were statesmen and had prodigious knowledge about India’s socio-political system and its constitution. The legal luminaries played a pivotal role in framing the Indian constitution and aspired for a society egalitarian in nature so that benefits of prosperity are shared by one and all. The political leaders worked for the well-being of the people without any self-motivated interests. In the present day, political leaders and administrators are egotistic and are mainly concerned about themselves to escalate their status in life. These leaders swing into power irrespective of educational qualifications, criminal background, and knowledge of the country’s political system and polarise the people based on caste, religion, color, region, and gender. Vote bank politics has crumbled India’s electoral system and leaders have stooped down to the lowest level in garnering votes from the masses with their mellifluous talks and trickery.
6. Red-Tapism: Red-Tapism is another major hurdle in the smooth functioning of the  Indian administration. There is an ardent delay in procedure due to the hierarchy (from bottom to top approach) in passing files, age-old conventional methods, elaborate paperwork, and excessive bureaucratization. It not only leads to delays in implementing socio-economic policies in the country but also hamstrings the efficiency of administrators and bureaucrats. Apart from these, the slugfest between politicians and bureaucrats with a blame game on each other creates turmoil and lobotomizes the administrative policies.