The Indian National Congress ( Inc )

Nanda notes that the Indians’ success in the global market have attributed to Hindu values. These are constantly promoted by media and politicians. Ultra nationalism, worshiping Hindu gods and India itself has become a civil religion.

India has a multi-party political system and those political parties "have different understandings" as the recent debate over the China-India border issue has demonstrated (China blames India's

The idea that economic development will lead to democratization and democratic consolidation generally holds for most cases. More often than not, increasing economic development increases the probability that any given society will have democratic politics. Although this theory is widely spread it does not seem to account for all cases, such as India. Due to the large population of India, the defying factors against modernization theory are not easily overlooked. Many scholars have been analyzing the deviant case for years, trying to find out how they defied the modernization theory. India is considered a deviant case because it only recently began to see notable economic development, and for most of the twentieth century the country was profound poor. Looking through the modernization theory it would lead us to believe that India was ruled by an authoritarian regime due to their poor economics. Because they defy this belief and have been a democratic country for a prolonged time it is evident that India does not conform to the modernization theory. India’s democracy emerged amidst severe poverty, widespread illiteracy, and a largely agrarian and rural population characterized by vast linguistic and ethnic diversity. However, India was able not only to transition to but also consolidate a robust democratic system that has survived for over sixty years. The historical process of Indian democratization challenges the central premise of

On April 10th, 1869, the United States Congress established the Board of Indian Commissioners. This establishment authorized the President of the United States to organize a board of ten or less people to oversee all aspects of Native American policy. The Board of Indian Commissioners was a committee that advised the United States federal government on Native American policy. The committee also had the purpose to inspect the supplies that were delivered to Indian reservations to ensure that the government fulfilled the treaty obligations to tribes. President Ulysses S. Grant wanted to come up with a new policy, which would be more humane, for Native American tribes. The policy would be known as the Peace Policy, which aimed to be free of political corruption. The Peace Policy was prominent on Native American reservations, where Christian Churches and the Office of Indian Affairs, would provide Native Americans with moral Indian agents who would establish churches and schools, teach agriculture. Therefore, creating the sense of “civilizing” and/or “Americanizing.” Within the Board of Indian Commissioners, annual reports were commenced. One of these reports, The Seventeenth Annual Report of the Board of Indian Commissioners of 1885, is an extremely contradictory document, which attempts to dismantle traditions, treat Native Americans in an inhumane manner, and regress any progress the United States government had with Native Americans.

India and China are two republics that have experienced very opposing political regimes throughout history. China has been fundamentally stable country with a lack of a distinct authority figure (Desai, 2003). Being a single party state China has been controlled by the Chinese Communist Party since the 5th National Congress held in 1927 (Wang, 2013). Correspondingly India, have always been a federal parliamentary democratic republic where the President of India elected is head of state and the Prime Minister elected is the head of government (U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). This

On the other hand, India has spent a majority of its history as a colony of England. It was not until 1947 that India became an independent nation state, after a grassroots nationalist movement started by Gandhi, and even then they were a one party congress. They are also an interesting case of democracy because of how many unfavorable aspects towards it they had, such as high inequality, many peasants, and many different languages and religions (Lecture). In 1956, India was broken up into states by the States Reorganization Act, that made state lines based on linguistic group. India’s founding leaders mirrored the ideas of America, in balancing states rights with a central government (Sil, 2014). They have also more recently gone through a liberalization of their economy. India is unique in the way that their social hierarchy is constructed because of the fact that they have a caste system. The caste system is a combination of religious practice and community organization that is a part of Hinduism (Sil, 2014). This system was officially demolished in the country, but in the country it is still very prevalent, and the focus on helping those who were in lower castes succeed has made people more aware of the way they institute social policies.

Indians were becoming politically active in the late 1800s. During this period, they founded institutions that would help end colonial rule. In 1885, Indian modernists formed the Indian National Congress to reform Hindu and Muslim practices that did not match up to their liberal ideals and to change British Indian policies that were opposed to democratic ideals. However, many internal issues within the Indian culture were obstacles to independence. Most notably are the differences in language groups. Despite these problems, a nationalist movement took root within the country that ultimately led to the creation of India and Pakistan in 1947. There were three principles to this movement that helped the movement succeed.

