India's living democracy

"How big is an Indian election?" The book's numbers:

• more than 96.8 crore registered voters (2024);
• one MP stands for about 25 lakh people on average (2019);
• elections in 22 scheduled languages, plus others, and party symbols so that people who cannot read can vote on their own;
• more than one million polling stations, in mountains, forests, deserts and islands, sometimes even for a single voter;
• more than 2,800 registered political parties.

But the book says size is not what makes India's democracy 'living'. It is its diversity and people's active involvement: people of every language, religion and income voting within one system.

Voting is not the only way to take part. Participatory democracy means citizens also help shape policies through local councils, public consultations and community initiatives.

India has three tiers of government: Union, State and Local (panchayats and municipalities). And the Constitution protects tribal ways of life too:

• in parts of the North-East, Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) can make laws and settle cases to preserve tribal customs;
• in tribal areas of other states, the PESA Act of 1996 makes the Gram Sabha the main decision-making body.

Case study 1: Jethipura Gram Panchayat (Idar block, Sabarkantha, Gujarat). It won the Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar in 2019. It held Gram Sabhas properly, kept records, held Special Gram Sabhas and Mahila Sabhas, acted on education, sanitation and the welfare of women and children, and made sure meetings had a proper quorum (the minimum number of members needed for a valid meeting), with Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women taking part.

Case study 2: South Manubankul Gram Panchayat (Rupaichari block, Tripura). It focuses on women: their part in decisions, health, sanitation and livelihoods. It runs community programmes, supports self-help groups and works on cleanliness and education. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj recognised it as a 'women-friendly panchayat'.

Democracy also lives outside government. Civil society groups, community institutions, cooperatives (groups who work together and share profits and duties equally) and trade unions often make decisions democratically.

Women's vote. In many countries women fought for years to vote: Britain gave women full voting rights only in 1928, the USA in 1920. In India, when the Constitution came into force in 1950, women got the vote with everyone else, without a long struggle. But having the vote does not automatically mean equal participation: social prejudice still holds women back.

So the Constitution reserves seats for women in local bodies:

• Article 243(d): at least one-third of directly elected seats in every panchayat. 21 States and 2 Union Territories have gone further, to 50%.
• Article 243(t): at least one-third in every municipality. As of 2023, 17 States and 1 Union Territory give 50%.

How the RTI Act was made. Citizens, journalists, civil society groups and elected members raised concerns about transparency. Parliamentary committees examined them; expert groups reviewed the proposal; Parliament debated it; elected members added safeguards for national security and smooth administration. After being passed, it came into force in 2005. A law made through the democratic process itself.

Grassroots leaders: the book names Chaudhary Charan Singh and Babu Jagjivan Ram, who came from rural backgrounds and stood up for the rights of the rural poor and other marginalised people.