Post Graduate Course

PAPER 301 : POLITICS IN INDIA

Contents
Unit Ill
1. Peasant & Peasant Movements in India
2. Labour in India
3. Globalization & Impact on the weaker sections
Unit IV
4. Changing Nature of and the Role of Institutions
5. Judicial Activism
UnitV
6. Relations and Decentralisation and Devolution
Indian Federalism
Centre State Relations Regional Autonomy
National Development Council
Finance Commission
7. Federal Polity : Socio Structural Democratic and International Trends of
Governance, Prospect for the Future.
Unit VI
8. Party System in India
9. Political Parties in India
10. National Parties
11. Reg ional Parties
12. National Party - BJP
13. Politics of Electoral Alliances and Coalition
Unit VII
14. Globalisation and Impact on Weaker Sectors
Unit VIII
15. Philosophy and The basic Structure of the Indian Constitutions

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 UNIT-III LESSON I
PEASANT AND PEASANT MOVEMENTS IN INDIA
Subhendu Ranjan Raj
Reader, PGDAVE College
Univers ity of Delhi

In a country where about 65% of the population finds a livelihood in agriculture and related sectors, a gen-
eral raising of standard of living of the common man must necessarily involve the rural sector. Much invest-
ment, both human and financial is invested in agriculture but a lot more needs to be done. Peasant class in our
country has been principal vehicle of all social and cultural progress in India. It is the peasant movement which
constitutes the principal motive force of the socialist/communist movements. Most great breakthroughs in the
annals of the democratic movements in India have been based on some revo lutio nar y peasant upsurge, be it the
Tebhaga and Telangana movements in the '40s, or the so-called Nax.alite movement in the late ' 60s and its current
manifestation in different forms as People's war.
The crucial role of radical peasant movement in the struggle for socialism in India, is based on the fact that it is
the socialist prole tariat' s basic instrument for challenging bourgeois hegemony and estab li shin g its class leadership
over the democ ratic revolution. In retrospect, it was the failure to forge a solid and sustained revolutionary alliance
with the peasantry that incapacitated the communists to determine the course of Ind i·a s freedom struggle and emerge
as its leader. Hence the incomplete character of the independence achieved in a partitioned India: from a colonial
feudal country we became a semi-colonial sem i- feuda l one. Agrarian revolution remains today as before the axis
of our new-democratic revolution. The land question still rem ains the major question in many areas. However as the
degree of imp lementation of land reforms differs from one state to another, the general slogan of advancing land
reform also takes different forms in different states.
India had policies which aimed to protect the most vulnerable sections of the peop le , but these are gradually
disappearing. The main policies included : price-support for farmers; establishing.fair-price shops; policies regarding
the procurement of agricultural produce; controlling the flow of food across state boundaries; and a flexible import
policy that allowed large imports when it became necessary.
This combination of infrastructure, science, and policy indeed averted both catastrophic famines of the earlier
kind, and large-scale unrest. And reasons for unrest there were (and indeed are!) a plenty : India is home to 15% of
the world's population; and to a quarter of the population of deve lopin g countries. As already mentioned, 65% Indi-
ans live in the rural sector where poverty is widespread : 53% of the inhabitants have less than 1 dollar a day to
spend.

The Peasant condition and iniq1,1itous Land Distribution

The rural.violence which did occur during the last 50 years of Independent India of course has complex roots in
history and culture, but that violence also shows how easy it is for violent confl ict to occur in underdeveloped re-
gions. The "decade of chaos" from 1967 to 1977 in West Bengal was caused by a serious inequality in land distribu-
tion. Almost half of the population either did not process any land, or had less than
a quarter of a hectare. The landlords constituted less than 7% of the popu lation. Further, hordes of refugees
entered the state during the war in East Pakistan. That caused acute food shortages in the state. The tragic violence of
that period fore the communist government to change the policies of land dis tribut ion, and those changes brought
many people out of the so-called " Naxali te mo vement " into the mainstream of civil society.
The process of just land distribution is far from done : less than 1% of the cultivable land in the country is fairly
distributed. And this unjust land-distribution is only one of the many points in the so-called "unfinished agenda" of the
developmental process, current globalization offers no possibil itie s to address these social needs.

1
Alongwith it, persisting inequalities on the Question of wages, equal wages for equal work for men and women,
better working conditions, homestead land and pucca house etc. are more or less common demands of the rural
proletariat throughout the country. In the case of land grants demand that pattas (title deeds) be issued in the
name of both men and women remains a cry in wilderness. Issues of corruption in administrative levels where
money intended for relief to the rural poor or for the benefit of small and middle peasants is siphoned off by cor-
rupt officials in league with powerful landlords and kulak groups, who also control political power, are very im-
portant in mobilisation of peasantry. Tribal questions, whether they are reflected through the Jharkhand move-
ment or in the movements of Hill Districts and other tribal areas of Assam, or in the Girijan movement in Andhra
Pradesh etc., are essentially peasant questions, and therefore usurpation of tribal land by usurers/merchants,
rights over forest land and forest produce etc., are major questions. Another problem is the presence of private
armies of landlords or the goons of the reactionary political parties resort to killing of lower castes and classes
and organise massacres of people such as naxal and communists who have·been instrumental in raising issues
and offering resistance of common people to
these violent activities. Police atrocities on victims is a corollary. I

These are all-India realties but particularly in Bihar and Andhra armed resistance struggle against the feudal-
kulak attacks backed by state power is a regular feature and inalienable part of peasant movement. Mention must
be made in this connection of the Ranvir Sena. This Sena has emerged as the most notorious and most ruthless
private army of landlords in over 25 years of our movement in Bhojpur. As the rural proletariat in this district has
emerged as a "class-for-itself', and from a position of total marginalisation has come to occupy the center-stage in
the political process of this district under the banner of its party, the CPl(M-L), and since this has threatened the
hegemony of both the RJD and the BJP and exposed the ideological-political bankruptcy of CPI-CPI(M), an un-
holy alliance between the Sena and the political establishment is quite natural. As the movement in Bhojpur has
brought to the fore the class struggles of the rural poor for political hegemony and the mass struggles of oppressed
dalit castes for social equality, the feudal classes and castes have resorted to tactics of mass terror, including the
most brutalised killings of innocent persons including women and children. The form of struggle adopted by feu-
dal classes was not an aberration, but was dictated by the very dynamics of class struggle. Operations of Ranvir
Sena are so far limited to Bhojpur and surrounding districts of Patna, Jahanabad, Gaya, Rohtas and Buxar. In other
districts of Bihar we have to encounter several other anned outfits of feudal forces. The most notorious am · on g
them is the RJD MP Shahabudd in' s army of professional criminals. This big gang is responsible for the killing of a
well known student leader Chandrashekhar, a two time president of the prestigious JNU Student's Union, and for
scores of other killings in Siwan district. The emergence of such armies and the present spate of massacres are
intimately related with the dynamics of present-day politics. If one probes deeper , one can easily see that the in-
tensity of operations of private armies is concentrated mainly in areas where we have thrown up a serious par-
liamentary challenge to the major ruling parties. Sahar and Sandesh assembly constituencies of Bhojpur and
Mairwan and Darauli of Siwan are such areas.
Peasant Movements in our times
The current phase of globalization may have started in 1991 during a financial crisis in the country, but in reali-
ty the seeds of globalization are to be found earlier. Large-scale construction of agriculture infrastructure received
much support from the "first world" in the fifties'. Collaboration in Indian agriculture had already begun in 1957
when the Rockefeler Foundation and the Indian Government began a program to improve maize. Because of this
eariy link with foreign collaborators, the country received varieties of wheat and rice from, respectively, Mexico and
the Philippines, in the early Sixties. Five years later in India, the Green Revolution was launched . The technological
package included better, higher-yielding crop varieties; use of chemical fertilizers; modem irrigation systems; and
strengthened programs which supplied farmers with practical knowledge. Further, in .the agricultural sector, this open-
ing up of the economy combined with a series of good monsoons causing rapid agricultural growth from-2.3% in
1991 to 4.9% in 1995.
But this financial t'Iessing evidently happened only for the relatively rich farmers. The fate of the poor did not
improve. For rich farmers globalization means, for example, that they have access to new hybrid needs.

2
Alongwith it, persisting inequalities on the Question of wages, equal wages for equal work for men and women,
better working conditio ns, homestead land and pucca house etc. are more or less common demands of the rural
proletariat throughout the country. In the case ofland grants demand that pattas (title deeds) be issued in the
name of both men and women remains a cry in wilderness. Issues of corruption in administrative levels where
money intended for relief to the rural poor or for the benefit of small and middle peasants is siphoned off by cor-
rupt officials in league with powerful landlords and kulak groups, who also control political power, are very im-
portant in mobilisation of peasantry. Tribal questions, whether they are reflected through the Jharkhand move-
ment or in the movements of Hill Districts and other tribal areas of Assam, or in the Girijan movement in Andhra
Pradesh etc., are essentially peasant questions, and therefore usurpation of tribal land by usurers/merch ants,
rights over forest land and forest produce etc., are major questions. Another problem is the presence of private
armies of landlords or the goons of the reactionary political parties resort to killing of lower castes and classes
and organise massacres of people such as naxal and communists who have·been instrumental in raising issues
and offering resistance of common people to these violent activities. Police atrocities on victims is a corollary. J
These are all-India realties but particularly in Bihar and Andhra armed resistance struggle against the feu-
dal-kulak attacks backed by state power is a regular feature and inalienable part of peasant movement. Mention
must be made in this connection of the Ranvir Sena. This Sena has emerged as the most notorious and most ruth-
less private army of landlords in over 25 years of our movement in Bhojpur. As the rural proletariat in this dis-
trict has emerged as a "class-for-itself', and from a position of total marginalisation has come to occupy the cen-
ter-stage in the political process of this district under the banner of its party, the CPI(M-L), and since this has
threatened the hegemony of both the RJD and the BJP and exposed the ideological-political bankruptcy of CPI-
CPI(M), an unholy alliance between the Sena and the political establishment is quite natural. As the movement
in Bhojpur has brought to the fore the class struggles of the rural poor for political hegemony and the mass strug-
gles of oppressed dalit castes for social equality, the feudal classes and castes have resorted to tactics of mass ter-
ror, including the most brutalised killings of innocent persons including women and children. The form of strug-
gle adopted by feudal classes was not an aberration, but was dictated by the very dynamics of class struggle. Op-
erations of Ranvir Sena are so far limited to Bhojpur and surrounding districts of Patna, Jahanabad, Gaya, Rohtas
and Buxar. In other districts of Bihar we have to encounter several other anned outfits of feudal forces. The most
notorious am'ong them is the RJD MP Shahabudd in' s army of professional criminals. This big gang is responsible
for the killing of a well known student leader Chandrashekhar, a two time president of the prestigious JNU Stu-
dent's Union, and for scores of other killings in Siwan district. The emergence of such armies and the present
spate of massacres are intimately related with the dynamics of present-day politics. If one probes deeper, one
can easily see that the intensity of operations of private armies is concentrated mainly in areas where we have
thrown up a serious parliamentary challenge to the major ruling parties. Sahar and Sandesh assembly constituen-
cies of Bhojpur and Mairwan and Darauli of Siwan are such areas.
Peasant Movements in our times
The current phase of globalization may have started in 1991 during a financial crisis in the country, but in real-
ity the seeds of globalization are to be found earlier. Large-scale construction of agriculture infrastructure received
much support from the "first world" in the fifties'. Collaboration in Indian agriculture had already begun in 1957 when
the Rockefeler Foundation and the Indian Government began a program to improve maize. Because of this eariy
link with foreign collaborators, the country received varieties of wheat and rice from, respectively, Mexico and
the Philippines, in the early Sixties. Five years later in India, the Green Revolution was launched. The technologi-
cal package included better, higher-yielding crop varieties; use of chemical fertilizers; modem irrigation systems; and
strengthened programs which supplied farmers with practical knowledge. Further, in .the agricultural sector, this open-
ing up of the economy combined with a series of good monsoons causing rapid agricultural growth from-2.3% in
1991 to 4.9% in 1995
But this financial !tessing evidently happened only for the relatively rich farmers. The fate of the poor did
not improve. For rich farmers globalization means, for example, that they have access to new hybrid seeds.

3
Since these hybrids cost much more than the traditional low-yielding varieties, only the rich agriculturists can
buy them. Further, none of the private finns "waste" money in improving the so-called "orphan plants"- grains
like sorghum, and legumes like chick-pea. Globalization-the opening up of the market- does not mean im-
provement in the lives of marginal farmers-which constitutes the bulk of the Indian peasantry.
Today peasant movements have to come up against new dangers for agriculture in the current globalization
'phase - namely, intellectual property rights, and biotechnological considerations. Intellectual Property
Rights in agriculture are supposed to protect both the rights of firms which improve crops, and the rights o f
agriculturists who possess crop-varieties with valuable traits. In practice , however, there is almost no aware-
ness in rural India about the rights of farmers. Meanwhile, private finns patent crop varieties, as happened re-
cently when researchers in Australia applied for a patent for varieties of chick-pea. They claimed that
altho ug h they had obtained those varieties from the ICRJSAT gene bank, they improved the seeds and so
have a right to patent them. Only the alarm sounded by a nongovernmental organization woke the insti-
utions of the CGIAR and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations which immediately
placed a moratorium on the patenting of these crops, defining them "international public goods." Biotechnology
firm present another aspect of the dangers of the current globalization. These firms invest much in the
testing and introduction of new hybrids which both cost a great deal and whose ecological consequences are in-
sufficiently know n. Further, these firms protect their investment in ways which are ethically indefensible. The
American biotechnology firm, Monsanto, for example, recently found itelf in the center of political storm on
account of its attempt to introduce rice seeds containing the so - called " Terminator" gene: that is, that high-
yielding rice hybrid contains a gene that makes sure that seeds from this season ' s rice crop will not
germinate when they are sown the next season: the farmers the refore must again buy seeds from the finn.
A nongovernmental organization sounded the alarm, and a grave ly embarrassed Monsanto hastily declared that
the firm was only testing the possibilities of the Terminator gene, and had infact no plans to use it.
Meanwhile , as one out of three Ind ia ns does not have access to safe water; almost one out of two
illiterates in the world is an Indian; the largest number of the absolutely poor live in India; the country
has more registered unemployed than the total unemployed of the 24 countries of the OECD; and 44 mil-
lion children in India work. The list of this " unfinished agenda " continues. Meanwhile, as the 1999 Human
Development Report of the UNDP says : "when research priorities are defined, money, riot need ,
rules-cosmetic drugs and slow-maturing tomatoes appear higher in the priority list than drought-resistant crops
and vaccines against malaria. " These are also indications of our semi feudal and primitive realities that Indian
peasantry has to grapple everyday.
It was because of the semi-feudal land relations that India remained a food deficient country until
the 60s when came the green revolution, by which imperialists initiated the irintervention in the sphere of
production in agriculture. Earlier their intervention was more or less limited to the sphere of exchange.
Thus a sort of food security was achieved at the cost of a more pernicious kind of dependence on im-
penalists for seeds and other inputs. Till the 80s we imported around 40% of our fertilizers consumption. Apart
from initiating a structural change in the countryside, through gree n revolution the bourgeoisie succeeded in
temporarily tiding over the acute political crisis and inflicted a heavy blow on the budding project of democratic
revolution based on anti-feudal strugg les . Coupled with this, of course , was nationalisation of banks, mines
and many other sectors of economy and the proclamation of garibi hatao which even weaned away a con-
siderable section of left to its side, and, as always, a heavy dose of national chauvinism that was adminis-
tered to win over petty bourgeoisie in the whole episode of Bangladesh War.
However, the contradictions inherent in the green revolution strategy started coming to surface in the 80s
and the farmers came up with two kinds of movements, one fo r remunerative prices of agrarian produce and
the other demanding reduction (subsidisation) of input cost. In fact you need subsidiz atio n at every step of
green revo lution,strategy, whether in the case of inputs, or procurement or storage or marketing . Therefore by
its nature the green revolution had to be limited to certain pockets where powerful farmer lobbies were to
become its mam beneficiaries.
4
These farmers' movement led by kulaks demanding a better share in political power and economic surplus,
represented " west wind" in the agrarian arena that attempted to angered by the fact that traders were not
even offering break-even prices. Four peasants were killed and 15 wounded.
It was estimated that during Oct-Dec. 98, when kharif oilseed crop appeared on the market, 0.95 MT of
edible oil was imported, in comparison to 0.35 MT the previous year. In the just half of 1998-99 oil year (Nov-
Oct.), edible oil imports were 1.42 MT, which was the govt.'s estimate of the gap between the domestic supply
and demand for the full year. Meanwhile OECD pointed out that international oilseed prices had sunk to 23-
year low, that they would not begin to rise till the year 2000. In this extraordinary situation international stocks
of oilseeds were being dumped at abnormally low (around half) prices. But the govt. did not move to·restrict the
import by QRs or tariffs, whereas according to WTO norms it could impose upto 300% duty. In July 99 Oil
World reported that India was set to replace China as the world's largest vegetable oil importer. It projected that
India would import 3.6 MT during 1998-99 oil year. In the first 9 months India had imported 3 MT oil. Still no
import restrictions were imposed despite Federation of Oilseed Cooperatives and Growers in India requests to
treble the import duties. The result was that during the 1998-99 oil year edible oil import amounted to a massive
4.4 MT, an increase of 111% over the previous year's 2.08 MT. Thus imports surpassed, by govt.'s own es-
timates of the gap between domestic supply and total demand by 3 MT. The cost of imports was estimated
to be Rs. 9000 er. (over $ 2 bn.).
Oilseed growers were unable to get break-even prices. In mid-99, the Minimum Support Price (MSP) set
by GOI for sunflower was Rs. 1155 qnt., growers were actually getting about Rs. 975. In Sep. 99, USDA
estimated that oilseed production in India in 1999-2000 was expected to fall by 1.3 MT following a 12%
decline in soyabean area (to 5.6 mha) following the last season's low soyabean prices and drought in major
groundnut areas. It actually resulted in a decline of soya production from 6. I MT in kharif 1998 to 5.2 MT
in kharif 1999. Kharif output of 9 major oilseeds was estimated in Nov. 99 at 10.5 MT, 20% lower than 13.2
MT of kharif 1998. (for oilseeds, kharif is the main crop).
The 5 mn. odd soya growers are largely small farmers, cultivating on the average a little over I ha each. They
were unable to get decent price for their crop. In MP, which accounts for 3/4 of coun try' s soya production, the
crash in soya production resulted in agitations by the growers demanding that the govt. procure at MSP. Road-
blocks were organised in Nov. but the govt. refused to procure more than taken quantities. This was because
the leadership of the movement was in the hands of a Congress leaders.
Then this has resulted in displacement of domestic production, ensuring future dependence. In 1993- 94 In-
dia produced 95.5% of its edible oil consumption, by 1998-99 this had sunk to just 61%. Actually the figure
will further sink as a result of the unremunerative prices brought on by the imports. Oil World has projected that
India will import 4.7 to 4.9 MT in 1999-2000 against a domestic production of 6.5 MT (57% of consumption).
Situation may grow even worse than that. Oil industry has estimated that against 221.7 MT of oilseeds in 1998-
99, the domestic production would fall to 19 MT, and if it comes true, the imports may rise to 5.5 MT. The gov-
ernment has not even used the cheap oil to build up a buffer stock, and if international prices rise we cannot sud-
denly revert to oilseed production. So the import bill will be skyrocketing. Though the edible oil industry, which
is now running at 1/3 of its capacity, is unhappy with the import of edible oil, has not sided with oilseed growers'
demand. Rather it has lobbied for oilseed imports. Here is the typical case oflndian bourgeoisie finding common
cause with exporters of powerful countries.
lt was reported that in Sep. 99 in MP alone 550,000 ha has been taken out of soya cultivation and diverted to
minor nillets, pulses, peanuts and some land even left fallow. In Rajasthan and Maharashtra too soya land was
diverted to bajra, jowar and pulses. This means that after being displaced and financially nevasted by imports,
many soya growers first guarantee their own consumption needs , thus turning to subsistence farming from cash
crops.
We are not touching here other sectors where the disastrous impact has already been felt like in the case of
milk, sugar, cotton, natural rubber, apples, raw silk, etc. For instance in case of sugar, foreign companies offered
IndianJugar importers liberal credit terms, allowing them to pay after 3 to 6 months at a relatively low interest
rates. Stocks grew at 6.6 MT, and arrears to cane growers grew to rs. 1000 er. by Dec. 99. In case of cot-
ton, Maharashtra govt. failed to make payments to peasants and handed out dud cheques (which could
not be cashed).

5
Due to late payments seven cotton growers committed suicide. Nevertheless imports contin ued to grow. As in-
terrnational prices of rubber slumped, about 1 mn poor peasant in the rubber growing districts of Kerala ac-
count for 90% of India's production, have to sell their produce at non- remunerative rates because of the glut. This
has given rise to protests from rubber growers. Protesting against similar policy in case of silk, 25000 Silk cul-
tivators held a protest in Bangalore on 11 Jan. 99, during which a section of agitators stoned the house of the
ten union commerce ministers Ramkrishna Hegde . After a sudden crash in prices of eggs, day old chick and
broiler birds, 2.5 mn eggs were smashed in Andhra Pradesh, country's leading poultry producing state. Poultry
farmers in the north have planned to smash 3 mn eggs. On I May 2000 well- connected , powerful poultry
farmers from various parts of the country held a rally in Pune addressed by Chandrababu Naidu and Sharad
Pawar , demanding protection from opening up by April 2001.
The second aspect of structu ral adjustme nt programme is witnessed in sharply falling public investment
in agriculture, which is most ly in irrig atio n. At 1980-81 prices , public investment in agriculture fell by 37%
from Rs. 1796 er. in 1980-81 to Rs. 1132 er. in 96-97. At 93-94 prices, it fell from Rs. 4689 er. in 1996-
97 by 17% to Rs. 3876 er. in 98-99. In real terms, public investment in agriculture in 98-99 is around
half of the figure of 80-81. As a perce nta ge of GDP in agr ic ultu re, it fell from 4.22% in 80-81 to 1.85%
in 96- 97 and 1.45% in 98-99. The trend of falling investment in agriculture was set in the 1980s, and it has
contributed to the s lo wdown of growth in agriculture witnessed in 90s. Growth rate of all crops fell from
3.19% during the 1980-81 to 1989-90, to 2.35% during the 1990s. Yield growth for all crops fell, from
2.35% in the 80s to 1.37% dur ing 90 s. In foodgrains the production growth rate fell from 2.85% to 1.71%
and this means that foodgrain product io n is growing slower than the population. Moreover, the area under food-
grains shrank steadily during both 80s and 90s, by 0.23% and 0.22%, possibly because of land being converted to
commercial crops. With the fall in public sector expenditure (both agricultural and non- agricultural) in the rural
areas, more and more people in the rural areas are being forced to depend on agriculture on their livelihood. Th
is is a reversal of the trend during 80s.
Workforce in agriculture finally began to decline in the 80s, from 70.7% in 1977-78 it fell to 63.9% in 87-88.
(It should be noted here that in 1901 the percentage of workforce was 69.4%, which by 1951 had risen to
73.7%). Reason were expansion of cities, rural employment programmes and public infrastructure etc. Party as
a result of this shift agricultural wage rates somewhat improved. Percentage of rural p6 pulation BPL fell to some
extent. But in the 90 s, states cut back their investment in rural development and in infrastructure and Centre
cut back on its transfers to the state governments . Non agricultural employment in the rural areas fell.
Where as out of total rural workforce, 75% worked in agriculture in 90-91, by 93-94 the figure rose to
78.4%, meaning that 13 .7 mn workers added in agriculture , whereas rural non-agricultural employment shrank
by 3.4 m n. during the same period. Marx said, " It is in the nature of capitalist production to continually re-
place the agricultural population as compared with non-agricultural." Lenin has said, "the law governing all
developing commodity economy, and the more so capitalist economy-the industrial (i.e., non-agricultural) popu-
latio n grows faster than the agric ultural and diverts an ever-growing part of the population from agricultural to
manufacturing industry." But in India capitalism has failed to do so. In developed countries only 2% to 6% of
the workforce are employed in agriculture while in India even 8th FYP (1992-97) stated, that agriculture em-
ploys two-thirds of the total workforce.
· This trend has continued since then. The main fall in rural employment comes in industry- mining,
manufacturing, construction, electricity, water and gas. National income data reveal that (i) the share of rural in-
comes in total incomes has fallen; ( ii) the share of non-agricultural incomes in total rural incomes, which rose
in the 80s, has stangnated. All this must have been felt at income levels . 1990s also saw a steep rise in
food prices which further reduced real income. Real per capita consumption in rural areas shows a decline since
89 -90. So the percentage of rural population BPL grew in 90s. According to World Bank, rural poverty rose from
34.3% in 89-90 to 35.8% i n 97 . Rural poverty rose from 35.4% in 90-91 to 35.8% in 97 . Rural poverty rose
from 35.1¾ in 90-9 1 t o 42.6% in 1998. Growing commercialisationin India is not a sign of prospertiy, but
of forced commercialistion. In their desperation to generate a living off their meager, overburdened land, an in-
creasing number of peasants tum to commercial crops and borrow from moneylanders.

6
This the background of the spate of peasant suicides seen in so many states of the country today. And it is in
this situation that the imports of agricultural commodities under pressure of imperialist globalisation will wreak
their havoc.
In 1997-98, in fact by June 98, according to unofficial reports over 377 peasants committed suicide in An-
dhra Pradesh alone. The phenomenon was noted in other state as well- in Karnataka (20 suicides), Maharashtra
(83 suicides) and even Punjab, where a series of suicides was reported of indebted peasants in October
98. Case studies reveal that these farmers, being driven out of employment in tow ns due to industrial clo-
sure/layoff, came back to villages where they owned one or two acre of land, drew loans from Moneylend-
ers or in some cases from local cooperative banks, took additional 2-3 acre land on lease, and when the
crops failed due to pestilence, bad weather or erratic rainfall, the peasants were unable to pay the loan
back and therefore committed suicide. In many cases the cumulative sum owed to moneylender or coopera-
tive bank was far greater than the peasant could pay even in good years. The compensation paid by the gov-
ernment to the family of the deceased peasants is going to the benefit of moneylenders only.
The case of Punjab demands special attention because the state has been the cradle of green revolution
in India. Here the officially recorded number of suicides is : 95 in 1988, 128 in 1992, 193 in 1994, 220 in
199 5, 345 in 1996 and 418 in 1997 . The southern districts of Mansa , Bathinda and Sangrur together accounted
for 61% of such deaths since 1991. In these suicides, 68% of victims were indebted. In fact due to rising
input costs and stagnated production in Punjab, 9 out of IO peasants are routinely indebted. Finding it difficult
to pay their debt farmers have started selling their land at throwaway prices. Almost all the suicides were
by small and marginal farmers who leased in land. This shows that land problem is a reason behind these
deaths. And the reason of crop faill!re is the dependence of peasants on rainfall. Yet another reason is that in-
stead of cultivating cotton in rotation with other crops, under the pressure of debt peasants repeatedly
sown cotton the pest survive from crop to crop. And then, many of the pesticides are spurious. The govt. has
abysmal lack of agricultural extension staff to check the qua Iity of inputs and educate the peasants.
One of the most important reasons is continuous rise in already high input costs . Under the IMF dictated
"SAP", price of fertilizers, irrigation and electricity have been rising sharply. Between 1990-91 and 95-96,
while the prices of wheat, as measured by the average WP I , increased by 58%, that of fertilizers in-
creased by 113%, that of irrigation by 62% and insecticides by 90%. In 1997, these prices further rose because
of revision of petroleum product prices. Recently in Andhra Pradesh electricity tariff were so steeply hiked that
peasants launched statewide agitation and in the Assembly gherao by 9 left parties the police opened fire to
kill three act iv ists . Even if administered prices are raised, small farmers are not its beneficiary because they
have little marketable surplus. Moreover, as the quantity of fertilizers and pesticides used per hectare has
been rising even more sharply. yields per hectare is tapering off or even falling. India has trebled its pesticide
consumption in last 8 years (20% a year since ' 89), consumption of N-fertilizer has increased by 29% be-
tween 90-91 to 96097 (from 8 MT to 10 .3 MT), yet the growth of agricultural production was only 11.4%
during this period. And then the peasants have been receiving depressed prices for their corps. Apart from
purchases of wheat and rice in Punjab and Ha ryana, the government intervention is negligible. Traders exercise a
stranglehold on the market. As Cotton Corporation of India and Marked refused to purchase kapas at remu-
nerative prices at Rs. 2100/qnt., prices of kapas fell to Rs. 1800/qnt. from Rs. 2300/qnt. in 96-97. Peasants
have neither holding power, nor storage or transport facility. So they have to go for distress sale. And now
even wheat and rice growers of Punjab are facing problems as the government has decided to procure on-
ly 40%, leaving 60% to private traders. Five peasants have recently committed suicide as they could not find
a buyer of their grain, which was considered below standard, and a great number of peasants were com-
pelled to distress sale.
.
All these factors point only to production relations. The continuing paucity of land with the mass of peasant-
ry, the lack of options for employment outside agriculture, as a result of which peasants take on even the most un-
favourable odds in agriculture in an effort to clamber out poverty, the tight grip of traders over the peasants '
purchases and output. the peasants' exploitation by big manufacturers and even by international traders, both of
whom must operate through local traders, the abysmal lack of surplus left with the peasants to use as

7
working capital for the following year (let alone to invest in improving the productivity of their land)- all
these factors point to the conditions of semi-feudalism prevailing in the countryside, where usury has deep roots.
It this not similar to the picture under British rule, when Bengal Provincial Banking Enquiry Committee observed
in its report in 1929-30 : " In any case , the conditions of borrowing are such that a big income of agriculturists is
eaten up by interest and other charges, making repayment of loan very difficult. Debts are often repaid by further
loans. As has been well said, 'the cultivator is born in debt, increases his debt throughout his life and dies more
hopelessly in debt than ever.'
To change these circumstances requires not only a declaration of the cancellation of rural debts of the landle
ss and poor peasantry, but a redictribution of land and other assets , ending land rents, cooperative/ collective de-
velopment of farm modernisation, planned investment in irrigation and democratic control of water resources,
State control of agricultural trade and national development of industry in a fashion that would reduce the price of
agricultural inputs as well as provide growing industrial employment. Thus the recent phase of glob alisat io n has
provided the scenario for intervention of radical left in the peasant movement against imperialist intervention. In
fact Stalin's formulation that peasant question is essentially a national question can be better understood in the
present day scenario. In andhra Pradesh and Punjab radical Left has already taken initiative in this regard.
However, this phenomenon is to be further studied and full-scale or powerful in tervention in still lacking.
The Indian peasants, workers and other toilers always draw inspiration from the fact that they are not fighting
alone. We feel very elated when we hear about the advances made by the fighting peasants and their allies in Lat-
in America, the backyard of American imperialism. From the citadels of imperialism-from Seatle, Washing ton,
Melbourne- pour in the news of one massive rally after another and make us feel confident that ours is but a part
of the global people ' s counter-offensive against the onslaughts of the world bourgeoisie. We saw a grand be-
ginning of the 21st Century when hundreds of thousands of peasants, agricultural labourers, tribal people and in-
dustrial workers from all regions of India took the streets of Hyderabad on 2nd May 1998 to show their rejec-
tion against the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and neoliberal policies, and to demand the immediate with-
drawal of India from the WTO. The rally was organised by "Joint Action Forum of Indian People against the
WTO and Anti-People Policies " (JAFIP), composed of 50 peoples ' mov ments representing a wide range of re-
gions and social groups. The demonstration was proceeded by a tt1ree-days convention in which the JAFIP was
officially launched. The convention and rally, convened by a number oflndian peoples ' movements, including the
Karnataka State Farmers' Association (KRRS), the All-India (BLU) and others, took place against the backdrop
of a growing wave of suicides of peasants, which according t') all members of the JAFI P are direct ly caused by
the impact of WTO-imposed policies. It also took place in the context of increasing state violence against peo-
ples' movements especially the peasants all over India. The convention and rally were held in Hyderabad, capital
of Andhra pradesh, because of the particularly high rate of suicides and killings in this Southern state, where
more then 600 peasant activists have been killed by the Indian army from 1992 to 1998, and more than 400 su-
icides have taken place in the last five months. The assassination of peoples' movements' activists in Andhra Pra-
desh was intensified in the weeks leading to the convention, in what amounts to a very clear signal of the way in
which the Indian government will deal with peaceful opposition to the WTO .
The convention, attended by more than 900 representatives of peoples ' movements, produced
the " Declaration of Indian People against the WTO" which states that " We, the people of India, hereby de-
clare that we consider the WTO our brutal enemy. This unaccountable and notoriously undennocratic body
called the WTO has the potential not only to such the sweat and blood of the masses of two-thirds of the
world, but has also started destroying our na!ural habitats and traditional agricultural and other knowledge sys-
tems... converting us into objects of Transnational Corporations ' economy of consumerism... The WTO will
kill us unless we kill it".
The declaration also targets the national elites saying that "any struggle against the WTO-IMF-World Lank
trinity has to go along a simultaneous struggle against the local ruling classes". Finally, the JAFIP also offers al-
ternatives :

8
 "While opposing the WTO, we, the Indian people, have resolved to build a pro-people egalitarian social
order through a genuinely democratic process" .
This declaration was accompanied by six specific resolutions demanding pro-people agricultural policy,
expressing solidarity with other peoples' movements, opposing the invasion of agriculture by multinationals,
condemning the repression of peoples' movements, denouncing the wave of suicides of peasants all over
In dia, and expressing the anti-WTO struggle of the Indian working class.
This is because in the post-Soviet post-cold war era, emboldened but crisis-ridden capitalism is intensi-
fying its attacks on all working people everywhere, inviting in turn new waves of resistance. We must boldly
seize upon these opportunities and quicken the pace of our march towards socialis m, convinced that the current
advances in technology may in the first instance help the lords of capitals but ultimately they only stre ngthen
the material basis for a transition to a higher social order.
Recent Regional Peasant Movements (a close micro look in Orissa)
We have detailed herein above a macro picture of the problems affecting the peasants. Now lets turn to
some day to day problems that affects the bulk of Indian farmers and which though seemingly trite or- even pet-
ty in nature are the realities that traumatize a serious section of this population. They are no small problems,
some of them emerging out of globalization, others are plain administrative or logistical in nature but which cry
out to be solved immediately. We are concentrating on the experience of the store, mandy Orissa, in this regard.
The peasants of Orissa have been agitating over the issue of the low prices for paddy or rice but vigor-
ously so since the months of October 200 I. The peasants, in a difficult financial situation were anxious to sell,
at the minimum at the minimum support price fixed by the central government.
The question of the 'under-rate' has been there for long. But the origin of this protest is quite diffi-
cult to trace, In Jharsuguda, the protest started last November, according to Surendra Sahu of the Jharsuguda
Anchalika Krushaka Sangathana (Regional Peasant Organisation). But initially the peasants organized them-
selves to press for their demand for famine relief. (This district was affected by famine during the year 2000-
2001). In next season, that is during the monsoon of 2001, the district was inundated by the flooding of local
rivers. And since then, that is , July-August of 2001 , the demand of the peasants has been for flood relief. Fi-
nally towards October-November of 200 I the issue in front of the peasants was the proper sale of whatever lit-
tle paddy they had produced despite the vagaries of nature. And now their organization seems to be growing
in strength.
But the people in the district of Bargarh, which is irrigated by the Hirakud Dam, had been fighting for
the proper sale of their paddy. In fact, they clearly remember the protest they had registered last year. On 2nd
November 2002, at Godbhaga and on 10 November 2000, at Debaha l, there was a Rasla Roko (Road Block-
ade) on National Highway No. 6, to have the paddy sold in Regulatory Market Comm ittees (RM C) premises
for the stipulated minimum support price. This led to some relief for some days as the paddy was purchased at
the minimum support price in the RMC premises. But again after some time this practise fell into disu se. In
Barpali on 3rd February 2001, as the paddy was not purchased from them in the RMC premises, the peasants
stuffed the Block and Tahsil offices with their paddy in protest. This became a method of protest and was tried
again on 8th May 2001, at Attabira Bloc k. On I 0th May 200 I , after a Rasta Roko of the National Highway
No. 6, which was preceded by a massive rally of peasants numbering around I 0,000, from various parts of the
district assembled at Bargarh, the district administration was brought to its knees. There was an agreement be-
tween the protesting peasants and the district adm in istration. The important points in the agreement were as
follows :
I . The sale and purchase of paddy was be effected in the RMC arena. [Nobody seems to know how
these Committees are formed, or who can become a member. But there are quite a few market places
which are known RMCs. These places become centres of activity during the harvesting seasons of paddy. After
that these places remain deserted.] There were, in the district of Bargarh , 36 perm anent RMC marketplaces.
Around 31 more temporary market sites were added to the permanent ones of the RMC, as at Gaisilet.

