PROSPECTS OF DEMOCRACY

-Dr B.R. Ambedkar

“Prospects of Democracy in India” is an essay written by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. In the essay,

he presents the social reality that exists in India. The essay mainly focuses on the importance of
democracy in India and how largely it differs from Republic government. The crucial problem
that Dr Ambedkar identifies is the caste system and how it is a problem in society. According to
him, democracy can only function when there will be no caste system.

What is DEMOCRACY and how is it different from a Republic or Parliamentary form of

Government?

Democracy is a mode of associated living, a way of living together. Democracy is different from
a Republic as well as from the Parliamentary Government. The roots of democracy lie in the
social relationships, among the people who form a society.
What do we understand by the term society? Society is a united front which share commonality,
oneness and wish well for one another. Ambedkar questions the ideals that are to be found in
Indian Society? He says, Indian society does not consists of individuals rather it incorporates
innumerable (uncountable) collection of castes which are exclusive in their life and have no
common experience to share nor do they have any feeling of sympathy towards one another.
Hence, the existence of caste system completely denies the existence of democracy.
CASTE AND POLITICS
❖ Indian society is so rooted in the caste system that everything is organized on the basis of
caste.
❖ From marriages to eating, an Indian cannot stand with anyone from a different caste.
Politics is a reflection of the caste system in India.
❖ An Indian votes for a candidate who belongs to his own caste and no other in an election.
❖ The parties use various propagandas in the name of caste to win in the election.
The successful men in the industrial sector are the ones belonging to the caste of the particular
industrialist who owns the industry. The field of commerce is one camp of one caste with no
entry for the rest, charities run in the name of communities.
“Graded Inequality”: A system of grading where all the castes are kept in a hierarchical order
where one stands above the other, they share no equal status, and it is an ascending scale of
hatred descending scale of neglect.
Difference between the Caste and the Class System:
❖ There is no complete isolation in the class system but there is a complete isolation in the
caste system.
❖ The existing inequality that manifests itself in the fact that the stimulus and response
between two castes is only one-sided. The higher caste act in one recognized way and the
 lower caste must respond in one established way. It further results into a separation of
society, into a privileged and a subject class.
❖ The third characteristic of the caste system cuts the roots of democracy and that is the
very notion that one caste is bound to one occupation. This does not allow an individual
to grow and hence the existence of democracy is in question yet again.
How to end the caste system?
❖ The first obstacle lies in the system of graded inequality, where people are divided into
two classes, higher and lower.
❖ The second obstacle lies in the fact that Indian society lacks unity and do not know its
common good.
❖ Can harmony prevail in the existence of caste system? No, it cannot. Indian society is
factional and sets up a number of models and standard. Hence, every Indian share
different views and ideas.
Can education destroy caste?
❖ According to B.R. Ambedkar, it is both a yes and a no. Education cannot affect caste. For
eg. Majority of the upper caste (Brahmin) are highly educated and yet notone Brahmin
has shown himself to be against caste.
❖ In fact an educated Brahmin wants to retain the caste system after his education.
❖ Education does not help to dissolve caste but it can be a solvent means if applied to the
lower strata of the Indian Society.
- It will raise their spirit of rebellion.
-They will be ready to fight the caste system
❖ Education should be given to the lower strata of society to improve the prospect of
democracy.