Democracy

The word 'democracy' comes from two Greek words: dēmos, meaning 'people', and kratos, meaning 'rule' or 'power'. So democracy literally means 'rule of the people'.

But can all the people actually rule? Clearly not. Think of your class: if it has a problem to take to the principal, will the whole class go? That would not be practical.

Many schools have a class monitor or class representative, elected by the whole class. It is enough to send the representative to the principal.

The same idea works at State and national level. Through elections, people vote for representatives, who become members of the assemblies: Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) at State level, and Members of Parliament (MPs) at national level. These members discuss laws, problems and solutions, and through dialogue and debate try to convince each other when they disagree. And if a representative does not work for the people, voters can choose someone else at the next election.

Like other modern democracies, India is a representative democracy. It is also the world's largest democracy, with some 970 million voters in 2024! In principle, all Indian citizens above the age of 18 have the right to vote, and every vote counts the same, whether the voter is rich or poor.

The other kind of democracy. A class must choose between two picnic places, A and B. It weighs distance, time, cost and facilities, but cannot agree, so the teacher calls a vote by raised hands. The option with more hands wins. This is direct democracy: every student's opinion was counted to decide the place.

Grassroots democracy means a system that lets and encourages ordinary citizens, the base of the pyramid, to take part, so they have a say in decisions that affect them. That is where the next two chapters go.