9
The Civil Supplies Officials at that RMC should issue the requisite Enforcement Certificate (E.C.) to the own-
ers of the rice mills. This was to put a check on the mill owners: Earlier the practice by the mill owners was to
buy paddy from outside the RMC, at a price much below the stipulated minimum support price and sell it to
the Food Corporation of India at a much greater profit. The EC became a method to put a stop to this practice
and force the mill owners to buy under the stipulated law/price from the peasants. At another place, a rev-
enue official was heard saying- ' the peasants are talking of EC now. You can not take them for granted any
longer.'
2. The second important point in the agreement was regarding payment. In case the sale was as little as I
5 bags of paddy, then the buyer should make payments immed iately. If it was higher than that then 30% of the
pric e would be paid at the RMC and the rest within the next week. Besides, the Fair Average Quality standard
or FAQ analysis had to be done at the RMC premises and not at the rice mills. The FAQ was set by the gov-
ernment of India in 1978, and is still in force. This standard sets a limit to the percentage of various impurities
such as dust and sand particles, discoloured grain, chaff, barn and its humidity, in each bag of paddy (which
contains about 75 kgs.)
But despite these ' victories' the peasants could not sell their rice at a fair price . The problems they faced
and the way they are exploited are multiple. Pradeep patra, the Secretary of the Krushak Sangathan (Peasant
Organisation) of batemura at Sambalpur, has catalogued the problems in an unpublished statement on the peas-
ant protest in Orissa. He says :
1. Even if the district authorities have assured that the payment for sale of rice will be made with-
in 10 days (This stipulation actually varies from district to disrict. It is 7 days in the district of Bargarh , as we
have seen already), it has remained a (false) promise only. But if the peasant is ready to acept a price of about
10 to 15 rupees le ss than the prescribed price, then the entire payment is made immediately.
2. As the weighing machines are not available at the RMC sites for large-scale purchases, the peasant
is supposed to carry the grain/paddy to the rice mills, where it can be weighed. There, almost all peasants comp
lain , they are cheated by the mill owners . Even as little as ten bags of rice, in spite of agreement to the effect,
could not be weighed at the RMC sites.
3. The FAQ analysis also could not be done at the RMC (either because of the non-availability of
gadgets or the absence of trained staff). So an arbitrary/whimsi al deduction of 1kg to 15kgs of paddy from a
bag of 75 kgs is made by the mill owners . Mostly, at the mill, the deductions are more than what was agreed
upon at the RMC.
4. The mill owners ought to arrange for the transpo,tation of paddy from the RMC sites to their mills.
But invariably that does not happen. The peasants who carry it to the mill do not get paid for that. At times, du e
to de li berate delays in unloading the paddy by the mill owners, which is a strategy of bargain, the peasants
have to pay more to the transpoter. At places even the mill owners allege that the paddy has been chan ged
while in transit from the RMC to the mill. This is done to slash either the quantity or the quality or both of the
paddy purchased.
5. The gunny/jute bags are another issue. The bags are meant to be returned to the peasants immedi-
ately. But that does not happen and the mill owners instead return old and torn bags. Thus the peasants
suffer a loss, as the bags are worth 5 yo 10 rupees a piece.
6. Some mill owners made the payment through account-payee cheques . Not all peasants have bank
accoun ts, nor are there branches of banks at convenient places.
7. The small and marginal peasant finds it most difficult to market their paddy (which they do from
out of their food for cash requirements). The transportation cost, at times, is so high that they hardly get any re-
turn . That is one reason why this section of the peasantry prefers to sell its paddy to local 'bepari' or traders at a
much lower price than that set by the government.
A side from these there are various other local problems. The bargarh district administration/collector has
the grand idea of introducing photo-identity cards for peasants who will sell paddy at the RMCs. He said his ob-
jective was to identify and put a check on the ' beparis' who collect paddy from peasants at a cheaper price

10
and sell dear at the RMC. But the following information was also required for the identity card. 1. how much
land a peasant owns. 2. How much paddy is produced on it. 3. How much do the peasants retain for con-
sumption and how much do they sell. Besides being humiliating, such questions begged further proble ms. How
can a share-cropper sell the paddy (as he does not own the land) ? How can the small shopkeeper of the
village sell his rice/paddy? [In most of the interior vi llages, even now, the shopkeepers provide basic consumer
goods in exchange for grain and later sell it to mill owners of ' bepar is ' ]. Will the R.I. (Revenue Inspector) at-
test the statement of the peasant, which was necessary for the I-Card, without any bribe? He could also use
this as an instrument for other purposes such as the payment of water cesses.
So the poto-identity cards not only placed the peasant at the mercy of local officialsom but also put a limit
on the amount of paddy that they can sell. Instead of putting a control on the illegal and ' under - rated' purchas-
es by traders without a license, the district administration further harassed the already exploited producers.
The legal or the administrative arrangements have so far not helped the peasants. Only when the peasants
have united and fought, has the administrative machinery worked for them and the law interpreted judiciously.
At Sahaspur RMC, the peasant experience was that the gadgets (mdern technology) for the analysis of the
quality of the grain also did not owrk favourably unless they were alert. In fact, the mill owners used to bribe
the analyst and get the paddy under-valued.
Though the solidarity of the peasants has during the protests increased considerably and more importantly,
been effective, there are certain problems which the peasants want to address or so far have not been very defi-
nitely addressed.
The strength of the movement has undergone various troughs and crests. During November and December
2001, the peasants were free from the agricultural routine. So the participation in the rallies, meetings and other
activities was at its highest. But once the agricultural operations began in January 2002 for the ' Dalu a' late-rice
crop, mass mobilization became difficult. Thereafter, the Dhanujatra, a local festival of about three weeks, in
the district of Bargarh, kept the peasants busy .
During the initial months of the movemen t, those peasants who could sell their paddy profitably due to the
movement did not find any reason to remain as part of the movement.
Then there was the question of the poor-peasants, marginal peasants, or landless and dalit peasants.
This was addressed squarely by the socilist leadership of the Orissa Rajya Krushak Sangathan (Orissa State
Peasant Organisation) at Bargarh. They have placed the needs of the dalit and the poor peasants on their charter
of demands (as in the pamphlet published and distributed at the mass rally of 15th October 2001 at Sohela the
demand was put that the poor and dalits be given hutment-sites immediately). According to Lingaraj, a popular
peasant leader of the Orissa Rcijya Krushak Sangathan of the region, this section of the peasantry has very little
surplus to sell in the market. Mostly, the necessities of cash make them part with some of their own food (so it
can hardly be called surplus). They have between·5 bags to 15 bags of rice to sell. This section constitutes the
largest section of society. According to the District Statistical Handbook ofBargah of 1997, marginal peasants
owned 39,745 hectares out of a total of 297,300 hectares. And they numbered 69,396 in a total population fig-
ure of 165,563.
When they were under the presessure of the movement the mill owners preferred to buy in bulk from peas-
ants who could bring between 100 to 500 paddy bags. This preference left the marginal peasants in the lurch.
They also had the problem of transportation. Lingaraj observed that during the last 10 to 15 years there has been
a gradual increase in the use of tractors and mechanized farming and a decline in the of use of draught animals
and bullock carts. This change has left the small peasants at the mercy of bigger peasants or commercial trans-
porters. Tliis has monetarily added to their woes.
In this situation most marginal peasants preferred to self their paddy to their village ' bepar is' or agents of
the mill owners. In fact in the far flung villages, these beparis and agents provide the required cash to peasants,
and in return receive from them paddy during the harvest-season. In places like Talsigagd, Gaisima, and Khua-
pali, in the district of Bargarh, the socialist activists set an example by forcing the mill owners to purchase

11
from the small-sellers/marginal peasants first. This sacrifice led to some activists being rebuked by their family
members for not helping their own sales.
According to the socialist activists of Bargarh there was also tension between the peasants of different dis-
tricts and localities. Bargarh has a large number of rice mills. Sonepur in the adjacent district, in comparison,
does not have so many. So the peasants from Sonepur started bringing their paddy to RMCs in Bargarh. This
was not liked by the pesants of Bargarh. They protested saying why should the 'outsiders' be allowed to sell
here.'
One of the remarkable features of these peasants' movement has been the great care than the activists of
Bargarh have taken to inform and educate the peasants of the existing laws and administrative practices. In
almost all the rallies and demonstrations they have been printing and distributing pamphlets much to the dis-
comfort of the administration. Armed with the small pamphlet, titled, 'Dhana Under-rate : Samasya 0 Sama-
dhan', (Under-rate Paddy: Problem and Solution) the peasants have been inspired to launch a protest against the
unrem unerative sale of paddy.
The attempt of the peasants of Jharsuguda, in self-help and self-organization is also noteworthy. Their or-
ganization is nascent and in one of their first rallies, they had taken meticulous care to print the slo-
gans and practised chanting them. In a recent meeting of Batemura Krushak Sangha, a great deal of anxiety was
expressed regarding the fate of the agitation and the move of the government vis-a-vis the peasantry. The gov-
ernment on the last market day of the week, on 15th February 2002 (0/o No. 123/ dt.-15th Feb. 2002.
The Sub-Collector and Chairman RC, Samba lpur), suddenly announced the closure of the RMCs for a
fortnight due to the comingpanchayat (village council) elections. (The Panchayat elections were sched-
uled to be held between the 19th and the 28th of February 2002). The next market day was the 19th
February 2002, a Monday. The leaders feared that the peasants would trudge jungle paths to come to
the RMCs by the Monday and find it locked. That would cause harassment of the peasants and also would
discredit the leadership and the Krushak Sangathan. (I had spoken to the Sub-Collector of Sambalpur, who
denied any procedural lapse on the part of his office. Though it smacked of mala fide intentions, the ad-
ministration denied this) .
Beside this the Sangathans (orgaisations) were apprehensive of the coming days when the government pro-
poses to decontrol prices of food crops. And what wi II be the shape of the procurement exertsise during the
harvesting of the second crop? This is another question which is haunting them. The Sangathan in this context
is trying to keep their flock together by paying attention to canal water management and periodical rallies .
Another kind of attempt has been made by the Orissa Krushak Sangathan-the Orissa Peasant Organisation
(OKS)-to keep the flame of the agitation burning. Possibly the agitation has itself created the possibility of OKS
participating in the panchayat elections. The OKS has never participated in any elections, probably they do
not, as a matter of principle, fritter away their resources in elctions. But this time they have. Again to make a
difference, the activists are campaigning on bicycles and without much fanfare.
Conclusion
The peasant movement in India is undergoing a change. As though the initial struggles that the movement
had with the kulak lo bby, administration lop sided politics were not enough; before these could be sorted out it
has got enmeshed in the complications brought about by the globalization process. It needs greater struggle now
than ever before to redeem itself.

12
 UNIT-III LESSON 2

LABOUR IN INDIA
Suhhendu Ranjan Raj
Reader, PGDAVE College
University of Delhi

The neo-liberal policies under the auspices of Globalisation are h ig h ly invasive, appropriating and hegemonis-
ing in character. This has been the experience of al I Third World countries', which have undergone structural ad-
justment under it. And not merely the third world. Even the mighty Soviet economy collapsed after it was opened up
to multi-national private companies of the West. True, the Soviet economy was in bad shape and there was consider-
able corruption even before perestroika. But the entry of private multinationals in the country destroyed structurally
all the edifices of public welfare infrastructure. ' Glo balis at io n ' is the latest and most ferocious phase of imperial-
ism. Its tentacles touch all economies and political systems. No country or people are safe from it. The Globalisation
process, in actuality is the drive toward an integrated world market and this has been the inherent in the logic of capi-
talist from the beginni ng, and it assumes the colonisation of the world on a new basis. If old fashioned 'imperium' was
centred around physical and colonial domination of the Third world countries, globalization is the structural exten-
sion ofNeo-imperialism. Under it , political domination is not necessary. In fact, it helps if the victims are sovereign
and democratically elected societies with a panoply of indigenous structures of power, authority and le gitimacy.
Imperialism does not need the abolition of nation-states in the Third World but the strengthening of them for its
own purposes. The role of the State as a welfare agency is being cut back systematically across the globe and people
are being left to the discipline of the market more and more brutally ever since the new offensives of Globalisation be-
gan somewhere in the sevent ies' . Jsn ' t it surprising however, that it is the state that is dismantling welfare and imple-
menting liberalisation in all the countries across the globe. In other words, the nation-state has become weaker in rela-
tion to capital, whose will it must implement mo s t savagely, and weak in relation to labo ur, whom it treats with
hateful contempt.
Our needs to support the trade unions and informal sector worker struggles as essential to maintain working
and living conditions, the genuine right to organise, to go on strike, to negotiate collective agreements, and to achieve
equality in wages and working conditions between women and men. We reject slavery and the exploitation of chil-
dren. We support workers struggles and the trade union fight against casualisation, subcontracting oflabour and Jay
offs, and demand new international rights for the employees of the multinational companies and their affiliates, in par-
ticular the right to unioni se and space for collective bargaining. Equally we support the struggles of farmers and peo-
ples organisations for their rights to a livelihood, and to land, forests and water. But it is essential that before one can
support workers' struggle, one has a very clear view of what problems the labour scene in India is currently going to
face in the face of new chat le nges being posited by world capitalism and neo liberalism.
Neoliberal policies are designed to create tremendous misery and insecurity for labour worldwide. They have
dramatically increased the trafficking and sexual exploi tatio. n of women and children. Poverty and insecurity creates
millions of labour who are denied their dignity, freedom, and rights. The right of free movement, the right to physical
integrity and legal statusof all migrants is to be de ma nded . Support to the rights of indigenous peoples and the ful-
fillment ofILO article 169 in national legal frameworks is to be done.

I
The Insidious nature of Globalisation

In other words, " ...the state is now not even pretending to be anything but the managing committee of the whole
bourgeois -and this time, not only the whole but also the transnational bourgeo isie. In the Third World, the state no
longer even pretends to represent the people against impe rialis m. It represents imperial interest to the people.

13
One of the side-effects of this 'retreat of the state' from tlae realm of popular entitlements, health, education , employ-
ment, preservation of natural resources, and so on is that it leaves a vast vacuum which is be filled, more or less fitful-
ly, by diverse NGOs and 'social movement's, always narrow and local in focus and frequently dependent on foreign
funding agencies."1
Globalisation aims at the rise of a new kind of non-territorial world empire and an integrated market that controls,
hegemonises and mulucts the fiscal flows irreparably and consequently imposes a new kind of postcolonial, imperial
sovereignty. This is also the most irrational and iniquitous of processes. The rapid growth and great prosperity
brought by globalisation has a concomitant: growing inequality, because there are some who lack the skills to enjoy
these wondrous gifts and opportunities. Not merely that, it seeks to severely damage societal and communitarian ex-
istence. Religio n, region, language, caste - and in the international frame, nationality and ethnicity- anything and
everything are used to corrode societal soli dar ities , and prevent such solidarities from emerging , in totality. Irra-
tionality is the order of the day, because irrationality of human beings must correspond to the irrationality of the
market. The fact that the U.S. has become the dominant economic and military power in the capitalist world in
place of the old colonial empires of yore and that we are now witnessing a major process of accumulation through
the process of globalization should not be missed.
Internationally, the rapid growth the great prosperity brought by Globalisation has brought new economic formu-
lations which have engendered global inequality because many countries lack the skills to use the opportunities. There
is no dilemma: the rapid growth and prosperity are simply a myth, except for a very small sector namely for the Unit-
ed States, Japan and a few red hot economies of the developing world. The economic consequences of Globalisation
may invite two opinions: the first one stating that liberalisation and capital has provided limitless capacities for growth
and prosperity for a limited few whereas, the second categorically emphasizes that it brings about the nemesis of fi-
nancial systems, of we lfa risti c measures for the poor, achieves exclusions of various kinds through a var ie ty of
formal and informal operations of power, and it undermines democracy. Subjugation of the political sovereignty of the
nat io n-st ates, sharp reduction in the p'owers of the democratically elected bodies and the corresponding rise in the
powers of the various arms of global establish ment are perhaps the most visible of these instrumentalities. Democrati-
cally elected institutions yielding their power to 'expert' regulatory bodies or simply market forces within the dom est
ic arena is but another corollary of the same process. A shrinking of democratic space within the nation-states C3Jl be
seen in the rise of the aggressively majoritarian and intolerant articulations of the nation and an increase in the repres-
sive powers of the state, leading to gross violation of civic and human rights . The outcome of these normal and in-
formal operations of power is accentuation of multiple forms of exclusion for the marginalised sections (labour, wom-
en, dalits , indigenous peoples, tribals and ethnic religious, national and other minorities). Globalisation worsens the
conditions of the already marginalised while creafing a new class of the excluded.
The functions of the state increasingly are now becoming the responsibilities of the private sector and other mul-
tilateral commercial agencies. Labour has historically been at the mercy of capital and now it faces globalised capital-
ism backed by the powerful economic nation states who can subsist and profit if labor worldwide especially in devel-
oping and poorer countries' worldwide can betrappedand mu lucted. The traditional patterns ofl abo ur mo vement in
India therefore has to acknowledge this new reality.
Thus Globalisation process as it has come to be know has been in operation in India for more than a decade now.
By now , all its manifestations may not have seen, but a sizable number of the features described above have percolat-
ed. These have sinister and irreparable implications for India and its people. It has affected the poor people the most.
The interstices of its inimical operation is sought to be detailed here in.
II
Authoritarian Sta'te Apparatus
Today, the fat that impact of GlobalisatiotJ has inspired new economic policies of the sovereign
Indian State in not a matter of speculation or de bate. It is the conviction of th is paper that after a decennium of
operations of such policies, it is clear that the Indian state apparatus was either coerced or more plausibly it became a
willing collaborator under the rubric ofdialectics of Neo-Imperialism to thrust on its people development - strategies,
public policies and models of growth and progress that sought at improvement of the economic, social and political
interests of the Metropolitan countries ' of the West at the cost of the present prospects and the future of its own
people.

14
 The State is resorting to increasing authoritarianism to achieve the same.
Some implications of this process are becoming manifest only now, after a decade of globalisation for a variety
of reasons, of which deliberate misinformation regarding the Liberalization program undertaken by the Indian state in
the post I991 period was a very important one masque rad ing the dia bolic al nature of this capitalist privatisation
and imperialist exclusion is m. The State was so coerced by international capital and aid giving donors , be it biliteral
or multilateral (like the World Bank , IMF etc.) that it began actively collaborating in their agendas of exploiting its
own people of their resources and wealth. The Indian State, under its Liberalization Programme of the new Economic
policies, forced by the logic of Globalisation process has imposed anti-people policies and exploitative politics. As
case studies presented e lse where2 show, it can now be established with some hard facts that the Government is bent
upon creating une mp lo yme nt, cutting down on employment opportunities by privatising or divesting government
monopolies, PSU' s, etc. , that a few years earlier would have been inconceivable to think of. These have very dan-
gerous ramifications that were kept under wrap due to a well orchestrated executive fiat of deliberate m isi nformat
ion. This is not limited merely to Central government establishments butthe states' as well, because the Central gov-
ernment is giving directions to this effect expressly or creating grounds of fiscal stringency as plea to impose such
draconian epistles. Needless to say, it is well known by now , in the public domain that it is merely following express
guide lines and structural adjustment laid out by aid giving majors such as IMF, World Bank etc in this regard.
The neo-liberal economic reforms have led to a change in the nature of government's interaction with economy
and polity. Though these policies have meant withdrawal of the State from crucial areas ofwelfaristic state i nte rvent
ion , these have been accompanied with greater centralization and increasing State power. Interest ingly , the retreat
of the State by its reneging on many of its fundamental obligations in terms of providing access to hea lt h, minimum
level of ho us ing , food, education etc. went hand in hand with " ...state actions remaining crucial to the way in
which markets functioned and the ability of capital to purs ue its different goals. Government and bureaucracy re-
mained crucial to economic functioning at the end of the decade of refonns; in fat the overall context was one of
greater centralization of economic and financial powe r. Many had believed that 'retreat of the state' and the exposure
of the economy to the d is ci pli ne of the market would cut out arbitrariness of decision making and the corruption
that is inevitably associa ted with it. It would stream line the functioning of the economy by making it a 'rule-
governed system', though admittedly by the rules of the market. What happened instead in the Indian economy during
this period of structural adjustment was an increase in the level of corruption, cronyism, and arbitrariness to unprece-
dented levels... .It could be argued that the centralized, centralizing and increasingly authoritarian state is in fact a
necessary requirement for this type ofliberaization which is based more on external legitimiz tion (from foreign fi-
nanciers and the perceived discipline of international markets) rather than on internal legitimacy derived from the
support of the majority of its citizens. These inequalities have accentuated certain longer-term structural features of-
lndian society, whereby more privileged groups have sought to perpetuate and increase their control over limited re-
sources and channels of income generation in the economy." 3
There is a greater threat for tlie labour from the State now than ever before. On the one hand the secur it y or pro-
tection that wel_faristic functions of the State provided to him is simply no longer there or is gradually receding. On
the other hand he has to face the innumerable private players (be it in insurance, Power, telephony, withdrawal of
state subsidized rationing etc.) who are more info the bus iness for making money then for providing service. But
most of all, he suffers from the aggrandizing nature of the state, its overbearing dimension. The state in its new ag-
grandizing role is out to force all sectors into submission, break working class solidarity into shreds and by withdraw-
ing State protection one by one leave the citizens vulnerable to onslaughts both.from itself and outside agencies,
some of whom may be.from across the borders.

I may here highlight the plight of one social sector, that of Labour and what the State has done to it to understand
such impl icatio ns , the type of which have been mentioned above, in some details.

15
 IV
The Deleterious impact on Indian Labour
Perhaps no sector is as vulnerable to neo-liberalisation as the Indian labour. The bulk oflndian labour is in the or-
ganised sector. Let us see what the government has done for the organised section of the labour. That the Government
is bent upon creating unemp lo yment, cutting down on employment opportunities by privatising or divesting govern-
ment monopo lies , PSU'sand by introducing increasingly the widespread practice of sub- contracting private bodies in
public domains is now being increasingly protested by labour unions, even those owing allegiance to the BJP. The
Sangh Parivar has been very vocal, of late, against the perceived threats from the privatization and disinvestment spree
of the BJP-led 24 party's coalition government. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad International's General Secretary Praveen
Togadia has openly stated that he would bring down the Vajpayee government, if the need arose. "If it is in the interest
of the nation, we can sacrifice any number of governments," he is reported to have told Seedhi Baat on Aaj Tak news
channel recently. At the 38th session of the Indian Labour Conference recently the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS),
the trade union affiliate of the BJP in solidarity with almost all central trade unions sent a dissenting note on the Sec-
ond National Commission on Labour(NCL) report. It also forced Labour Minister Sahib S. Verma to openly admit the
lack of consensus on key labour reforms. It is also now well known that on the matter of disinvestment and privatiza-
tion of key PSUs the entire cabinet is d ivided . K.S. Sudarshan, the RSS Sarsang chalak has recently exhorted in Del-
hi " the World Bank, IMF and WTO policies are intended to exploit developing natio ns. Those who advocate these
policies must immediately vacate their posts." 4 Sudarshan categorically emphasized that looking at recent develop-
ments in economic matters he was against the thrust given to the government ' s reforms policy from the top (meaning
thereby , Vajpayee) despite the public outcry and protest within the Sangh fold.
For once, whatever may be the political compulsions for them to vocalize these concerns now, should they be
welcome? Are they are setting the terms ofan discourse which was long overdue? Though it is to be doubted why such
skepticism regarding the nature of neo-imperialism that liberalization masquerades with, didn't come earlier. Should
these be viewed as attempts from within the civil society along with other attempts that are cur rent ly being waged
against the coercive mechanism of the non-responsive (some even go to the extent of calling it non-representative)
State to project basic issues of human rights, such as the right to livelihood, right to a safe environment, right to use of
resources of a community? Despite the overtones of politics that are intenneshed with the Parivar organisations out-
bursts, there is a need to cognize, now, the deep distrust and anguish in their voices against the scheme of globaliza-
tion. As Harish Khare notes, " What for the last two years was deemed to be the loony obsession of the Swadeshi
Jagran Manch has now become the concern of the mainstream in the Sangh parivar; from the RSS chief to the deputy
prime minister to ministers and minions , all are willing to voice their reservations about li beralis atio n/globalis atio
n. Some of the opposition is political, some can be described as an economist's d isse nt."5
It is apparent, however, that there is a steady increase in the unemployment figure due to liberalisation and sub-
mitting to WTO regime. It is undeniable that both the Central and State governments have embarked on a job cutting
exercise, enthusiastically since this process started. This cannot remain h idden . As a result fresh recruitments in
many states have been freezed; even medical personnel ca1 not be recruited for which there is an ever growing de-
mand. Unemployment and forced pruning of employable persons may lead to economies in the fiscal field, but it leads
to tremendous social discordance and gives rise tocrime, degeneration and alienation. State as entity in Political sci-
ence gained importance because no other agency could be a substitute for the welfaristic functions that came to be
associated with it after the turn of the last century. Now globalisation has done a death blow to these very functions.
We are better placed to note its implications now after a decade of operation of these reforms.
There is widespread concern at the diminishing protection of state cover by the gradual eclipse of the government
sector ia, public employment. At least one crore people are joining the queue of unemployed every year.6 They are
adding to the existing back log. Hasmukhbhai Dave, General Secretary Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, the largest trade
union in the country declared at the 37th Indian Labour Conference held in February

16
 UNIT-III LESSON 3

GLOBALIZATION AND IMPACT ON THE WEAKER SECTIONS

Anshu Srivastava
Ph.D. (Pol. Science)
University of Delhi

The Impact of Globalization on Women in India

Globalization is a " content io us" phenomenon . Even since the term was first used to make sense oflarge scale
changes, scholars have debated its meaning and use ; As the term became a globally popular buzzword, it served to crys-
tallize disagreements about the direction of change in the world at large. By the end of 20th century, the meaning and
merits of globalization were contested. According to Achin Vinaik, globalization can be described as a phenomenon which
has led to"compression of space and time" in global social relations. To use Anthony Giddens ' s (1990) term, this could be
seen as a process of 're-embedding' a set of material- cultural practices, in the space left by the 'disembedding' of social life
produced by globalization. He has clearly elaborated the fact that globalization is leading to "marginalization". In this
context it is important to assess the impact of globalization on the weaker sections oflndia, especially women.
As India integrates itself with the world economy it is desirable to look at changes in the development strategy since
1990s. The New Economic Policy (NEP) 1991 ma rks. t he end of a heavily interventionist era with sweeping reorientation
of development strategy and a sharp turn from the Nehruvian project of planning for rapid development. Centralized
planning was seen as an essential instrument in the hands of government for equ ity and change. The recent policy changes
and the large agenda of reform are based on the understanding that central planning under the auspices of a strongly inter-
ventionist state has proved unsuccessful and that replacing it by the market system with drastically reduced direct partici-
pation and regulation by the state will provide better faster solution to the count ry' s social and economic problems.
Liberalization and its Impact on Women: A Shidy of Health and Employment Sectors
The Government of lndia had been following a policy which has kept the economy closed, rightly been termed as
the ' Iicence-quota- permit Raj' by C. Rajagopalachari. The Iiberalization or the opening of economy has built ground
since 1980s and came in full force since 1991 when the government announced the Structural Adjustment Programme.
Against this background there is a need for examining the macro-economic policies with special reference to Gender.
The main elements of the current economic strategy which attempts to combine stabilization and structural adjustment
under an overall umbrella of liberalization and greater reliance on the market mechanism are as follows:
1. Reduction in the government fiscal deficit which represents the excess of total expenditure over current income,
rather than the revenue deficit which is the excess of current expenditure over income.
2. Control over domestic credit expansion, in terms ofrestricting some measures of broad money supply.
3. Devaluation of the currency followed by an exchange rate regime which allows the rupee to float determined by
the market given full convertibility on trade account, and now on current account in general.
4. Libera li zatio n of external trade, with a move from quota controls on imports to tariffs and a gradual
· reduction of tariff barrie rs as well as removal of restrictions on exports particularly of agricultural goods.
5. Easing of conditions for foreign capital inflow, especially direct foreign agents in Indian securities.
6. Domestic deregulation and freeing of controls including those on prices of essential commodities and restrictions
on their movements.
7. Cuts in overt and covert subsidies essentially on exports, ferti Iizer and food, both as part of the budgetary cut and
in order bring domestic prices in line with ' international' prices .
8. Reforms of public sector enterprises usually implying a rise in output prices, reduction of state subsidies

17
 and possible closure ofloss-making enterprises and moves towards disinvestment and gradual privatization.
9: Attempts to liberalize domestic financial markets with a view to strengthe n ing capital markets vis-a-vis
banking intermediaries and allowing for various types of financial innovation.
I 0 . 'Reform' of the labour market involving essentially the introduction of an exit policy to make firing and
closure easier and doing away with such protective legislation for workers that is seen to make to labour
market 'rigid'.
Table 1: Effect of Liberalization on women's lives
SAP Features Effect Women's Lives

• Export oriented cash corps High food prices • More time processing

• Cut in fertilizer subsidy • Purchase in whole sale

• Devaluation ofrupee
• Low nutritional status
• Cut in subsidy in PDS

• Underemployment Low income level • Multiple jobs

• Unemployment • Lower standard of living

• Low paid work • Fall in real wages

• Wage freeze
• Longer working hours
• Withdrawal of workers' benefit • Poverty level

• Cut in employment schemes Poor health services • No access

• Cut in public expenditure • Increase in child mortality

• Expensive drugs • Pre-natal mortality

• Disease/illness

• More health care at home

• Increased prices of water, fuel, • services

Deteriorating civic • More time fetching 'Water, fuel
and housing
• Longer cooking time
• Longer commuting time

• Higher land price • Scarce housing

• Unhygienic conditions

• Privatization Insecure livelihood

• Subcontracting

• Deregulation • Retrenchment
• Delicensing
• YRS
• Recruitment of flexible labour • Unavailability of credit

• Closures and job loss • Low bargaining

• Loss of job opportunity Increasing crime

• Insecure life

• Increase in criminal gangs

When the Indian economy is integrating itself into the global econom y, there are implications that are disturbing
for the position of women. It is useful to consider the implications for women in terms of their employment and health.

Each of these is negatively affected not only by the reduction in government expenditure that comes as a part of the
stabilization measures, but also by the general withdrawal of State from various aspects of provisioning of good and ser-
vices and the greater reliance on markets. Thus, a cut back in pubIic productive and infrastructural investment affects

18
not only growth prospects for the future but also production conditions and work situations in agriculture and the
unorganized sector as well as in organized manufacturing services. Cuts in social infrastructural spending have even
more direct affection living and working conditions of women, who continue to bear the primary responsibility for
household health and nutrition as well as nurture of the young. They can also affect women' s ability to enter the labour
market at all or may mean that forced entry because of poverty means an even greater double burden of domestic and
outside work.
The effect of liberalization measures which moves towards greater market orientation are even more disturb ing not
only because they affect women's material conditions immediately, but because they set in mot ion longer term tenden-
cies in the economy, in society and in ideology, which are much more difficult to reverse.
Let us examine, the health Sector first.
Health
For most of this century the decennial census operations have recorded an adverse sex ratio for women which de-
clined from 934 females for a l000 males in 1981 to 927 in 1991. Coupled with increasing information on female
foeticide and infanticide it is clear that the Indian girl child and later women is the subject of discrimination and
prejudice. The prevalence of a dominant family ideology which demarcates definite roles and obligations for girls and
women leads to their devaluation and marginalization. Ttie basic assumption is that girls are inferior, physically and
mentally weak and above all sexually vulnerable. Various oppressive structures including eafly marriage are encour-
aged so as to restrict feminine mobility and freedom. Expectedly, access to health care and nutrition are determined by
these factors.
Fifty years after independence there has been a slow progress in certain vital areas : female life expectancy at birth
has ris en, the sexdifferential in infant mortality rate is almost bridged and increasing number of women are joining
the workforce. Also there has been a virtual revolution in the political scenario of independent India the talk of331/3%
seats reservation for women in parliaplent.
Against this backdrop it is important to assess how drastically economic reforms affect women's Iives and well
being. Given the irrevocable mandate of globalization on the one hand and internal economic decline in the other, it
has at times been all too easy for the Indian state to concentrate mainly on overall strl)tegies to face such challenges.
In the process, blueprints for progress often overlook the claims of those negatively affected by such changes. It is
then left to the voices of dissent to narrate a cautionary tale: as Vaidynathan points out, the democratic polity repre-
sents an increasingly aware electorate, one which is not only concerned with ind ividual rights but which also has
certain expectations from a state poised to enter the. global economy. For, if poli tical structure are to endure they have
to move beyond the narrow confines of contractual relationships. Analysis of health-care in India shows how the state
has not taken into account the implications of its policies. Infact by encouraging privatization ofhealth-care it is reneg-
ing on its contract with citizens: far from an ethics of care, the Ind ian state is increasingly adopting am inimalist
position as it labours.to keep at bay divisive forces and growing discontent.

An Overview of the Health Scenario in India

In Ind ia, the provision of basic health services is the responsibility of the state where the Five Year Plans lay
down priorities and direction. The constitution oflndia placed public health and sanitation in the State list in other
words under the federal system of Governance the Indian states rather than the central government have a primary
obligation for these two aspects of civic life. Actual implementation falls far short of the peop le' s needs. Not unex-
pectedly women and children are easy victims of inadequate delivery systems and outreach programmes.

The economic survey presented to the Parliament in l 996 states that after the introduction of economic re-
forms, the Centraf Plan outlay has stepped up from Rs. 302 crore for 1992-93 to Rs. 670 crores in 1995-96. However,
in the cqptext of Health sector it is important to look not for growth per se, but for growth which is the res ult of a
well-thought out strategy based on an assessment of felt needs. In this case, the targets and numbers which needs the
pumping of more money into physical infrastructures and salaries as opposed to human resources, means that the
needs of the people are left to be satisfied i ncreasingly by the private sector. With the emphasis on privatization, the
marketized health sector is growing rap id ly, putt ingan in creasin g load on the family budget (Karle kar, 1998).

19
Woman as Reproducer: The Dominant Image
In 1975, ' TowardsEquality', the Report of the committee on status of women in India pointed out that demographic
indicators suggested that "child-bear i ng in India for the majority of women , is more a health h ard than a natural func-
tion". It was recording an unpalatable fact of life : the average woman become pregnant about 6-8 times within the 15-
45 year age group. Thus "of the total 360 months ofreproductive life 200 months or 50-60% of time are spent in preg-
nancy and lactation" (Gandhi and Shah, 1992: 104). Therefore, much of a woman's ailments are related to her reproduc-
tive history. Apart from this , women' s heavy domestic- cum-work burden also makes them prone to a range of ail-
ments.
On the whole, then as Srilatha Batliwala points out, the national health system is geared towards viewing the wom-
an as, mother and reproducer. Thus "the health system has yet to waken to the fact that there are large no of women in
need of health care who are neither pregnant nor lactating". This attitude finds expression in inadequate sensitivity
training in non maternity related health care issues soalso in ii I-equipped facilities and programmes (Batliwala, n.d.).
As Ravi Duggal has noted, both the private and the public health systems core attention towards women is viewing
the latter as mothers. While the private nurshing home sector comprises of maternity homes, the public health sector's
major concern vis-a-vis women is to prevent them from becoming mother s (196:2).
Even for these limited programmes " health workers and infrastructures... are grossly inad equate and of poor quali-
ty ". When the facilities are not avail able, are too far away, and the personnel is uns ympathetic, the opportunity costs
in missing out on daily wages is too great. An N.C.A.E.R. Study showed that :
39% of all rural patients of Himachal Pradesh 34% of all rural patients of Madhya Pradesh 3 I% ofall rural patients of
Tamil Nadu
26% of all rural patients of Karnataka.
had to travel more than 10 kms to reach the nearest hospital for out patients (OPD) facilities (Shariff, 1995). Further,
when it is a question ofusing private when it is a question expenses private facilities the expenses may be such as to al-
low only the more privileged family members namely men to use them. According to recent stat istics , Punjab, Kerala
and Maharashtra had one Public Health Center (PHC) for a population of 6,928, 23,442and 29,243 persons respect ive-
ly. So far the requis ite Government ratio is on·e PHC for a population of 30,000 (George and Nandraj , 1993). In many
of the less developed states, a single PHC takes care of the needs of 1,20,000 individuals. Again , only 15% of such
centres had the required number of health personn el and there was an acute shortage of Lady Health Visi tors. Distance
of facilities, difficult terrains and inadequate transport facilities further exacerbate a reluctance to use the formal net-
work (Visaria and Gumber: 1982). Though awareness of the official health care system is h igh, a study of users and
non-users established that 65% of on-user s said that the services were poor, 55% found distances too great and another
16% comp lained of non-availability of medicines. Dissatisfaction among users was also high (Mukhopadhay, 1993).

A study (Ramalin gaswami, 1987) of women' s access to health care in the economically-backward Vishakapatnam
district of Andhra Pradesh which had a substantial tribal population showed that material and child health serve were at
that time almost non-existent in the tribal areas of the state. Yet 67% of the women knew of the existing PHCs and had
used them. So it is not lack of knowledge which keeps women from usin g health facilities.

Implications of Structural Adjustment

Both reproduction and reproductive health become major talking points in structural adjustment programme as a
fast growing population is viewed as being detrimental to economic development. Not unexpectedly then, of late the
State has decided to intervene more actively in reproductive control through :

a) disincentives
b) experimenting with a range of new female oriented contraceptives.

20
 Both are geared to the achievement of Net Reproduction Rate (NRR) ofunity (which means one woman
will produce one daughter) by 2016 A.O. It is important to understand fertility and reproductive behaviour during a
period of economic transition as is the case with India today. By and large, " dur ing the transition, population initial-
ly increases rapidly because the mortality rate declines well ahead of the fertility rate" (Palmer, 1991). In subsistence
level economies, children are treated as commodities "who not only compete for scarce resources " but also help in
the generation of these as well as of disposable income. There is an evidence from developing countries that with an
initial rise in incomes, fertility increases; only to decline later. An important input into all these debates is the em-
ployment status of the women : data from industrialized societies indicate that there is a negative relationship be-
tween female labour force participation and fertility. Again there are important cultural factors such as the need to
produce sons for the lineage, which influence reproductive decisions. Above all, child mortality rates are of crucial
importance.
While the state has not felt obliged to act to improve the working conditions of the majority of women, its enthu-
siasm, over new contraceptive technologies-direct intervention in a very sensitive areas of their lives is significant. In
other words, the state is selectively interventionist. Even if it is accepted that due to the nature of women's work, the
scope for intervention is limi ted, there are other areas, namely improved and extensive child care and school
facilities and access to health care, through which the state can improve the quality of Indian women's li ves. There
is little evidence, however of these being priority areas. As a result, women combine their innumerable roles often
with little or no support from the state. The burden of assistance then falls on family members, which shifts
the responsibility disproportionately to female children.

Women's Health and Well-being in the Era of Reforms

A study done by Jayati Ghosh (1997) clearly proves that liberalization will not lead to positive effects on wom-
en's hea lth. She explains this keeping in mind that the public expenditure on health has declined which has further le
d to decline in sanitat io n facili ties , access to clean drinking water, increasing morbidity and increasing women ' s
la bour. Also an important effect is that with the increase in agricultural exports, the relative price goes up
(inflation) . This along with subsidy cut leads to increase in price of food and reduces access to Public Distribution
System. Given the history of patriarchy, a cut back in food supply, the diet of women gets negatively
affected leading to malnourishment.
Data from Sri Lanka which started on a programme of economic reform in 1977 indicates that an increasing
awareness on health issues is coupled with the growing incidence of diseases associated with stress particularly those
of cardio-respiratory kind (Gunawardana, 1995). A similar pattern is emerging in India with the advent of tropical
diseases like Falcipariun malaria and Japanese B encephalitis, stress and environment related cardio-vascular com-
plaints, respiratory endemic intestinal problems as well as nervous disorders (Ghosh, 199 6). It is likely that
with continued rural urban m ig ratio n, the mushrooming of unhealthy towns and cities and the degradation of
the natural environment combined with jobs which increasingly concentrate workers in industries , export promo-
tion zones and sweat shops, the range of diseases and illness will increase. Women and their health will be
adversely affected as they form the basis of pool of cheap labour, essential for growth of export Processing
Zones (EPZs).
Growing dependence on the private sector in health which we noted earlier is coupled with spiraling drug
prices . In ke e ping wi.t h the reformist ideology, the New Drug Policy ( 1994) and the Drug Price Control order of
1995 granted major concessions to the drug industry by way of reduced price and production controls (shi va 199
5). Not only is the coosumer market flooded with drugs - many of which have registered a price increase between 50
to 150% after 1993 - but also quality control has been an early casualty. Health activist and researcher Mira hiva has
comment ed that while a majority of the commented that while a majority of the 80,000 drugs in the Indian market
today are spur io us ; ineffective and even hazardous, the Drug control authority is so over stretched that it cannot
carry out basic quality control tests (Ibid: 117). The following case study reflects how the pattern of health care has
changed in the Post-reform period in Kerala. Among other things, due to an increasingly minimalist state presence,
dependence on the private sector is growing.

21
 Even before 1991, Kerala was the best example of an Indian state with positive development indicators and a
high rate of use of available health facilities: female literacy is almost 90%, it is the only state with a sex- ratio fa-
vouring women and lower than average birth and death rates. Recent surveys have shown that the State's population
is extremely health conscious, with high percentages of child immunization as well as institutional deliveries of ba-
bies, the figures for which are well above the national average.
· The achievements of the State of Kerala with regard to mortality decline can be heavily attributed to the utili-
zation of health services (Irudaya Rajan and James, I 993). The expenditure on health-at both the individual house-
hold and state levels is one of the highest in the country, but increasingly it is the growing private sector which is be-
ing increasingly patronized.
It is not difficult to extrapolate from the case of Kerala that in the time the rest oflndia is likely to follow suit;
however, what is even more disturbing is that even before other development indicators have caught up, a self inter-
ested private sector in health care is likely to take over.
Clearly the Indian State is dragging its feet in the social sector both at the level of allocation of funds as well as
in an assessment of priorities. In doing so it is limiting its competence in moving out of the endemic crisis situation in
the social sector. In her comprehensive analysis of allocations, K Seeta Prabhu concludes that in the " post-reform
period, most Indian State have shown no marked thrust on public health" (1995).
In keeping with W.H.O. 's definition health must be viewed broadly as a state of mental and social well- being, to
be regarded, as a human and civic right. The struggle is for holistic health-care-preventive curative and promotive.
Some Observations
In the country report prepared, for th-e Fourth World Conference on women held in Beijing in I 995, the gov-
ernment oflndia acknowledged that due to the new policies "overall the economic pressures may compel households
to resort to various difficult survival strategies"; further the anticipated reduction in services implies that women may
also have to allocate more time to activities that were previously at least part ially provided by State.
(i) Reforms are not reversing the trend of an overall decline in women's status.
(ii) Safety net packages shall fail if the net effect is a curtailment of services and a reduction of state initiative.
Clearly if the Indian Economy is to be competitive it has to liberalize and become a part of the global nexus.
However, this does not mean that the State should be free to adopt an increasingly minimalist position in areas which
determine the survival of a large bulk of its population. Health-care is one such area; descriptions ofinner life of the
household indicates how a complex interplay of factors determine entitlements and shares. The inability of state to
provide a workable system of health-care only exacerbates the tensions experienced by underprivileged women
whose daily lives are in any case, are becoming increasingly difficult.

Employment
What does a globalized economy means for India's women workers? A recent study suggests that there are more
threats than opportunities for women in the current process ofliberalization (Sharmila Joshi, 1998). Traditionally an
underpaid exploited and unorganized group, women employees in many Indian industries have found that the restruc-
turing of their workplace has virtually restructured their lives. It is feared that the real costs of adjustment will be
orne primarily by the most disadvantage and vulnerable sections of society while the benefits would be limited to a
small section.
There are numerous other studies by I.LO. and independent scholars which show that SAP has failed to generate
growth of income and employment. A study carried out by UNICEF showed that " with a few exceptions childr and
women of poorer families were the hardest hit by recession." Apart from the effects on nutrition , work load, mortali-
ty, etc., studies have shows how traditional industries which employed a large percentage of women were being
closed after the introduction of SAP.

22
 Structural adjustment programme affect sections of working women differentially but the evidence from· studies
shows that it tends to shrink women ' s employment opportunities in the organized sector. New employment oppor-
tunities are primarily in a small segment of export industries with low wages and extremely adverse working conditions.
Indian women form a vulnerable and exploited group of people. Less women that men work for a living and
for every three men only one woman uses health facilites. In the labour market, the private of sector has not been a
major employer of women. The government is the largest employer of women but only in women- oriented types of
jobs as typists, nurses, teacher etc.
Given the existing structure of discrimination against women, the introduction of S.A.P. via the NEP with its at-
tendant problems of inflation , recession, restructuring of industries , fall in real wages, etc., will intensify and worsen
conditions for women.

