Opinion | The true measure of Indian democracy is found outside the ballot box
- The world’s largest democracy, now awaiting the results of its weeks-long election process, needs to become an effective state that can deliver improvements to people’s lives, especially for the millions whose basic needs are barely met
In small villages throughout India, many poor families have modern appliances, including refrigerators, washing machines and televisions. But many of these appliances are often unpowered and unused, due to the lack of reliable power or no power at all. Some homes, with dirt floors and thatched roofs, appear as they did centuries ago.
Over the years, politicians have given gifts of this nature to garner support or homeowners have bought appliances with meagre savings. But policies directly improving the quality of rural Indian homes and their support infrastructure – a policy decision requiring fundamental changes – would have had significantly greater impact on people’s lives. A weak state, a function of the messy democracy that is India, has struggled for decades to fulfill such basic obligations.
Meanwhile, talk of greater internet access and digital connectivity as the pathway to prosperity across the country is misleading. There is a need to go back to the basics to meet basic needs. The election, if it does not deliver an effective and strong state capable of addressing basic needs, will in many ways represent a failure of democracy.
India’s massive housing shortage can be the starting point of a national movement to improve people’s lives. Housing is a basic need that combines other needs, particularly water and sanitation. India’s massive urban slums usually come to mind when one thinks of the country’s housing issues, but rural India’s challenges are egregious, too.