The Economist - USA (2022-02-12)

TheEconomistFebruary12th 2022 29

Asia

DemocracyinIndia

The ailing body politic

I

n the nextfour weeks some 175m Indi­

ans  will  vote  in  elections  across  five

states  with  a  combined  population  ap­

proaching 300m. Their legislatures will de­

termine  the  make­up  of  the  Rajya  Sabha,

the  upper  house  of  Parliament,  and  thus

the  selection  of  the  president.  The  out­

come in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most popu­

lous state, could well shake Narendra Mo­

di, India’s most domineering prime minis­

ter in decades. As an advertisement for de­

mocracy,  India’s  periodic  mobilisation  of

millions of polling officers to provide a say

for hundreds of millions of voters is diffi­

cult to beat. 

But while the face of Indian democracy,

in the form of elections, looks healthy, the

rest of the body is not. From courts and po­

lice to politicians and parties to campaign

finance  and  the  mechanics  of  legislation,

the bones, sinews and organs of Indian de­

mocracy  look  alarmingly  unwell.  Accord­

ing  to  the  Democracy  Index  produced  by

the Economist Intelligence Unit, our sister

company,  over  the  past  decade  India  has

slipped or stayed still on every measure ex­

cept political participation (see chart 1). 

Anx­rayofIndia’sParliamentreveals

several missingorhalf­functioning vital

systems.Thenumberofdaysperyearthat

thenationalParliamentactuallymeetshas

fallenfrommorethan 100 inthe1950sto 66

inthe2014­19termandfurtherstillduring

covid­19.America’sCongress,bycompari­

son,istypicallyinsessionformorethan

160 daysa year.

Manylawsdostillgetpassed,butthey

receivelessandlessscrutiny.Thepropor­

tionofbillsreferredtostandingcommit­

teesinthelowerhouse,theLokSabha,has

droppedfromaround60­70%underthe

previousgovernmentto27%inMrModi’s

firsttermandjust13%inhissecond.Atten­

dancerecordsincommitteemeetingsin

bothhousesforthepastthreeyearsreveal

a meagreaverageof46%.

Ofthe 15 billsrushedintolawduringthe

monsoon sessionlastyear, notone had

beendeliberatedincommittee,andmany

werepassed byperfunctoryvoice votes.

This was partly because of opposition

walkoutsandnoisyprotests.ButMrMo­

di’sBharatiyaJanataParty(bjp) similarly

rammedthrougha packageofagriculture­

marketreformsin2020.Theresult:a 14­

monthmassrevoltbyfarmers,endingonly

whenthelawswerescrapped.

Statelegislaturesarenobetter.Forall

the fuss—and immense expense—over

thismonth’selectionstothestateassem­

blyofUttarPradesh,thefactisthatthebo­

dymetforonly 17 dayslastyearanda mere

13 in2020.Thiscompareswithmorethan

80 daysinthe1950s.

Itisnotjustthebjpatfault;thelegisla­

tureinUttarPradeshmetonjust 24 daysin

theyearbeforethepartytookpower.Con­

gress­ruledPunjab,whoselawmakersmet

fora stately 11 days,waslastyear’slowest

scorer.And whileits rivalsbemoanthe

bjp’sbullyingofthenationalParliament,

theopposition­dominatedassemblyofthe

stateofMaharashtraattemptedtobar 12

D ELHI

Elections aside, the main elements of India’sdemocracyareinpoorhealth

→Alsointhissection

30 CleaningupBangkok’sstreets

31 NewZealand’sunaffordablehousing

31 ElectioneeringinthePhilippines

32 SouthKorea’sgrowingarmsexports

33 Banyan:Japan’s“newcapitalism”

Vital statistics

India, Democracy Index score, 10=maximum

Source:EIU

1

Civil liberties

Political culture

Political

participation

Functioning of

government

Electoral process

and pluralism

Overall score

1086420

20 202