The "Feminization of Labour" Debate

.
Analysis of present trends in industrialization in developed and developing countries have argued that the
characteristic feature of this phase of capital accumulation is 'flexibility', accompanied, by a process of ' global femi-
nization of the labour force'. Flexible specialization is based on the diffusion of microelectronic systems in as well as
in the city of Bombay. They argue that feminization through flexible labour practices in urban labour markets over
the 80s increased employment opportunities for women.
In elaborating on the direction offemale manufacturing employment, they not that employers in Bombay re-
sponded to liberalization by employing women or retrenching fewer women than men. Given that trade liberalization
is a major plank of the NEP they estimate that production for exports will increase and since export industries are
more labour-intensive, the total demand for labour will also increase . In this context, they argue that the employment
for women will increase faster than that of men , since women constitute a cheap and docile labour force.
Sudha Deshpande (!'993) goes further to say that NEP is likely to
a) increase demand for labour in general and that for female labour faster than in the past.
b) Offer wide choice of occupation to women entering the labour market in the near future;
c) Reduce the extent of poverty among families of these working women.
In this sense, change ‘to NEP should be regarded as positive' . The Deshpandes use the Annual Survey of Indus-
tries for India which puts out a fairly detailed breakup of industry-wise percentage share of female workdays in
India. Based on this they conclude that "industries in India used proportionately more female labour in the early
1980 than in early 70s". Whilst this is true in some ind ustries , their table shows that in silk synthetics, the per-
centage of women employees declined from 5-10 to 1-5, in the food industry from 21+ to 5-10 etc. Out of
nineteen industries ten industries have remained stagnant. The data therefore suggests a mixed picture rather than
a definite trend.
It is important to know specifically which industries have increased the recru itment of women. Several units in
SEEPZ employ 90-95% females making it female dominated. However, Larsen and Toubro and Mahindra employ
more than 6,000-8,000 workers with hardly any women workers among them.
At first glance, it does appear that the number of women employed has risen over the last few decades. The
proportion of women in total emplo yment, which includes agriculture, manufacturing, the service sector and
informal sector, has shown an increase. The total work participation rate for the male workforce at an all- 1ndia level
fell from 52.65 in 1981 to 51.52 in 1991. The female rate on the other hand rose from 19.77 to 22.69 in the
same period [Provisional Census 1991]. In 1995 this had gone upto 30%. But Gothoskaretal poirit out the problems
with these figures.
The work participation rate of women in relation to men in manufacturing industry is abysmally low. When as-
sessments are made in terms of percentages, it is important to keep in mind that the relative position of male
workers remains high and the increase in female workers in actual numbers is quite low. The interpretation of
NSSO and census data for Bombay as indicative of a major increase in women's employment and thereby
reflecting a trend towards feminization could be questioned.

23
The Deshpandes argue for instance that male employment during the decade 198 I and I 99 I increased at I .6 per
cent per annum while that for females increase at 5.9 percent per annum [Deshpande and Deshpande 1992 : 2249].
This means that between 1981 and 1982, the employment of men increased from 1,000 to 'only' 1,016 and in the case
of women it increased 'substantially' from only 125 to 132 women.
This rise in female work force is likely in unorganized sector and can be attributed to a change in the nature of
work force. Female labour is cheaper. Studies have shown that women were paid at least 25% less than a regular
employed male. Female casual workers earned 50% less .
Female labour is not easily unionized and thus susceptible to greater exploitation. A large number of women
have been brought into industrial production under highly exploi tat ive conditions sometimes to replace men and in
some instances as contract or home based la bour. So even if more women have joined the work force the overall sit-
uation of the family has not improved. This is also evident as women headed household have increased in last few
years to 35%.
These scholars further stress the need to understand the feminization oflabour force in the context of the
kinds of work which are becoming available to women.
The issue of women ' s employment in the context of the NEP has to be also seen in the broader context of the
rise in general unemployment. Economists predicted at that time that even under the most favourable conditions of
growth unemployment as a result of the present policies of the government would have risen from less than 3%
in I 990-9 I to about 5% in I 993-94.
The projection of low growth might be closer to what is Iikely to happen given the continuing industrial reces-
sion, at national and international levels. The government as well as management has dealt with it by increased au-
tom ation , shifting production to remote areas. Even though the government is ostens ibly holding back on the exit
polic y, the process of job-less growth has been underway for sometime. One form has been through factory closures.
Retrenched workers will enter the unorganized sector for jobs in an already crowded sector. Women workers already
constitute the most exploited section of this sector. Ela Bhatt has pointed out that it is the unorganized sector which is
being hardest hit by the structural reforms (Bhatt, 1992).
In India, Banerjee has pointed out that there is an all embracing ideology, shared by employers and men workers
which sees, the male worker as ' super io r worker'. In cases where men have taken over women's jobs this has usual-
ly been associated with a reorganization of production due to technical change or an improvement in wages and
working conditions. For instance, Banerjee notes, in the electrical industries women did armature winding for electri-
cal fans but as soon as the wage rage for that job went up, it was taken out of their hands. On the other hand where
management has employed women for jobs previously the exclu s ive preserve of male workers, these job are redes-
ignated as women's work and wages are correspondingly lowered (Banerjee, 1994).
In relation to flexibility and fern iniation it is necessary to bear in mind that the " gender division of labour,
which tends to confine women to relatively subordinate and inferior positions in the organization of monetized pro-
duction is not overridden b ' flex ibili ty'. Rather it structures the form that ' flex ibilit y' takes" (Elson 1989). For in-
stance in a recent interview a senior official of ONIDA said, "This job isn't physically exacting. It requires you
tosit on a chair for long periods and insert small parts into a circuit board. It's compatibl.e with women's na-
ture. Women are more disciplined and easier to manage. They have an aptitude for working with fingers: A
bit like embroidery" (Chatterjee, I 997). In supervisory and executive grades however women are not perceived as
the obvious choice. Being young single women are preferred on the shop floor because usually they._are not ada-
mant about their rig hts . Acc ording to a report by a group of feminist researchers, in I 995 in Delhi , the des-
ignation of the jobs had changed from operations and fitters into workers which changed their status from the catego-
ry of skilled workers to unskilled workers" . The y even refused to implement the Delhi State government pay scales.
Anuradha M. Chenoy points out that despite the growing work force, women ' s share of earned income remains
lo w. The process of globalization entai Iing becoming part of W.T.O., there are systematic attempts to change laws
to facilitate capital movement and enable Multi National Corporation (MNC) movement in search of cheap labour
(Chenoy, 1996). The economic reforms are based on continuing exploitation and oppression of cheap labour and
women.

24
 With the commericalization of agriculture and export oriented focus of some industries, including hand
loom, the women's work is used to underwrite the "cheapness" and flexibility of both male and female industrial
labour. Gradually with the rising unemployment men will be compelling for informal sector jobs, driving women
out of them. The growth of employment in organized sector and private enterprises is 0.60% in the 90s whereas
it was 2% in the decade 1980-90. (Patel 1994).
Trade related social clauses emerging from India's relation to W.T.O. will further marginalize women, push
them into informal sectors, sweatshop work and stress - related jobs. While office related jobs have grown for
middle class women the work situation for women has seen no significant improvement.
Despite the growing workforce of women, their earned income share remains low (about 35% as com-
pared to the 75% share of men). This is because of hidden labour of women, particularly in the peasantry.
Moreover, the working conditions for women labour have not been improved.
Economic crisis situation lengthens the total numberofpaid and unpaid working hours of women making life
of women tougher. Along with this, the inflation rate of 11.8% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1991 had far-reaching effects
on women. The Public Distribution System has so far provided the poor with subsidized food but is now in the
process of being 'revamped', which means either suspended or restructured. As family income becomes insuffi-
cient women will have to put in more time to stretch for more. They will spend more time in domestic labour
with little help.
On the basis of the experience in other countries undergoing SAP, the prospects are that women workers
would be involved in survival level jobs, probably two jobs, in combination with domestic labour. This will
impinge on the time available for their domestic work. Inflation and wage cuts will reduce the family's purchas-
ing power, forcing women to find even more time-consuming ways of cutting expend it ure.
It is possible that working women will reach a point of total collapse but it may not be noticed for their op-
pres s ion and vulnerabilities are easily masked by the family explained away by the State and ignored or ex-
ploited in the market place.
Given this situation it is imperative that economists alsofocus specifically on women to develop organiza-
tional strategies which can strengthen them in confronting these economic pressures. These strategies could also
lay the basis for transforming exploitative relations within the family, in relation to the state and in the market,
thereb y empowering working women as well as the communities they live in.
Overall, there has been a marked deterioration in the conditions women face with respect to each of their ma-
jor functions in most countries undergoing stabilization and structural adjustment as also incase of lndia.The
marketization of Indian economy which forms a central aspect of long-term reforms will not benefit women
unless institutions are changed so that women can participate on equal terms in the market and unless social
support and services are improved women cannot afford the extra time that successful participation in the market
would requ ire.
Alternative Adjustment Strategies
If the Negative effects of S.A.P. on women are to be avoided, the present structural adjustment policies will
need to be radically altered. The aim should not merely be to eliminate the negative effects but to generate posi-
tive effects so that women's productive potential can be fully realized and their welfare enhanced during the
process of adjustment. Alternatives are especially urgent because of the prolonged nature of the crisis and there-
fore the extended influence of S.A.P.
An alternative approach to structural adjustment fully incorporating the interests and concerns for women
would contain four elements :
1. the adoption of more expansionary macro-policies, reducing the recessionary elements in S. A.P.
2. the redesign of the adjustment package so that women's interests are built into it, and do not rely, as at
present, on some unlikely trickle-down effects;
3. introduction of special measures to support women in their efforts to maintain standards for themselves and
their families during adjustment; and
4. carefully monitoring the impact of adjustment policies.

25
 [I] Macro-Policies
It is essential that adjustment policies should avoid deflation and achieve adjustment through growth rather
than contraction, if women's incomes and employment are to be protected a number of major changes include:
(i) a longer time perspective in terms of finance and conditions on the part ofIMF.
(ii) absence oflarge additional medium term financial flows. Developing countries should be permit-
ted to make use of import controls as a way of reducing imports with a smaller negative impaction output and
employment levels.
[II] Redesign of S.A.P. to Incorporate Women
Any given macro-policy target may have a range of distributional effects, according to specific polic ie s
adopted at intermediate levels or meso-pol icies as economists term them. For exam pie , a given pub) ic ex-
penditure cut may fall more or Je ss heavily on different sectors (health) and within sectors on different groups
. Meso- policies can design expenditure cuts to protect certain services and certain groups in society. In some
countries vulnerable groups like women were protected in 1980s through well-designed meso policies (Chi le
or Costa Rica). Changes in tax and subsidy system for example can be designed to fall heavily on some groups
and protect others. Credit allocation can similarly be biased towards women borrowers. The institutional
changes include:
1 Female access to resources must be improved.
2 Refonns of government institutions must ensure that women are included in management and opera-
tions.
3 Reform is needed in female education which lags behind males. Educational inequalities in India is
one of the basic explanations for women's lower incomes and worse employment opportunities.'
[III] Support Policies
Support policies are essential to help women during the S.A.P. They inc l ude :
(i) Employment Schemes-Effective and extensive employment schemes should be launched as in Ma-
harashtra to provide basic employment.
(ii) Food and Nutrition-The objective of the Indian Government should be to ensure that everyon e s ho
uld have access to adequate food. Subsidies should be main.tained for basic staples during the S.A.P. It
could provide free food for very needy groups-pregnant and lactating women which can be delivered
through health clinics or schools.
(iii) Support for Communal Activities-The community can play a major role for supporting women in
communal shopping, cooking and child caring facilities and also supporting local health and educational fa-
cilities with labour, materials and money etc. The state should intervene by providing active encouragement
removing legal-obstacles.
[IV] Monitoring
It is essential that the effects of S.A.P. on women should be monitored regularly and rapidly during
adjustment. To date, most monitoring activities in India have concerned major economic variables like
money supply, credit craation and trade and no substantial attention has been paid to social variables or to
the position of women. Monitoring isessential to draw political attention to developments to perm it good
design of policies and secure app priate action.

These alternatives proposed by Francis Stewart, here would not only avoid unnecessary hardship and be
more equitable, but they would also increase the efficiency of the programmes in both economic and social
terms, because women in India have very large under-used potential for increasing the productivity of the econ-
omy .

26
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29
 UNIT IV LESSON 4
'CHANGING NATURE OF AND THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS'

Amaresl, Ganguly
Reader
Zakir Hussain College
University of Delhi

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• After reading this article you will be familiar with

• The historical evolution of state institutions in India
• The structural outline of the institutionalised state actor in India
• Changing nature, the role and the decline of institutions in India
The state, as common sense would tell us, at least in how it is experienced by the people, of any country
in any age, is inevitably in terms of its institutions. People answer to and feel the presence of the state in their dealing
with the institutions of the state. The law and order arm, the police department of our day and age, or the revenue
collection arms for instance, or the tax departments of our more organised times, are examples of state institu-
tions that would straight away come to mind. ln the case of India, the history of the evolution of the state and its in-
stitutions goes back very long, possibly the longest ofall major civilisations. It is important to note that the institu-
tions of the state as opposed to merely the government are not just the direct governmental institutions but also
such institutions like the education system, the media and the political parties.
The historical evolution of state institutions in India has happened slowly over time from ancient
times to the present day and according to Professor M.P. Singh, it is possible to "de li neate at least three broad
themes of transition having a direct bearing on the evolution of the Indian state". He says, the first was the trans-
formation of a pre-state social formation based on lineage and tribe into the state which happened in the Vedic
and post-Vedic societies in the North and Sangama period in the South. He also says that presumably the same
transformation happened during the Indus Valley civilisation . (Note I)
The second transformation, according to him, was that of regional kingdoms into sub-continental states "
through much oflndian history by a recurrent process of emergence, disintegration, and re-emergence". The post-
Vedic pro-states (' mahajanapadas ') evolved into states in the pre-Mauryan period. The rule of the Nandas from
Magadha was important in the evolution of the state as it had achieved developed state ins titution s. Also in its
reach it could be said to have been the first truly subcontinental state. Prof. Singh , further says, the Saptang theory of
the state of Kautilya's Arthashashtra was the "textual blueprin t" of this transition. According to the Saptang theory
of the state there are seven constituent elements- Monarch , ministers/bureauc rats, territory/popu latio n, fort, treasury,
sceptre, and allies-that are necessary for the smooth and efficient functioning of the state. After the decline and disinte-
gration of the Mauryan Empire , small kingdoms and regional states took over the historical landscape for a millenni-
um and a half. During this period the practice of land grants to brahmanas and state officials increased and became a
practis;e. This practice it can be safely concluded resulted in the beginnings of feudalism and the feudal state in In-
dian history. The important kingdoms that ruled over this period at various times were the Guptas and Harsha (300-
700 A.D.), the Delhi Sultanate (1200-1526 A.D.), and Vijaynagara (1300-1526 A.D.). From the third decade of the
16th century to the.beginn ing of the 18th the Mughal empire ruled over much of the subcontinent as the most im-
portant sub-continental state before the British colonial state which of course continued until independence in 1947.
The*'laratha and the Sikh states in the I 8th-century were the two important states that followed the decline of the im-
perial Mugha ls, but they were over taken by the British colonial state, to which the post- colonial Indian state was
the successor.

30
 The third major theme or stage of transition, according to Professor M.P.Singh's classification, was the trans-
formation of the state based on British colonial economic and bureaucratic organization into ademocratic and sover-
eign nation-state. Clearly the British set off the processes of the democratisation and industrialization and in one big
leap took India into the modern age as we know it now. While that was true western education and capitalis t devel-
opment in industry that were initiated by the British, says Prof. M.P. Singh, "irreversibly undermined the Indian trad
ition" . (Note 2)
Perhaps the most long-lasting contribution and significant consequence of the British transformation was on
feudalism. The British also laid the foundation of the first merit based bureaucracy in India that replaced the patrimo-
nial bureaucracy of the Mughal and post-Mughal period and these trends gathered fuller momentum in the post inde-
pendence period. Feudalism had ruled or reigned supreme for a long period in Indian history from the post-Mauryan
regional states specially the Guptas and Harshas to the Delhi Sultanate, etc, to the sub-continental Mughal state. Unlike
the centralized bureaucratic states of the British or even the Mauryas, the feudal states were largely de-centralized. The
monarchs gave away authority of the state and its sovereignty to defacto nobles variously called samantas and brah-
mans in ancient India .and iqtadars and jagirdars in the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal periods, respectively. The jagirdari
system also continued to exist in the post Mughal states until the British abolished them. These jagirdars were almost
like small monarchs and had many smaller zamindars to interact with the peasants for collection of land revenue. The
British favoured these agents and institutionalised them vesting them with almost feudal authority. Not until the post
independence period was an attempt made to abolish the zamindari system. Attempts were made at various times to
replace the feudal systems, by for instance the Mauryas , the Mughals and the British Viceroys who had hoped to re-
place the feudal lords by merit based bureaucrats (civil and military) who would be on the payroll of the state and draw
salaries rather than being paid with land and rights to revenue collections that would be inheritable by successive gen-
erations of the employees of the state. But the consensus opinion of historians is that only the Mauryas and the British
were successful to any appreciable extent. The Mansabdari syste m of Akbar for instance declined into a sort of Ja-
girdari system under his successors.
The British were more successful in the bureaucratisation of the state but they clearly achfoved what they did
only by building on the existing Mughal edifice and past edifices of "stateness" in India. Lloyd I.Rudolph and
Sussane Hoeber Rudolph, have commented on this in great depth in their classic work 'In Pursuit of Lakshmi -
The Political Economy of the Indian State' as follows, which is worth quoting here in full :-
"The state in India was not a European import, an ideological and institutional transplant from foreign climes
rooted in Ind ia's exotic and alien soil. British root profoundly influenced state format/on and the level and quaIity of
stateness in India, but it in turn built on Mughal rule and incorporated many of its features. The h is toric a.1 legacies
of imperial states on the Indian subcontinent in the pre-Christian era established state conceptions and i nstit utions
that provided models for the sub-continental multinational state of modern India Regional kingdoms were the princi-
pal state form that characterized the history of the Indian subcontinent until the 16th century. But the sub-continental
state conception was already realized more in pre-classical times in the Mauryan empire, particularly under Asoka
(312-185 B.C.), and under the imperial rule of the Guptas (A.O. 319-540). At their apogee, India's ancient empires es-
tablished hegemony over diverse regional kingdoms. Sucb kingdoms stood in tension with the sub-continental umpire
and forced recognition of their standing on the imperial forms that triumphed after the 16th century. The regional
kingdoms as a state form has remained in a dialectical relation with the sub-continental empire throughout Indian his-
tory. Today the dialectical relationship is expressed through Indian federal forms. The history oflndian state formation
is more comparable to tqat of Russia and China, where empires became multinational states, than to that of Western
Europe, where regional kingdoms were transformed into absolute monarchies and then nation- states. India is the
!Mite Europe would have become had the Holy Roman empire embodied itself in a modern polity. On the subconti-
nent, the regional kingdoms and the national states became the recessive, the multinational sub-continent al empire the
dominant form of the state. The Mughal, British, and Indian states of the Mauryan era incorporate the dialectical ten-
sion between these two pervasive state forms.

31
 India's sub-continental empires created means of penetration and control comparable to those developed by
European absolutism in the 17th and 18th centuries: centralized fiscal mechanisms in the hands of the rule r; patrimoni-
al bureaucracies barred from control of the means of administration and from inheritance of office and estates; and
military formations funded and controlled by the ruler rather than by feudal chiefs or independent military entrepre-
neurs. Such arrangements were already known in the sub-continental fourth- century B.C. Mauryan empire and articu-
lated in books of statecraft (Artha) dating from that period and subsequently. Their actualisation, however, has varied
over time. Revived in later sub-continental empires and in regional kingdoms, they fade with the fragmentation of do-
minion under weak emperors all regional kings, whose servants-under various guises and arrangements-appropriate es-
tates, office, fisc, and army. The Mughals (16th to18th century) succeeded in constructing a centralized military-
revenue arrangement , the Mansabdari system, which extracted the resources and provided the military force to conquer
and hold in stable fashion an extensive empire. Comparable in size to the domain of Charles V, the Mughal empire
probably controlled its area more securely . The emperor's dominion was exercised through a centrally appointed court
nobility, the Mansabdars, not through decentralized prebendiaries as in European feudalism. Mansabdars were depend-
ent on the emperor; the lands allocated to support their foot and mount ed troops and pay their expenses reverted to the
emperor at his pleasure or at their death. Noble estates were not heredit ary. The emperors exquisitely calibrated, de-
pending on performance, the honours and income associated with state service. Ottomon models probably influenced
the administrative and revenue systems of the Mughals and their predecessors, but the Ottomons penetrated further and
eliminated intermediate classes more ruthlessly than was the case in India. The local rulers and chiefs beneath the
Mansabdari survived, creating intermediary layers of economic, political, and cultural autonomy that contrast with
Russian absolutism and the model of oriental despotism expressed in the Ottoman umpire.
The administrative system of the Mughals provided the network, units, and conceptions of revenue obligation
on which the British system was mudeled. The division of the country into subahs, sarkars and parganas was reflected
in British administrative divisions. The zabt , measurement of land for revenue purposes, migrated from the administra-
tions of Sher Shah Suri and Akbar to Cornwalis and.the British Raj. In the latter part of Aurungzebs rule and under the
last Mughal rulers in the eighteenth century, state autonomy and capacity markedly declined, only to be restored under
British rule , which fell heir to and reformulated the imperial state's ideas and pract ice .
Indian empires also created a symbolic and cultural order that emphasized the overarching significance of rule
rship, if not the state. Akbar restored and benefited from the ancient and pervasive Hindu idea of a universal em
peror(chakravartin ), who turned the cosmological wheel (chakra) and was the hub of its spokes. The chakravartin or
emperor was raja dhiraja (raja of rajas) or shahhanshah (shah of shas), conceptions which signified his primacy in a
layered and aggregative as well as a centralized state. Akbar succeeded in sanctifying the person and office of the em-
peror in the face of an Islamic tradition hostile to such sanct ification . Iconography, rituals, and performances cele-
brated and elevated the emperor, who became an object of awe and wonder. Because the loyalty and obeisance he
commanded were at once intensely personal and abstract, they created a separate state domain that dissolved and dis-
placed loyalties to place, kin, and community. The void left by this dissolution "was unconsciously sought to be filled
by the special position of the Mughal as spiritual guide , and the self-conscious view of the Mughal empire as a great
new polity, essentially just and humane".
Performances and exchanges amplified the emperor's presence : for the public, the daily royal audience in the di-
wan-i-am (hall of public audience) ; for the court attended by princes and nob le s, appearances in the diwan-i-khas (hall
of private audience) and at frequent durbars ; for the crown servants in the fie ld, in tim ate·personal exchanges-the gift
of a khilat(robe said to have been worn by the emperor ) to mark appointment 3-his agent, letters from the emperor's
hand and the reciprocation of gifts by subord in ates. Streams of exchanges kept "thick" the emperors relations with ser-
vice nobles at far corners of the subcontinent. Here too there was continuity between British and Mughal empires. The
British used Mughal ceremonies and language to revitalize the universalism and mystique of the imperial state. Through
ceremonial enactments that closely emulated Mughal patterns, they revived in Queen Victoria's time imperial grandeur
and patrimonial in durbars, jubilees and coronation ceremonies and rituals of loyalty between the Queen Empress and
her subjects.

32
 The actualisation of the sub-continental state has waxed and waned over centuries. The regional kingdoms
ceased to be the dominant state form with the rise of the Mughal empire in the 16th century, although it expected a
brief revival in the eighteenth. After the collapse of Mughal empire at the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 and the failure of
Maratha rulers to establish a successor state, British power, followed by British rule, revived and restored the sub-
continental imperial state. The formation oflndia and Pakistan in 1947 and Bangladesh in 1971 left the subcontinent
with two latter day representatives of the regional kingdom and one of the subcontinental imperial state.
In contrast with European nation states, who strength rested on the extinction of regional cultures and identi-
ties, sub-continental empires in India have made accommodations with regional kingdoms. The strategy propounded in
the fourth-century Arthashastra-that subordinates rulers shall be preserved and respected in their customs and territorial
jurisdiction if they acknowledge, via respect and tribute, the superior authority of a ruler of rulers-governed the state-
craft of sub-continental empires in Mughal and British times. After independence In dia's federal system became its
modern embodiment within the twentieth-century sub- continental empire. Indigenous Hindu and imported liberal state
theory have also made substantial contributions the state formation and to the level and quality of stateness. At first ap-
pearance, they seem to differ sharply on key issues . Liberal theory posits the individual as the basic unit of society;
Hindu theory emphasizes family, caste and tribe. The theories also differ with respect to the primacy of consent and
force for obedience, with liberal theory stressing the voluntary and contractual basis of individual obedience and Hindu
theory stressing danda, the rod of punishment, as the indispensable requisite of order. The severe realpolitik of might
making right in the Arthasastra contrasts sharply with the liberal conception that natural law and right reason are the
sources of morality and order.
Yet the two theoretical traditions converse with respect to·the priority of societal values over state goals . Both
see society as preceding and limiting the state (and for liberalism, unlike Hindu theory the individual precedes and lim-
its the society). The society displayed into the Dharmasatras, the classical text of good conduct that constitute the fun-
damental prescriptive cannons of Hindu culture, is a society whose reality and legitimacy co-origin ate with the king
but are not his creation . It's units are self regulating with a larger architecton ic. The state in lndia did not constitute a
community offeeling; the state society relationship was primarily instrumental. The state upheld and protected society
and its values rather than itself constituting the highest form of community and the means for realizing value. The Indi-
an state was constrained by a society whose ordered heterogeneity was prescribed and legitimised in the Dharmasatras.
This doctrine implied restraints on the state that stood in tension with the more absolutist doctrines of Dandaniti,just
as doctrines of state sovereignty and reason of state stood in tension with liberal doctrines of consent and natural
rights.
The good Hindu King is meant to protect the laws of the self-regulatingorders of society. The liberal state is
meant to protect individual rights and interests. Insofar as a liberal state has goals and policies, they are to be deter-
mined by the outcomes of interest group and party competition that organizes and represents individual preferences. At
the extreme, both liberal and Hindu state theory countenance anarchism, as the convergence of Thoreao and Gandhi on
the legitimacy and importance of civil disobedience suggests, and discountenance reason of state to justify acts that vio-
late procedural norms and societal values.
The founders of modem l!:)dia's constitution benefited from the legacy of stateness bequeathed by the Hindu,
Mughal and British sub-continental empires. They combined centralized ruled with a parallel state form, the regional
kingdom. The idea and practice of the sub-continental imperial state from Mauryan to British times and the Hindu con-
ception that social ordered requires the state's force, left a legacy of high stateness. On the othw hand, the sovereignty
limiting ideas and practice of the regional kingdom of the Hindu and liberal conceptions the society is prior toand au-
tonomous of all the state created a legacy oflow 'stateness'.

These paradigms and parameters structured the possibilities and choices of those who created independ-
ent India's state". (Note 3)

33
 In the run up to India' s independence, particularly in the last few decades as it became apparent that India
might win her independence , the minds of our leaders and various interest groups in society began to be exercised as to
the shape that the constitution should take and the future institutional structures for the governance of the country.
There were various arguments put forward not just in the CAD, the Constituent Assembly Debate but outside it as welI.
In the end India basically opted for a Westminster style of parIiamentary democracy with its inherent structure for the
recognition of citizens civil and political rights. This li beral approach was however tempered with a lot of accommoda-
tion for the traditional social groups and their jurisdictions. Apart from the principle of one-man one-vote and adult suf-
frage, it was decided to adopt a federal structure for the governance oflndia which just goes to show the continuity of
what has been pointed in the above passage by the Rudolphs-an accommodative arrangement with regional kingdoms
in all sub- continental arrangements. But according to Granville Austin , the" politic al structure of the Indian Constitu-
tion is so unusual that it is impossible to describe it" in short and while "characterizations such as ' quasi- federal' and
'statutory decentra lization ' are inte resting", they are not accurately descr iptive . He thinks the " member s of the as-
sembly" refused to "adhere to any theory or dogma about federali sm" believing India had unique problems not ' con-
fronted by other nations in history' . Consequently, says Aust in, the " Assemb ly member s, drawing on the experience
of the great federations like the United States, Canada, Switzerland , and Australia , pursued ' the policy of pick and
choose to see (what) would suit (them) best, (what) would suit the genius of the nation best". This he says "produced a
new kind of federalism to meet Indi a's peculiar needs ". (Note 4)

The idea clearly was to have some kind of co-operative system between the states and a strong centre, with
the accent on cooperation rather than on command and obedience. There is a view that this , the idea of a strong centre,
was not always how it was intended to be but the chaotic and tragic circumstances surrounding the partition of the
country and the communal riots that erupted making millions of people refugees overtook events and the final delibera-
tions for the constitution and the need for a strong centre was badly felt to firmly deal with the riots. The powers of the
states and centre were separated as far as possible to minimize room for conflict with the union parliament having
the right and responsibility of le islating on the items on the ' Union List' and the states on the ' State List' with a ' Con-
current List' for both the state and the centre to legislate on.

The Constitution also set up the structure of the state institutions of governance apart from the parliament like
the offices of the President, the Vice- President, the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers of the Union Cabinet, the
Governments in the States, Union Territories and Local Governments, the Judiciary and the Administrative Services.
All in all, as Granville Austin beautifully summarizes it,"India would do as she had done for centuries: take what she
desired from other cultures and bend it to her need s". (Note 5)

It is no wonder India chose the " li beral" option as opposed to the "authoritarian" option as the Rudolphs quot-
ed earlier put it. According to them, when "a liberal theory of the state became the principal ideological determinant of
the 1950 constitut ion, it drew on both domestic and international exemplars". They say, " it expressed the liberal obli-
gation to recognize civil and political rights embodied in the Westminster model gradually introduced from 1909 by the
British Raj". But they also caution that it had "..included a more traditional Indian understanding that claims to state
sovereignty and monopoly over public and national in terest were constrained by the traditional obligation of the ruler
to recognize and uphold the jurisdiction of prior social groups ". They say since at " independence , democratic, parlia-
mentary, and constitutional government had become a familiar form to Indians , who had fought as nationalists for
four decades to make it their own", a variant of a theory of state advocated by Gandhi and his followers based on Hindu
ideas " was little attended to". The ideas of this group were that society's " dharm-ically ordered heterogeneity was pri-
or to and to a considerable degree autonomous of state theory and that local communities were capable of self-rule " .
They say arguments " wi re offered too in favour of the vice-regal variant of the imperial administrative state", but like
" Gandhi' s ideas, they were not endorsed by the small group of Congress leaders who manag ed the Constituent As-
sembly and its eight standing commi ttees". So in the end, they conclude that "a liberal state triumphed". (Note 6)

34
 Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph also have an interesting historical interpretation of how we came to have a 'liberal'
and essentially capitalist constitution at independence and the institutional structures that flow from it. They believe the
'authoritarian options' were partly rejected because the two principal towering personalities who could have led its
adoption left the scene. They say, the "deaths of Subhash Chandra Bose in August 1945 and Yallabhbhai Patel in De-
cember 1950 removed not only Nehru's principal competitors for national leadership but also powerful spokesmen for
authoritarian state ideologies". It is well known that Bose sought, and got, support from Hitler's Germany to fight the
British. The Rudolphs say, he had come to represent "the realpolitk and extremist versions of Indian nationalism that
flourished in Bengal and Maharashtra" and he end ed up being "an apologist for national socialism", whereas Nehru
"came to represent the liberal moderate version" of it. This author is not convinced that there is enough evidence to
suggest that Bose's liking for Hitle r 's Germany or Japan was real and strong enough to the extent that he would have
conceived of a similar form of state and institutions of governance for India as well. The Rudolphs also believe that had
the INA (Indian National Army) of Bose won against the British, he would have been more central to the process of
deciding the institutional structures and their nature, and he being less liberal or authoritarian would have made differ-
ent choices. Similarly, they believe Patel was "committed to Hindu tradition and interests" and as a " Hin du traditional-
ist he understood and appreciated the vice-regal state's use of danda, the rod of chastisement, to ensure order and obedi-
ence", and if it wasn't for him and his influence, the ICS (Indian Civil Service) , that Nehru wanted to abolish , would
have died. So the Rudolphs conclude that had "Bose or Patel lived into the independence period, highly divisive state
issues would have created a very different history of state formation and building", and because Nehru in how the his-
tory unfolded came to "have a free hand", India in the end became a "success of the liberal state and constitutional de-
mocracy". This author does not share this rather extreme interpretation but it is among the more influential ones in the
literature on the subject.
However, there can be absolutely no doubt, that Nehru spent the first two decades of the life on independent
India, building on the liberal tradition while setting up and developing institutions of the state. The Constituent Assem-
bly had relied on the Government oflndia Act, 1935 to base the Indian Constitution on, and 250 of its 395 articles were
taken from it almost without any changes. Nehru was the most popular and towering figure in the CAD (Constitution
Assembly Debate), with most people supporting him and ready to vote for him. It is no wonder then that it were his
ideas principally that carried the day with minor concessions if any to other interests and groups. Even the Gandhian
idea of an inversion of the power structure or pyramid via decentralization and a return of power to the village level
wasn't really heeded at all with the idea of a powerful Panchayati Raj structure finding a mention only under the Di-
rective Principles of state policy which are of course not among the enforceable clauses of our constitution. This is all
the more interesting because in the present day and age when the virtues of empowerment at the local government lev-
els have suddenl y become fashion able , we take the institution of Panchayati Raj very seriously.

There was a clear turn away from the Nehruvian liberal era after he left the scene and during Indira Gandhi 's
reign when the nature and role of the institutions of governance were sought to be radically changed and made more au-
thoritarian if not almost dictatorial during the decade of the seventies. This was done on the plea that the state knows
best because it speaks for a disinterested long-term view of the public good. The victory of the Janata Party in 1977 re-
versed this authoritarian turn and the liberal state principles were somewhat restored. Rajiv Gandhi who ruled in the
eighties walked the middle path while basically trying to be seen to be restoring the Nehruvi<!n era nature of the insti-
tutions of governance . He also had many ideas for development and asked the nation to prepare for the "twenty-first
century. Interestingly all his initiatives were to prove naught because the disease of corruption which had been eating
into the institutional structure of the state and its strength for half a century the last fifty years was really peaking by
now. So when he asked for a mandate to be retMrned to power in 1989, the issue of a corruption scandal, the 'Bofors
Scandal' became the main issue and the movement against his government by his former minister V.P.Singh who led
the movement against him and became a symbol of the movement against corruption with support from all op-
position political parties, received widespread public support and the Nat ional Front led by him triumphed.

35
The regimes since Rajiv's, whether of the Congress or of any other party or coalition have been obsessed with free
market reforms partly under international pressure from multi-lateral financial institutions but also because it was the
doctrinal fashion of the nineties and the consensus or popular wis dom. This necessary involves the withdrawal of the
state and its ins titu tions , particularly the developmental aspect of it. The fact that corruption and inefficiency should
be treated as aberrations that had set in into otherwise working systems and should be eliminated has been lost sight of
and instead the view has taken hold that the state itself should be dispensed with towards a goal of "less" state in all as-
pects of life. Consequen tly we are witnessing a fundamental change in how the institutions see themselves and in turn
in how people are being asked to see them , without demands and expectations or with only the most diminished forms
of it. Corruption and the possibility of gain or rent seeking has over the years attracted Mafiosi and crimin als to institut
ions of governance and now dealing with this problem has become a challenge bigger and uglier than any other in
the history of independent India.
The structural outline of the institutionalised state actor in India is based on the British model of the colo-
nial era but only as far as it need be. That was the intension of the Constituent Assemb ly. Over the years of course in
the life of independent India, the institutions have taken their own course whatever they have been. The principal insti-
tutions created by the Constitution itself are the Parliament at the centre and the states, the office of the Prime Minister
and his Council of Minis ters, the President, the Vice President, the Judic iary, the Governors in the states, the Adminis-
trative Services, the Local Government , the Police, the Mil itary, the Election Commissi on, the Central Vigilance
Commission and the Public Service Commissions at the centre and the states. Other institutions like the political par-
ties, the media and the educ ation system, which even without being constitutional entities, are far more significant in
many ways.
The Parliament
The parliament in India at the centre has two hous es, the upper house the Rajya Sabha and the lower house,
the Lok Sabha. At the state level there are state le gis lative assemblies or the Vidhan Sabhas. There are no real ante-
cedents of parliaments in India even though there were Sabhas, Samitis and Vidhatas in northern India and self-
governing local institutions in Southern India but Prof. M.P. Singh SjlYS they were " presumably instruments of direct
democracy rather than those of representat ive democ racy". Panchayats have of course always existed even before their
statutory revival in independent India but their nature was more in the nature oftocal self-government. Consequently in
a real sense, parliament was introduced to India by the British through the Government oflndiaActs of I 9 09, I 919 and
I 9 35. The Nehru Report of I 928 and the Sapru Report of 1945 had advocated parliamentary federalism with certain
degree of proportional representation: The Constituent Assembly when deciding on the Constitution had retained this
basic framework but without proportional representat io n. So the parliament of 1952 after the adoption of the 1950
constitution was the first parliament elected on the basis ofuniversal adult franchise and endowed with complete legis-
lative autonomy. No authority like the Viceroy of the British era could interfere with the legislative process and veto
the acts of this parliament. In this sense the parl-iament of 1952 was truly historical. It represented the free will of the
entire Indian nation and had a built in device for political and socio-economic change in a country that hitherto had had
only change via wars and rebellions and violent dynastic revoluti ons.
The federal nature of the Indian Constitution was meant to ensure and has to some extent that there is a divi-
sion of powers between the union parliament and the state legisl atures . There has been a view among experts all
through that this separation of powers is a sham and is not real and that state le gislatures don' t have real sovereignty.
But Prof. M.P. Singh says that the more "comprehensive constitutional and behavioural view holds that, except during
periods of constitutional emergencies, state legislatures competence is protected by a written constitution interpreted by
an independent judic iary". He als o believes that the " balance of political forces in the political system also puts prac-
tical constraints on the purely legal view of the constitution and opens up the P<jSibility of new constitutional conven-
tions". The fact that our constitution also guarantees the Fundamental Rights in whose defence the judiciary is empow-
ered to act also acts as limitation on the powers of parliament. Further the fact the constitution actually has a Directive
Principles of State Policy in whose furth rance the parliament is supposed to act also acts as some limitation, even if
more moral than legal Prof. M.P. Singh makes the point that "although the directives unlike the fundamental rights are
not legally enforceable by courts in the normal way, the courts have indeed invoked them in interpreting the constituti
on, and thus clothed the directives with selective legal sanction in an indirect way".

36
Over the years the courts in India have stood up for the power of judicial review of acts of parliament thereby making
sure that parliament does not act in an unbridled manner. This reality that has evolved over time partly by design of
the constitution and partly in how events have unfolded with respect to relations between the parliament and the
executi ve and the parliament and the judiciary probably causes Prof. M.P. Singh to conclude that “while the parlia-
mentary component of the government directs attention to the supremacy of the Parliament in the system, the federal
component, coupled with constitutionally entrenched Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy and
traditions ofregionalism in the country, compromise parliamentary supremacy by complementing it with constitutional
supremacy featuringjudicial review". (Note 7)
Another major structural feature of the Indian Constitution is its bicameralism. The Rajya Sabha is technically
subordinate to the Lok Sabha but it has value in some respects. The government can introduce legislation in the upper
house first thereby lessening the burden of the lower house so that by the time the Bill reaches the Lok Sabha it has
already undergone substantial scrutiny. Also the Rajya Sabha gets representation from the states on the principle of the
proportion of population rather than equal representation as federal uni ts. This is very important because it in many
ways takes care of a major distortion in our system of selection of people ' s representatives. If there is a conflict
between the two houses then the procedure is to call a joint session of the two house which would of course mean that
the Lok Sabha with its larger strength would carry the day. There can be no doubt that the intension of the Constituent
Assembly was clearly to make the Rajya Sabha de facto subordinate. Commentators like W.H. Morris-Jones have
tended to take the line that notwithstanding its name Rajya Sabha, House of the States, it is not really so, and is basical-
ly just a debat in g chamber. Regional issues have been raised in both houses of parliament and continue to be. If anyth
ing ind ividua l MPs raise more issues on their constituencies from the states in the Lok Sabha than the MPs do in the
Rajya Sabha. However , Prof. M. P. Sin gh, is one of the few commentators who holds great store by the Rajya Sabha.
He argues as follows: -
"The Rajya Sabha today does not function in a way radically different from what' Morris-Jones portrayed in
the I 950's. However, the federalization of the party system in the l 980's at the state level and at the national level since
1989 has invested the Rajya Sabha with greater potentiality as a federal second chamber. Indeed I am inclined to argue
that even the modestly designed Rajya Sabha in the Constitution can have a greater federa l relevance than the com-
mentators have generally attributed to it. This is for the following reasons. First, it has equal powers with the Lok
Sabha in the federally important matter of constitutional amendment s. Second , the joint sitting of the two houses,
instead of always dividing on the house-basis, may shape up in a more complex way in terms of coalitions among
parties and groups in the Parliament as a whole. This may bring vic tory to the point of view championed by the Rajya
Sabha. Third, the Rajya Sabha can block the intensions of a federal government to legislate in a certain contingency on
a State List subject and to create a new all-India service. So it would appear that the essentially parliamentary interpre-
tation of the powers of the Rajya Sabha was a by-product of the one-party dominant system in the early decades of the
Indian republic. The federal rele vance of the Rajya Sabha is likely to become more salient with the growing regional
isatipn and federalization of the political system".

The Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers

The real de facto executive power of running the county is clearly intended by our constitution to be under the
Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers. The President is obliged to invite the leader of the majority party in the
Lok Sabha to form the government. If no party has majority then the President is responsible under the Consti tut io n
to invite whoever in his judgment has the confidence of the majority of the members of the Lok Sabha. Such a person
has to prove his majority of course in the parliament to have his appointment confi'rmed. It is this principle that has
enabled coalition governments constantly during the last decade . The Prime Minister appoints his council of ministers
who have to be either members of parliament already or have to necessarily become members of any one house within
six months of appointment. The council of ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha and has to resign as
soon as it loses confidence of that house determined by way of a passing of a motion of no confidence by the members
of the house.

