Problems and Prospects of Indian Democracy: AnAnalysis of working for designing processes of change

Abstract “Democracy is a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.” – Abraham Lincoln Democracy means rule by the people to ensure that every citizen takes part in the decision making process either directly or indirectly through elected representatives. India is the largest democracy in the world. In the last more than 6 decades it has worked successfully well to some extent. But in modern India it has to face many challenges that need to be tackled in order to ensure true democracy. These challenges may include: social and economic inequalities, poverty and unemployment, Illiteracy and ignorance, casteism, communalism, population explosion, regionalism, corruption and terrorism, etc. India needs to develop new proposals to reform democracy. Law plays important role in political reformation and may help to prevent wrong practices and encourage good ones. But mere legal changes alone do not help as the changes in laws may sometimes prove counterproductive and may result into negative impact on society. Therefore, the best laws empower people to carry out democratic reforms. The Right to Information Act is the best example that serves as a watchdog against abuse of democratic principles. The challenges to the democracy may be tackled by way of movements of activist or by the politically conscious citizens. Some of the measures that can be taken to sustain a true parliamentarian democracy in India include: achieving 100% literacy; educating the masses about democratic rights; ensuring better protection of fundamental rights, and to ensure freedom of press, etc. In this paper, the author has attempted to study and analyse the existing democratic setup in India and suggest necessary reforms in order to ensure a sustainable democracy in India.