<br>36, 1994) This Congress, however, had no power in terms of action and it can be seen as an attempt by the British to appease Indian nationalists who wanted progress. The seeming uselessness of the Indian National

-Political Action Committee also referred to as PAC is a committee, which is a group of organized people whose main focus is to raise and spend money to elect and vanquish political candidates. PAC is supported by groups like business that share the same ideologies. The political organizations are customarily political parties, candidates, committees or associations.

Interestingly, Mexicans erected a symbolic human wall along the border recently mocking the President. A blanket ban on Muslim entry is considered unconstitutional and would isolate the Trump Presidency from the world across the Atlantic. And a furious cut in taxes could dent the revenues by at least $10 trillion dollars with unknown consequences. Pence’s holding the olive branch of strong support to the European Union in Brussels is a recognition and an indication of the impracticality of the promises made to the American people. India is no stranger to U-turns. The catchphrase of BJP, ‘ache din’, in some way resembles the campaign slogan of Trump, ‘make America great again’. Prime Minister of India now talks about ‘kabristan’ and ‘shamshan’, replacing the rhapsody about ‘ache din’. Black money stashed abroad flowing directly into the accounts of the poor was a covenant to fulfil. However, the hapless Indians stood in long queues to grab a small slice of his own money, hard-earned. The improved budgetary allocation to the flagship scheme guaranteeing employment was flaunted with elan, despite deprecating it as the monument of UPA’s failure to uplift the poor. Aadhar, once pooh-poohed as a colossal waste of money, is the kingpin of all

Contemporary comparative erudition on the topic of nationalism proposes another reason for India’s democratic survival. Under the independence movement, with the governance of Gandhi, Nehru and the Congress party turned what formerly had been a cultural unit into a nation with a cultural political unit. This transformation perpetuated Indian democracy: “There has to be a political unit before there can be a democracy” The strategic communications between British authorities and national movement leaders also laid the fundamentals of democracy. No historical explanation can be comprehensive unless it takes the “agency” of India’s freedom movement into justification – with the attainment of India’s autonomy. (Varshney 1998: 38)

“The health of a democracy depends on the choice of representatives and leaders, which in turn is directly linked to the way political parties function and elections are conducted”.

Through the study of human history it is evident authoritative and monarch governments prevailed as legitimate authorities but with careful considerations these political systems were seen as inaccurate by many. New political systems, functions and responsibilities soon began to surface. Democracy was among these new political systems and argues for the influence of citizens in politics and the protection of rights (Dahl, 1998, p. 44). Democracy can be found through many political systems around the world particularly in first world countries such as Canada and the United States of America. Fortunately the notions of democracy can also be found in some developing countries such as India. ¬¬¬Although democratic views and notions are found throughout Indian politics and its associated practices India does not prove to be completely democratic in relation to Robert Dahl’s criteria of democracy highlighted in his book, On Democracy. Robert Dahl, a political scientist and professor, sets up 5 criteria of democracy that includes effective participation, voting equality, enlightened understanding, inclusion and control of agenda (Dahl, 1998, p. 36-7). He argues that a sense of true democracy is founded when all 5 criteria of democracy are fulfilled (Dahl, 1998, p. 36). Unfortunately India is unable to accommodate the criteria of voting equality and effective participation due to its

India is the biggest democracy in the world, with a government type of federal republic. The country’s form of government mimics the United States with its federal structure. The federal government consists of executive, legislative, and judicial branches. In addition, India has adopted the a British style parliamentary system that allows for it its central government to have great power in relation to its states, according to US Department of State- Background Notes website (The Office of Electronic

By aggressive speech making during poll campaigning, Modi had endeared himself to the “Aam Aadmi’, particularly sections of the Middle Class, by raising “Great Expectations” and hopes among them by “Ache Din Aane Wale Hain” slogan. Modi’s high decibel campaign promises included: “Good Governance – Simple and Smart governance through transparency”; stemming the rot corruption, particularly in high places; controlling price rise and inflation; upholding dignity and self respect of women; countering LoC violations and terror acts firmly; and many others like “One Rank One Pension” etc., reduced to print in the BJPs 2014 Election manifesto. A brief review of happenings during the last two months of Modi’s governance provide clear signals on what to expect in posterity.