37
 ..

Nehru had described the Prime Minister as the lynchpin of the government and even though all the powers are formally
vested in the President, they are in reality exercised by the Prime Minister who serves as the link between the parlia-
ment, the Cabinet and the President. Some commentators believe that the position of Prime Minister "has acquired its
pre-eminence at least partly from the fact that the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who retained his office for al-
most seventeen years, had such enormous prestige and influence that some of it rubbed off on to the office itse lf ' .
(Note 8) fndira Gandhi also became a very powerful prime minister as a consequence of both her autocratic style and his
torical events like the Bangladesh war of 1971. She had and exercised full powers of hiring and firing minis ters in her
cabinet who fawned on her and ran her patronage machine . She has almost no political or moral bars on her total control
of the appointment and removal of ministers. She ruled for a long time like her father. Over the years the office of prime
minister as a consequence has become very powerful. There is no historical evidence as such that the constituent assem-
bly wished the prime minter's office to be this powerful. Jt is not as if all prime ministers have contributed to the accrual
of power at the PMO. Shastri who had taken over after Nehru was a weak Prime Minister, and there was an emergence
of collective leadership and the politics of consensus which wasn't again seen until the reigns ofV.P.Singh as the decade
of the eighties was drawing to a close and of Deve Gowda and J.K. Gujral in the nineties . In between there was Morarji
Desai who had actually renamed the Prime Minister's Secretariat as Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and had contributed
in his won way to making it the powerful institution de facto that it has become. Among the other Congress prime minis-
ters, Rajiv Gandhi was essentially same as her mother and grandfather and P.V. Narsimha Rao, who had a habit of skirt-
ing round and avoiding difficult'decisions and practicing silence, nevertheless had run one of the strongest and most
powerful PMO's in Indian history.
There is no mention in the constitution of ranks for ministers like cabinet minister or minister of state nor in-
deed of any position of deputy prime minister. But at present India has a deputy prime minister, reportedly all powerfu l,
in Lal Krishna Advani. Also the ministers who are appointed are referred to as cabinet and state. Prof M.P. Singh says
that in the Cabinet system in India , except for the "procedure of its formation" , almost "everything else about it has
been left to conventions", which he says "is in conformity with the Westminster model of cabinet government." As a
consequence he says the "constitutional vacuum in India, as in Britain has been left to be plugged by the party system" .
Over the years an intricate web of conventional and legal- administrative procedures and organizations has grown round
the Prime Minister and his council of ministers like the Cabinet Secretariat, various cabinet committees and the increas-
ingly all powerful office of the Prime Minister popularly referred to as the PMO. Prof Singh says while this structure has
evolved and exists, "the role of the PM and the way the council of ministers works are basically determined by the bal-
ance of forces in-the ruling party, or parties in case ofa coalition government, and in the party system at large". Also be-
sides this "factional balance of forces", he says the PM is also increasingly getting constrained to take into account eth-
nic, regional, caste and communal factors and divisions and the need for providing adequate representation' to all
groups. (Note 9) The government of Deve Gowda, which was a 14 party coalition of mainly regional parties, is an excel-
lent case study of a relatively weak PM and his PMO, where the constant negotiation among the political partners and
the balance of political forces was more important in the appointment of ministers than the prime minister's discretion or
views. Deve Gowda could not even appoint his OSD (Officer on Special Duty), and most decisions were taken by a
Steering Committee of the constituents of the United Front who took most of the decisions and served as some sort of a
super decision taking body. The country de facto was being run by that committee with the PM serving as the chief im-
plementing officer at best. His PMO was not the de facto overruling/approving authority for all decisions by the all the
ministries as was the case with Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi or P.V. Narsimha Rao and all matters were not referred to
his PMO for"guidance and advice " . The present prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his trusted PMO bureaucrat-
ic advisor, Brajesh Mishra have been under cloud for too much control and have been attacked by other partners
inside the so called Sangh Parivar for it. Possibly if the Sangh Parivar did nuL have many other power centers with
the political standing to challenge Vajpayee, the foremost being Lal KrishnaAdvani, it is possible that the present PM
and his PMO would also emerge to be as powerful as Indira Gandhi if they haven ' t already to some extent. Some
prime ministers like Indira Gandhi never even bothered to inform the cabinet about important decisions. For instance
her historic decision to impose emergency, taking India to a dictatorship of sorts almost was taken entirely by her with-
out any consultations with her cabinet and she asked the president to impose emergency without informing
them. She only relied on her close advisors.

38
 So in our Westminster styled system where the prime minister is supposed to be first among equals, at various times
the system has been anything but that. Prof. M.P. Singh classifies our prime ministerial leadership seen so far into
three mode ls : ' pluralist premiership' , ' neo-patrimonial premiership' and the 'federal' one. He belie ves the Nehru
era had a pluralist power structure to a significant extent and there was internal democracy in the Congress Party
which vanished later under Indira. So it was what he calls a sort of 'pluralist premiership'. Under Indira there was he
says "an unprecedented centralization of powers in the Prime Minister's hands" and her style of dealing in patron-
age and favours can be described as a sort of 'neo-patrimonial premie rship' . The third model of prime ministerial
style he designates as 'federal'. According to him the Janata government of 1977-79 and the Rajiv Gandhi govern-
ment of 1984-89, "despite the persistence of oligarchic tendencies in the two respective part ies , were more amena-
ble to federal pressures than any other preceding governments". (Note 10)
There has been a barely noticeable trend in the last decade or so where the need for good quality professional
presence in the important ministries like finance or the technology ministries have taken precedence over any other
considerations and the prime minister has been forced to cede a lot of autonomy and free space to the professional
minister. But there is no sign yet that the Prime Minister in the Westminster scheme of things will principally confine
themselves to the initiation, coordination and monitoring of policies leaving its implementation to the concerned minis-
tries and the professional bureaucracy and indeed the day to day routine decision making, as was probably intended by
our constitution framers in the Constituent Assembly.

The President and the Vice-President

Even though Art.53 of the Constitution states that the ' executive power of the Union, shall be vested in the
President ' , Art.74( I) provides that 'there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and
ad .ice the President who shall in the exercise of his functions act in accordance with such advice'. Art.75 provides that
'the Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the President on
the advice of the Prime Minister'. The President has the discretion to invite anybody from among the members of the
parliament to be the prime minister but if such a person is not the leader of the majority party or the majority group in
the house then it is obvious he will not win the vote of confidence which as per the Constitution he must win to- be
formalized as the Prime Minister. Hence the convention that the President invites the house majority leader to be the
Prime Minister even though there is no mention of political parties in the Constitution . Only when the party system
fails to throw up an obvious choice can the president choose according to his discretion but his choice ultimately can
only rule if he wins the confidence of the house in a vote. So the role of the president is rather passive and does not get
serous or active unless situations prevail like what for' instance prevailed when the Janata Party government fell in
1979 or the period of instability and hectic coalitions formations that started when the Congress's dominance ended in
19 89. There had been a slight confusion because of the provisions of Arts. 75(2&3) which while stating that ' the min-
isters shaU hold office during the pleasure of the president' also states that 'the council of ministers shal I be collective-
ly responsible to the house of the people' without mentioning anywhere anything about the Prime Minister. There had
been opportunity in this seemingly contradictory set of provisions for the view that the president could ignore the will
of the Lok Sabha effectively while choosing the council of m in is ters. The 42nd and 44th amendments of the Con-
stitution had made the convention of the president acting according to the will of the parliament a constitutional law in
a fool proof manner. The President can at most send the advice back for reconsideration once more but if the council of
ministers refuse to change their decision he has no op'tion other than complying ad formalizing what has been sent to
him. This does not mean however that in actual history of the behaviour of the incumbents of the office of the presi-
dent, this interpretation, has never been seen to be challenged, even though it is exactly what the Constituent Assembly
had intended. For instance, in the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Ambedkar while commenting on the pos itio n of the Pres-
ident in his Draft Constitution, had commented thus explaining the powers and the role:

39
 "In the Draft Constitution, there is placed at the head of the union a functionary who is called the President of
the Union. The title of this functionary reminds one of the President of the United States. But beyond identity of names
there is nothing in common between the forms of government prevalent in America and the form of government pro-
posed under the Draft Constitution. The American form of government is called the Presidential system of government.
What the Draft proposes is the parliamentary system. The two are fundamentally different.
Under the Presidential system of America the President is the Chief Head of the Executive. The administration
is vested in him. Under the Draft Constitution, the President occupies the same position as the king under the Eng-
lish Constitution. He is the head of the state but not of the Executive. He repres ents the Nation but does not rule the
Nation. He is the symbol of the nat io n. His place in the administration is that of a ceremonial device on a seal by
which the nation 's decisions are made known . Un der the American Constitution the president has under him Sec-
retaries in charge of diffe rent Departments of administration. Here again, there is a fundamental difference be-
tween the two. The President of the United States is not bound to accept any advice tendered to him by any of
his secretar ies . The president of the Indian Union will be generally bound by the advice of his Ministers. He can do
nothing contrary to their advice nor can he do anything without their advice. The President of the Un it e d States is
not bound to accept any advice tendered to him by any of his secretaries. The President of the Indian Union will
be generally bound by the advice of his Ministers. He can do nothing contrary to their advice nor can he do anything
without their advice. The President of the United States can dismiss any Secretary at any time. The president of
the Indian Union has no power to do so, so long as his Ministers command a majority in Parlia ment " .
Academicians and experts have debated for long whether in certain situations the president can assume dicta-
torial powers . But again and again the consensus that has emerged is that he cant without violating the constitution at
multiple levels . For ins tance, Granville Austin while commenting on the hypothetical possibility of the President tak-
ing over the country by dissolving parliament says:
"The President could not dissolve Parliament without the advice of his Prime Minis ter, in the first place. Nor
could his other hypothetical actions be described as consitutional. That a President or a Prime Minister, perhaps with the
backing of the armed forces, could assume power in India is possible but that would be revolution. And, as Sir Ivor
Jennings has written , constitutions do not contemplate revolutio ns. If the Federal Executive in India becomes autocratic
it will be because Parliament and body politic have defaulted in their responsibility and have acquiesce d in their own
downfall, not because the intent of the Constitution has been ' constitut iona lly ' circumvented".(Note 11)
President Rajendra Prasad, the first President, had himself asked for a debate to be initiated as to whether the
President should be somewhat more than a figure head like the British Crown. In a note to Jawaharlal Nehru on I 8 th
September, 19 51 , the first Prime Minister, he had expressed a wish to have powers of discretion in assenting to Bills, in
sending messages to Parliament directly and not via the Prime Minister and to have the power to refer Bills back to par-
liament directly for re-consideration. (He was in particular opposed to the Hindu Code Bill which he had felt presumes a
certain uniformity in Hindu social practices which does not existin reality and for which he was branded sanatani by
Congress men) Jawaharlal Nehru and the Constitutional expert A.K. Aiyar and Attorney General M.C. Setalvad to
whom he referred the question were all opposed to the idea and had felt that acceptance of President Prasad’s argument
would upset the whole Constitutional structure and would leave open the possibility of the President acquiring dictatori-
al powers.

There is usually no chance of the President using his powers when there is a single party at the center
with a clear major ity . But the potential for Presidential activism arises in those situations where the mandate is frac-
tured and no one single party has a majority to be able to form the government. The first time this happened and
the only time was in 1979 when the Janata government led by Morarji Desai fell because of a split in the ruling party.
The president at the time, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, used his discretion and refused Morarjibhai's request to form a new
government and instead asked Charan Singh to form a new government and obtain a vote of confidence by a fixed date.
Charan Singh ultimately after consulting other party leaders, requested the president to dissolve the Lok Sabha. The un-
stable situation created an opportunity for the President to exercise his discretion .

40
 Another situation where the role of the President was more colorful than by any other person who occupied the
position of the President was during the reign of Zail Singh who it is believed had wanted to sack the Prime Minister. He
wrote to the prime minister saying that he was not been kept informed of important developments and this was prevent-
ing him from performing his constitutional duty of ensuring the govern- ment was being run in accordance the letter and
spirit of the Constitution. He was also the first president to use the power of returning a Bill to Parliament. There was
much speculation that he might actually dismiss the prime min ister. In the same year, 1987, the Bofors scandal on kick-
backs in defense purchases broke. There is evidence that Zail Singh did actually discuss with political leaders of many
factions the possibility of dismissing the prime minister but in the end he did not. Nevertheless, it opened the possibility
of the President potentially creating trouble for all times to come and of course hugely added to the academic debate
about the extent of the presidents powers. Zail Singh's action, is particularly important because it happened at the time
when the elected prime minister of the country had the largest majority ever in the Lok Sabha.

Another interesting event happened in March 1998 when after the elections, the B.J.P. staked its , claim to form
the government on the ground of being the single largest party and had announced that it had enough support from other
parties to win the confidence vote in the Lok Sabha. President Narayanan insisted that the B.J. P provide letters of sup-
port. This demand for proof in writing caused a few days of embarrassing wait. This resulted in situation where some
parties like theA.I.A.D.M.K indulged in hard bargaining in well- publicized secret meetings before finally consenting
to support the B.J.P led government. The president's role was critical in that he could have refused to wait endlessly
for the letter and instead decide to invite leader of the next largest party or group in the Lok Sabha. Thus the B.J.P
would have lost the opportunity to prove a majority which was in any case dependent on a wafer thin majority and prob-
ably based on horse trading as well. Obviously in such situations there is room for exercise of presidential discre-
tion·and potential of abuse or motivated and partial use of presidential powers.

The principal role of the Vice-President if the President does not actually die in office lies in acting as the chair-
person of the Rajya Sabha. That is always his main function . The Vice-President is elected for five years by both houses
of Parliament and Article 65 of the Constitution allows him to act as the President in the event that the President is ab-
sent from his duties due to illness or any other reason or if he resigns. This actually has happened only on two occasions.
When President Zakir Hussain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed died in office Vice-President's V.V. Giri and B.D. Jatti took
over. The choice of Vice-President for this reason has to be done with great care.

The Governor
There is more confusion and debate, even acrimony on the role of the Governor than on the role of any other
constitutional authority. The role of the Governor, in a how it has evolved over the last 50 years of India's independence
has been rather disappointing to the point where it needs to be wondered if it hasn't undermined the federal structure of
our constitutional system. Even though there is no mention anywhere in the Constitution that India is to be a federal
state, as shown above, there is enough evidence that the Constitu- ent Assemfily and the leaders who drafted our Consti-
tution intended the structure to be federal as far as possible. The Governor in the exercise of his powers of discretion
particularly in the context of the dismissal of state governments under Art.356 by the President has without doubt un-
dermined both the notion of democracy at the state level and indeed the whole idea of federalism in India. The govern-
ment of a state is elected by the people of that state and if they want that government out, they can rely on the institu-
tions of democracy at the st te level itself to achieve that aim. It is not for the governor in a democracy to play that role
particularly because he is an appointment of the center.

Interestingly, the position of the governor has historically evolved rather by default that as a conse- quence of
the lofty intensions of our constitutional founding fathers. Prof. S.K. Chaube comments on it thus: "What kind of a role a
Governor is expected to play as an employee of the union government, paradoxically, oath-bound to 'preserve, project
and defend the Constitution' which, by no means, upholds the union movement as always right?" The question is im-
portant because India has a federal structure of government.

41
 Admittedly, the constitution of India nowhere calls this country a federal state. Nor did the Government of
India, 1935, on the model of which India's center-state relations are based, embody the principles of a genuine federa-
tion. The 1935 Act continued a process of 'devolution of power ' from the British crown to the provincial ministries, in
which the Governor retained such a crucial, and often overriding, role that the Congress party was disgusted with the
set-up.
Interestingly, the Constituent Assembly oflndia was not only the formulator of the federal formula for inde-
pendent India but was instrumental to its evolution.The wartime negotiations on the future Constitu- tion oflndia re-
volved round the notion of a loose federation that would accommodate the communal aspira- tions of the Muslim
League and the princely in continued autonomy of their ' states' . Once, however, the Muslim League's refusal to partici-
pate in the Constituent Assembly of British India was confirmed and partition of British India was decided upon, the
Constituent Assembly oflndia veered round to the idea of a centralized federation. By a peculiar tum of history the Con-
gress leadership became a strong advocate of the 1935 model".
He further says: "Contrary to popular belief in the association of the presidential form of govern- ment with the
federal structure of state (as in the USA), the Constituent Assembly oflndia made federalism dependent upon the cabinet
form of government. ' The first question we had naturally to consider, reported Vallabhbhai Patel, Chairman of the Pro-
vincial Constitution Committee, to the Constituent Assembly ' was whether the provincial constitution shall be of a uni-
tary type or shall be of a federal type, and, as there was a little difference of opinion on this question, the committee
thought it proper to have a joint session of the Provincial Constitution Committee and the Union Constitution Commit-
tee. Both these committees met and they came to the conclusion that it would suit the conditions of this country better to
adopt the parliamentary system of constitutio n, with which we are famili ar' . •
The apparent incongruity between the question posed and the answer provided can, however, be resolved. In
the USA the governor is the real executive at the state as the presidei:tt is at the center. Both of them are elected by the
electorates and have independent authority in conformity with the constitutional division of power. In India the governor
is appointed by the president and is an agent of the central govern- ment. He has no independent source of authority. The
autonomy of the state government can, there fore, be vested only in the organ representing the state's people. This repre-
sentative organ of the gover'1men t, as far the executive powers are concerned, is the state cabinet responsible to the
elected legislature of the state. The federal idea will work only to the extent that the governor, the nominal executive,
acts according to the advice of the state cabinet, or, in other words, the state cabinet is free to act without interferenct! of
the Governor.
A realisation of the functional linkage of the cabinet system with the federal government led the Special Com-
mittee of the Constituent Assembly, headed by Nehru, to recommend the appointment of the governor instead of his
election and to direct the Drafting Committee on April 1 I, 19 48, to omit all references to the governor's discretion.
The Drafting Committee accepted the suggestion and promised to introduce amendment to this effect. Yet all
the necessary amendments were not moved . In the draft of the sixth schedule to the Constitu- tion there remained a dis-
cretionary power of the governor of Assam to decide disputes arising out of rev- enue-sharing on mining between the
state government and a district council. Subsequen tly, another specific· discretionary power was granted to the Assam
governor- in respect of administration of Part-II, Tribal Area Of Assam, tne territory now constituting Arunachal Pra-
desh. With Arunachal 's attainment of statehood this power of the governor has lapsed.

Clause of Article 163 of the constitution binds the governor to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers
except whe n he is required by the constitution to act in his discretion.

In the whole body of the constitution there is not another instance of a governor being required to act in his discre-
tion. Why, then , is there clause 2 of Article 163? This clause has two parts: (i) the governor has discretion to decide when
he is required by the constitution to act in his discretion , and (ii) this decision- making desc ription of the Governor can-
not be challenged. Thus, the Governor discretion has become absolute.

42
 The rampant use of discretion by some governors has produced two kinds of tension in union-state re lations,
and , sim u ltaneously, for the working of parliamentary democracy in the states: (1) reservation of bil ls passed by the
state legislatures for assent of the President beginning with the reservation of the Kerala Education Bi ll in 1958 and (2)
resort to constitutional breakdown beginning with the suppression of the governm ent in PEPSU in 1952. The sordid
manipulations of the governors ministry making in the states is in cidental to the power to decide the fate of a state gov-
ernment , at will. (Note 12)
Artic le 356 of the Constitution states that the president may declare break down of constitutional machin ery in a
sate on the basis of a governor's report or otherwise upon which the governor can proceed to dissolve the state governme
nt. Now the spirit of our constitutional provisions clearly is that the governor is supposed to act on the basis of the advice
of the chief minister and the cabinet of the incumbent state government. How can he then go ahead and declar e on his
own in his report to the President that there has been a breakdow n of cons titution al machine ry ? Prof. S.K. Chaube
quoted above believes that the signifi- cance of the word "othe rwise" is precisely that. It was kept in the drafting of the
clause to enable direct action from the center or its i ntervention . M.C. Setalvad, our first Attorney General, was of the
opinion that the governor in his report cou ld go beyond the advice of the state cabine t, that is, even differ with the ad-
vice, by standing on h is oath to uphold the sanctity of the constitution. The ministers and the Chief Minister of the state
also ta ke the oath of allegiance. So why should the governor 's word be superior particularly when he is not elec ted by
the state's people. A judgement of the Calcutta High Court in 1969 which has been till date not repud iated laid down that
the council of ministers of a state are to hold office during the pleasure of the governor and that the retent ion of the
pleasure is entirely the discretion of the governor and therefore can not be que stioned jud ic ially. Now this judgement
would mean almost that the governor has the prerogative to dismiss a council of ministers of a state. Prof. S.K. Chaube
quoted above says that this "is a thoroughly m isconceive d notion based on the colonial practice " and that the " prerog-
ative of the British crown" defined as ' residual ' power- power not transferred to the le gislature was the prerogative that
was conferred by the crown on the governor-general who dele gateda part of it to the governors". Since in a republic , the
power of governme nt is mea nt to be derived from the people , how can there be a ' prerogative'? If discretions are grant-
ed they must be clearly have to be defined rigorously and the limits of the powers delimited. Prof. S.K.Chaube,
consequent ly concludes , taking into account the general intension of the Constituent Assembly that "draftsme n of the
repub l ic an constitution oflndia, it appears, bungled over the drafting of the provision and the Constituent Asse mbl y
was taken for a ride". (Note 13)

That the le aders of the national movement strongly disliked the idea of a strong office of governor can be seen
from the fact that immediately upon the passing of the Provincial Constitution Order and till the adoption of the constitu-
tio n ofl ndi a, all references to discretion, special responsibility and individual judge- ment were remo ved from th Gov-
ernment oflndia Act,19 35. ln the draft of the constitution ofl ndia , even the President was not granted any discretion and
the governor 's special responsibilities were removed following the partition ofl ndi a but as dis c retion to act was al-
lowed with the governor and crucially the discretion to dec ide when he is required to act in his disc retion, the discretion
to act virtually became unlimited.

To deal with the se fallacies probably, in the structure of the constitutional provisions, so that the federal char
acter can be upheld and democrac y promoted, the Sarkaria Commission and the Administrative Reforms Commission ca
lled for the appoint ment of ' tal l ' men as governors and the growth of conventions . But the evidence accmu ul ated so
far over the last decades particularly is that the governors who are ap-pointed by the center are usua lly onl y as tall as
the party that appoints them . During the Gujaratriots of 2002, the Governor of Gujarat, reportedly a former RSS man,
had at no time felt that there was a breakdown of the constitutional machinery in the state. Also the manner in which the
new incumbents in New Delhi feel the need to quietly busy themselves with changing governors upon assumption of of-
fice has made to a large extent the role and nature of the governor's office an instrument for seriously undermining de-
mocracy in India not to mention federalism, in country where with the huge diversity, there is a constant need for main-
taining unity.

43
 The Administrative Services

The British ruled India but we were really ruled by the Indian Civil Service (ICS). They proudly called them-
selves the "steel frame" of the empire and there is no doubt that they were at the time probably the most efficient and
able service of its kind in the world. So we inherited this service at indep end ence. Other third world countries winning
their independence at the same time were struggling to build a service but we already had at our disposal a services ca-
dre of a very high level of disc ipli ne, cohesion and capability. The services were also reputed to have a culture of au-
tonomy and independent self-starter style of functioning that wen: clearly assets for a new republic. Obviously the
services in how they were set up originally and had functioned, had as their principal goal, the governance of a colony
and hence arguably, their aims could not have been ultimately benevolent towards the Indian people without being pre-
occupied with the cause of the good of the empire as the uppermost objective . Running a colony efficien tly often mea
nt no more than keeping off nationalist trouble and maximizing land revenue.
The members of the services were also the officers in charge of dealing with the freedom movement on the
ground and were the jailors of the leaders of the national movement. But many of them, the native Indians at least, were
from similar socio-economic backgrounds as the leaders themselves, like Nehru or Jinnah or indeed Bose who was an
ICS officer himself and had resigned to join the freedom movement. Perhaps that is why when the officers after inde-
pendence took the plea that they should be considered as perfectly able and fully committed to serve their own people,
they were not brushed aside or laughed at. Sir Uma Shanker Bajpai, an outstanding ICS officer for instance had said : "If
I could serve so well a foreign power, how much better will I serve my own count rymen?."
There was much debate at the time of independence on the approach to be taken re&arding the civil service and
on the question whether the service should be organized anew or the old one preserved with modifications. Patel, who as
the Home Minister, was involved with the problem ofrefugees following parti- tion and the consolidation of the country
and the negotiations with the princely states, found the services of much help and supported their preservation. He
warned the Constituent Assembly in 1949: " I have worked with them during the difficult period ... Remove them and I
see nothing but a picture of chaos all over the country." He went further in his plea for saving the services and with the
terms of service similar to those under the British Raj. He threatened that he and the civil servants will resign leaving
everything to a state of chaos if any changes were made. He told the Constituent Assembly, "If you decide that we
should not have the service at all, in spite of my pledged word, I will take the service with me and I will go. I will tell
the servicemen, 'Let us go. The nation has changed.' They are capable of earning their li ving". He also declared that: "If
during the last two or three years most of the services had not behaved patriot ically and wit h loyalty, the Union would
have collapsed." (Note 14)
Of the 1000 ICS officers serving at independence, 453 were Indian. Most of the British went back home. Of the
Indians even thought they were Indians, there was an aura of elitism surrounding them and a certain distance from the
common man. That was one of the reasons why Nehru was not enthusiastic about them and had at first hoped to do away
with them but later saw Patel's point and the urgent needs for unity, stability and of delivering relief to the people in
post-partition India.
Nehru, after agreeing to keep them, had hoped for and said that they should give up the old sense of "distinctions
and differences" and had invited them to play the "vital role" of solving the country's problems as "comrades in the ser-
vice oflndia". Unfortunately, that would prove not to be over the following decades. The whole aura of being 'guardians'
and of being 'heaven-born' lingered post independence and the distance with the common man stayed intact if it did not
actually increase even more. For example, the few people who joined the Community Development projects out of sheer
social commitment and idealism were disap- pointed because they found out that the JCS officers, now called IAS officers
were looking down upon them, hopelessly dominating and controlling their actions and treating them as low paid menial
employees. Over the years the IAS cadre deteriorated further in quality and have now become totally corrupt and are
composed of rent seeking fortune hunters basically who operate mafia like almost and in partnership with the politicians
who themselves have suffered a huge fall in the quality of their ranks, at least in public perception are there just to loot the
treasury and the coffers of the state. Of course this is an extreme view and possibly even the people who are this bad aren'
t the majority but it is getting bad and worse every day.

44
 Political and administrative corruption were not totally absent in the decades after freedom but in the first flushes
of the air of freedom and of hope and ofa belief in Nehru's "tryst with destiny" immediately after independence and of
course the general Gandhian ethos still prevalent hugely at the time there was a moral check and there was a genuin e
committed bureaucracy especially in the higher levels enthusiastic about doing their bit for the motherland. Nehru had
been aware of this problem becoming a real one though and in 1948 asked the chief minis ters to deal with complaints '
about our inefficiency, inaccessibility, delays and, above all of corruption'. In 1963, when the problem had taken roots
almost and was growing he wrote to the chief ministers in what proved to be his last letter saying:
"There is far too much talk of corruption. I think it is exaggerated a good deal but we must realize that it is there
and must face that with all our will and strength. Our governmenta l apparatus is till slow moving and full of brakes
which come in the way of all the brave schemes that we have in mind... I am writing about this to you because I feel
strongly that we must clean up our public life.. ...".
Constitu tional safeguards were provided by the framers of the Constitution for the services so that they may be
able to maintain their independent nature and integrity. In the initial years of Nehru there were man y upright and indeed
efficient officers who thrived in this atmosph ere. Slowly but surely through the 70's and 80's this had gotten diluted utter-
ly partly due to Indira Gandhi's dictatorial campaign of taming the services on the plea of "commitment" towards devel-
opment and towards the provisons of the Directive Principle s. This of course happened in the background of a severe fall
in the quality of Indian politicians particularly of Mrs.Gandhi's party. Money and muscle power and the influence of big
business and petty bourgeois had begu n to touch new heights in this period and no doubt this general atmosphere also in-
fluenced civil servants . Civil Servants realized that promotions were being given to those officers who were capable of
fawning before politici ans and slavishly carryi·ng out their bidding (or demonstrating the 'commitment' being asked of
them more to a person in the shape of a politician rather than to a plan or idea), without pausing to que stion its propriety
and legality not to mention its morality. This ' system' of running the services that it ind eed came to be totally changed
the character of the administrative services which has till date not been repaired and is not li ke ly t0 undergo a change
any time soon. When the Janata Party came to power in 1977 they attempted to undo the damage by promoting officers
who had been perceived as the 'victims' of the Indira Gandhi regi me for their upright stands and those who had been re-
warded by Indira Gandhi with high posts for their so called ' commitment ' were either demoted or sent into unimportant
postings.
Ultimatel y this has had no effect on the situation, which has continued to worsen. Indeed, when a leader like
Mayawati of a party like the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) come to power in a state like UP the first thing they do often
within hours of taking over is to order mass transfer of officers of the IAS and the JPS rewarding their own loyalists and
getting rid of other parties loyalists or perceived loyalists. Sometimes this is
done for exchange of cash even in a process of auctioning off of "lucrative" postings with a high potential for bribe in-
come and other forms of il le gal gratification. In 1999, the BJP after It lost the vote of confidence, had indulged in
wholesale transfer of officials. It had been suspected that this had been done with an eye on the impend in g elect!ons. ·
Quite apart from all the polit ic al and other troubles in the services there has been a huge fall in the esteem and
public c onfidence in the services. People view officers as inefficient, full of sloth, corrupt and lacking in skills or the mo-
tivation to solve the nations problems. This has led to a situation where any and every laying off or downsizing of the
service s, however casual or reckless and arbitrary is applauded by the media and the middle class particularly unless
they would take the direct hit and lose jobs.
The Rudolphs quoted above sum up the central theme of the evolution (post independence) of the services thus :
"The doctrine of neutrality was the product of an era of partisan party competit ion. In England, such an era
followed the coming of political stability in the early eighteenth century and of the concept of loyal opposition in the
early nineteenth. The doctrine was exported to India when, at the provincial level in the l920's, Indian party politi-
cians took charge of a limited number of ministerial portfolios, and it became a central doctrine of state theory at inde-
pendence when India embarked on its experiment with parliamentary democracy. It was a convenient doctrine. Of the
approximately 1000 JCS officers serving at in dependence , 453 were Indian and became the policy bureaucracy of the
successor states. Neutrality served not only to explain and legitimize their role in the context of party government but
also to provide a cover for their translation from political masters and jailers of Congress leaders to loyal servants of the
new state." The Rudolphs further interpret as follows:

45
 "As Nehru's coauthors and implementers, civil servants were the vanguard of the lobby for an industrial strate-
gy, collaborating in the creation of basic and heavy industry under the second and third five year plans. They brought in-
to being the third actor in the Indian economy, the state sector, which rivaled and then surpassed private capital and or-
ganized labor. As the "new class" of a semi-socialist state, they were among its principal beneficiaries. In Marxist terms,
the policy bureaucracy of the permanent government was a leading element of the progressive national bourgeoisie,
dominating state policy and being rewarded for it. Its members shared a common life-style; they talked the same lan-
guages, not only the king's English but also state capitalism, science and technology, and secularism. And they were
"committed" to the government's policies and programs."
Indira Gandhi had argued during the 70's once while speaking to the Congress parliamentary party that ''the
country would be in a rut" ifit followed the British system in which civil servants were not supposed to be concerned
with which political party was in power. The call was thus given under her leadership for the "creation of an administra-
I
tive cadre committed to national objectives and respons ive to our social needs" . They had further attractively argued
that "the present bureaucracy , under the orthodox and conservative leadership of the JCS with its conservative upper-
class prejudices can hardly be expected, to meet the re- quirements of social and economic change along socialist lines".
The Rudolphs comment on this thus":
"Mrs.Gandhi was not satisfied when civil servants and public figures argued that neutr ali ty meant giving one's
best to the government of the day, from policy advice to ministers to program implemen tation . For her, commitment
went beyond active support for the Congress programs to belief in the party leader's mandate from the people. She want-
ed a style of commitment more suited to a bureaucracy serving a single party and its leader than to one serving alternat-
ing-party governments. In the face of party de-institutionaliza- tion and the rise of plebiscite politics, she attempted to
substitute state bureaucracies for party based organi- zational support... ... .... Mrs. Gandhi also wanted commitment of
the sort patrimonial rulers command: personal loyalty to herself and, from 1975, to her son Sanjay. This view of com-
mitment fed and grew first on prudence, then on opportunism and, under the emergency, on fear. Better to show loyalty
even to the extent of bending or breaking the law than to risk disfavor or punishment by too principled conduct." They
say " as India entered the 80's", all "three doctrines-neutrality, commitment, and loyalty-had to be reargued in the light
of a transformed historical context", and with the rise of "alternating party or coalition governments, the need for a polit-
ically "neutral" but professionally committed policy bureaucracy that can shift masters has become more pressing". In-
dia's "interventionist, managerial state" they say, "can no longer pretend that its policy bureaucracy is neutral in the
sense of being anonymous and voice less " . So they feel that at the "cabinet le vel, effective policy coordination and
guidance requires officials who are loyal to the responsible minister and committed to the minister's policies " . (Note
15)
A major change that has gone unnoticed over the years has been that the effective salary levels of the IAS offic-
ers'aren' t quite as high as they were any more. They are no were comparable to the high pay levels of the British Raj's
ICS officers . Consequently, there is feeling that that serves as an impetus to corrupt ion. The office rs, the argum ent
goes, live in the same consumerist society that everybody lives in and many of them are interact ing everyday with rich
businessmen who they watch getting away with a lot of bending of rules with the help of po liti c ians for private profit.
Consequently they feel often they are not indulging in too great a sin by making some money on the side.
The IAS officers in particular being generalists by definition have not proved good at executing entrepreneurial
functions of the stat e. The public sectors have not just been damaged by corruption they have also lacked ideas and drive
and skill seen in the private sector. The management of public-sector firms need career professionals who combine tech-
nical knowl edge with long-term experience in particular technologies and industries, such as steel, oil, transportation , and
mining. That hardly happens Often the people who are posted to run the enterprises are from the most unsuitable back-
grounds. In a slightly older case study on this point, the Rudo lphs site the example of the Min . of Information and
Broadcasting in 1983, charged with In dia's only broadcasting organization Doordarshan , when it was found that all the
senior officers had left before completing two years in their posts. One had come from the chairmanship of the State
Electricity Board of a state who had gone on to become the Coal Secretary, another one from a Division Commissi oner
and the third also from District Adm inist ratio n. No wonder then that the Joshi Working Group on Doordarshan in 1984
had commente d on the arrivals and departures of senior management by saying:

46
 "It is hardly to be expected that the problems of Doordarshan .. ..can be appreciated and resolved by such birds of
passage". (Note 16)

The Rudolphs conclude their comment on the administrative services thus, somewhat in optimism which increas-
ingly is looking doubtful:

"India was endowed at in dependence with a permanent government that surpassed that of other Third World
countries and riva led those of many industrial democracies. The forces that have challenged the services since indep end
ence, such as the call for partisan and personal commitment and regional loyalty are powerful and long term. They have
taken their toll, but they have not as yet prevailed." (Note 17)

An obviously conscientious former IAS officer, M.G. Devasahayam, writing in a newspaper column, recently
summed up the changes in the adm inistrative services in angry and cynical but poignant words thus:

"A new word, " Robberocracy", is floatin garound to describe corruption in our bloating bureaucracy. But there is
much more to the rottenness of governance than just corruption by some " babus" The fact is that India's democracy is slo
wly dr ifting towards "Kle ptocracy" - a system of non-governance characterized by injustice and rampant greed. While
politicians are at the center of this galaxy, civil servants, police officials and even the judiciary orbit around them.

Politicians and bureaucrats have lorded over this count ry for over five decades, preserving and, in fact, adding to
the oppressive and draconian laws that were imposed upon us by our colonial masters. The legal and administrative sys-
tems in the country have become unjust and oppressive, primarily because each department, agency or bureau was created
at the behest of intere st groups bent on deriving an advantage from the existing political system.

While leaders may come and go with each election, the basic function of the democratic system, as being prac-
ticed today, has not been to protect the common man an d his property, but to allocate privile gesand benefits to those who
are in powe r. Many regulations are rationalized on the pretext of serving the public good, but the end result has been a
system of mercantilism that makes econom ic rights subservient to political interests and power games.

This corruption and ravaging of the democratic system- " State Kleptoc racy"- is a process which has severely
distorted our democratic system, especially since 1975 when it received a severe jolt during Emergency. That happened
because a kle ptocracy availin g of the resources of the State had to develop the mentality of the conqueror and function as
a petty autocrat. State Kle ptocracy has eaten into the moral fiber of the nation as a whole . The reason: at the core of our
political system is theft. The holders of political power, for the benefit of themselves and their cohorts, comm andeered the
resources of the State to a shocking extent. And they still continue to do so.

Though politicians are the largest beneficiarie s of state kle ptocracy, bureaucrats are its main perpe- trators, either
by complicity or through compliance. Ironically, despite enjoying unique constitution al safe- guards unheard of elsewhere
in the world, many are also the prime victims of the rot. In a kleptocracy, merit is the first casualty. Competent and con-
scious civil servants have been at the receivin g end for qu ite some time. Instruments like frequent and arbitrary transfers,
humiliating assignments are freely used to subdue upright and uncompromising civil servants. Even the highest offices at
the Secretary level are not spared from arbitrary and whimsical shuffling. The cumulative effect of all these is to reduce a
covenanted and once proud civil service into a " lackey outfit" and a service for the mute.

47
 This is the tragedy of governance in India. Our founding fathers had pinned great faith on the "eli te civil services"
to steer the nation "on an even kee l" in the midst of political and social convulsions. For that purpose, they had conferred
unprecendented constitutional protection on this " privile ged" lot. This faith has been betrayed. " Super-bureaucrats " who
willingly formed part of the " loot-and-sh are system" have spear- headed this betrayal. Till recently, these civil servants
were respected. But not any lo nger. The status and prestige these "super-bureaucrats" enjoy is no longer because of "dis
tinct ion of servic e " but due to "bor- rowed power and reflected glo ry". The high dowry tag young "super-burea ucr ats"
enjoy is the outcom e of this " power to loot".
Despite public revulsion against corruption, political parties are ganging up to see that "corruption is not an issue "
in public life and the pillars of governance- the Legislature , Judiciary and Executive- seem to be endorsing it. How else
does one explain the continuous farce on the Lok Pal Bill and fear, even amon g the highest j udici ary, to pronounce
against corrupt power wiel ders?.
With bureaucrats in good humour - thanks to massive hikes in salaries and othe r perks without any corresponding
demands for efficiency and integrity- and policemen wielding unbridled power with draconian statutes like POTA, the
path is clear for kleptocracy , a "government of the thieves, by the thie ves, for the thie ves". Unless this degeneration is
arrested and good, honest governance restored , the inevitable drift towards " kle ptocracy-autocracy " that would drag
one-sixth of the human race towards political and eco- nomic ruin cannot be halted. In the event, people must seriously
consider dumping the present system of government and opting for an alternative ." (Note18)

The Judiciary

There is a widespread consensus among experts and academic commentators of all hues that if there is one institu-
tion that has held its ground and has presented a proud account of itself in free and democratic India it is the Judiciary. No
doubt this is mainly due to the huge role that judicial activism has played over the years under the leadership of judges like
the former Chief Justices Krishna Iyer and P.N. Bhagwati but also due to the fact that the judicia ry, at least the highest
levels of it, has been re latively l ittle degraded by the crippling corruption seen in the other institutions of governance. The
judiciary has on the whole upheld and asserted its right of judicial review over the years and has managed the change of its
perception of it's own role and that of the public of it's role in Indian democracy with the times , in a positive sense and
with a lot of popular approval it might even be said.

Our modern legal system owes its origin to the Anglo Saxon system oflaw and jurisprudence intro- duced to this
country by the British. That system, of course, in a classical sense, is based on a certa in de gree of rather strong commit-
ment towards removal of arbitrariness and on fair play. And with no special treatment for caste or even class or any of the
other myriad lines of division that is the reality of India and has been for thousands of y ars. Naturally there fore, arguably
the oppressed and dominated did find a certain level of fairness in the colonial system of law. The law was run not just by
the English but also by a whole class of English educated Indians who saw it their professional duty to deliver a water tight
and fair non -a rb itrary system of Anglo- Saxon system of justice that they were trained in and practic ed. It is testim ony
to the high regard with which the judicial institution was held even in colonial India that there were the least apprehensions
expressed upon the judiciary and the need for its reform in the Constituent Assembly to frame the new Constitution of a
free India. There were some voices of caution ne verthe less. Nehru had warned the assembly for instance thus:-
" No Supreme Court and no judiciary can stand in judgment over the sovereign over the sovereign will of Parlia-
ment, representing the will of the entire community ... Ultimately, the whole constitution is a creation of Parliament".
(Note 19)

As a conse quenc e of this stance from our stalwart leaders of the freedom movement or due to the huge reverence
with which they were held possibly, the courts for many years were totally inclined towards restraint and held the view
that any and every part of the Constitution is freely amendable. In the famous Sajjan Singh Case in 1964, for instance, the
courts refused to entertain a petition challenging the Constitution (Seventeenth) Amendment Act under the Article 31A for
violation of fundamental rights.

48
 The court asserted its independence and right of judicial review for the first time in the famous Golaknath Case in
1967 when the first, fourth and the seventeenth amendments were challenged and the court by a majority of 6-5 held that
Parliament does not posses the authority to amend the chapter on Fundamental Rights with respect to Article 13(2) of the
Constitution. Thereafter in 1969 and in 1970, Indira Gandhi's attempted nationalization of the banking industry and the abo-
lition of privy purses of the rulers of Indian states respectively, were stopped by the court and declared unconstitutional.
Clearly by the beginning of the seventies the court had already asserted fully its independence and its right of judicial re-
view. This new activism it has to be said was not something that all judges approved of trained as they were in the English
styled Anglo-Saxon legal traditions with its heavy emphasis on restraint.

Indira Gandhi had got fed up of the judicial fetters on her monarchical control of the country and in 1971 got the
parliament which was totally under her control due to the huge majority that her party enjoyed to pass the Constitution
(Twenty Fifth) Amendment Act which amended Articles 13 and 368 of the Constitution providing Parliament the authority
to amend any part of the Constitution. Thus the obstacles against amending the constitution set in the Bank Nationalization
Case and the Privy Purse Case were done away with. These steps of her regime against the power or the right of judicial re-
view came up for review in 1973 in the historic Kesavananda Bharati Case, also known as the Fundamental Rights Case
where the court laid down that the Parliament sitting in its constituent capacity does not have the authority to amend the
basic structure of the constitution but did not define explicitly what should be regarded as the basic structure. The Supreme
Court ruled that there were inherent limitations in the amendment power of the Constitution and laid down that the courts
have the power to declare a substantive amendment void. Later in 1975 Indira Gandhi tried to reopen the judgment in this
case but ultimately in an interesting and somewhat mysterious episode the case failed to be reconsidered by the courts when
Chief Justice Ray dissolved the bench on November 12, 1975 .

The courts started becoming about this period onwards an avenue for expression of popular discon- tent as it were. It
is interesting that our judges back then, otherwise trained in stiff anglo-saxon traditions of restraint should have adopted this
role and played along with it. One clue as to why they may have done so can be found in the following comment by Justice
Krishna Iyer, the original champion of judicial activism in this coun ty, in the Fertiliser Corporation Case in 1981:-
"We have no doubt that in a competition between courts and the streets as dispenser of justice, the rule of law must
win the aggrieved person for the law courts and wean him from the lawless street".

The late sixties onwards there was a great leftist upheaval countrywide and worldwide feeding on the economic
disparities and the perceived failure of the promises of freedom. Even slogans like "Azadi jhoota haey" were finding willing
and sympathetic listeners. The Naxal movement was growing and there were violent strikes all the time allover the country
by the oppressed and the underprivileged. It is possible the judges felt that all this would culminate in a violent revolution
that would overthrow not just the system as was the avowed leftist aim at the time but also a central part of that system, the
judiciary itself. Consequently as custodians of that system of justice they had felt obliged to act to aid the mitigation of
the misery of the ' oppressed and the mute ' before it got too late. This view was also held outside the country. For instance
Lord Scarrnan in his Hamlyn Lectures in 1974 commented as follows:-
" .. . there are in the contemporary world challenges, social, political and economic, which if the system cannot meet the will
destroy it. These challenges are not created by lawyers; they certainly cannot be suppressed by lawyers: they have to be met
either by discarding or by adjusting the legal system. Which is to be?."

Whatever may have been the motivat io ns, the stance of activism took by the court under the leader- ship of Justice
Krishna Iyer and later by Justice Bhagwati gave birth to the PIL (Public Interest Litigation) movement in this country which
in its extent and scope became (and is) quite unparalleled anywhere in the world. For instance even a postcard from a dis-
tressed citizen anywhere in the country can be treated as a petition by the court and the court can act upon it. Similarly the
courts have taken and do take cognizance even of newspaper reports and suo moto acted and act upon it to order relief.

49
 The rationale that the bench had for interfering in the seemingly executive realm goes a bit like the following-a
comment from Justice Krishna Iyer in his book 'Justice at the Crossroads' :
" ... all public power is people's trust and so even judicial power has a fiduciary component......Executive power is
accountable to the Parliament and Parliament to the people. Judicial power is not accountable to the Executive nor to the Par-
liament in any direct sense. The Judiciary by deriving its power from the Constitution, its accountability to the people cannot
be negated... .. .". (Note 20)
The Judiciary had proudly and openly begun to acknowledge its changed role by the late eighties. For instance the
Supreme Court commented in 1989 in Asif Hameed VS. State of J&K as follows:
"Although the doctrine of separation of powers has not been recognized under the Constitution in its absolute rigidi-
ty but the Constitution-makers have meticulously defined the functions of various organs of the State. Legislature, Executive
and Judiciary have to function within their own spheres demarc ated under the Constitution. No organ can usurp the func-
tions assigned to another,....... .Judiciary has no power over sword or the purse nonetheless it has power to ensure that the
aforesaid two main organs of the state function within the constitutional li mits . It is the sentinel of democracy. Judicial re-
view is a powerful weapon to restrain unconstitutional exercise of power by the legislature and executive. The expanding
horizon of judicial review has taken in its fold the concept of social economic justice."
Gradually the PIL phenomenon took such hold that court was being moved by the late nineties for anything and eve-
rything . Whether the cause was removing bill boards from the skyline of Bombay or eliminating the dangue fever that
struck Delhi or dealing with the menace of mosquitoes in Koch i, the High Courts and the Supreme Courts were issuing di-
rections and taking compliance reports from the executive. The executive had become in many cases like a reporting authori-
ty before the courts.
With the onset of the nineties and as liberalization and privatization became fashionable and the accepted wisdom of
the day worldw ide, there was a general movement towards 'less government' or a certain demand for withdrawal of the state
to put it bluntly and somewhat cynically. It was possibly this new mood that the courts couldn't stay free from or a genuine
concern among the judges that the PIL revolution had led to certain abuses and to a certain trivializing of the courts, but the
courts have now firmly turned away from its spirit of activis m. In judgment after judgment the courts have been making it
clear over the past decade that they want to stop covering as it were for the failure of the other organs of the state. For in-
stance in Peerless General Finance & Investment Co. Ltd and another VS. Reserve Bank of India in 1992 Justice Kasliwal
observed:-
"The function of the Court is to see that lawful authority is not abused but not to appropriate to itself the task en-
trusted to that authority."
Similarly the Supreme Court refused to intervene in the famous Narmada Bachao Ando/an Case in 2000 and in the
BALCO Case in 2001 on the plea that it is not for the court to interfere in the framing and implementation of public policy.
It is a tragedy arguably that the same court that had once intervened bravely and shown great activism to come fo the aid of
the poor, the needy and the 'mute' because the other organs and institutions of the state had failed in its duties towards them
now suddenly decides that it wants to withdraw and not intervene even though there is no evidence that those other organs
have now started succeeding and deliv ring where they had failed earlier , or in deed, that where the government wasn't scru-
pulously constitutional always earlier, they are so nowadays. Recently the court has even while refusing to come to the aid of
lakhs of sacked employees of the Tamil Nadu government questioned their right to strike that is of course a fundament al
right or has been taken to be so thus far. Again in the matter of disinvestments and privatization of the PSU's in some cases,
the court has been asked to intervene where a sell off has been sought to be carried out without parliamentary approval
and on the basis of mere executive decisions even though the nationalizations of those PSU's had been originally carried
out by acts of parliament. So far the courts have not acted to intervene.

50
 The Police

The Police is part of the executive but as the principal agent of the internal sovereignty of the state its role
is very important particularly in a country like India that is yet to fully adapt to the idea of democracy. The writ of the
state on the ground is maintained by the police and if its fails then for all practical purposes the state could be said to
be not in existence. The capacity of the police to secure lives and property, to maintain law and order and play a fair
and efficient role in the administration of justice is vital for the state to be seen and perceived as legitimate and fir it
to be viable particularly in a country beset with problems of insurgencies of all kinds often encouraged by hostile
neighbors. That is why it is no surprise that in parts of the nation where insurgency has been a problem the police
have always been among the main targets.
The police structure is substantially same as now as it was a hundred years ago--the structure established
by the British Raj. But there is a perception, that while corruption and inefficiency has been a problem with other
branches of the executive as well it has been particularly badly so with the police ser vices. The situation has
reached such dire straights, that nowadays, lucrative postings in some states like UP are auctioned informally to the
highest bidder. Corruption in the police existed even in colonial India. The Police Commission of 1902-03 had
found evidence of corruption in all levels of the police but particularly among Station House Officer (SHO)s.
Over the years the situation has steadily deteriorated partly due to political in terference. In states, where the
police is under the control of the state governments there is a constant threat on individual officers to do the
bidding of the political masters, if they are to avoid arbitrary and difficult postings as punishment. That can often
means a total compromising of professional fairness and norms, even to the extent of filing false cases against the
enemy of the political master he or she is serving under. Also of course, if the officer has paid his way to where he
has reached, he is under pressure to recover his ' in vestmen t' . That can only mean doing one's duty as part of the
corruption machine as vigorously as possible. •
As it is due to the low pay and harsh working conditions of the police forces, traditionally the forces have
always attracted only the second best talent particularly in the non-officer ranks . They have also thereafter often
been undereducated, undertrained and underpaid with the focus from the government being on quantity rather than
qua li ty. To top it all is the lure of illicit earnings and the whole structure supporting that mode of working. So much so
that if you choose to be honest you may even find yourself at the receiving end false vigilance cases.
The Rudolphs argue that part of the perceived failure of the police forces has more to do with the chaotic
evolution of Indian democracy and the social revolutions rather than any extraordinary inadequacy in the forces or
the people who join the forces. They comment on it thus:
" ... the problems are due to the fact that India is conducting its social revolution in incremental fashion, through
decentralized and sporadic disorder rather than a concentrated revolutionary act. The Indian social structure is being
challenged both from below and above. The challenge from below comes from the social classes and the challenge
from above comes from legislation - agrarian reforms, provisions favoring untouchables and backward classes-
that enables the demands of the underprivileged.......A weakened professional force must mediate sporadic class
and community conflicts in which its own cadres have divided loyalties". This is of course particularly so, for instance,
in the class conflicts in Bihar where the Maoist ultra cadres are almost always from the exploited lowest castes and
the police officers particularly the IPS offic- ers in charge of suppressing and containing their revolt are from
educated and well off upper castes. Similarly when a poli ticia,n like Mayawati of the BSP carries out mass transfers of
senior officers, there has often been ' allegations of caste bias. In some situations there has been real cruelty and
ruthlessness from the forces and they have come to be regarded as instruments of state terror at the behest of class
or communal or caste interests . The police action in Punjab and Kashmir to tackle insurgencies and in Gujarat during
the communal riots at the beginning of this decade or in occasional incidents of caste violence in Haryana, UP and
Bihar have all raised serious questions, to put it mildly on the professional capacity, independence and fairness of the
police forces and on its ultimate capacity for a legitimate and enabling role in Indian democracy. Experts like the
Rudolph's quoted above conclude:

51
 "... .. ..even critical accounts acknowledge that there are honest, responsible officers, capable of inspiring
ordinary police cadres with a sense of mission and obligation . Such officers have to cope with a maze of local
and higher-level loyalties, interests and powerful persons and with poorly educated, poorly trained and poorly
equipped personnel. Elected politicians and their party governments have so far found it easier to misuse the police
politically than to support them professionally. The Indian state is paying the price for these failures in declining le-
gitimacy and effect iveness. (Note 2 I)

The Military
The military is part of the executive and would not deserve separate treatment excepting for the fact that in
the immediate neighborhood oflndia the military has been the ruler for almost all of it's history in one country (Paki-
stan) and has been in charge in another (Bangladesh) until very recently and provides the power behind the throne
in still another (Nepal). Also in repeated situations when Indian democracy has looked like it is failing to keep
people attracted to the idea of a democratic and secular India like in the insurgency hit states of Kashmir or the
North Eastern states, notwithstanding the foreign meddling and encouragement of terrorism, the army have had to
be called out sometimes for periods of time extending over a decade to deal with the situation. If this hasn't politicized
the military so far more than it has or even not all, then it is a miracle of sorts considering the experience in other
countries, particularly other third world countries of Asia and Africa and is a tribute to it's great professionalism and
intrinsic institutional strength.

Like most other institutions of the executive, the modem Indian military has its professional origins in British
India and was raised as part of the imperial army. The high standards of professional excellence were its own ideals
for a very long time, perhaps more so than other British Raj institutions because it had duty to do all over the world
and in both world wars. This was also the reason that it attracted the best and brightest in the country even after in-
dependence - a fact that has changed rapidly over the years and now the impression is that it is only the chiidren
of rural peasantry who are coming forward the most for the armed services careers. This is partly due to the rela-
tively modest pay scales compared to for instance in the private sector but also due to the fact that issues like re-
cruitment, promotions and policy making particularly with respect to arms purchases and procurement have occa-
sionally come under a cloud of corruption and nepo- tism and has as a consequence created an impression that pro-
fessional satisfaction, honesty and a system of fair rewards is not to be found anymore in the armed forces. Scan-
dals like the Tehelka episode and the charges against the armed forces brought by the former Admiral Vishnu
Bhagwat have tarnished the image of the armed forces and its public perception hugely. It is only an occasional Kar-
gil like episode and the huge personal sacrifices made by the foot soldiers in wars like those that bring back the ef-
fusive appreciations from time to time.

The Army has again and again been called in to intervene in the aid of civil power to deal with communal un-
rest arising out religious, linguistic, caste and class confrontations. This is dangerous of course in that it provides an
opportunity for politicization of the armed forces. Stephen Cohen says, " it is tempting to ask the military to serve po-
litical ends - increasingly as saviors of the law and order situation - but each such request further politicizes the mili-
tary by bringing them in too close contact with civilian society and by placing more and more civilian tasks in their
hands ". (Note 22)
In conclusion one wit! have to admit that even after all the difficulties, the military services have maintained
their professional standing and autonomy and not compromised it as much as other institutions and bureaucratic ser-
vices.

The Election Commission

The elections in India are conducted by the Election Commission under the Article 324 of the Consti- tution
which grants it the status of a constitutional authori ty. The fact that it is a constitutional authority ha s

52
meant that it certainly does have the legal or technical basis to take on the political class if necessary and assert
itself. While earli e r there has been few conflicts if any between the political class or the parliament and the Elec-
tion Commission, since the last decade and since the time of the former Chief Election Commis- sioner (CEC), T.N.
Seshan who became famous for taking on the politicians and the parliament, the office of the comm issio ner and the
position ofChiefElection Commissioner have taken on an aura all of its own and have become a symbol of the fight
against corruption in politics in particular but also in the society in general. The present CEC, James Michael
Lyngdoh as of writing is also on a path of conflict of sorts with the government at the center. This standing up to
the politicians and the assertion of independence before the central government has come to be cheered by the
media and the middle class. On issues like the code of conduc t for political parties and rules pertaining to cam-
paigning and candidature and the attempted strict enforcement of the same by the commission has put it on the path
of conflict with the politicians of all parties and groupings with often the judiciary being asked to be the arbitrator at
the end.

This conflict has been particularly ugly in the matter of deciding the conditions and the dates for holding
polls. For instance after the Gujarat riots in the early part of this decade, there was acrimonious disagreement
between the CEC, Mr. Lyngdoh and the BJP governments both at the center and the states with things falling to
such a low level at one point that Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister, took to alleging in public meetings that he
being a Christian, he meets Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the opposition of Italian Roman Catholic origin in Church
and discusses plans to oust his government. This blatant allegation of partiality was prompted by the essential
disagreement between the CEC and the BJP on conditions for holding polls in Gujarat post riots. The CEC was of
the opinion that since many of the riot victims had fled their homes and had not returned, polls cant be held till they
return and a revision of electoral rolls has been carried out. The BJP felt this was a deliberate view taken by the
CEC to prevent the BJP from winning elections since he was biased against the party. The CEC on his part stuck to
his guns and even toured the riot hit areas with television cameras trailing him. He was seen by the nation on live
television scolding the local officials loudly wondering if he is a "joker" for suggesting that things are normal when
everybody could see that they weren ' t. The BJP of course had taken the view that the few members of the minority
who had fled don ' t matter since they were a minority of a minority and wouldn ' t anyway tilt the results from
what they would be. The judiciary as usually happens was pulled in and was ultimately asked to fix the poll dates
and arbitrate the situation.

More recently when the central government toiled with the idea of holding state assembly and Lok Sabha
elections together, he laughed at the idea openly and contemptuously of the Home Minster who had made it and
said where would be the troops to organize the security for such an exercise. He went on to make fun of the sug-
gestion and of the minister making it by suggesting that we would need to borrow "troops from Bangladesh and
Pakistan" for it and wondered if the minister would like that or countenance the idea knowing fully well of course
that a BJP minister would feel insulted and outraged possibly at the mere suggestion. The point Lyngdoh was
making was again expressed recently in a media interview by him as follows:
" Where are the paramilitary forces for such a gigantic exercise? Even today the Home Ministry is not able
to cough up the requisite numbers required.". (Note 23)

The actions and conduct of the CECs during the past decade, particularly ofT.N. Seshan and the present
CEC J.M . Lyngdoh have granted the institution of the Election Commission a new respect un- matched by any
other of all the institutions of governance with the exception of possibly the judiciary. It is not just the educated mid-
dle class and the media domestically who have noted the changes in this institution and have come to admire the
roles that individuals and the organization have played. The world has also taken note and admired. It is no coin-
cidence that both T.N. Seshan and J.M. Lyngdoh have now won the Ramon Magsaysay award. That a politician
like the former cricketer Imran Khan in a neighboring country like Pakistan where you ant say anything admiring
of India actually said on record that Pakistan would need CEC's and an Election Commission like in India to have
free and fair elections.
The respect that the institutions of governance like the Election commission and the Supreme Court

53
have won owe a lot to the new media omnipresence particularly of the television broadcasting industry. It is
harder now for politicians and political parties to hide or fudge or manipulate the reality because the new
media is making it possible for people to see everything even "live" as it happens leaving no time for reaction
or manipulation. In a sense the media achieves more in the end perhaps than the efforts of brave individuals
like Lyngdoh.
The Election Commission, try as it does, has had only limited success in ensuring free and fair elections
over the years because the progressive criminalisation of Indian politics has meant that efforts at booth rigging
for instance during election have increased and not decreased. The quality of the political parties and leaders
have continued to fall and winning by hook or crook is now the respectable and established priority. As Lyngdoh
himself says, for instance, in the interview quoted from above apprehending the developments in the run up to
state elections at the end of 2003:
"The states which are going to the poll don't have a particularly good record in terms of administra- tion.
There's widespread corruption and cheating (in these states) and one is expecting violence too, whic h will be
difficult°to control. Already, several politicians are busy tamperin g with the electoral rolls, knocking off names
of people who should be there. And we are trying to keep the rolls as clean as possible. We're just about manag-
ing to cope with all this cheating. It's like a scene out of Gogol :S· Dead Soul... .. ...Ins tead of getting a chance
to perfect the system of allowing for smooth elections, They have been reduced to playing a cop, whose job is to
catch people doing all kinds of underhand thin gs". He further says that four years as EC has convinced him that
the nation ' s founding fathers had never anticipated a situation where the government in power "would resort to
wholesale cheating in order to win an election". He makes the point that while "....the law has a provision where
an individual can be penalized for wrong doing, but they have no provision for the wholesale subterfuge going
on today. Politicians put their chamchas in important positions, who then go on to manipulate the electoral rolls
and give sanctions to all kinds of projects without the basic norms being in place". (Note 24)
As a general comment on the deterioration in the institutions and quality of governance generally and
the reason for the decline he says:
"Abdic atio n by the government has created a huge hole which is being filled by obscure elements, who
have risen from the shadows to torment society". It is an instructive comment on the changing nature, the role
and the decline of institutions in India when J.M. Lyngdoh, a life-long practicing bureaucrat and a constitution-
al author ity, concludes that:
"There are two places in the country where one can do a tremendous amount of work. One is the Su-
preme Court and the other is the Election Commission. Both these places enjoy constitutional author ity - in all
other positions one is being compromised all the time and so it becomes impossible to fulfill ones aspirations."
(Note 25)
NOTES:
(I) Professor Mahendra Prasad Singh, Chapter 1, 'Evolution of the State', in 'Indian Political System'
(Jnanada Prakashan , New Delhi), Edition of 1995, Pages 2-4.
(2) Ibid.on Page 5.
(3) Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, 'In Pursuit of Lakshm i, The Political Eco nomy of the
Indian State' (Orient Longman, New Delhi), Reprinted 1998, Pages 63-68.
(4) Granville Austin, ' The Indian Constitution', Page 186.
(5) Ibid. on Page 49.
(6) See (3) on pages 68-71.
(7) See (1) on pages 123-125.
(8) Bipan Chandra, Mr idula Mukherjee , Aditya Mukherjee, 'India after indepe nde nce , 1947 2000', Page 55.

(9) See (1) on page 191.

(10) See (1) on' page 19 2.
(11) See (I) on pages r87-189.
(12) Prof. S.K.Chaube, ' The governor 's role', in (1) above on pages 197- 199 .

54
(13) Ibid.
(14) Quoted in W.H. Morris Jones,'The Government and Politics of India', page 26.
(15) See (3) on pages 75-82.
(16) " An Indian Personality for Television: Report of the Working Group on Software for Doordarshan",
pt.2, published unofficially in Mainstream, April 14, 21, 28,1984 and May 1984 (Nehru no.).
(17) See (3) above on page 83.
(18) ' From bureaucracy to 'kleptocracy' ... ', The Indian Express, I 8 t11 of July, 2003.
(19) Constituent Assembly Debates, Vol. IX, pp.1495.
(20) Justice Krishna Iyer, 'Justice at the Crossroads', p.266.
(21) See (3) above on pp.94-95.
(22) ' The Military and India's Democracy', Stephen Cohen, March, 1985.
(23) ' Guts, Grit & Gumption... ', The Times ofl nd ia, 17 th of August, 2003.
(24) Ibid.
(25) Ibid.

SUGGESTED READING :

(I) Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, 'In Pursuit of Lakshmi, The
Political Economy of the Indian State' (Orient Longman, New Delhi), Reprinted 1998 .
(2) Professor Mahendra Prasad Singh, 'Indian Political System'(Jnanada Prakashan, New
Delhi), Edition of 1995.
(3) Bipan Chandra, Mridula Mukherjee , Aditya Mukherjee , 'India after lndependence--1947-
2000' (Penguin Books), Edition of 2000.

55
 UNIT IV LESSON 5
JUDICIAL ACTIVISM

Amaresh Ganguly
Reader
Zakir Hussain College
University of Delhi
LEARNING GOALS

After reading this Chapter, you will be conversant with:

• What is 'Judicial Activism'?

• The origin and history of judical activism worldwide
• Judicial activism in India - its origin & development
• Current trends of judicial activism in India
• The authors critique of judicial activism

'JUDICIAL ACTMSM', the phrase, is not a legally defined term and never has been. There are no defini-
tions provided by the law books. Indeed, after a perusal ofits character over the last hundred years or so, it became
apparent to this author, that possibly its best that the term be left undefined though not unexplored and undis-
cussed. For only by thoroughly discussing its history and itsevolution over time and indeed its current trends, we
can come the closest, as close as we can ever come, it would seem, to understanding the phenomenon enough, to
not feel the need foradefinition. Indeed it would be dangerous to attempt any definitions because one can only de-
fine what is constant and unchanging and not what is changing constantly.
Of course that doesn't mean we don't know what judicial activism means. All of us know and realize, that
the phenomenon, witnessed in India for instance particularly in the last fewdecades and not earlier, where the judi-
ciary, one of the four organs by definition of ademocratic state, acting either ofits own volition or upon being
moved by actions brought before it, acts to use its authority particularly against the .state itself, to relieve the viola-
tions of the violated, the oppressions of the oppressed and the misery of the neglected and the abandoned among us
to the extent that it can. When we witness the court ordering land taken from tribals by the state or private business
to be returnecl to them or for them to be suitably compensated for it or when the court orders special schools from
goverment funds for the children of prostitutes or the restoration of Himalayan rock faces defaced by Pepsi or
Coke advertisementsacting suo moto entirely on the basis of newspaper reports, we intuitively know what judicial
activism isor should be and indeed can be.
At various timesin historyandin different jurisdictions judicial activism has been referred tovariously. From
being referred to as 'innovative interpretation' to 'judicial review' to 'liberal interpretation' to 'social action litiga-
tion' to 'public interest litigation' and 'class action suits', the essential social or political action and ofcourse judicial
action that can besaid to constitute judicial activism, haschanged nomenclature constantly in how tt has been popu-
larly referred to as. But all through legal experts or theorists have consistently tended tosee activism as the oppo-
site of what they call 'judicial restraint' , the classic guiding philosophy of Anglo-sax.on law, now thankfully much
challenged and rendered somewhat outdated asa consequence ofacentury ofactivism worldwide. Restraint, or self-
restraint rather for there is no authority above the judiciary and in a position to order itor command it toensure or
force restraint , simply means, the judiciary restraining itself from evolving and developing the law too much and
instead sticking to the law as it is understood to be and accepted to be at a particular point in time. The history of
activism is really of one of a conflict between adherence to the notion of restraint on the one hand and the tempta-
tion or the need for judicial review and activism on the other. Indeed the course of this history can be traced by
tracing the swings of the pendulum from restraint to activism and back. The future can be predicted again on
which way the pendulam will swing next.

56
 Legal practitioners like Justice M.N.Rao define" the concept of judicial activism", as"another name for in-
novative interpretation" (of the law) from the purely law practitioners stand point where they see judgements by
judges unrestrained by classic principles and precedents to go the extra mile as it were in seeking redress and relief
for litigants as constituting activism and of course believe it is usually a role entirely for the judges or the bench.
(Note 1) Many of us would find that attitude slightly arrogant no doubt because we all know that it is the common
people who bring the causes of action before the courts giving the necessary opportunity to the judges to be activist.

The politician or the professional practitioner of the legislature, responds to that in various ways but almost
always without welcome. Sample this comment from former US SenatorSam Ervin:"Ajudicial activist is a judge
who interprets the Constitution to mean what it would have said ifhe instead of the Founding Fathers had written
it", the founding fathers being the leaders from history of that country like George Washington, who led the inde-
pendence movement against British rule and drafted the Constitution. Or this resolution of the US Senate Republi-
can Conference in 1997 :

"Be it resolved, that the Republican Conference opposes judicial activism, whereby life-tenured
w1accountable judges exceed their constitutional role of interpreting already enacted, written law, and instead legis-
late from the bench by imposing their personal preferences or views of what is right or just . Such activism threat-
ens the basic democratic values on which our Constitution isfounded". (Note 2)
One definition of activism, partly in jest, goes thus : " What is Judicial Activism?.
The terms"judicial restraint" and 'Judicial activism" describe howajudge, that ishow he applies the law to
facts in the cases before him. The difference is that restrained judges take the law ..as it is and activist
judges make up the law as they go along.
Restrained judges respect the political process, whether they agree with its results o, . Jt, until it clearly
crosses aclear constitutional line. Activist judgesfeelfree tore-write statutes orthr Constitution, to use extra-
legal factors in their decisions, to ignore limits on their power in the search for desirable results to which one
ofthe most arrogant retorts imaginableis from ChiefJustice Charles Evans Hughes: The Constitution is what
the judges say it is".
(Note 3)

Most legal commentators like Justice M.N.Rao trace the ' OR1GIN & HISTORY OFJUDICIAL ACTIV-
ISM WORLDWIDE' to 1804 when hesays judicial activism was "born" (note 4) with thedecision by the Supreme
Court of the United States of America in Marbury VS. Madison (citation 1) that constitutional lawyer Anil
B.Divan calls "perhaps the most famous case in.American legal annals" which "established finnly the principle of
judicial review and the power ofacon titutional court to invalidate law as being inconsistent with the fundamental
law, viz, the Constitution .....'' (Note 5).

The facts of the case make fascinating reading. The year was 1800, and George Washington's party the
Federalists' who had been throughout in power lost the elections, both for th ,. Presidency and the Congress. Thom-
as Jefferson was elected President and was scheduled to assume office from President Adams in March, 180 1 . The
judiciary it seemed remained the only refuge of the Federalis ts. President Adams appointed John Marshall his Secr
tary of State as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court where the tenure ofappointment then and to this day is for
life. This ploy was commented upon his inauguration by President Jefferson who had written that the Federalists
have "retreated into the judiciary as a stronghold, the tenure of which renders it difficult to dislodge them". In addi-
tion President Adams had appoi nted 42 justices of the peace for the District of Colombia. He gotthe lame-duck
Senate to hastily confim1e them. Adams, late on the last night in office signed their commissions and rushed them
by messengerto Marshall still acting as Secretary of State to affix the great seal of the United States, but in the hur-
ry and confusion one Marbury's Commission was lost. Later Marbury applied directly to the Supreme Court seek-
ing mandamus or issue of his commission as justice of the peace for the District of Colombia. The writ was asked
against the new Secretary of State, James Madison.

57
 The court was in dilemma. If it ordered Madison toexecute the Commission, he would ignorethe order
with the support of the President Jefferson who had termed the appointments as" midni ght judges'". If the court
denied marbury's right to his commission the Jeffersonians would hail it asa victory.Marshall astutely side-steped
and avoided an open clash and escaped from this dilemma. He held that Marbill)' had a legal tight to his commis-
sion; a·writ of mandamus would lie to enforce his rights, but the court had no jurisdiction to issue the VvTit since
the provision of the Act of Congress of 1789 empowering the Supreme Court to exercise original jurisdiction to is-
sue the writ was null and void because the Constitution having defined the Supreme Courts jurisdiction Congress
had no power to change it. Marshall declared the la\\ void as being inconsistent with the supreme law of the Con-
stitution and exerciscdjudicial review. At first thought it might seem that the Federalists lost but Marshall by re-
nouncing a minor power captured a more fundamental and profound one of judicial review. He was now Chief Jus-
tice for life and this judgement meant he would have the power for life to review acts of the Congresscontrolled by
the Jeffersonians and if necessary strike them down. Justice M.N.Rao says as a consequence of this judgement "
the twin concepts of judicial review and judicial activism were thus born" which is the consensus among law ex-
perts and historians as well.

After this ratherdraniaticand glorious beginning however the power of judicial review and activism did not
always have a progressive consequence over the next century and a quarter in America. At various times individ-
ual judges, who were clearly men of their times, used their powers of auth ority and judi civil review to uphold
hideously undemocratic and even racist notions and blocked progressive legi Llli \ e action. For instance in 1857
the American Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Taney ruled in Dred Scott VS. Sandford (citation 2) that
negros were not equal to whites and the rights guaranteed under the Constitution were not available to them. It is
believed that this decisi on had accelerated tile civil war between the Northern and Southern States. The fifth and
later the fourteenth amendent of the American Constitution which extended it to the state enactments as well, had
given the American Supreme Court great power ofjudicial review mandating inter alia that no one shall be de-
prived of lift , liberty or property without due process oflaw. Justice M.N.Rao says as a "result of this decision.
the responsibi lity of the American Supreme Court to interpret the legislative and executive actions in the light of
the due process clause became very great". It seems the court made full useof trus power of interpretation and
hctwcen 1898 and 1937. the American Supreme Court declared 50 Congressional enactments and 400 State laws
as unconsti tutional. Many of these were progressive legis lations brought by progressive aJmin strations who
had the democratic mandate of the people but it seems as Justice M.N.Rao says the "F reedom of contract and
individual rights to property came to be viewed by Judges as paramount and sacred” (note 6) For instance Presi-
dent Roosve lt, arguably the most left leanin g american president ever who wcnt on to win four consecutive
terms, a record unbeaten to this day, and who introduced for America, rather the exploited working class Ameri-
ca, what he called "New Deal" legislations to alleviate their plight and improve their lot in American life faced
the peculiar situation where his legislations were repeatedly struch down by the Supreme Court judges who re-
lied on the commerce clause and kept upholding the free market notion of right tocontract more supreme and
fundamental to the American Constitution. For instance in Lochner VS. New York (citation 3) the Court invali-
dated legislation of the State ofNew York regulating the hours that bakers could work holding that this was a vio-
lation of "liberty of contract"!!. President Roosvelt in response to this activism had no option ultimately other
than adopting what was called the ' court packing plan'. Justice M.N.Rao describes this strategemand itsconse-
quences in theend as follows:-
" The proposal was to retire every Judge who completed the age of 70 years and in his place to appoint two
Judges with the consequence that the majority of the Judges of the Supreme Court Bench would be the nominees
of the President. The President expected support from his nominees. Although this plan did not materialise, it
yielded the desired result in that the court reversed its trend. In fact, this was perceived as a success for the Exec-
utive vis-...-vis the Judiciary". (note 7)

58
 Justice Michael Kirby, aformer Australian ChiefJustice comments on this period in the following words:-
"In the United States of America, the tension between judicial activism and judicial restraint has been pre-
sent since the foundation of the republic and the creation of the Supreme Court.
The history of the Supreme Court of the United States teaches that judicial activism is not confined to a
parti:ular ideological orsocial viewpoint. It may be liberal. But it may also be quite conservative. In the early years
of this century the "judicial activists" on the Supreme Court of the United States impeded legislation enacted by
the Congress, or the legislatures ofthe States, dealing with social oreconomic affairs. Thus legislation governing
child labour, workers' hours and workers' rights were consistently struck down as being violations of the com-
merce clause of the US Constitution or the judicially created doctrine of "liberty ofcontract" under the due process
clause of the 14th Amendment". (note 8)
The next important phase of judicial activism was in the sixties during the reign of Chief Justice Earl War-
ren who has been the most activist judge till date and who had declared upon his appointment • to the Supreme
Court that his appointment was a"mission to do justice". In the first and second Brown Cases (citation 4) under his
leadership the Supreme Court disallowed racial segregation in public schools and extended that prohibition to all
public facilities. The earlier position taken by the court in Plessy VS. Ferguson (citation 5) almost a hundred years
back that blacks could be treated as a separate class but must be provided with equal facilities-separate butequal-
founded on racial discrimination was rejected. Justice M.N.Rao says this was done even "at the risk of disturbing
the institutional comity and delicate balance between the three organs of the State-the Legislature, the Executive
and the Judiciary". (Note 9)
It was during this period that the class action suit or public interest litigation in another name was born. It
is interesting to remember the general historical context inwhich these judicial events were unfolding. The second
world war had ended and the world was flush ,with many ideals--of democracy, equality among men and nations
and between classes if only in theory and among the youth. This was also the period when Martin Luther King's
civil rights movement was at its peak. One cant help but note that the stand that the court was taking wasnt exactly
likely to be unpopular. In general one is tempted to conclude that judicial activism whatever the national and cul-
tural context has been and usually is on the right side of the popular consensus. Judges find the courage to chal-
lenge and stand up to the legislature when they know their stand ll have at least some measure of popular approval.
In the sixties the American Government adopted the policy of affirmative action in order to improve the
economic conditions of the blacks and also remove the sense of injustice blacks as a group had nurtured. The Su-
preme Court turned down challenges to it and tended to uphold the legislative measures enacted. In H Earl
Fullilove VS. Philip M. Klutzniok (citation 6) a provision in the Public Works Employment Act, 1977 requiring
States to procure services or supplies from businesses owned by minority group members was upheld and the court
laid down that it isanecessary step togive effect to the constitutional mandate for equality of economic opportunity.

This progressive trend took an interesting turn the very next year in 1978 in the Regents of the University
of California VS. Allen Bakke (citation 7). Allen Bakke, a whiteman, had failed to secure admission to the Univer-
sity of California Medical School. Thereupon hechallenged a provision whereunder 16% of the seats were reserved
in favour of disadvantaged members of certain minority races (read blacks) as violative of the equality clause of the
american Constitution. The Court while accepting that the principle that race-conscious admission programmes for
the purpose of remedying the effects of past discrimination were legally permissible, sustained thechallenge and
granted relief Justice M.N.Rao comments on the above two cases thus :-

"This decision indicates the anxiety of the Supreme Court to retain its progressive image by not departing
from the earlier precedents but at the same time trying to effectively set at naught the beneficial measures intended
for the advancement of the disabled sections. This was achieved by the court by putting the blame on the University
that itcould not produce evidence todemonstrate that the preferential qualification in favour of the disadvantaged
sections waseither needed or geared to promote the stated goal of delivering health care services to the communities
currently underserved. Both these cases are examples of judicial activism: one to render substantive justice and the
other formal justice". (Note l 0) In 1989, however, the Supreme Court sustained an ordinance upon being chal-
lenged that had been adopted by the Virginia City Council under which non-minority (read white) contractors were
required to give sub-contracts at least to the extent of30% to one or more of the minority (read black) business en-
terprises.

59
 Justice Michael Kirby refers to this period and its aftermath in thefollowing words :-
"In more recent times it has been "judicial activists" of the liberal school who have attracted the ire of Presidents
Nixon, Ford and Reagan. Many a political slogan was devised in the United States to attack what was seen as the
"adventurism" of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren. Yet it was during that time that the Court
took many bold and courageous steps in the interpretation of the US Constitution in matters such as school de-
segregation (described as the Court's "noblest enterprise"); reapportionmentof unequal congressional electorates;
prohibition of school prayer; aid to parochial schools and restraints on police invasions of individual civil liberties.
The critics of thisform of "judicial activism" complained that the Warren Court had promoted equality asthe cen-
tral doctrine of the United States Constitution at the expense of other values embedded in the Constitution and in
society. The critics found most offensive the activist Justice's belief that "progress called history would validate
their course". After this glorious period Justice Kirby says the "appointment of new judges and a long period
ofleadership by Chief Justices wedded to judicial restraint (Chief Justice Burger and Chief Justice Rehnquist)
changed somewhat the debate in the United States". (Note 11)

The class action suits that are regulary filed in the UScourts nowadays particularly against the large multi-
national corporations, for instance the tobacco companies and the compensation awards for the litigants (and their
lawyers .cuts) that they win or some of them that is are the most noteworth y feature currently of judicial activism
in America. Unfortunately this has given rise to a whole class of legal entreprenuers of sorts who specalise in or-
ganising and litigating class actions in exchange for huge commissions from any potential financial windfalls. This
has tended in recent years to take away the moral force behind such actions somewhat and the popular approval
that they have traditionally enjoyed.

Judicial activism becomes relatively easy when there is a written constitution because then there is the fun-
damental structure and the fundamental clauses ofit to defend. Judges can take the pleawhile being activist that they
are defending the basic constitutional structure of the nation, indeed its very nationhood sometimes, and often, as we
have seen in many parts of the world, to great popular approval. In the United Kingdom which has no written con-
stitution but which is the mother nation of the whole system of anglo-saxon law that the legal systems of common-
wealth countries like India and Australia are modelled on,judicial activism or the scope for it has been rather narrow
traditionally. Justice Michael Kirby says" doubtless this was because of the absence of a written Constitution, the ju-
dicial deference to Parliament and to the Executive Government sitting within it derived from the notion that the
Sovereign in Parliament is the source of all power". (Note 12)

Interestingly, all the same its not as if the judiciary has never asserted itself in England. There is the most re-
markable and famous instance from as long back as 1608 AD. (James I and Sir Edward Coke) (citation 8) when in
the court of King James 1, his Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke stood up to him in asserting the competence of his
court. When the King had claimed on November 30, 1608, that since" the judges were but his delegates he could take
any case he chose, remove it from the jurisdiction of the courts and decide it in hjs royal person", Sir Edward Coke
had answered:
"In the presence and with the clear consent of all the judges.......that the King in his own cannot adjudge any
case.......but that it ought to be determined and adjudged in some court of justice, according to the law and customs of
England".
To which James I had replied ''that he thought that the law was founded upon reason, and that he and others
had reason as well as the judges". Upon this, Sir Edward Coke made the famous reply that certainly was the earliest
example of judicial assertion if not activism and that constitutional lawyer Anil B. Divan says "sends a thrill of pride
in every lawyer and every judge after so many centuries". (note 13) He said :

"True it was that God had endowed His Majesty with excellent sense and great endowments of nature; but
His majesty was not learned in the lawsof his realm of England and causes which concern the life or inheritance or
goods or fortunes of his subjects which are not decided by natural reason but by the artificial reason and judgement
oflaw, which law is an act which requires long study and experience, before that a man can attain to the cogniz.ance
of it; that the law was the golden metwand and emasure to try the causes of the subjects".

60
In great offense James had said:
" This means that I shall be under the law which is treason to affirm."
To which Sir Edward Coke had replied :
"That Bracton saith that the King should not be under man but should be under God and law."
Another great English example of judicial assertion in upholding the law against the actions of the state is
from 1941 during the Second World War in the case of Liversidge VS. Anderson (citation 9) in which Lord Atkin
provided a dissenting judgement in the House of Lords.The goverment at the time to deal with the special needs of a
war that was about to happen, issued a regulation under the Defence General Regulations that any person could be de-
tained without trial if the Secretary of State had resonable cause to believe any person to be of hostile origin or asso-
ciation or to have been recently concerned in acts prejudical to the public safety orthe defence of the realm. A person
detained challenged the detention and required particulars of the grounds on which" the Secretary of State has reason-
able cause to believe..." that it was necessazy to exercise control over him. There was doubt as to whether the decision
of the govennent was open to review by the courts. The majority of the House of Lords held in favour of the Goven-
nent but Lord Atkin gave a dissentingjudgement. He argued there was a difference between" if the Secretary of State
thinks he has resonable cause" and "if the Secretary of State has reasonable cause".
He famously put it thus :
"In England amidst the clash ofannsthe laws are not silent. They may be changed, but they speak the same language
in war as in peace. It has always been oneof the pillars offreedom, one of the principles ofliberty for which, on recent
authority, we are now fighting, that the judges are no respecters of persons, and stand between thesubject and any at-
tempted encroachments on his liberty by the executive, alert to see that any coercive action is justified inlaw.In this
case, Ihave listened toarguments which might have been addressed acceptably to the Court OfKings's Bench in the
time of Charles I.
I protest even ifl do it alone, against a strained construction put upon words, with the effect of giving an uncon-
trolled power ofimprisonment to the Minister.
I know of only one authority which might justify the suggested method of construction. "When I use a
word", Humpty Dumpty said in rather ascornful tone, it means just what I chose it tomean, neither more nor less.
"The question is" said Alice,"whether you can make words mean different things". "The question is" said
Humpty Dumpty ''which is to be master-that's all" ( Alice in Wonderland)
After all this long discussion the question is whether the words , "if aman has" can mean "if a man thinks he
has". I am of the opinion that they cannot , and that the case should be decided accordingly".
He also went on to say:
"I view with apprehension the attitude of judges who, on a mere question of construction, when face to face with
claims involving the liberty of the subject, show themselves more executive minded than the executive".
Currently the trend of judicial review of goverment acts and fiats is quite robust in the United Kingdom and
it has generated intense debates on whether it is the right course for that country. The court has been regularly strik-
ing down ministerial decisions and to discuss the issue a debate was held in the House of Lords in 1996 that Justice
Michael Kirby in his lecture referred toabove described extensively while commenting on this new trend of activism.
He says:-
"So vigorous has this process become that it caused a major debate in the House of Lords in June 1996, initiated by
Lord Irvine ofLairg . The noble Lord rose "to call attention to the relationship between the judiciary, the legislature
and the executive and the judicial participation in public controversy". He said that there was :
"unprecedented antagonism between the judges and the Government both over judicial review of ministerial deci-
sions and the restrictions which the government proposed on judicial discretion insentencing. Certainly there have
been a string of decisions striking down Ministerial actions as unlawful . That has even led to some conservative pol-
iticians callingjudicial review itself into question. The public must be perplexed by what they perceive as a major
clash over the distinct roles of parliament, ministers and the judges".
The debate which ensued makes interesting reading for lawyers from countries such as India, Australia and
the United States brought upwith awritten Constitution , a federal system of government and constitutional proce-
dures for judicial review. Lord Irvine cautioned :

61
 "Inexercising their powers of judicial review, the judges should never give grounds for the public to believe
that they intend to reverse government policies which they dislike. That is why I regard as unwise observations off the
Bench by eminent judges that the courts have reacted to the increase in the powers claimed by government by being
more active themselves, and adding for good measure that this has become all the more important at a time of one-
party government. It suggests to ordinary people that judicial invasion of the legislature's turf."
Lord Irvine went on to condemn extra-judicial statements by " distinguished judges " who had suggested that
" in exceptional cases the courts may be entitled to hold invalid statutes duly passed by Parliament". Toa noble Lord,
brought up in the tradition of Diceyand theabsolute supremacy of Parliament, this was heretical and an anathema. Yet
to us who live in federations under the rule oflaw, it is a regular feature of judicial and political life . Other Lords in
the debate noted that it was the growing openness of the judiciary which had led to the comments for which they were
being taken to task. They hoped that the debate would not force judges back into reticence. Lord Wilberforce
acknowledged that there had been ·· a period of" enthusiastic expansion of judicial review since 1968." However, he
suggested that there were " now signs of a rather more cautious attitude in the higher court". This passage, from one of
the great judges of the century, suggested a perception 9fa need to quieten the fears of Parliament and to allow the ex-
pressed anxieties about judicial activism to blow over.
There is much agonising about the"elective dictatorship" of the British system of government and the differ-
ences between the judiciary in a country such as the United Kingdom and that of, say, the United States. Lord Simon
of Glaisdale remarked:
"The first quality that is required of a judge [wasexpressed] when theeminent American judge and jurists Felix
Frankfurter was asked about the three most important judicial qualities, he said, 'First, detachment; secondly, detach-
ment; and thirdly,detachment'. Although I would certainly put detachment first. there is also room for intuition particu-
larly by judges ofinstantjurisdiction, and for logical rigour, particularly on the part of appellate judges. However, I en-
tirely agree that detachment must come first ... We must remember that every time a judge is called to conduct ... an
inquiry , he is embroiled in a controversial issue and his detachment may becompromised. Indeed, the reputation for
detachment of the judiciary as a whole may be compromised."
I could go on with these citations from the United Kingdom debate. It was wound up by the Lord Chancellor
(Lord Mackay of Clashfern). He supported the view that judges have developed the law over the century . B':1t he
went on :
"The extent to which that is permissible for them is not easy to formulate. I have seen various attempts in re-
cent times to define the boundary between what is proper development and what is not. I
find it difficult to enunciate what that boundary is. That can sometimes be seen in the difference of views between my
colleagues as to whether that boundary has been passed. If the boundary were clear, one would not expect such a dif-
ference of opinion.... Development of the law if part of the traditional role of the judges over the years under our sys-
tem. It has been a healthy and a powerful influence on the law and on the development of the Jaw and the protection of
our people in the various centuries when it has been done, and it continues with complete health and robustness at the
present time."
Enough has been said to show that the issue of judicial activism isvery much amatterof controversy and debate
in the country from which the common law has been derived.....". (note 14)

Australia like India is acommonwealthcountry and has the same system of ananglo-saxon legal system that
we have and has a written constitution too, like us. In recent years activism by the Australian Courts has been wonder-
fully seen in for instance the upholding and recognition of the rights of aborogines. The movement towards some activ
ism in that country has happened inspite of a very entrenched long held tradition ofrestraint. This is how Justice
Michal Kirby, an Australian judge himself of the High Court, described the journey in his lecture referred to and ex-
tensively quoted from above :
Some of the controversieswhich have arisen in the United States, the United Kingdom and India have also pre-
sented themselves to the Australian judiciary, more urgently in recent times. For a long period the established doctrine
of the courts ofAustralia was that expressed by Chief Justice Dixon in a passage known to every Australian lawyer and
law student of my generation. Although stated in the context of constitutional interpretation, Sir Owen Dixon's words
had a wider application. He said

62
 "Close adherence to legal reasoning is the only way to maintain the confidence of all parties in federal con-
flicts. It may be that the court is thought to be excessively legalistic. I should be sorry to think that it isanything
else. There is no safer guide to judicial decisions in great conflict than astrict and complete legalism."
In a later address to Yale University in 1955 "Concerning Judicial Method", Chief Justice Dixon accepted
that judges do develop the law. But he was at pains to emphasise that it was a very limited function:
"It is one thing for acourt to seek to extend the application of accepted principles to new cases or to reason
for the more fundamental to settle legal principles to new conclusions or to decide that acategory is not closed
against unforeseen circumstances which might besubsumed thereunder but it was wrong for a judge :
' whoisdiscontented with the result held to flow from along accepted legal principle, deliberately to aban-
don the principle in the name of justice or of social necessity or of social convenience' .
This was the doctrine in which I grew upin the law in Australia. It was the purest version of judicial re-
straint. One ofits most vivid applications came inacomment made by one of the finest judges of the High Court of
Australia (Sir Frank Kitto) in adecision of the High Court of Australia in 1967.In response to a comment by anoth
r fine judge below (who later himself became a Justice of the High Court of Australia, Sir Kenneth Jacobs), Justice
Kitto remarked:
"I think it is a mistake to suppose that the cases concerned with 'changing social needs' or with ' a proposed
new field ofliability in negligence', or that it is to be decided by ' esigning' arule. And if I may be pardoned for say-
ing so, to discuss the case in terms of'judicial policy' and 'social expediency' is to introduce deleterious foreign
matter into the water of thecommon law in which, after all, we have no more than riparian rights."
It is against the background of these exchanges that recent developments in the High Court of Australia ,
and other Australian courts, both in constitutional and general law doctrine seem the more remarkable. This is not
an occasion in which to review the whole range of innovative legal principles which have been stated by the High
Court of Australia in the past decade. But they include, importantly, rulings which have the effect of ensuring legal
assistance in many cases inorder to avoid unfair trial; the exclusion of uncorroborated and unconfirmed police tes-
timony to counteract a judicially perceived problem of unreliable confessions; the over-ruling of the ancient doc-
trine that marriage was ofitself adefence to the complaint by a wife of rape; and most important of all, reversing
nearly 150 years of decisional law in which it had been held that Australia was terra nullius when sovereignty was
acquired by the Crown on British settlement. The Court concluded that Aboriginal and other indigenous peoples
retained their " native title" to land until it had been lawfully extinguished.
In addition to these (and many more) general legal developments, extremely significant decisions of a con-
stitutional character have also been handed down in recent years. Most controversial of these has been the discov-
ery by the High Court of Australia of a new implied constitutional right, in certain circumstances, to protected free
expression about political, economic and related topics. This right, or some aspects of it , is shortly to be re-argued
before the Court. It would therefore not be appropriate for me to reopen the debates here. But it is pertinent to note
that one of the reasons which has been given for the support by the new Australian Federal Government for the
consideration of the constitutional decision is that:
"The role which the Court assumed for itself in these cases involves afundamental shift in political respon-
sibility from the Parliament to the High Court. Politically contentious issues are best handled by the Parliament as
part of the political process and not by the Court ."
The Federal Attorney-General stated that the Government would "seek to reverse the trend towards an in-
terventionist High Court". It would seek to replace constitutional decision-making by the Court by effective legis-
lation by Parliament. The Attorney-General was critical of the failure ofsuccessive Parliaments , Federal and State,
to introduce reforms ofdefamation law. He suggested that it was preferable that such reforms should be made by
the elected representatives of the people rather than by unelected judges.
At this point in his lecture, Justice Kirby continues revealing somewhat what goes on in the mind of a
judge when faced with a situation where he is being forcefully being called upon to be restrained and
activist by opposing schools of thought and/or interests. He says :
"The occasion which has given rise to the application for the reargument of the constitutional principle be-
fore the Court which comprisesseven Justices is the retirement of two of the Justices who were in the majority in
support of the extension of the constitutional right to free speech. They were the former Chief Justice, Sir Anthony
Mason and the present Governor-General of Australia, Sir William Deane.

63
 They have been replaced on the Court by Justice Gummow and myself. I therefore find myself faced with
an almost daily barrage of verbal injunctions eitherto hold the lineon constitutionalfree speech or to retreat to the
proper role of judicial restraint. Naturally, I read all of these opinions avidly. They will be dutifully forgotten as I
enter the Court and concentratemy mind on the adversarial submissions that will be placed before me there." (Note
15)

'JUDICIAL ACTIVISM IN INDIA - ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT' is widely regarded as hav-
ing really started in the seventies. With two major legal developments unfolding over a decade or so. One, the dilu-
tion of the Rule of locus standi and the other the widening of the scope of Article 32 of the Constitution.
Justice Verma who becan1e famous as the Chief Justice presiding over the famous Jain Hawala Case be-
lieves though that the courts in Indiahavealwayshad occasional streaksof activism. He commented in an interview
in 1996 during the Hawala Case asfollows:-
"The judiciary will continue to respond to thechanging needs ofthe times. That is howactivism has evolved.
Let me dispel the popular impressionthat judicial activity began less than two decades ago. The truth is, way back
in 1893, Justice Mehmood of theAllahabad High Court deliveredadissenting judgment which sowed the seed of ac-
tivism in India. It was a case of an undertrial who could not afford to engagea lawyer. So the question was whether
the court could decide his case by merely lookin g at his papers. Mehmood held that the pre-condition of the case
being " heard" (as opposed to merely being read) would be fulfilled only when somebody speaks. Just look at how
that man treated the law asa livingorganism. That is the spirit in which judges engage in activism even today."
(Note 16)
ln the above passage one of the the key phrases is ' the changing needs of the times' which as the discus-
sion that follows will show, it see ms to this author, explains to a major extent the sudden wave of activism that
began the seventies onwards with activist judges like Chief Justice Krishan Iyer being elevated to the position of
Chief JustJce. Judges who acted from astrongsense of "accountability" and responsibilty directly to the people,
there is enough evidence to suggest, and not necessarily to the goverment of the day. Justice Iyer for instance ob-
served in his book ' Justice at Crossroads' thus, making his position and beliefs very clear :
" ....all public power is people's trust and so even judicial power has a fiduciary component
....Executive power is accountable to the Parliament and Parliament to the people. Judicial power is not accounta-
ble to the Execµtive nor to the Parliament in any direct sense. The Judiciary byderiving its power from the Consti-
tution, its accountability to people cannot be negated.......". (note 17)
The question was what should this responsibilty and accountabilty directly to the people of the nation at
large mean-in the event, as the judgements began to roll in over thedecade of the seventies, the judges in their
judgements, made it clear that it should mean alot. Indeed, in legal terms, a whole revolution happened almost
overnight making legal purists very uncomfortable and somewhat scandalised and politicians, some like Indira
Gandhi anyway, very surprised, angry and determined to reign it in if they could.
To begin with it has to be remembered, while traditionally the judiciary has never really cowered before the
executive or the legislature even and has always held on to its right of judicial review it has always been hesitant to
step in and inte1fere. Perhaps because, inanother era and times, the judges, mostly British era veterans trained in
classical anglo-saxon English law, were more imbuebed with that classical training and attitude of restraint. In
1951, when the Constitution (First) Amendment Act was passed abolishing the Zamidari system for instance, it
was challenged in the Shankari Prasad Case (citation 10) on the ground of infringement of fundamental rights but
the challenge was rejected and the court held that the Parliament is authorised to amend any part of the Constitu-
tion including the chapter on fundamental rights. It is interesting to note that the Supreme Court and the judges had
not yet developed the mood, intellectually and otherwise, to start making noises about the "basic structure" of the
constitution ( which they later defined as mainly the chapter on Fundamental Rights) and the need to protect it
from legislative action, the plea that was to become the bulwark of the judical review and activism movement that
was to come later. Perhaps because within just a few years of indepenence, it was not possible for the judges to
stand up to the legislative, given the huge popular respect and reverence with which the Parliament was regarded
by the nation.All the independence movement stalwarts like Nehru were still around who had very firm views on
the role and status of the judiciary as can be gauged from this coment of his in the debate of the Constituen-
tAssemblyto adopt the Indian Constitution :

64
 "No Supreme Court and no judiciary can stand in judgement over the sovereign will of Parliament, repre-
senting the willof the entire community ...Ultimately, the whole constitution isacreation of Parliament". (Note I 8)
The court continued to hold on to the view that any and every part of the Constitution was freely amenda-
ble for quite some time. In 1964, when in the Sajjan Singh Case (citation 11)the Constitution (Seven-
teenth)AmendmentAct was challenged under Article 3lAon the same ground of violation of fundamental rights, a
majority oft:4e bench refused to entertain the challenge.
But in the same year in the fascinating UP Judges Case (citation 12), a massive clash was witnessed be-
tween the judiciary and the legislature. It was an early sign of what was to come later.
The facts of the case read a bit like a thriller. One Keshav Singh (called 'K') published a pamphlet and was
reprimanded as having committed its contempt by the U.P.Legislative Assembly. He wrote a disrespectful letter to
the Speaker of the House and also by hisconduct in the house when he was summoned to recieve the reprimand for
it, commited asecond contempt, and he was sentenced by the Legislature to 7 days imprisonment on March 14,
1964.
On March 19, 1964, one Solomon (called 'S'), an advocate, moved the High Court ofUttar Pradesh for a
writ of habeas corpus and obtained bail for 'K'. The Speaker of the Assembly, the Chief Minister and the jail super-
intendent were party respondents. This order was passed by the two judges of the High Court.
The Assembly refused to make a return to the notice of the High Court, but passed a resolution on March 26, 1964
deciding that two judges of the High Court(Beg and Sehgal, JJ), the advocate and ' K' were guilty of contempt of the
Assembly and they be taken into custody and brought at the Bar of the House. Warrants were issued against the
judges, the advocate and 'K' . The news was radioed in the evening and the judges on getting the information from
the broadcast, moved the same High Court of which they were judges and asked for stay of the warrants. The High
Court sat in a Bench of twenty-eight judges (an unprecedented event) in an obvious show of strength and passed stay
orders..Similar orders were passed by a Bench of twenty-three judges of the same court in the case of the advocate
and 'K'. The crisis was nearing boiling point. The speaker of the Assembly back-tracked a little by referring the mat-
ter to the Privileges Committee of the Assembly and meanwhile withdrew the earlier warrants. The Privileges Com-
mittee on March 26, 1964 decided to call the two judges, the advocate and 'K' before the Committee to take their ex-
plaination and issued notice to them to appear. Upon this notice having been receiveda Bench of twenty-three judges
of the High Court issued an interim order prohibiting the Speaker and the Privileges Committee from implimenting
the Resolution and stayed the notice.
The matter had New Delhi drawn in as well by now with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru getting involved.
On March 26, 1964 the President made a reference to the Supreme Court of India in its advisory jurisdiction inviting
it to give itsadvisory opinion oncertain questions under Article 143. The U.P. Legislature in view of this reference
withdrew its notice but the Assembly made it clear that they did not submit to the Supreme Courts jurisdiction . They
made it clear that an advisory jurisdiction was not ajudicial function but was merely an opinion like those sought
from law officers.
The Supreme Court in a majority of six to one gave the following opinion:-
- The legislators had absolute freedom of speech in the House and were not subject to those restrictions
contained in the Chapter on Fundamental Rights.
- That the Privileges of the Assembly were those claimed by the House of Commons at the commence-
ment of the Indian Constitution on 26th of January, 1950 and as recognised by the English Courts.
- That a law made by the Legislature qua its privileges under Article 194(3) was subject to Fundamental
Rights and would be void ifit was inconsistent with it.
- In India, the supremacy isof the Constitution and it is protected by the authority ofan independent ju-
dicial body to act as its interpreter.
-
.
That if an application is made to the High Courts or the Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus the
legislature would not be competent to raise a preliminary objection as to jurisdiction. That the right of the Legislative
Assembly to make rules for regulating its procedure isexpressly madesubject to the provisions of the Constitution
[Article 208(1)] and, therefore such rules·would be subject to Fundamental Rights.
- That in the enforcement of a fundamental right guaranteed to the citizen, the legal profession plays a vi-
tal role and the privileges of the assembly to punish acitizen or his advocate by general warrant of contempt for such
enforcement is inconsistent with the Constitution.
- That the privileges of the Assembly were not subject to fundamental rights but were there is a conflict
between a privilege and a fundamental right, the conflict has to be resolved by a harmonius construction.

65
 The Supreme Court gave the view that the two judges of the High Court were competent to issue the or-
ders they did, an-ct neither the advocate nor 'K' were guilty of contempt. They also held that the Legislativ e As-
sembly was not competent to direct production of the two judges, the advocate and 'K' before it for their explaina-
tion for.its contempt and equally the Full Bench of the High Court which passed interim orders was competent to
do so. After this opinion of the Supreme Court under its advisory jurisdiction, the Committee of Privileges of the
U. P. Assembly which had refused to submit to the jurisdiction of the court passed a resolution saying that the
opinion of the majority of the judges in their opinion was wrong but "in view of the importance of the harmonious
functioning of the two important organs of the State , the Legislature and the Judiciary, and the recent judicial
pronouncement", the matter be closed with an expression of displeasure. (Note 19)
Anil B.Divan, theco tutional lawyer, says this" decision ofthe Supreme Court though technically not bind-
ing, being advisory only, galvanised public opinion against the tough stand of the Assembly and defused the situa-
tion while upholding the primacy of judicial review and Fundamental Rights in awritten Constitution". (Note 20)
Just three years later, in 1967, came the landmark judgement in Golaknath Case (citation 13) which can be
really said to have started the huge trend of judicial activism that was to come later very soon. In this case the first,
fourth and seventeenth amendments were challenged and the court by majority of 6-5 held that Parliament does
not possess the authority to amend the chapter on Fundamental Rights with respect to Article 13(2) .
In 1969 the government under Indira Gandhi nationalised 14 banks under the Banking Compa-
nies(Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Ordinance which waschallenged in the RC.Cooper Case (citation
14) as violating Articles 14 and 31(2). The court declared the ordinance unconstitutional upholding the challenge.
In 1970, the Government abolished again via an ordinance, the privy purses of the rulers of princely states
which was challenged in the Madhav Rao Scindia Case (citation 15). The Supreme Court again in its new found
zeal for judicial review declared the ordinance unconstitution al.
Indira Gandhi and her advisors were fed up and frustrated and decided to deal with the obstacles. In1971
the Constitution (Twenty Fifth)AmendmentAct. was passed amending articles 13 and 368 providing Parliament
the authority to amend any part of the constitution. The obstacles created by the judgement in the Bank Nationali-
sationcase were sought to be done away with. Further the Constitution(Twenty-Sixth) Amendment Act, 1971 was
passed to abolish the privy purse and neutralise the effect of the judgement in the Madhav Rao Scindia case.
Justice M.N.Rao believes by the twenty-fifth amendment act "primacy was accorded toa limited extent to
the Directive Principles vis-...-vis the Fundamental Rights making the former enfor.ceable rights" and consequent-
ly ''the expectations of the public soared high and the demands on the courts to improve the administration by giv-
ing appropriate directions for ensuring compliance with statutory and constitutionaL prescriptions have in-
creased.......". (Note 21) While that may have been the way the courts and some judges decided to interpret it,
anall out historic tussle had started between the legislature and the judiciary. The legislature was in full control of-
lndira Gandhi at the time because the Congress had an absolute majority and she had achieved full monarch like
control of the party with every member of her party in parliament being hand picked and almost like a puppet in
her hands.
In 1973, in the historic Kesavananda Bharati Case (citation 16) also known as the Fundamental Rights
Case, finally the constitutional validity of the twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth and the twenty-ninth amendments came
up for judicial review. The court in clear and unambigous terms laid down that the Parliament sitting in its constit-
uent capacity does not have the authority to amend the basic structure of the constitution but did not define or ex-
plain explicitly what should be regarded as the basic structure. The court pointed out inherent limitations in the
Amendment power of the Constitution and laid down that the courts have power to declare a substantive amend-
ment void.
Indira Gandhi declared an internal emergency on June 25, 1975 to deal with the mass dissent against her
regime and under its cover tried to reopen the case after she lost an election case in the Allahabad High Court. The
situation generally in the country was oneof the most extraordinary intimidation at this time with almost the entire
opposition in custody, strict press censorship, the government in custody of almost all powers and a bizarre situa-
tion in parliament where constitutional amendments moved in the morning were passed in the evening without
discussion or debate. By one of these many amendments to the constitution, she and her advisors tried to oust the
jurisdiction of the courts to decide her case on the validity of her election.

66
 A Bench of five judges struck down the ouster.clause from the constitution amendment moved by her as destroying the
basic structure of the constitution. However, the bench upheld someof the other amendments including the amend-
mentto theelection law which had theeffect ofupholding her election setting aside the Allahabad High Court judgement.
Thereafter the goverment made an application before the Supreme Court to reconsider the Fundamental Rights Case.
Majority of the judges were against considering the case and there is evidence to suggest that they had made that plain
to Chief Justice Ray who probably was not opposed to the idea. On November 12, 1975 after having led his bench to
the court even before the thirteenth judge could take his place, Justice Ray suddenly rose and declared the bench dis-
solved . Ultimately as aconsequence the case was not reconsidered.
It is worthwhile to pause here and remember the general socio-economic situation in the country at the time and
the resulting political mood. Nearly aquarter century had passed since independence and the honeymoon of a new na-
tion was definitely over. There was huge economic disparity in the country and a large population of unemployed, par-
ticularly of educated university graduates. The huge contrasts in standards ofliving between the rich and the poor and
also between rural and urban India was beginning to be noticed and pointed out and people had begun to lose faith that
the politicians and the executive who served under them wanted toor could deliver. Indeed corruption wasjust about be-
ginning to institutionalise itself and the Nehruvian call made in the following passage for instance just a month before
independence on July 22, 1947 was beginning to wear very thin indeed and sounding utterly hollow:
"There will be no full freedom in this country or in the world as long as asingle human being is unfree. There
will be no complete freedom as long as there is starvation, hunger, lack of clothing, lack of necessaries oflife and lack
of opportunity of growth for every single human being, man, woman and child in the country. We aim at that." (note
22)
Indeed this spirit and purpose had been incorporated in the Preamble to the Constitution itself by declaring :
"We the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Democratic Republic
and to secure to all its citizens: Justice, social, economic and political, etc. Equality ofstatus and of opportunity .....give
to ourselves this constitution".
Further the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution which was not mandatory in nature before a
court oflaw like the Fundamental Rights, being only in the nature of directives, was drafted to ask the state to promote '
right to work, education for all, public assistance to the indigent persons, equal pay for equal work .........' etc etc.
In the wake of the general national loss of faith, resentment against the legislature, who were beginning to be
perceived as useless and interested only in serving the interests of the upper classes, and the general condition of huge
economic misery that was prevalent, it is not difficult to imagine that theonly two forces that stood up to the state (as
represented by the legislature and theexecutive) quickly captured quite a bit of popular approval and applause.
One was the huge socialist movements of various hues that broke out among the youth particularly the educated
including the Naxalite movement which attracted hordes of intelligent but possibly hopelessly utopian youth. They didn't
suspect themselves to be as such for even one moment of course because they had the great examples of the former So-
viet Union and Chine before them to emulate. They were prepared to overturn the ' ystem'and have a whole societal
transformation proudly making huge personal sacrifices while doing so. It is of course essential to point out here that this
system change would have also meant that the system of judidary that we knew and practiced as a nation based on the
essentially capitalist anglo-saxon law would have also had to go amidst violent revolutions presumably and lawlessness
on the streets. That would have undermined the whole system of justice that the Indian courts and judges were custodi-
ans of. Not a fact that was missed by the likes of Chief Justice Krishan Iyer of the Supreme Court and lawexperts and
commentators inothercommonwealth jurisdictions like England and Australia in their own contexts .Analarmed Justice
Krishna Iyer, had observed later in 1981 in his judgement in Fertiliser Corporation Karngar Union VS. Union oflndia (ci-
tation 17) :
" We have no doubt that in a competition between courts and the streets as dispenser of justice, the rule oflaw
must win the aggrieved person for the law court and wean him from the lawless street" . Elsewhere too this was a rising
concern among traditional law practitioners in the late sixtiesonwards and throughtout the seventies. Sample this passage
from what Lord Scarman said in his Hamlyn Lecturesin 1974:
"I shall endeavour to show that there are in the contemporary world challenges, social, political and economic,
which, if the system cannot meet them, will destroy it. These challenges are not created by lawyers; they certainly cannot
be suppressed by lawyers: they have to be met either by discarding or by adjusting the legal system. Which is to be?", or
this remark by the Australian Law Reforms Commissionin 1977:

67
 "The moral, perhaps, applies; if the courts cannot, or will not, give relief to people who are in fact concerned
about amatter.thenthey will resort toself-help, with grave results for other persons and the rule ofl aw". (Note 23)
(This author owes much in developing the above point to the writings of the Late Mr. Gobinda Mukhoty, the
activist lawyer who was at the forefront of the landmark PIL battle initiated and won by the PUDR, the Peoples Un-
ion for Democratic Rights in the late seventies and early eighties.)
Consequently the only other force in society, that stepped into this vacuum and faced up to an insensitive and
autocratic state in its own way offering a way out to the people, one has to dare conclude, was the judiciary and the
judges who were it seemed suddenly willing to drop their generations of training of judicial restraint and emerge

.
asthedefenderof the Constitution and ofthe rights ofthe people, particularly the poor or the"mute", against the legisla-
ture and the goverment.
Need of the times? Or a new generation of judges (and individuals) like Justice Krishna Iyeror Justice P. N.
Bhagwati later who recognised what they thought was the need of the times and decided to rise to the occassion and
show creativity and innovation in their otherwise drab profession by design of applying and interpreting the law? Or
both?.
Of course, the stance that the judges took the seventies onwards was hugely popular, with the press for in-
stance, being very approving reflecting the opinion of the intelligentsiagenerally, certainly the English speaking sec-
tions. It is possibly not too far fetched to suggest or conclude that this had the effect of egging on the judges in their
activist behaviour. Indeed, a whole popularity contest of sorts had broken out below the surface it would seem. Indira
Gandhi tried responding to both the judicial activism and the socialist upheaval by the hilarious ploy of passing yet
another constitutional amendment. In 1976 by the 42nd amendment of the constitution, the word 'Socialist' was add-
ed to the phrase 'Soveregi n Democratic Republic' to make it \Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic' which unfor-
tunately for herdid not prove enough next year to deliver her an election victory alon-g with theother measures she
adopted like 'Garibi Hatao' to win back the initiatiye at the popularity stakes.
The 42nd amendment also had substantive provisions to limit theexercise of the power of judicial review. The
amendment sought to (1) increase the power of the Centre by shifting certain items from the State List to the Concur-
rent List to take away the exclusive law making powers of the states on those items (2) curtailing the powers of the
Supreme Court and the High Courts with respect to Articles 14, 19 and 31 by declaring that Parliament could make
any law to impliment the Directive Principles of State Policy (3) take away the powers of the Supreme Court of judi-
cial review of constitutional amendments by the use of phrases like "no amendment of this constitution made or pur-
porting to have been made under this article shall be called in question in any court on any ground" (4) make provi-
sions for granting only the Supreme Court the right to decide the validity of central laws and not the High Courts who
would in tum have the sole right to decide the validity of the state laws(5) curtail the power of the Supreme Court of
issuing writs for implimentation of Fundamental Rights so that the court will have no power ofissuing writs unless
substantial injury has taken place and also if alternative remedy is provided under any law (6) make it mandatory for
a minimum of seven judges of the Supreme Court to sit in a bench while deciding the constitutional validity of cen-
tral laws and having the power to declare any law unconstitutional only if a two-thirds majority of the bench decided
so and for the High Courts to haveaminimum offive judges in a bench while determining the constitutional validity of
a law (7) to overhaul the appointment procedure of High Courts (8) make it mandatory for any decisions of any ad-
ministrative tribunals to be questioned or challenged only in the Supreme Court under article 323B. It wasn't until the
43rd and 44th amendments of the constitution that any of the lost powers were restored.
The judiciary it has to be said for all its activism and asserion of the right of judicial review was also always
careful to impose limits on itself and practice some level of self-restraint. It hasalso always avoided outright confron-
tations. For instance , thecourt had been moved to judicially review and overturn presidential rejections of clemency
for sentences of death in Kehar Singh VS. Union oflndia (citation 18) and later in Jumman Khan VS. State of U. P.
(citation 19) but the court refused upholding the decisions of the President oflndia. Indeed in 1976, in Krishna Gouda
VS. State ofU. P. (citation 20), Justice Krishna Iyer had cautioned on too much activism thus :
"No power in the republic is irresponsible or irresponsive, the people in the last resort being the repositories
and beneficiaries of public power. But two constitutional limitations exist in our constitutional system. The court
cannot intervene everywhere asan omniscient, omnipotent or omnipresent being. And when the constitution
hasempowered the nation's executive, excluding by implication judicial review, it is presumptuous of this court to be
a super power unlimited. The second limitation conditions all public power, whether acourt oversees it or not. That
trust consists in the plurality of public power authorities. All power, howsoever majestic and dignified weilding it,
shall beexercised in good faith with intelligent and informed care and honesty for public well being".

68
 The PIL revolution became legally possible because of the dilution of the Rule of Locus Standi, which simp-
ly means only a person whose legal right has been violated can come before the court oflaw to seek justice. This was
one of the pillars of old fashioned English Common Lawset by Lord James in 1880 in Re Sidebotham , Ex parte
Sidebotham (citation 21) and followed by Lord Esher, M.R. in 1887 in Re Reed, Bowen and Co. , Ex parte Official
Receiver (citation 22). Justice M.N. Rao says this rule is"intended toavoid unnecessary litigation and is based on the
legal doctrine of''Jus tertii' implying that no one except the affected person can approach acourt for a legal remedy
"and" was holding the field both in respect of private and public law adjudications until it was overthrown by the PIL
wave". (note 24)
But then the-realisation at last arrived not just in India but elsewhere in the world too, possibly for the rea-
sons explored above, that if the hungry and the naked can't come to court and somebody else will have to be allowed
to come fo_r him if that will serve the purpose of justice.
Technically the gate had been opened somewhat in 1975 in Bar Council of Maharashtra VS. M.S. Dabhol-
kar.(citation 23) where the Bar council was stated to be an aggreived party and had been accepted by the court to be
as such.
But it was in 1981 in Fertiliser Corporation Kamgar Union and others VS. Union of India cited above that in
alandmark judgement the rule was finally fully undermined enough to allow the wave of activism via PIL's that was
to be the defining character of the eighties decade.
The court held "that in a society where freedom suffers from atrophy activism is essential for participative
public justice. Some risks have to be taken and more opportunities opened for the public minded citizen to rely on the
legal process and not be repelled from it by narrow pendantry now surrounding local standi". Justice Krishna Iyer
further declare? :
"...In simple terms, locus standi must be liberalised to meet the challenges of the times. Ubi Jus!bi remedium
must be enlarged to embrace all interests of public minded citizens or organisations with serious concern for conser-
vation of public resources and the direction and correction of public power so as to promote justice in its triune fac-
ets". He quoted with approval the following passage of the article titled 'Easier Access to Courts of Law' in the Aus-
tralian Report ofNovember 16, 1977 :-
"Perhaps- and it isonly a perhaps-there was once some justification for restricting access to the courts to pre-
vent their being bogged down in a morass ofineffectuality. But today's better informed, better educated, more literate
and more politically aware citizens should certainly not be barred from the courts by tradition. The Law can no long-
er be a closed shop".
Justice Iyer further said about the judiciary in general:
"Admirable though it may be, (it) is atonce slow and costly. It is a finished product of great beauty, but en-
tails an immense sacrifice of time, money and talent ....This " beautiful" system is frequently a luxury, it tends to give
a high quality of justice only when, for one reason or another, parties can surmount the substantial barriers which it
erects to most people and to many types of claims". Apart from locus standi, the court also showed in this judgement
a particular sensitivity for the poor..Again we cant help wondering how much this sudden display of sensitivity from
our apex court was due to the mood of the times with a leftist upheaval world over and talk of class and the exploita-
tion and the needs of the poor being very much the fashion of the day just as, arguably, free market economics and
trashing of the class notion has been the popular consensus in the nineties and which asthe later discusson will show
is possibly being reflected in the current trend of judgements.
Under the leadership of Justice Krishna Iyer the role of PIL's and the importance of doing away with the
strictness of locus standi was underlined more firmly by the Supreme Court when the court ruled in Akhil Bharatiya
Shoshit Karmachari Sangh (Railway) Case (citation 24) that :
"......our current processual jurisprudence is notof individualisticAnglo-Indian mould. It is people- oriented
and envisions access to justice through class actions, PIL and representative proceedings. Indeed, little Indians in
large nun1bers seeking remedies in courts through collective proceedings instead of being driven toexpensive plurali-
ty oflitigations is an affirmation of participative justice in our democracy. We have no hesitation in holding that the
narrow concept ofcause ofaction and person aggrieved and individual litigation is becoming obsolescent in some ju-
risdiction".
In 1982 S.P.Gupta VS. Union oflndia (citation 25), the court really created a revolution of sorts. While earlier
the court had allowed tax payers only and later non-tax payers as well from among individuals and organisation s to
move the court when a 'class or section of the people's' interest was affected, the court now allow_ed even letters to
be treated as writ petitions, when that letter informed the court about any extreme and unacceptable suffering of the
poor and "mute sections" of society because of non-implimentation of welfare legislation or because of the actions of
a callous and indifferent adminstration.The court observed:

69
 "It is true that there are rules made by this Court prescribing the procedure for moving this Court for relief
under Article 32 and they require various formalities to be gone through by a person seeking to approach this court.
But it must not be forgotten that procedure is but a handmaiden of justice and the cause of justice can never be al-
lowed to be thwarted by any procedural technicalities. The court would therefore unhesitatingly and without the
slightest qualms of conscience cast aside the technical rules of procedure in the exercise ofits dispensing power and
treat the letter of the public minded individual asa writ petition and act upon it". The judges led by Justice Bhagwati
quoted the following passage from an English judgement of Lord Diplock in support of the stance that they were
taking :
"It would, in my view, be a grave lacuna in our system of public law if a pressure group, like the federation,
or even a single public-spirited taxpayer, were prevented by outdated technical rules oflocus standi from bringing
the matter tothe attention of the court to vindicate the rule oflaw and get the unlawful conduct stopped ... It is not, in
my view, a sufficient answer to say that judicial review of the actions of officers or departments of central govern-
ment is unnecessary because they are accountable to parliament for the way in which they carry out their functions.
They are accountable to Parliament for what they do so far as regards efficiency and policy, and of that Parliament is
the only judge; they are responsible toacourt of justice for the lawfulness of what they do, and of that the court is the
only judge".
Justice Bhagwati further opined in this judgement thus explaining the need to liberalise locus standi:
"This broadening of the rule oflocus standi has been largely responsible for the development of public law,
because it is only the availability of judicial remedy for enforcement which invests law with meaning and purpose or
else the law would remain merely a paper parchment, a teasing illusion and a promise of m1reality. It isonly by lib-
eralising the ruleoflocus standi that it is possible to effectively police the corridors of power and prevent violations
oflaw.
There is also another reason why the rule of locus standi needs to be liberalised . Today we find that law is
being increasingly used asadevice of organised social action for the purpose of bringing about socio-economic
change. The task of national reconstruction pan which we are engaged has brought about enormous increase in de-
velopmental activities and law isbeing utilised for the purpose of development, social and economic. It is creating
more and more a new category of rights in favour oflarge sections of people and imposing a new category of duties
on the State and the public officials with aview to reaching social justice to the common man. Indiv idual rights and
duties are giving place to meta-individual collective, social rights and duties of classes or groups of, persons.

In the same year in Peoples Union for Democratic Rights VS. Union of India (citation 26) , the Supreme
Court further underlined 'itscommitment to eggon the PIL movement in thefollowing dramatic words which read as
follows :
"We wish to point out wi.th all the emphasis at our command that public interest litigation which is a strate-
gic arm of the legal aid movement and which isintended to bringjustice vvithin the reach of the poor masses, who con-
stitute the low visibility area of humanity, isatotally d fferent.kind oflitigation from the ordinary adversary character
where there isa dispute between two litigating parties, one making claims or seeking relief against the other and that
other opposing such claim or resisting such relief. Public interest litigation is brought before the court not for the pur-
pose of enforcing the right of one individual against another as happens in the case of ordinary litigation, but it is in-
tended to promote and vindicate public interest which demands that violations of constitutional or legal rights oflarge
numbers of people who are poor, ignorant or in a socially or economically disadvantaged position should not go unno-
ticed and unredressed. That would be destructive of the rule oflaw which forms one of the essential elements of public
interest in anydemocratic form of Government. The rule oflaw does not mean that protection of the law must be avail-
able only to a fortunate few or that the law should be allowed to be prostituted by the vested interests for protecting
and upholding the status quo under the guise of enforcement of their civil and political rights. The poor too have civil
and political rights and the rule oflaw is meant for them also, though today it exists only on paper and not in reality. If
the sugar barons and the alcohol kings have the fundamental right to carry on their business and to fatten their purses
by exploiting the consuming public, have the chamars belonging to the lowest strata ofsociety no fundamental right
toearn an honest living through their sweat and toil ? Civil and political rights, priceless and invaluable as they are for
freedom and democracy, simply do not exist for the vast masses of our people. Large numbers of men, women and
children who constitute the bulk of our population are today living asub-human existence in conditions ofab-
jectpoverty; utter grinding poverty has broken their back and sapped their moral fibre. They have no faith in theexisit-
ing social and economic system. What civil and political rights are these poor and deprived sections ofhumanity going
toenforce ?".

70
 There was a clear and unambigous attempt by the judiciary it would seem at this stage ofl ndian history
to deal with the poor and the oppressed who were being massively woken in any caseby the leftist and socialist
movements to arise and awake and fight for their rights. Whether the sudden display of this terrific activism wasa
reaction from the judiciary in itsown way to prevent asystem collapse that they were very much apowerful part of,
or, an expression of genuine concern by some truly remarkableindividuals like Chief Justice Krishna Iyer and later
Chief Justice P.N. Bhagwati for the poor and exploited classesand an impatience with the legislature and theex-
ecutive, in line with the general public moodof the times, or, a combination of both and if so in what proportion
can never be fully answered and will always be debated if it ventured to be answered. Consequently this author
leaves the reader to arrive at his own estimation after reflecting on the evidence.

Not all judges and benches were comfortable with the activism being Jed by judges like Justice
Bhagwati. For instance in Sudip Majumdar VS. State of Madhya Pradesh (citation 27), thecourt was moved tostop
maiming and killing of hundreds of Adivasis, men and children, at the firing range in M.P. Without giving a hear-
ing to the petitioner or his lawyer present in the court, the court chose to.refer the matter to a constitutional bench.
The court raised many questions while making the reference like :
"Should this court take notice of such letters addressed by individuals by postenclosing some paper
cuttings and take action on them suo motu except where the complain t refers to deprivation of liberty of any indi-
vidual ?.....Can a stranger to a cause, be a journalist, social worker, advocate or an association of such persons ini-
tiate action before this court in matters alleged to be involving public interest or should a petitioner have some in-
terest in common with others whose rights are infringed by some govennental action or inaction in order to estab-
lish his locus standi to make such acomplaint ? .......Can this court take action on such letters though there isno
prima facie case ofinfringementof any fundamental right ?.......Even in cases where a fundamental right is stated to
have been infringed, can thiscourt take action on such letters where there is no allegation that the person con-
cerned is kept in illega l custody ?......Can this court take action on such letters in matters for which remedycan be
had in ordinary civil , criminal or revenue courts or other offices on the ground that a number of people are affect-
ed ?

......Can this court take action on letters addressed to it where the facts disclosed are not sufficient to
take action? Should these letters be treated differently from other regular petitionsfiled into this court in this re-
gard and should the District Magistrate or the District Judge be askedto enquire and make a report to this court to
ascertain whether there is any case for further action?.........lfafter investigation , it is found that by such a letter a
baseless complaint had been made, should not costs be imposed on the person who had written it ? Can he be
treated differently from others ?.........If thiscourt can take action on such letters in such infonnal way, why should
not the High Courts and other courts, authorities a d officers in India also act in the same way in all mat-
ters?.........Would such infonnality not leadto great identification of the court with the ause than it would be when
acase involving the same type of cause is filed in the nonnal way ?......."
Partly asaconsequence of this reference the flood ofletters from different parts of the country that had
started arriving asking for relief or remedy against injustice began to be converted into writ petitions somewhat
rarely and the Registrar, instead of a Judge, was deciding whether such letters will be placed before the court. In
any case it has to be admitted that the rush ofletters begging relief was so huge that it became practically speaking
logistically impossible to organise the taking up of each and every letter.
It is instructive at this point to read what the Supreme Court itself says in its new website with respect to
its jurisdiction on PIL's. The obvious tone of pride is noteworthy considering that the court doesnt anymore view
with favour more than a fraction of the PIL's that are filed or doesnt convert more than an even tinier fraction of
the letters and telegrams that it receives into petitions or appoints an amicus curiae to take them up . The court de-
clares in its website :
" Although the proceedings in the Supreme Court arise out of the judgments or orders made by the Subor-
dinate Courts including the High Courts, but oflate the Supreme Court has started entertaining matters in which in-
terest of the public at large is involved and the Court can be moved by any individual or group of persons either by
filing a Writ Petition at the Filing Counter of the Court or by addressing a letter to Hon' ble Chief.Justice of India
highlighting the question of public importance forinvoking this jurisdiction. Such concept is popularly known as
'Public Interest Litigation' and several matters of public importance have become landmark cases.

71
 This concept is unique to the Supreme Court of India only and perhaps no other Court in the world has
been exercising this extraordinary jurisdiction. A Writ Petition filed at the Filing Counter is dealt with like any
other Writ Petition and processed assuch. In case ofa letter addressed to Hon' ble Chief Justice of India the same is
dealt with in accordance with the guidelines framed for the purpose". (Note 25)
Inspite ofless than all round support and enthusi'asm, much started happening that was quite revolution-
ary. In lots of cases relief was obtained by sections of the people who wouldn't have normally expected any. For
instance, in Pradip Prabhu VS. State of Maharashtra (citation 28), when acomplaint was made by a social
worker that Adivasis were systematically harassed by anti-social elements with the connivance of the adminstra-
tion, the Supreme Court directed the District Judge and a senior Mvocate to go through a comprehensive inquiry
about the allegations and report back to the Supreme Court so that further action can be taken by it.
In Kameshwar Prasad Sharma VS. State of Bihar (citation 29), the Supreme Court directed the state
goverment to give police protection to 445 families of Banda, District Samastipur in Bihar till the Supreme Court
delivered judgement. 445 hutments were built for thefamilies and they were given agricultural land for cultivation
under the supervision of the court. The Supreme Court in its attitude and orders was making it clear that they
would step in to rein in corrupt administrationsand push inefficient ones to perform and deliver. In Bandhua
Mukti Morcha VS. Union of lndia (citation 30) the responsibility of the goverment with respect to bonded la-
bourers was clearly laid down and in the so called Asiad Case ( PUDR VS. Union of India) cited above the Su-
preme Court came forward to guard the rights of construction workers working to build the Asiad Games sporting
facilites . Also in all thecases argued by the great activist lawyer M.C.Mehta who became famous for environmen-
tal cases, like The Kanpur Tanneries Case (citation 31), Olga Tellis VS. Municipal Corporation, Bombay (ci-
tation 32) and R.L.&E. Kendra VS.U.P.Air (citation 33), the Supreme Court favourably intervened on the PIL's.

The Kanpur Tanneries Case cited above was also significant for another reason. In this case the mean-
ing of Articl_e 32 was liberalised and its ambit widened. This is one of the two pillars as described above apart
from the liberalisation of locus standi that legally made the PIL revolution possible. It is necessary to understand
the legal significance of thisdevelopment. Article 32 is a very important article and Dr. B.R.Ambedkar, who draft-
ed the Indian Constitution had commented in the Constituent Assembly Debate on itssignificance thus :
"If I was asked to name any particular article inthe Constitution as the most important-an article without
which this Constitution would bea nullity-I would not refer toany other article except this one. It is the very soul
of theconstitutio. nand the very heart of it".
The Supreme Court itself declares in its website under 'jurisdiction' as under:
“.............Article 32 of the Constitution gives an extensive original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court in regard
toenforcement of Fundamental Rights. It is empowered to issue directions, orders orwrits, including writs in the
nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari to enforce them". (Note 25)

It is under Article 32 that the Fundamental Rights violations or threatened violation of any citizen by the
state or now even of a 'class' of citizens, can be sought to be stopped by moving the courts and relief obtained. But
for purposes of this article 'state' is as defined under Article 12 of the Constitution. Art.12 defines 'state'
as"Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the States and all local
or other authorities...under the control of the Government of India". So when in the tanneries case the Supreme
Court issued injuctive closure orders to private tanneries that were polluting the ganga with untreated effluents,
they acted against private organisations by treating them as being within the meaningof state under Art.12 of the
Constitution !! Justice Bhagwati while discussing the scope of Article 32 in this case said:
·
"it may now be taken as well settled that Article 32 does not merely confer power on this court to issue a
direction, order or writ for enforcement of the fundamental rights but it also lays a constitutional obligation on
this court to protect the fundamental rights of the people and for that purpose this court has all incidental and an-
cillary powers including the power to forge new remedies and fashion new strategies designed to enforce the
fundamental rights…..The power of this court in not only injunctive in ambit, that is prevening the infringement

72
of a fundamental. right, but it also remedial in scope and provides relief against a breach of the fundamental right
already committed........We must, therefore, bold that Article 32
is not powerless to assist a person when he finds that his fundamental right has been violated. He can in that event
seek remedial assistance under Article 32. The power of this court to grant such remedial relief may include the
power to award compensation in appropriate cases......".
Also in the famous A.R.Antulay Case (citation 34), the court treated even the Supreme Court as
'state' by implication within the meaning of Art.12 when it declared a Constitution Bench order as having vio-
latedArts.14 and 21 of the Constitution!!
In thiscase, Prof.B.P. Srivastava of the Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi, presumably a
legal expert and practitioner of the traditional mould, says, the court "laid down a new jurispmdence of 'inher-
ent/jurisdiction power' outside the constitutional framework, under which the Supreme Court can reverse/set aside
the decision of the Supreme Court itself in the same case "which he says has armed the Supreme Court witha new
jurisprudence of "absolute powers". According tohimthe court hassubsequent to this self-arming "ventured to
amend even the basic structure of the constitution". He says the court has in some cases like P.N.Kumar VS. Mu-
nicipal Corp., Delhi (citation 35) and Kanubhai Brahmbhatt VS. State of Gujrat (citation 36), "declinedto entertain
petitions under Article 32 and instead directed the petitioners to have recourse to Article 226". He comments on
this thus :
"The right to move the Supreme Court under Article 32 hasbeen recognised asthe most fundamental of the
fundamental rights. Under the principles of the Kesavananda Bharati Case, Article 32 forms the basic structu,e of
the Constitution and if Parliament had amended the Article the way it has beendone by the two division benches
of the Supreme Court, I am sure the Supreme Court would have struck down the amendment as violative of the
basic structure of the Constitution". Hefurther says the above two cases are just "....a few illustrative instances
which substantiate the assertion about the new tendency towards absolutism of judicial power, to which the Social
Action Litigation groups contributed a great deal. The doctrine of precedent, the principle of finality of action and
certainty oflaw and even the golden rule of judicial self-restraint have become out of fashion. If the present trend
continues the law students of the future years will study them only as part oflegal history". Elsewhere in the same
article the above passage is quoted from, he says :
"...I would like to make a few submissions for the consideration of the apex court. The court, I think, has
reached the end of the road in so far as judicial activism and Social Action Litigation/Public Interest Litigation
cases are concerned. If it wants to save the institution against the type of assaults which have been made on it, ifit
wants to resurrect itself and bring back the glory it once enjoyed-it has to apply the back gear. Over liberalisation
of the locus standi rule and over judicial activism, both have become counter productive". On the fallout ofthe-
Antulay Case's treatment by implication ofeven the Supreme Court itself as astate authority he says :
"Who can challenge the verdict of the apex court ? One consequence of thisdistortion is that it also be-
comes ' State' for the purposes of part IV of the Constitution. The concentration of all powers in one institution wll
disturb the tripartite system of government which works on the principles of checks and balances. Whether anyone
takes a serious note of such an aberration or not, it will certainly make Montesquieu' tum in his grave", Montes-
quieu being the European philosopher credited with having first originated the doctrine of separation of powers
between the different organs of a state in the interest of maintaining checks and balances. (note 26)
Commenting on the main theme of the above criticism ofthe judiciary from both legal traditionalists and
politicians or the legislature in response to its activism, even as late as in 1989 for instance, the Supreme Court
was seen to be clearly and unambigously holding on to its activist working principle, when it declared in Asif
Hameed VS. State of J&K (citation 37):
"Although the doctrine of separation of powers has not been recognised under the Constitution in itsabso-
lute rigidity but the Constitution-makers have meticulously defined the functions of various organs of the State.
Legislature, Executive and Judiciary have to function within their own spheres demarcated under the Constitution.
No organ can usurp the functions assigned to another.... Judiciary has no power over sword or the purse nonethe-
less it has power to ensure that the aforesaid two main organs of the State function within the constitutional limits.
It is the sentinel ofdemocracy. Judicial review isapowerful weapon to restrain unconstitutionalexercise of power
by the legislature and executive. The expanding horizon of judicial review has taken in its fold the concept of so-
cial economic justice."

73
 We have a clear understanding now of how much the Supreme court went out on a limb as it were in the
seventies and eighties in favour of judicial activism via PIL's and how much it made traditional legal purists un-
comfortable and even scandalised. Perhaps that is what resulted in the somewhat drastic and consequently unfor-
tunate turn around towards judicial restraint in the nineties so much so that now, in the beginning of the new cen-
tury we have to wonder if the wonderful gains ofthe golden eraofac vism in legal terms has been substantially frit-
tered away.
That is what, it seems to this author, constitutes the principal CURRENT TREND in the saga of
JUDICIAL ACTIVISM IN INDIA.
By the late eighties, PIL's and judicial intervention had lost its novelty and social action groups and
NGO's and activist individuals weren't moving the courts with hope of a chance ofa favourable outcome but rather
with certainty of oneand were taking it for granted that thejudges and the courts would intervene in their favour
exactly in the way they wanted it to. If the judges found it unable to do so, they would even at the risk of contempt
sometimes openly criticise the outcome and demonstrate against it. For instance, in the settlement order passed in
Union Carbide Corporation VS. Union of India (citation 38), when the terms were not in accordance with the ex-
act wishes of the NGO's and action groups working for the victims, they held demonstrations, rallies and swept
the stairs and verandahs of the Supreme Court in the presence of the media to symbolize acleansing process and
even questioned the jurisdictional basis of the order. This trend was seen every now and then but it reached a par-
ticularly bizarre crescendo after the judgement in 2000 in Narmada Bachao Andolan VS. Union oflndia and others
(citation 39), where on the day of the judgement when the order that came was not liked by the leaders of the
movement , celebrity author Arudhuti Roy, asupporter of the movement abused the Supreme Court on live televi-
sion within the court premises. Eventually she was pulled by the court and asked to apologise but when she re-
fused, again tohuge media attention, she wascharged with contempt and fined Rs.2000 and symbolically sent to
jail for one night-a punishment which in normal circumstances for any other person would have been months and
much more severe. Arundhuti Roy came out of this drama with a huge media coup with the international media
praising her and comparing her to the Joan of Arc and Mother Teressa. The courts light punishment was aclear
case, in the opinion of this author, of the court submitting to the popularity of acelebrity.
Needless to say this sort of behaviour from some social action groups and some activists have given
strength to the traditional critics of locus standi liberalisation . Prof. B.P. Srivastava says in the article quoted
above :
".....A disturbing off-shoot ofSocial Action Litigation/PublicInterest Litigation cases, is the acquisition by
the Social Action Litigation Groups and other social activists an attitude of militancy vis-a-vis the judicial process
.............the court did not realize when it started liberalisation, rather over-liberalisation, of the locus standi rule,
that these groups will gradually assume the roles of both 'the petitioner and the judge' prepared to pick up the gun
against the court once a judgement goes against their way of thinking. That exactly is whathappened.....". (note 30)
But it becomes much more serious when the person defying the court to popular approval and applause is
a constitutional authority. That is exactly what happened in the same ye , 2000, when the Supreme Court in the
Cauvery Water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka asked Chief Minister S.M.Krishna to release 9.0 cu-
secs of water to Tamil Nadu every day as per the orders of the Cauvery River Authority. Krishna refused to com-
ply with the order and instead declared that he will begoing on a Padyatra to meet the farmers on the bank of the
Cauvery and even suggested that he would convince the Supreme Court ofKarnataka's case. He meant in effect
that the Supreme Court had made a mistake and he would work to have the mistake rectified while refusing to
obey the order in the interim. This sort of behaviour isof course almost akin to anarchy and highly dangerous be-
cause it means the Supreme Court's authority even can be flouted and contemptuosly ignored by riding the popular
sentiment. Chief Minister Krishna (and his political party) in this case obviously calculated while not complying
with the court order could at the most lead to charges ofcontempt and afew days in prison, complying with it
would cause a water shortage for farmers and could mean a huge loss of popularity resulting in the end of his po-
litical career. On theo er hand even a few days in prison oncharges ofcontempt, if it came to that, would make him
hugely popular and givehimthe hal·o ofa martyr in the farmer population ofKarnataka, a more vital necessity to his
and his parties political fortunes.
Apart from this defiance and the resulting trivialising of the authority of the court another trend has been
the tendency of taking chances by various parties and vested interests with the court in the most trivial and unim-
portant of causes. For instance, the court has been moved to have the Rajasthani language included in t,he eighth
schedule of the constitution which the court declined.

74
 Recently, earlier this year, during the Cricket World Cup of 2003 after India had lost the initial games,
the Delhi High Court was moved to have the captain of the team removed and the secretary of the cricket board
sacked. It is not known to this author what happened to that petition after the Indian team thereafter suddenly
started performing well and managed to reach the finals.

The court was being moved until the late nineties for anything and everything. Whether the cause was re-
moving billboards from the skyline of Bombay or eliminating the dangue fever that struck Delhi or dealing with
the menace of mosquitoes in Kochi or getting garbage lifted from the streets of Delhi orfinding a soluti on to the
Babri Masjid dispute, the High Courts and even the Supreme Court, making full use of their legal and moral au-
thori ty, and popular respect and reverence, that was fast dissipating though unfortunately, was issuing directions
and taking compliance reports from the executive. The executive had almost become like a reporting authority be-
fore the courts. Of course the image and substantially even the reality of the executive was and is of an inefficient,
unresponsive and horrendously corrupt organ of the state and nobody in the public had confidence that by ap-
proaching the executive in matters of public interest even , any relief could beobtained. So the courts were being
moved and the courts mostly obliged. Some courts and some judges began to be identified even with certain spe-
cific causes. For instance Justice Kuldip Singh developeda reputation for considering environmental causes fa-
vourably. ASupreme Court lawyer says of the time :

"The manner ofhandling of cases by Justice Kuldip Singh of the Supreme Court deserves particular men-
tion. Court Hall No. 2 where he presided was the 'environment court' and every Friday afternoon the courtroom
would be packed with lawyers and litigants witne sing an involved judge tackle seemingly complex environmental
issues. Undaunted by the ingenuity oflawyers todeflect the cases from their course, Justice Kuldip Singh firmly
disallowed pointless adjournments to the government and private litigants alik e".(note 31)

In one case before the Calcutta High Court the court was ordering even the date, time and place for inter-
rogation of an accused by the Enforcement Directorate. In another case before the Supreme Court, a Supreme
Court judge, Justice Ramaswamy, ordered and directed the goverment to eradicate prostitution while hearing a PIL
petition on the plight of prostitutes and their children without e plaining how that might be achieved. When the
Supreme Court in an environment related case ordered the closure and relocation of five thousand factories in
Delhi to prevent pollution, it caused huge hardships to the poor workers and their families who worked in them
and now consequently had lost their jobs. There were even some suicidesby public self-immolation in protest and
demonstrationsagainst the court order. The court meanwhile however, on the whole, kept up its tempo of admitting
PIL's and issuing directions to the government and monitoring what should be normal executive action.

Sometimes the intervension of the court overtime caused quite abit of confusion, for instance, in medical
admissions, where the court at first seemed to have made capitation fee illegal and then allowed it and then again
overturned it earlier stance. The following passage in an article by GS.Gill, the Secretary of medical education and
the drugs department of the Govt. of Maharashtra, at the end oflast year, makes fascinating reading : " Medical
Education first came up for judicial scrutiny in the DP Joshi case µi 1955. This Judgem ent upheld the right of
State of Madhya Pradesh to charge capitation fee to the students of other States. Later in the Pradip Jain case, the
Judicial view took aturn and held that merit must prevail and that no discrimination can be made on the basis of
domicile of prospective students. This Judgement, however, also held that reservation is permissible even at the
cost of merit. Next important case was the Mohini Jain case in whichthe Hon'ble Supreme Court dealt with the
right to education and capitation fee directly. Right to education was held to be directly emanating from right to
life . In this Judgement Court struck down the idea of capitation fee, same being abhorrent to the Indian Culture.
Then came the famous Unnikrishnan Judgementin the year 1993 , in which the Hon'ble Supreme Court tried to
strike a balance between Indian tradition of education being charitable and need for Institution of Higher learning
to have sufficient funds for operations and growth. Hon'ble Court laid down ascheme whereby 100 per cent seats
in Government Institu ion and 50 per cent in Private Institution were termed as "Free Seats" in respect of which
only a nominal fee could becharged. Balance 50 per cent seats in case of Private Medical College were termed as
"Payment Seats", for which substantially higher fee, to be determined by government, could becharged by Private
Institutions.

75
 This was further relaxed inasubsequent Judgement to provide for 15 per cent seats out of total seats for
NRI candidates, where fees could be as much as five times of the payment seats. Policy thus laid down had held
the field of Medical Education since then, till the recent Judgement ofHon'ble Supreme Court delivered on 31st
October, 2002. This Judgement in a case filed by TMA Pai Foundation has held that the Hon'ble Supreme Court in
Unnikrishnan Judgement had almost "Nationalised" the higher education. This Judgement is delivered by 11 Judg-
es Bench with 6 to 5 majority. Being the Judgement byalmost largest Bench ofHon'ble Supreme court, it is likely
to hold sway for many years to come and will bea major determinant of Medical and Higher Education Policy in
the country. One reason which has progressively put Medical Education in the domain of Judiciary is the high
stakes of various actors in the field. Parents of prospective medical students, students themselves, individual man-
agements and government departments-each one of them for different reasons has been trying to influence the
Medical Education Policy. Such a keen contest is unavoidable given the demand and supply equation.
...............Whatever be outcomes of deliberation and policy statements, it is inevitable that we are again entering an
area of uncertainty in the Medical Education Field and in such a situation Judical Intervention and Adjudication is
unavoidable". (note32)
It is important to pause here and take stock of the general socio-economicand political mood in thecountry
that had definitely changed, or was sought to be changed, from the days ofthe welfare minded socialist conscious-
ness and upheavals of the seventies and eighties. Beginning the nineties, we suddenly saw in India a huge move-
ment led by the Congress government ofNarsimha Rao and his Finance Minister,Manmohan Singh, towards the
free market laissez-faire style of economic policy and general governance, that we have never had and that was
suddenly fashionable the world over under the intimidating leadership of the World bank/IMF and the United
States, the sole superpower by then after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. This new belief system was that
there should be "less government" or less state in all spheres of life and that that by itself magically as it were
would take care of all problems since private business liberated and fuelled by its new "freedom" would create
massive economic growth which would then in turn take care of the economic problems and also as aconsequence
eventually problems of social and political justice as well.
[Of course we now know after adecade or soof practice of this new mantra that while the growth in terms
ofnumbers in the balance sheets bottomlines of private business and thegovernment happened, net available em-
ployment has reduced in the economy (note 33) which will have and is possibly already having amultiplier effect
asa fall out which will in turn create newsocial and political tensions and general discontentment]
Perhaps it was this new philosophy of the role of the state that rubbed off on the judiciary too with the 'changing
times', to use that favourite old phrase of the judges from the old judgements discussed above, or perhaps it was
the fact that there was some amount of genuine chaos in the PIL scene, not to mention its abuse by vested inter-
ests, and in the general exercise of judicial activism, or, a resentment, now overflowing, with the harsh and all
pervasive control of the judiciary and its intervension in all spheres of action of the legislature and theexecutive
and its rigid interpretationof the rules ofcontempt when disobeyed but by the mid-nineties, the courts and the
judges had decided that judicial restraint is a virtue that they need to re-discover and adopt. The judgements and
judicial pronouncements over a half decade or so during this period made that amply clear. Even the
ideaofaliberal locus standi rule was not left unquestioned and undilu ted apart from the whole idea of the general
need for an active judicial review system of justice. Some are cited below for illustration of the point.
In 1992, for instance, in Janata Dal VS. H.S. Chowdhary and Others (citation 40) the Supreme Court
observed as follows:- It is thus clear that only a person acting bonafide and having sufficient interest in the pro-
ceeding of PIL will alone have a locus standi and can approach thecourt to wipe out the tears of the poor and
needy, suffering from violationof their fundamental rights, but not a person fo·r personal gain or privateprofit or
political motive or any oblique consideration.Similarly, avexatious petition under the colour of PIL brought be-
fore the court for vindicating any personal grievances,deserves rejection at the threshold........".
Justice Pandian further observed asfollows: the busybodies, meddlesome interlopers, wayfarers or
officious interveners having absolutely no public interest except for personal gain or private profit either for
themselves or as proxy of others or for any other extraneous motivation or for glare of publicity break the queue
muffling their faces by wearing the mask of public interest litigation, and get into the courts by filing vexa-
tiousand frivolous petitions and thus criminally waste the valuable time of the courts and asa result of which the
queue standing outside the doors of the Court never moves which piquant situation creates a frustration in the
minds of the genuine litigants and resultantly they lose faith in the administration of our judicial system. In the
same year in Peerless General Finance and Investment Co. Limited and Another VS. Reserve Bank oflndia (cita-
tion 41) Justice Kasliwal observed at page 375 as follows: The function of the Court isto see that lawful authority
is not abused but not to appropriate to itself the task entrusted to that authority.

76
 It is well settled that a public body inves with statutory powers must take care not to exceed or abuse its
power. It must keep within the limits of the authority committed to it. It must act in good faith and it must act rea-
sonably. Courts are not to interfere with economic policy which is the function of experts. It isnot the function of
the courts to sit in judgement over matters of economic policy and it must necessarily be left to the expert bodies.
In such matters even experts can serio4.sly and doubtlessly differ. Courts cannot be expected todecide them with-
out even the aid of experts. In 1994 in Premium Granites and Another VS. State ofT.N. and Others (citation 42) the
Court declared at page 715 as under: It is not the domain of the Court to embark upon unchartered ocean of public
policy in an exercise to consider as to whether the particular public policy is wise or a better, public policy can be
evolved. Such exercise must be left to the discretion of the executive and legislativ e authorities as the case may-
be....
In 1996 in Delhi Science Forum andOthers VS. Union oflndia andAnother(citation 43) where the court was
moved to stop the indiscriminate issuing oflicences for telecom business on the ground that telecommunications
was asensitive service crucial to the country's defence, the court refused to intervene saying that". The national pol-
icies in respect of economy, finance, communications, trade, telecommunicationsand others have to be decided by
Parliament and the representativesof the people on the floor of the Parliament can challenge and question any such
policy adopted by therul g Government.
In 1997 in M.P.Oil Extraction and Another VS. State of M.P. and others (citation 44) the new policy of the
court away from activism wasclearly enunciated asfollows:
"The executive authority of the State must be held to be within its competence to frame a policy for the
administration of the State. Unless the policy framed is absolutely capricious and, not bein g informed by any rea-
son whatsoever, can be clearly held to be arbitrary and founded on mere ipse dixit of theexecutivyfunctionaries
thereby offending Article 14 of the Constitution or such policy offends other constitutional provisions or comes in-
to conflict with any statutory provision, the Court cannot and should not outstep its limit and tinker with the policy
decision of the executive functionary of the State. This Court, in no uncertain terms, has sounded a note of caution
by indicating that policydecision is in the domain of the executive authority of the State and the Court should not
embark on the unchartered ocean of public policy and should not question the efficacy or otherwise of such policy
so long the same does not offend any provision of the stature or the Constitution of India . The supremacy of each
of the three organs of the State i.e. legislature, executive and judiciary in their respective fields of operation needs
to be emphasised. The power of judicial review of the executive and legislative action must be kept within the
bounds of constitutional scheme so that there may not be any occasion to entertain misgivings about the role of ju-
diciary in outstepping its limit by unwarranted judicial activism being very often talked of in these days. The dem-
ocratic set-up to which the polity is so deeply committed cannot function properly unless each of the three organs
appreciate the need for mutual respect and supremacy in their respective field.
Finally in 2000 in Narmada Bachao Andolan VS. Union oflndia and Others cited above, the Narmada
Bachao Andolan movement led by the charismatic activist Medha Patkar was defeated in its efforts to struggle for
their causes with the helpof the courts when the court while turning down their plea ruled as follows :
"It is now well settled that the Courts, in theexercise of their jurisdiction, will not transgress into the field of
policy decision. Whether to havean infrastructural project ornotand what is the type of project to be undertaken and
how it has to be executed, are part of policy-making process and the Courts are ill-equipped to adjudicate on a poli-
cy decision so undertaken. The Court, no doubt, has a duty to see that in the undertaking of a decision, no law is vi-
olated and people'sfundamental rights are not transgressed upon exceptto the extent permissible under the Constitu-
tion....."
"While protecting the rights of the people from being violated in any manner utmost care has to be taken
that the court does not transgress its jurisdiction. There is, in our constitutional framework a fairly clear demarca-
tion of powers. The court has come down heavily wheiiever the executive has sought to
· impinge upon the court's jurisdiction....." ..At the same time, in exercise ofits enormous power the court should not
be called upon to or undertake governmental duties or functions. The courts cannot run the Government nor can the
administration indulge in abuse or non-use of power and get away with it. The essence of judicial review is a consti-
tutional fundamental. The role of the higher judiciary underthe Constitution casts on it a great obligation as the sen-
tinel to defend the values of the Constitution and the rights of Indians. The courts must, therefore , act within their
judicially permissible limitations to uphold the ruleoflaw and harness their power in public interest. It is precisely
for this reason that it has been consistently held by this Court that in matters of po1icy the court will not interfere.
When there isavalid law requiring the Government to act in a particular manner the court ought not to, without
striking down the law, give any direction which is not in accordance with law. In other words, the court itselfis not
above the law.....".

77
In 2001, the judgement in what is known as the BALCO Case ( BALCO Employees Union(Regd.) VS. Union of-
lndia and others) (citation 45) came asa huge b ow to the movement for judicial activism when the court refused to
intervene in the sale of precious national assets at throw away prices to private business, built overdecades with the
resources and the wealth of the Indian people and also refused to stand upfor the rights.of the workers employed in
the facilities ofBALCO whofaced possible retrenchment as a consequence of the sale
BALCO inone of the largest aluminium mine owners and producers in the world with its principal
industrial facility situated in the state of Chattisgarh. It wasstarted in the Nehruvian era both toachieve self- suffi-
ciency inaluminium production including its higher and complicated technological derivatives requiring huge in-
vestments beyond the capacity of the private sector at tbe time and to provide employment to a backwardAdivasi
dominated area. The company's plant was built on land leased by thegoverment for 99 years on terms so favourable
that only a government company back in the socialist development era of the sixties could have obtained those
terms. Further the company had large mines of the best quality alumina and in an inhouse power plant. Many ex-
perts valued the company's assets at anywhere between 4000 to 5000 crores. But in the execution of the process of
its sale the valuers appointed by the multinational stock brokers appointed by the Government to carry out the sale
used the 'iscounted cash flow' method of valuation asopposed to an assets based valuation method and valued the
company at only about 1000 crores that is one-fourth or even one-fifth of its true value. Ultimately, partly as conse-
quence that, the company's 51% majority holding was sold for only about 550 crores and management handed over
to the winners of the auction, the Aggarwals of Sterlite Industries, who made no secret upon taking over the compa-
ny that they would retrench workers to i crease profitability and even "modernize" the plant which it was widely
and clearly understood would have the effect of making even more people redundant. Many PIL's were initiated by
various groups including workers unions of the plant itself, the State Government of Chattisgarh itself and by Dr.
B.L.Wadhera, a veteran PILactivist.

The court turned down all the petitions and refused to doan activist judicial review of the sale and try and
stop it as the petitioners wished it would. It has to be said for whatever reason this horrendous loot as it were of na-
tional assets by the private sector with the active collusion and encouragement of ministers like Arun Shourie as
part ofa policy of selling off as much as possible in asshort aperiod of time of India's 50 years of PSU wealth crea-
tion hadn't really caught the public imagination by way of an alarm. The media, certainly a section ofit, was almost
cheering the process as the best thing that could happen to the nation. The public mood in any case for some years
has been that government and PSU employees are corrupt and lazy 'good for nothing' people who need to be jerked
into action. If privatisation would achieve that as the politicians who were at the forefront of the effort suggested,
then the public attitude or mood was-"so be it". So when the court turned down the challenges to the BALCO sale
they were not exactly going against the popular will on the matter, it is possible to argue. In short, their decision, in
many sections, whether for reasons oflack of foresightedness or delusion or political ideology or whatever did enjoy
popular approval.
This judgement is significant because it illustrates the current mood of the judges and as we have seen there
is no activism without the judges. Often it begins with them, pauses with them and ifit stops totally it will stop with
them and because of the attitudes that they adopt. The judges quoted extensively below, observed as follows :-
".....The policies of the Government ought not to remain static. With the change in economic climate, the
wisdom and the manner for the Government to run commercial ventures may require reconsideration. What may
have been in the public interest at a point of time may no longer be so. The Government has taken apolicy decision
that it is in public interest to disinvest in BALCO. Anelaborate process has been undergone and majority shares
sold. It cannot be said that public funds have been frittered away. In this process, the change in the character of the
company cannot be validly impugned.While it was a policy decision to start BALCO as acompany owned by the
Government, it is as a change of policy that disinvestment has now taken place. If the initial decision could not be
validly challenged on the same parity of reasoning, the decision to disinvest also cannot be impugned without
showing that it is against any law or malafide ....." ·

"...... It is evident from the above that it is neither within the domain of the Courts nor the scope of the judi-
cial review to embark upon an enquiry as to whether a particular public policy is wise or whether better public poli-
cy an be evolved. Nor are our Courts inclined to strike down a policy at the behest of a petitioner merely because it
has been urged that adifferent policy would have been fairer or wiser or more scientific or more logical.......". Pro-
cess of disinvestment is a policy decision involving complex economic factors. The Courts have

78
consistently refrained from interfering with economic decisions as it has been recognised that economic expedien-
cies lack adjudicative disposition and unless thee conomic decision, based on economic expediencies, is demon-
strated to be so violative of constitutional or legal limits on power or so abhorrent to reason, that the Courts would
decline to interfere. In matters relating toeconomi issues, the Government has, while taking a decision, right
to"trial and error" as long as both trial and error are bonafide and within limits of authority. There is nocase made
out by the petitioner that thedecision to disinvest in BALCO is in any way capricious, arbitrary, illegal or unin-
formed. Even though the workers inay have interest in the manner in which the Company isconducting its busi-
ness, in as much as its policy decision may have an impact on the workers' rights, nevertheless it is an incidence of
service for an employee to accept adecision of theemployer which has been honestly taken and which is not con-
trary to law. Even a government servant, having the protection of not only Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution
but also of Article 31I, has no absolute right to remain inservice. For example, apart from cases of disciplinary ac-
tion, the services of government servants can be terminated if posts are abolished. If such employee cannot makea
grievance based on part III of the Constitution or Article 311 then it cannot stand to reason that like the petitioners,
non-government employees working in acompany which by reason of judicial pronouncement may be regarded as
a State for the purpose of part III of the Constitution, can claim asuperior ora better right than a government serv-
ant and impugn it'schange of status. In taking of a policy decision in economic matters at length, the principles of
natural justice have no role to play. While it isexpected ofa responsible employer to take all aspects into considera-
tion including welfare of the labour before taking any policy decision that, by itself, will not entitle theemployees
to demand a right of hearing or consultation prior to the taking of the decision......". To discourage, it would seem,
activists from filing PILs by way of public service, the court had the following words of ridicule almost for the
veteran PIL activst Dr. B. L.Wadhera who had filed one of the writs petitions before the court :
".....Shri B.L. Wadhera has, in recent years, become a persistent Public Interest Litigant who has to his
credit fairly large number of Writ Petitions filed in the Delhi High Court. Not to miss anppportunity, soon after the
bid of Sterlite was accepted on 21st February, 2001, promptly Wadhera filed Writ Petition in the Delhi High Court
within two days i.e. on 23rd February, 2001 which is Transferred Case No. 9 of 2001 challenging the said deci-
sion. Wadhera is not an employee of thecompany, nor was hea prospective bidder. He contended that he had been
closely connected with public sector undertakings and therefore, had the locus standi to file the Writ Petition chal-
lenging the said disinvestment by filing what he terms as a Public Interest Litigation ......" Then the court launched
into a whole tirade, it would seem, on PIL's themselves, that have formed the backbone of judicial activism in this
country for the last three decades in the following strong words :
"......Public Interest Litigation, or PIL as it is more commonly known, entered the Indian judicial process in
1970. It will not be incorrect to say that it is primarily the judges who have innovated this type oflitigation asthere
was adire need for it .At that stage , it was intended to vindicate public interest where fundamental and other rights
of the people who were poor, ignorant or in socially or economically disad- vantageous position and were unable
to seek legal redress were required to be espoused . PIL was not meant to be adversarial in nature and was to bea-
cooperative and collaborative effort of the parties and the Court so as to secure justice for-the poor and the weaker
sections of the community who were not in a position to protect their own interests. Public Interest Litigation was
intended to mean nothing more than what words themselves said viz.,'litigation in the interest of the public'.........."
" .....While PIL initially was invoked mostly in cases connected with the relief to the people and the weaker sec-
tions of the society and in areas where ther'e was violation of human rights under Article 21, but with the passage
of time, petitions have been entertained in other spheres.

Prof. S.B. Sathe has summarised the extent of the'jurisdiction which has now been exercised in following
words :" PIL may, therefore, be described assatisfying one or more ofthe following parameters. These arenot ex-
clusive but merely descriptive : Where theconcerns underlying apetition are not individualist but are shared widely
by alarge number of people (bonded labour, undertrial prisoners, prison inmates). Where the affected persons be-
long to the disadvantaged sections of society (women, children, bonded labour, unorganised labour etc.). Where
judicial law making is necessary to avoid exploitation (inter- country adoption, theeducation of the children of the
prostitutes)? Where judicial intervention is necessary for the protection of the sanctity of democraticinstitutions
(independence of the judiciary, existence of grievances redressal forums)? Where administrative decisions related
to development are harmful to the environment and jeopardize people's to natural resources such as air or water.

79
 Thereis,in recent years, a feeling which is not without any foundation that Public Interest Litigation is now
tending to become publicity interest litigation or private interest litigation and has a tendency to be counter-
productive. PIL is not a pill or a panacea for all wrongs. It was essentially meant to protect basic human rights of the
weak and the disadvantaged and was aprocedure which was innovated where a public spirited person filesa petition
in effect on behalf of such persons who on account of poverty , helplessness or economic and social disabilities
could not approach the Court for relief. There have been, in recent times, increasingly instances of abuse of PIL.
Therefore, there isa need to re-emphasize the parameters within which PIL can be resorted to by a Petitionerand en-
tertained by the Court. This aspect hascome up for considerationbefore this Court and all we need to do is to reca-
pitulate and re-emphasize the same. The decision to disinvest and the implementation thereofis purely an administra-
tivedecision relating to the economic policy of the State and challenge to the same at the instance ofa busy-body
cannot fall within the parametersof Public Interest Litigation.

The judges said in conclusion :

"In a democracy, it is the prerogativeof each elected Government to follow it'sown policy. Often a changein
Government may result in the shift in focus or change in economic policies.A11)' such change may result in ad-
verselyaffecting some vested interests. Unless any illegality iscommitted in the execution of the policy or the same
iscontrary to law or mala fide, a decision bringing about change cannot per se be interfere with by the Court. Wis-
dom and advisability ofeconomic policies are ordinarily not amenable to judicial reviewunless it can be demonstrat-
ed that the policy is contrary to any statutory provision or the Constitution. 1n other words, it is not for the Courts to
consider relative merits of different economic policies and considerwhether a wiser or better one can be evolved. For
testing the correctness of a policy, the appropriate forum is the Parliament and not the Courts. Here thepolicy was
tested and the Motiondefeated in the Lok Sabha on 1st March, 2001. Thus, apart from the fact that the policy of dis-
investment cannot be questioned as sm;h, the facts herein show that fair,just and equitable procedure has been fol-
lowed in carrying out this disinvestment. The allegations oflack of transparency or that the decision was taken in a
hurry or there has been an arbitrary exercise of power are without any basis. It is a matterof regret that on behalf of
State of Chattisgarh such allegations against the Union of India have been made without any basis. We strongly dep-
recate such unfounded averments which have been made by an officer of the said State.

The offer of the highest bidder has been accepted. This was more than the reserve price which was arrived at
by a method which is well recognised and, therefore, we have not examined the details in the matter of arriving·at
the valuation figure. Moreover, valuation is aquestion of fact and the Court will not interfere in matters of valuation
unless the methodology adopted is arbitrary [see Duncans Industries Ltd. vs. State of U.P. d Others, (2000) 1 SCC
633]. Judicial interference by way of PIL is available if there is injury to public because of dereliction of Constituti
onal or statutory obligations on the part of the government. Here it is not soand in the sphere of economic policy or
reform the Court is not the appropriate forum. Every matter of public interest or curiosity cannot be the subject mat-
ter of PIL. Courts are not intended to and nor should they conduct the administrationofthe country. Courts will inter-
fere only if there is a clear violation of Constitutional or statutory provisions or non-compliance by the State with it's
Constitutional or statutory duties. None of these contingencies arise in this present case. The BALCO judge-
ment did give a firm signal not only that the court will not, very easily, from now on show activism but also that
they would not encourage activist attempts from litigants. This is clearly a retrograde step as far as the progress of
judicial activism in India isconcerned, both for the judiciary and social activist who have come to rely and have faith
on the power and willingness of the courts to help in their social and political struggles. But it is not as if the court
istotally withdrawing from the field. [t cant. Simply because thereisaresidual tendency now in India, after decades of
judicial involvement and activism, of rushing to the court and asking it to serve asthe arbitrator when nothing else
works and problems can't be solved. So we are seeing the Bahri Masjid dispute in real terms almost entirely being
handled by the court. As this article goes to the press in May 2003, the court is busy monitoring the excavation of
the Bahri Masjid site to determine if there stood a Hindu temple there before the masjid was built !!. Again earlier
this year, the court intervened on the basis of newspaper reports to have Coke and Pepsi advertisements removed
from Himalyan rock faces. The court has just ordered the Bihar Government to pay up the dues of PSU employees
in the state who haven 't been paid for years.

80
Also the court has asked the government to reply toa PIL (interestingly without admitting the petition) filed by the
Centre for Public Interest Litigations demanding that the privatisation ofHPCL be done after obtaining approval
from the parliament because the company had been nationalised and turned into a PSU by an act of parliament. Who
knows, maybe, this case will seeadecision that will again energise the judicial activism movement in India and make
it come alive. Maybe it will not and the current trend of restraint will continue. But if it did, all it will take, as the
history of activism in India and elsewhere shows, is another case on another day before another bench.

Adisturbing trend of late has been the rise of corruption in the judiciary, particufarly the lower courts and
even the High Courts. In a few cases some judges in the High Courts have been alleged to be involved in giving fa-
vourable orders in exchange for sexual favours and there have been a few prominent cases of High Court judges
who have been charged for askingand taking bribes to decide cases favourably, some in early May 2003, as this arti-
cle goes to the press. This has obviously degraded the moral authority of the judiciary which is very important for
effectively displaying any sort of activism.
But it may well happen that by the time the judiciary can recover its popular appeal and moral high ground
to the extent that it has lost it, the legislature and its professional practitioners (read politicians), who have been un-
der a tight leash from the judiciary for decades will use the opportunity to curb the powers of the judiciary and its
scope for activism. That is what is likely ifone were to read the statement of intentions currently flowing as evident
from the following newspaper report titled 'MP's file chargesheet against judiciary' reproduced in whole from the
Economic Times of May 6th, 2003 :-

"Displaying rare solidarity, political parties today came together in Parliament to attack what its leaders de-
scribed the ''tyranny of judiciary and its lack ofaccountability". Adiscussion on an innocous amendment to the Delhi
Hig Court Act in the Lok Sabha was used by the leaders of the Congress, CPI(M), RJD. AIADMK and TDP to ven-
tillate their pent up anger against the judiciary. One speaker after another listed deviant behaviour ofjudges and in-
stances of activism, prompting law minister Arun Jaitley to reiterate his government's commitment to put in place a
National Judicial Commission." We need judicial statesmanship toensure a dividing line inorder to avoid confronta-
tion," he said . Participating in the debate, members alleged that there were growing instances ofcorruption among
judges and made a strong plea for "overhauling" the judicial system and demanded that the Contempt of Court Act
be done away with." The tyranny of the courts should end," Ms. margaretAlva of the Congress said initiating the de-
bate. She got support from the CPM, which said thecontempt act was put in the statute when India was a colony and
demanded that parliament revisit the provision. Mr. Jaitley assured the house that the government would soon take
necessary steps to amend the contempt law. In her speech Ms. Alva referred to recent cases in Karnataka and Delhi
in which some judges have been accused of corruption, and said " it is high time that the executive stands up and as-
sert the primacy of Parliament". She alleged that there were cases of "fixing and manipulation" ofcourts and cases,
but the government and the Parliament were running away from its responsibility to cleanse the system. "There is
more corruption in judiciary than in bureaucracy", she said, adding that all those who speak against the courts are
dealt with the contempt law."This can not go on", she said. The congress member also recollected an instance where
the Allahabad High Court issued acontempt notice to her for her remarks against the judiciary in Parliament. "The
Prime Minister had to intervene. He took up the matter with the Chief Justice but can an ordinary citizen get such
protection, she asked. Citing the recent instances of judgements on CNG buses, red lights atop judge's cars and river
pollution, Ms. Alva said the time has come todrawaline. The intrusion into the adminstrative terrain should be re-
sisted. Ms.Alva was joined by other members like Varkala Radhakrishnan, P.H.Pandian (AIADMK), and A. C. Jose
(Cong) on the issue of providing justice to the poor, the need for more judicial accountabilityand reducing pendency
of cases". (Note 34)
In conclusion the author wishes to submit the following by way of a brief CRITIQUE of JUDICIAL ACTIV-
ISM:-
1. It would seem that the whole history of judicial activism in avery general sense has been one of restraint
versus activism. The pendulum has swung, over time, from oneextreme tothe other and it hasn't stoped
swinging. Probably never will. As for instance in India, where the huge movement for activism in the seven-
ties and eighties has given way nowarguably, toareverse movement, and overwhelmingly so, for restraint.

2. In the classical scheme of things of classical anglo-saxon law, the judiciary, of course, is there for deciding
adversarial trials and the whole edifice of that school oflaw is built oncontinuity and certainty. If judges were
to make law everyday, that would be akin to anarchy. So their is a strong residual case for restraint if this sys-
tem is to be adopted and made to work as we done in India or have chosen to do even though its a product
ofan alien occidental culture and not one that evolved over time here in this land itself.

81
 3. Consequently it is remarkable that the judiciary inan English Common Law based anglo-saxon system at all
found the room for activism historically and quite a lot of it. Maybe it would have never happened had the role
of individual judges not been so crucial in the system.After all, he isthe one before whom the whole opportuni-
ty to be creative and activist lies. It is for him to seize the day ifhe finds the inclination and reach out to ensure
more accurate justice. Often it is the changing times and the changing values of aculture and political system
that influences the individual on the bench. Justice Kirby puts it eloquently asfollows :
"The judiciary isthe lastempire ofgovernmental individualism. Every judge isawareoftheimportance of cer-
tainty and predictability in the law, at least in those areas where the people's liberty or their major investments of cap-
ital and wealth are involved. Judges vary in their inclination todevelop orchange the law. Some are by nature con-
servative; some activist; and some selectively evidence both tendencies atdifferent times.There are judges who have a
large confidence in their own abilities to foresee thedirection in which the river of the law is flowing. If such confi-
dence is combined with assurance that they can perceive the "permanent values of[their] community" and if they
have great technical skills, much valuable reformist work may be done which is seen as a justifiable adaptation of
underlying legal principles.

But then, he says, in the context of his nation and ours: "India, like Australia, is a multi-cultural society
where the "permanent values" of the people are often hard to find. Moreover, both are societies undergoing rapid so-
cial and economic change. That change creates at once the urgent needs for judicial activism but the obligation to re-
strain the largest temptations". (Note 35)
4. The judiciary has always known that activism is difficult and requires huge sensitivity and creativity, which
is possibly one reason why they have been on the whole uncomfortable with the process. But then, often
historical and social currents take over and the judges find themselves basically responding to that. The fail-
ure of the legislature and the executive hasoften meant that the only remaining avenue that has been found
by people to addresss problems and aspirations has been the judiciary.The urgency to act is explained by
eminent lawyer Soli Sorabjee in the following words: '·.....indignant critics forget that it is the Executive's
failure to perform its duty and the notorious tardinessoflegislatures that impels judicial activism and pro-
vides its motivation and legitimacy. When gross violations of human rights are brought to its notice, the ju-
diciary cannot procrastinate. It must respond". (Note 36) Some judges have been defensive of activism, so
much so, as to suggest that it is entirely temporary peculiar to the needs of the time and would come to an
end soon, as former €hief Justice Ahmedi did. (Note 37)
5. The fact that the judiciary and the judges come to their rescue when the legislature and the executive fails
them, have often caused people to develop huge reverencefor that organ of the state and increased their ex-
pectationsand their faith in its capacity and inclination which have subsequently often proven to be illusory.
For instance, the Parliamentary Committee for the Welfare ofSC's& ST'sconcluded in 2002 that the judicial
activism revolution bypassed them and complained that social backround was never a consideration for the
appointment of judgeswhich according to them is one reason why the court proved to be of no help. The
Committee said ".. In fact, there is no dearth of evidence of the fact that communal bias has been visible in
judiciary up to the highest level..". The Committee even quoted Justice Bhagwati's, who had once said that
"since the judges aredrawn from the class of well-to-do lawyers, they unwittingly develop certain biases".
(Note 38) Also the direction of activism can cause a lossof faith in the fundamental impartiality of the judi-
ciary in the minds of those litigantswho don' t subscribe to the basic assumptions that the court is making.
As John Gava puts it : "The worst result of activism isthat the judges may end up losing the public'sfaith in
their most important attribute the perception that they are impartial referees deciding according to the rule
oflaw. He further says: " Toargue against judicial activism is not to make the mistake of believing that the
judge's role especially in appellate tribunals like the High Court is anything other than creative. Of course it
is. ... This does not, however, necessarily lead to activism. There is a world of difference between an attitude
to choice which recognises and limits itself to incremental changes, tries to remain faithful to earlier deci-
sions and appreciates that caution and restraint should be foremost in the judge's mind, and one which sees
judging as an opportunity to act as a surrogate or replacement legislature and government. Or, as has been
said, the impossibility of acompletely sterile operating environment does not mean that surgeons should op-
erate in sewers. Judicial activism should attract criticism, not hero worship".

82
 6. The role ofjudges as individuals can't be over stressed and it has to be remembered that at the end of the day
the judges are from among us. They have in them, presumably, the same residual attitudes of the times they
live in like y of us. How else can oneexplain then, why in the middle of the 19th century, Supreme Court
judges i Ame rica found it justifiable to order the continuation of racial segregation of negros but a hundred
years later in the midst of a civil rights movement and a world much changed and much more won over by
democratic values, Justice Earl Warren struck those very same segregations down as unconstitutional.
Similarly in India, while in the seventies and eighties of the last century the judiciary was active enough
and inclined enough to stand upand stop asemi-dictatorial regime like that of Indira Gandhi from stomping
out all democratic nonns and undennine the constitution, in the beginning of this century, the court regards
it unnecessary to do its bit to intervene in the sell off of India's fifty years of hard earned PSU wealth to the
highest corporate bidder often at scrap valuations, by a government that is behaving semi-dictatoriallyon
the issue by refusing totake the permission or approval of Parliament before doing so.

7. It needs to be pointed out that it is not just judges who are important as individuals. Ajudge judgesonly when
there is acause before him. As Justice S.GPollack put it:
'' Artists begin with a creative impulse. Judges do not begin at all until someone starts a law suit. Even the most ac-
tivist judges do not create causes of action, but must wait for someone else to start the process. Once the process be-
gins, most judges depend on the adversary system to shape the case. The process is inherently rational and con-
trolled".
Consequently, the role of adventurous litigants is no less important. Had the PIL's that were filed by activist
indiv iduals like M.C.Mehta or the social activists of organisations like PUDR not been filed, would thejudges have
had the opportunity todemonstrate the activism that they did. Now in acountry like India with almosttwo thirds not
literate enough or rich enough to move the courts and seek relief, this presents a huge problem. It means the middle
classes and members of the upper classes will continue to providethe limited pool oflitigants who will provide the
causes ofaction that will give the opportunity for activi sm tothe bench. Is it any wonder then that most PIL's are
about environment or the wild life or about general urban problems of pollution and corruption or inefficiency in
services-issuesthat the activist educated middle class finds important or useful or even possibly romantic and fash-
ionable. They often don' t get judicially exercised by such other issues like the continuing increase for instance in
the rate of suicidesby poor farmers in the villages of many states for which they are content to blame the ''useless"
government and often do no more. The fact that the government refuses to offer free foodgrains to these dying peo-
pleeven as lakhs of tonnes rot in government godowns making a mockery of the resolution of the Preamble to the
Constitutionitself stating India to be a socialist country is not reason enough toexert ones judicial energy and spend
ofones time and money forthe PILfiling classesand their increasinglytinwelcoming judges on the benches.

8. Would it be anysurprise then, if the esteem and the popularity that the judge enjoy in this class or segment of
the population, that they themselves have been thrown up from, becomes so important to them that they feel
inclined to take the side of activism in direct proportion to the public approval (often gauged from the press
that they get). There is no doubt that the activism of the seventies had the popular approval of this class and
had earned their respect and it is this segment of the population who matter the most de facto in the process of
judicial activism as it is or has been practiced. When the popularity wanes as happenedthe late eighties on-
wards for whatever reasons, the judiciary suddenly feels the need for restraint and the urge to be activist he-
roes vanishes, one can not help but suspect. This was also the reason why the legislature or the politicians
have found it difficult to curb the activism of the judiciary or the executive to ignore its orders and directives.
As Prof. Sathe elucidates:

"At times, therehavebeen protests butonlywhenjudicial activism seemed toimpingeonthediscretionary

area ofthe politicians or civil servants. Clandestine moves were madetoclipthe wingsofthecourts byimposing re-
strictions on theeligibility of pei:sons to file PIL's (public interest litigations), but were withdrawn when there was
publicprotest. There has been talkofstreamliningjudicialactivism, but the poµtical establishment has not had ei-
therthe moral courageor political strength tostrip thecourtsoftheir newly acquired power. Thisisbecause the court has
carved for itself a niche in the hearts of thepeople". (Note 39)

In an absolute sense ofcourse, it isentirely pathetic that popularity of actions should have anything to do with
the otherwise weighty realm oflaw and its practitioners.

83
9. There is enough evidence to suggest, as has been discussed above at places, that, in the seventies, notwithstanding
the possibly genuine acute sense ofconcern for justice of great individual judges like Justice Krishna Iyer and Jus-
tice P.N. Bhagwati, there was a growing realisation and alarm in the judiciary worldwide and in India too, that if
activism was not shown and solutions by way of justice found including social, economic and of course political
justice, there would be violent revolutions or chaos on the streets that would threaten the whole way oflife of the
essentially capitalist democracy that the courts and its anglo-saxon judicial system was an important organ of. This
realisation may not have happened at all or may not have been hastened to the extent that it was, it may be safe to
conclude , if there had not been such a widespread leftist upheaval worldwide during that period which set the pace
as it were.
10. In all fairness it has been agreat triumph for Indian democracy, the way the judiciary has been able to stand its
ground and demonstrate the necessary activism . Justice Michael Kirby pays tribute to it in the following words :

"In India, by the expansion of the law of standing, the courts have enhanced their utility to prevent in-
fringements offundamental rights . The practice of the Supreme Court of India of entertaining letters and telegrams
addressed to it as writ petitions, and in acting upon them, has naturally attracted criticism from some quarters. On
the other hand, it has often been the way by which the Court has transformed a purely theoretical right, and a hypo-
thetical application of the rule oflaw, to the actual enforcement of the law in a way that brings justice under the law
to the mass of the people. I can think of no other final court of the common law which has gone so far as the Su-
preme Court of India did in SP Gupta VS. Union of India. It there unanimously ruled that where judicial redress is-
sought for legal injury toa person, oradeterminate class of persons who, by reason of poverty, helplessness, social
or economically disadvantaged position or disability are unable to approach the Court for relief, any member of the
public, acting bona fide and not for oblique considerations, may maintain an action on their behalf. Such a person
may seek judicial redress for the legal wrong or injury caused to such other person or determinate class of persons.
Perhaps it is the special needs of India which propels its courts into radical refashioning of the instruments·of the
common law and reconceptualisationof the role of a modem judiciary in a free society". (Note 40)
To that extent it is a matter of grave dissapointment now, that the pendulum, has almost totally swung to-
wards judicial restraint . But then one never knows, maybe it will be the HPCL privatisation case now before the
courts filed by the Centre for the PIL'sorthe new proposal fora National Judicial Commission of the present gov-
ernment which will jolt the judiciary to tum around and tum active and creative again. All it takes is another issue
in another case before another bench on another day of the soap opera of judicial activism to continue.

A concluding advice to students :

Students are strongly adviced to follow the judicial developments mentioned above that are coming up as
this article goes to the press in May of 2003 for they may well turn out to be important chapters in the continuing
saga ofjudicial activism in this country. Depending onthe developments and their significance, it would be highly
advisable to suitably incorporate them in the preparations for the examinations.

Notes :

(1) Justice M.N.Rao, ' JudicialActivism', ebcindia(Eastem Book Company)

(2) http://www.kobres.com/activism.html,( Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, 717, Second
Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002 , USA)
(3) Ibid .
(4) See (1)
(5) (1989) 1 NLSJ 109
[Anil B. Divan, 'Great controversies and great cases: Old and not soold', National Law School Journal,
Vol .1,1989]
(6) See (1)
(7) Ibid.

84
 (8) Justice Michael Kirby, 'Bar Association of India Lecture, 1997',
(9) See(l)
(10) Ibid.
(11) See (8)
(12) Ibid.
(13) See (5) above, page 111
(14) See (8) above
(15) Ibid.
(16) 'India Today', 15 March 1996 at pages 108-122.
(17) Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer, 'Justice at Crossroads', p.266
(18) Constituent Assemble Debates, Vol.IX, pp.1495
(19) Seervai, Constitutional Law of India, Vol.II, 3rd edition, p.1844 quoted in (1989) 1 NLSJ 109, p.118 ( Anil
B.Divan, 'Great controversies.....so old'
(20) Ibid.
(21) See (1)
(22) Gobinda Mukhoty, ' Public Interest Litigation : ASilent Revolution', paper submitted at the Fourth Annual
Convention of the PUDR (Peoples Union for Democratic Rights), September 21, 1985,(quoteinp.l.)
(23) Ibid.( English Law-The New Dimensions, The Hamlyn Lectures by Sir Leslie Scarman, 1974-quoted in
p.7.)
(24) See (1)
(25) See http:\\www,supremecourtofindia.nic.in/jurisdiction.htm (26) (1989) 1 NLSJ 217
[ Prof. B.P.Srivastava, ' Social Action in conflict with judicial activism", National Law School Journal, Vol
.1,1989 ]
(30) Ibid.
(31) 'Dignified Restraint', R.Prasannan, THE WEEK, May 17, 1998.
(32) 'Judicial Activism in Medical Education', GS.Gill, Express Healthcare Management, 16-31st of January,
2002.
(33) ' Organised sector sheds 4.2 lakhjobs....', The Economic Times, 6th of May, 2003, p.1.
(34) ' MP's :{ile chargesheet against judiciary', The Economic Times, 6th of May, 2003, p.2.
(35) See (8)
(36) Ibid. (quoted in)
(37) Zakir Hussain Memorial Lecture, 1996', JusticeAhmedi
(38) 'Judicial activism bypassed Dalits', Rakesh Bhatnagar, Times News Network, Monday, May 13, 2002.
(39) 'Judicial Activism in India-Transgressing Borders & Enforcing Limits', Prof. S.P. Sathe
(40) See (8).

Case Law Citations :

(1) 2LEd60(1803)
(2) 15 L Ed 691 (1857)
(3) 198 us 45 (1905)
(4) 347 US 483 (1954) and 349 US 294 (1955)
(5) 163 us 537 (1896)
(6) 448 us 448 (1977)
(7) 438 us 265 (1978)
(8) James I and Sir Edward Coke (1608A.D.) narrated in (1989) 1 NLSJ pp.110-112
(9) 1941 (3)A11ER338 [discussedin(l989) 1 NLSJpp.113-115]
(10) AIR 1951 sec 458
(11) AIR 1965 sec 845

85
 (12) AIR 1965 sec 745
(13) AIR 1967 sec 1643 (14)AIR 1970 cc 564 (15)AIR 1911 sec 530 (16)AIR 1973 sec 1461
(17) AIR 1981 sec 344 (18)AIR 1989 (1) sec 204 (19)AIR 1991 (1) sec 752 (20) 1976 (2) sec 1116
(21) (1880) 14 ChD 458:42 LT 783 (CA)
(22) (1887) 19 QBD 175:56 LT 876 (CA)
(23) (1975) 2 sec 102
(24) AIR 1981 sec 298
(25) (1981) Supp SCC 87 (26) (1982) 3 sec 235 (27) (1983) 2 sec 258
(28) W.P.(criminal) 1106 of 1982
(29) W.P. (criminal) 1366 of 1982 (30) (1984) 3 sec 161
(31) (1987) 4 sec 463
(32) (1985) 3 sec 545
(33) 1985 sec 1259
(34) AIR 1988 sec 1531
(35) (1987) 4 sec 609
(36) AIR 1987 sec 1159
(37) (1989) 4 sec 187
(38) (1989) 1 sec 674
(39) c2000) 1o sec c
(40) (1992) 4 sec 305
(41) (1992) 2 sec 343
(42) (1994) 2 sec 691
(43) (1996) 2 sec 405
(44) (1997) 7 sec 592
(45) (2001) T.C.(C) 8,9&10 & W.P.(C) NO. 1948

Suggested Readings :

(1) Prof. S.P. Sathe, 'Judicial Activism in India-Transgressing Borders and Enforcing Limits', (Oxford University
Press)
(2) Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer,'Justice at Crossroads', 1992 (Deep and Deep Publications, Delhi)
(3) H.M. Seervai , Constitutional Law of India (Vols. I and II)
(N. M. Tripathi Pvt. Ltd, Bombay)

Suggested Websites :

(1) www.judis.nic.in(fortextsofSupremeCourtjudgements)
(2) www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in (official website of the Supreme Court of India)
(3) www.lawmin.nic.in(official website of the Min. of Law)
(4) www.alpha.nic.in(official home page of the Indian Parliament)

86
 UNIT-V LESSON 6

RELATIONS & DECENTRALISATION AND OEVOLUTION

Subhendu Ranjan Raj
Reader, PGDAVE College
University of Delhi

THE NCRWC was set up following Government oflndia, Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs
(Department of Legal Affairs), vide its Resolution, dated the 22 February , 2000 resolved to constitute " the Na-
tional Commission to Review the Working the Constitution" to make suitable recommendations to the constitu-
tion. The said resolution was subsequently modified by the Government vide its notifications dated 17 March, 2000
and 27 March, 2000.
Accordingly, on 23 February 2000, the President oflndia appointed Justice Shri M.N. Venkatachaliah. former
Chief Justice oflndia as the Chairperson of the Commission and the following persons as the other Members of
the Commission:
Justice hri B.P. Jeevan Reddy
Justice Shri R.S. Sarkaria Jus-
tice Shri Kottapalli Punnayya
Shri P.A. Sangma
Shri Soli J. Sorabjee
Shri K. Parasaram,
Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap,
Shri C.R. Irani,
Dr. Abid Hussain
Smt. Sumitra G. Kulkarni
Terms of Reference
The Resolution of the Government oflndia, Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs (Department of Le-
gal Affairs) of22 February 2000 stipulated the following as the terms ofreference of the Commission:-
"The Commission shall examine, in the light of the experience of the past 50 years, as to how best the Con-
stitution can respond to the changing needs of efficient, smooth and effective system of governance and socio-
economic development of modern India within the framework of parliamentary democracy and to recommend
changes, if any, that are required in the provisions of the Constitution without interfering with its basic structure or
features."
The Government authorized the Commission to decide its own procedure and hear and entertain all persons, rep-
resentations and communications which in the opinion of the Commission shall facilitate its work and final recom-
mendation.
The Report was finally adopte_d and signed on 11 March, 2002.
The following were its specific recommendations pertaining to federalism, decentralisation and devolution of
power in India.
Pertaining to Legislation_
Individual and collective consultation with the States should be undertaken through the Inter-State Council estab-
lished und r article 263 of the Constitution. Further, the Inter-State Council Order, 1990, issued by the President may
clearly specify in para 4(b) of the order the subjects that should form part of consultation in the Inter-State Council.

87
 "Management of Disasters and Emergencies, Natural or Man-Made" should be included in List III of the Sev-
enth Schedule.
Pertaining to Finance
It might be worthwhile to provide expIicitly for taxing power for the States in respect of certain specified ser-
vices . For the Union also an explicit entry would be helpful, rather than leaving it to the residuary power of entry 97.
However, it may be better to first let a consensus Iist of services to be taxed by the States, even if the fonnal taxing
power is exercised by the Union. A de facto enumeration of services that can be taxed exclusively be the States should
get priority from policy makers with a view to augmenting the resource pool of the States. Specific enumeration_ of
services that may become amenable to taxation be the States should be made. A11 appropriate amendment to the
Constitution in this behalf should be made to include certain taxes, now levied and collected by the Union, to
be levied and collected by the States.
Trade and commerce
For carrying out the objectives of articles 301,302,303 and 304, and other purposes relating to the needs and re-
quirements of inter-State trade and commerce and for purposes of eliminating barriers to inter-state trade and com-
merce Parliament should , by law, establish an authority called the "Inter-State Trade and Comm erce Commis-
sion" under the Ministry oflndustry and Commerce under article 307 read with Entry 42 of List-I.
Resolution of Disputes
Article 139A, which confers power on the Supreme Court to withdraw cases involving the same or substantially
the same question of law, which are pending in Supreme Court and one or more High Courts, should be amended so
as to provide that it can withdraw to itself cases even if they are pending in one court where such questions as to the
legislative competence of the Parliament or State Legislature are invo lved.
As river water disputes being important disputes between two or more States and/or the Union, they should be
heard and disposed by a bench of not less than three Judges and if necessary, a bench of five Judges of the Supreme
Court for the final disposal of the suit.
Appropriate provisions may be made as envisaged by article 145(1) in consultation with the Supreme Court or
if the Supreme Court so opts to provide for the same by the Supreme Court Rules to appoint Commissioners or Mas-
ters and to have the evidence recorded not by the Supreme Court itself but by the Commissioners or Masters so
· that
the precious time of the Supreme Court is saved . 1

Appropriate Parliamentary legislation should be made for repealing the River Boards Act, 1956 and re-
placing it by another comprehensive enactment under Entry 56 of List I. The new enactment should clearly define
the constitution of the River Boards and their jurisdiction soas to regulate, develop and contror all inter- State rivers
keeping intact the adjudicated and the recognized rights of the States through which the inter-State river passes and
their inhabitants. While enacting the le gisl ation , national interest should be the paramount consideration as in-
ter-State rivers are ' materi al resources' of the community and are national assets. Such enactment should be
passed by Parliament after having effective and meaningful consultation with all the State Gove rnments .
In resolving problems and coordinating policy and action, the Union as well as the States should more effective-
ly utilize the forum of inter-State Council as recommended by the Commission on Centre-State Relations (Sarkaria
Commissio n). This will be in tune with the spirit of cooperative federalism requiring proper understanding and mutu-
al confidence and resolution of problems of common interest exped itiousl y.
In order to reduce tension or friction between States and the Union and for expeditious decision-making on
important issues involving States, the desirability of prior consultation by the Union Government with the inter-
State Council may be considered before signing any treaty vitally affecting the interests of the States
regarding matters in the State List.
'
Executive
The powers of the President in the matter of selection and appointment of Governors shouId not be

88
 diluted. However, the Governor of a State shou Id be appointed by the Pres ide nt only after cons u ltat io n with
the Chief Minister of that State. Normally the five year term should be adhered to and removal or transfer
should be by following a similar procedure as for appointment i. e . after cons u ltat io n with the Chief Minister or
the concerned State.
In the matter of selection of a Governor, the following matters mentioned in para 4. I 6 . 0 I of Volume I or
the Sarkaria Commission Report should be kept in mind :-
• He should be eminent in some walk oflife. He should be a person from outside the State.
• He should be a detached figure and not too intimately connected with the local po li tic s of the State.
• He should be a person who has not taken too great a part in politics gene rall y, and pa icularly in the
recent past.
In selecting 8: Governor in accordance with the above criteria, the persons belonging to them inority groups
should continue to be given a chance as hitherto.
There should be a time-limit- saya period of six months - within which the Governor should take a deci-
sion whether to grant assent or to reserve a Bill for consideration of the President. If the Bill is reserved for
consideration of the Preside nt, there should be a time- li m it, say of three mo nths, within which the Preside n t
should take a decision whether to accord his assent or to direct the Governor to return it to the State Leg isl atun:
or to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court regarding the const itut io na li ty of the Act under article 1 43.
Suitable amendment should be made in the Constitution so that the assent given by the President should
avail for all purposes of relevant articles of the Constitution. However, it is desirable that when a Bill is sent
for the President's assent, it would be appropriate to draw the attention of the President to all the articles of the
Const itutio n, which refer to the need for the assent of the President to avoid.any doubts in court proceed ing
s.
A suitable Article should be inserted in the Constitution to the effect that an assent given by the President
to an Act shall not be permitted to be argued as to whether it was given for one purpose or another. When the
President gives his assent to the Bill, it shall be deemed to have been given for al I purposes of the Constitution.
The following proviso may be added to article 111 of the Constitution :
•
"Provided that when the President declares that he assents to the Bi ll, the assent shall b e deemed to be a
general assent for all purposes of the Const itutio n."
Suitable amendment may also be made in article in article 200.
Article 356 should not be deleted. But it must be used sparingly and onl y as a remedy of the last res o rt
and after exhausting action under other articles Iike 256, 257 and 355.
In case of political breakdown, necessitating invoking of article 356, before iss uin g a proclamation thereunder,
the concerned State should be given an opportunity to explain its positio n and redres s the situat io n, unless till·
situation is such, that following the above course would not be in the interest of security of State, or defence or
the country, or for other reasons necessitating urgent action.

The question whether the Ministry in a State has lost the confidence of the Legislative Assembly or
not. should be decided only on the floor of the Assemb ly and nowhere e lse . If nec ess ary, the Union Gov-
ernment should take the required steps, to enable the Legislative Assembly to meet and freely transact its busi-
ness. The Governor should not be allowed to dismiss the Min ist ry, so long as it enjoys the confidence of the Ho
use . It is only where a Chief Minister refuses to res ign, after his Ministry is defeated on a motion ofno-
confidence, that the Governor can dismiss the State Government. In a situation of polit ical breakdow n, the
Governor should explore all possibilities of having a Government enjoying majority support in the Assem bly. If
it is not possible for such a Government to be installed and if fresh elections can be held without avo ida ble de-
lay, he should ask the outgoing Minis try, (if there is one), to continue as a caretaker governme nt , prov ided
the Ministry was defeated solely on a issue, unconnected with any allegations of maladministration or corruption
and is agreeable to continue. The Governor should then dissolve the Legislative Assemb ly, leaving the
resolution of the constitutional crisis to the electorate.

89
 The problem of political breakdown would stand largely resolved if the recommendations made in Chapter
4 in regard to the election of the leader of the House (Chief Minister) and the removal of the Government only
by a constructive vote of no-confidence are accepted and implemented.
Norma lly , President's Rule in a State should be proclaimed on the basis of Governor's Report under ar-
ticle 356( I). The Governor ' s report should be a "speaking document", containing a precise and clear state-
men1 ofall material facts and grounds, on the basis of which the President may satisfy himself, as to the exist-
ence or otherwise of the situation contemplated in article 356. In clause (5) ofarticle 356 of the Constitution,
in clause
(a) the word "and" occurring at the end should be substituted by the word "or" so that even without the Stale
being under a proclamation of Emergency, President's rule may be continued if elections cannot be held.
Whenever: a proclamation under article 356 has been issued and approved by the Parliament it may be-
come necessary to review the continuance in force of the proclamation and to restore the democratic processes
earlier than the expiry of the stipulated period. For this, new clauses (6) & (7) to article 356 may be added on
the following lines :-
(6) Notwithstandingany thing contained in the foregoing clauses, the President shall revoke a proclama-
tion issued under clause (I) or a proclamation varying such proclamation if the House of the People
passes a resolution disapproving, or, as the case may be, disapproving the continuance in force of, such
proclamation.
(7) Where a notice in writing signed by not less than one-tenth of the total number of members of the
House of the People has been given, of their intention to move a resolution for disapproving, or, as the
case may be, for disapproving the continuance in force of, a proclamation issued under clause (I) or a
proclamation varying such proclamation :
(a) to the Speaker, if the House is in session; or
(b) to be Pres ide nt , if the House is not in session, a special sitting of the House shall be held within
fourteen days from the date on which such notice is received by the Speaker, or, as the case may
be, by the Preside nt , for the purpose of considering such resolution.
Article 356 should be amended so to ensure that the State Legislative Assembly should not bf dissolved ei-
ther by the Governor or the President before the proclamation issued under article 356( I) has been laid before
Parliament and it has had an opp·o rtun ity to consider it.
Government may consider the demands of the Coorgies for a Sainik School, a Development Board and a
Univers ity for them in Coorg.
Steps may be taken for better protection of Sindhi language and culture by setting up ofa Centre of Sindhi
Language and Culture with the State providing necessary facilities for the same. The difficulties faced by the
Sindhi migrants may be examined and corrective measures taken to facilitate grant of citizenship as per the ex-
isting law.
Panchayati Raj
Regarding Panchayati raj the concerned articles 243K and 243Z should be amended on the following lines:-
1. Amendment of article 243K
In article 243K,
(a) for clause (I), the followin clauses shall be substituted, namely:-
"(I) Subject to the provisions of clause (IA), the superintendence, direction and control of the prepa-
ration of electoral rolls for, a.nd the conduct of, all elections to the Panchayats shall be vested in a State
Election Commission consisting of a State Election Commission to be appointed by the Gove rnor .
(IA) The Electio11 Commission shall have the power to issue any directions or instructions to the
State Election Com m issio n for the discharge of its functions under clause (I)".

90
 (b) after clause (4), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-
"(5) The State Election Commission shall submit its annual report to the Election Commission and to the
Governor, every year and it may, at any time, submit special reports on any matter which in its opinion is
of such urgency or importance that it should not be deferred till the submission of its annual re port".
2. Amendment of article 243 ZA
In article 243ZA, for clause ( I) , the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:-
"(I)Subject to the provisions of clause (IA), the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of
electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to the Municipalities shall be vested in the State Election Com-
mission referred to in article 243K.
(IA) The Election Commission shall have the power to issue any directions or instructions to the Stati.:: Elec-
tion Commission for the discharge of its functions under clause (I)".
Panchayats should be categorically declared to be' institutions of self-government' and exclusive functions be
assigned to them . For this purpose, article 243G should be amended as follows:-
"Powers, authority and responsibility of Panchayats 243G. Subject to be provisions of this Constitution, the
Legislature of a State shall, by law, vest the Panchayats with such powers and authority as are necessary to enable
them to function as institutions of self-government and such law shall contain provisions for the devolution of pow-
ers and responsibilities upon Panchayats at the appropriate level, subject to such conditions as shall be specified
therein , with respect to--(a) preparation of plans for economic development and social just ice ; (b) the implementa-
tion of schemes for economic development and social justice as shall be entrusted to them including those in rela-
tion to the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule".
Similar amendments should be made in article 243W relating to the powers, authority and responsibilities of
Municipalities, etc.
The Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules to the Constitution shou Id be restructured in a manner that creates a sepa-
rate fiscal domain for Panchayats and Municipalities. Accordingly, articles 243H and 243X should be amended
making it mandatory for the legislation of the States to make laws devolving powers to Panc hayats and Mun ici pa-
li ties .
In order to enable the Finance Commission to take a macro-level vie w, the provisions sub-clauses (bb) and (c)
of clause (3) of article 280 should be amended. The words "on the basis of the recomme nd at io n" in these sub-
clauses should be replaced by the words "after taking into consideration the recommendations ."
In the part of clause (I) of article 243-I which calls for constitution of State Finance Commission (SFC) al the
expiration of every fifth year, in line with article 280( I), the words "or at such earlier time as the Governor consider
necessary" may be added after the words 'fifth year'. While it is for the State Legislature to ensure that the Govern-
ment implements fully its assurances, there should be constitutional obligations for placing the Action Taken Re-
port (ATR) before the legislature within ' s ix months ' after the submission of the report. Clause (4) of article 243-1
may need to be amended accordingly
The necessary legislative power offixing upper limit of taxes on professions, trades, callings and employment
under article 276 should be vested in Parliament by suitably amending that article.
All local authorities may be allowed to borrow from the State Government and financial i nst itut io ns .
An enabling provision should be made in Part IX of the Constitution permitting the State Legislature to make,
by law, provisions that would empower the State Government to confer on the Panchayats full power of administra-
tive and functiona control over such staff as are transferred following devolution offunction> notwithstanding any
right they may have acquired from State Act/Rules. They should also have the power to recruit certain cate&ories
of staff required for service in their jurisdiction.
A proviso to clause (I) of artiele 243E should be inserted to the effect that a reasonable opportunity of being
heard shall b'e given to a Panchayat before it is dissolved.
A provision for constitution of a State Panchayat CounciI under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister

91
on the pattern of Gujarat State Council for Panchayats as provided in the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993) should be
made in the Constitution on the analogy of the provision in article 263 of the Constitution relating to the Inter-State
Council. The leaderofthe opposition may be made ex-officio vice-chairman of the Council to provide a consensual
approach to the development of Panchayats as fully de mocrat ic , efficient and responsible institutions.
Necessary provisions sho uld be made for audit of Panchayat accounts to ensure that all works rrlated lo audit
(conduct of audit , submission of audit report and compliance with audit objections if any) are c6mpleted within a
year of the close of a financial year. To ensure uniformity in the practice relating to audits of accounts. the Comp-
troller and Auditor-General ofl ndia should beempowered to conduct the audit or lay down accounting standards for
Panc hayats.
Municipalities
Whenever a Municipality is superseded, a report stating the grounds for such dissolution should be placed be-
fore the State Legislature.
All provisions regarding qualifications and disqualifications for elections to local authorities should be consoli-
dated in a single law and until that is done , each State should prepare a manual of existing provisions for public in-
fomrntion.
The State Election Commissio n (SEC) should have the authority to prescribe ceiling of expenses and code of
conduct in elections. Further, the State laws should clearly specify the powers of the SEC to disqualify candidates
or set aside elections in the event of violations of those laws.
It should be the duty of a State and the Union (in case of Panchayats and Municipalities located in Union terri-
tories) to ensure the completion of elections within the stipulated limits. It should also be duty of the Stale Election
Commissioner to ensure this and in the event of possible delay make a report to the Governor ofthc State drawing
his attention to the proble ms and suggesting remedial action to fulfill the requirements of the Constitution. Articles
243K and 243 ZA should be suitably amended to specify that the responsibility for the conduct of elections shall in-
clude all preparatory steps for the same including the electoral rolls and matters connected therew ith and the re-
spons ibili ty for the same shall vest with the State Election Commission.
The functions and responsibilities of de li m itat io n, reservation and rotation of seats and matters connected
therewith should be vested in a delimitation Commission constituted by law by the appropriate legislature and not
in the SEC.
The Representation of the People Act and State laws should specify that common polling stations be used
for elections to local bod ies , State Legislatures and Parliament.
The State laws should provide guideli nes for the delimitation work such as parit y, as far as possible, in the ra-
tio between the population of a te rritor ial constituency and the number of seats within the same class or Pancha-
yats or Mun ic ipalities .
State laws shou Id s pec if y that changes in the administrative boundaries of districts, sub-div isions, taluks. po-
lice stations , etc ., should not be made within six months prior to a panchayat or a municipal elec tio n.
To remove ambiguities, articles 2430 and 243T should be suitably amended to provide for rotation and
changes only at the time of delimitation and not in between. State laws should provide the guidelines for the pro-
cess of reservation which should ensu re transparency and adequate opportunities for eliciting voter response. To
clarify the precise position of reservat io n under clause (6) of article 243D and clause (6) of article 243T to be
provided by the State law, the overall total of reserved seats and reserved offices in Panchayats and Municipali-
tiesshould be specified ._
The State Election Commissioner should have a fixed term of 5 years. He/she should be equal to a Judge, of
the High Court. The broad qualifications for a State Election Commissioner may be specified under the State law.
The concept of a'distinct and separate tax domain for municipalities should be recognised. This concept

92
should be reflected in a list of taxes in the relevant schedule. Carving out items from the existing State lists such as
item 49 (taxes on land and buildings) and item 52 (taxes on entry of goods into a local area for consumption) should
not be difficult.
Specifically for North East India
The North Eastern part oflndia with its large number of tribal communities and emerging educated elites has
self-governing village councils and organized tribal chiefdoms. Efforts are to be made to give all the States in this
region the opportunities provided under the 73rd and 74th Constitution Ame nd me nts . Howeve r, this should be
done with due regard to the unique traditions of the region and the genius of the people without tampering with their
essential rights and giving to each State the chance to use its own nomenclature for systems of governance which
will have local acceptance.
Careful steps should be taken to devolve political powers through the intermediate and local-level traditional
political organisations, provided their traditional practices carried out in a modern world do not deny legitimall dem-
ocratic rights to any section in their contemporary society. The details of state-wise steps to dev o lve such powers
wi11 have to be carefully considered in a proper representative meeting of traditional leaders of each community,
opinion builders of the respective communities and leaders of State and national stature from these very
groups. A hasty decision could have serious reperc uss io ns , unforeseen and un fortun ate, which cou Id fur-
ther compIicate and worsen the situat io n. To begin with, the subjects given under the Sixth Schedule and those
mentioned in the Eleventh Schedule could be entrusted to the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs). The system
of in-built safeguards in the Sixth Schedule should be maintained and strengthened for the minority and micro-
minority groups while empowering them with greater responsibilities and opportun ities , for example. through the
process of Central funding for Plan expenditure instead of routing all funds through the State Gove rnments .
The North Eastern Council can play a central role here by developing a process of public education on the pro-
posed changes, which would assure communities about protection of their traditions and also bring in gender
representation and give voice to other ethnic groups.
Traditional forms of governance should be associated with self-governance because of the present dissatis-
faction. However, positive democratic elements like gender justice and adult franc h ise should be built into these in-
stitutions to make them broader based and capable of dealing with a changing world.

The implementation of centrally funded projects from various departments of the Union Government should
be entrusted to be ADCs and to revived village councils with strict monitoring by the Comptroller and Auditor-
General of lndia.
The process of protection of identity and the process of development and change are extremely sens iti ve.
These twin processes need to be understood in the framework of a changing world and the role of all communities,
small and large, ill that world. Therefore, the North Eastern Council should be mandated to conduct an intensive
programme of public awareness, sensitization and education through non-government organizations, State Govern-
ments, and its own structure to help bring about such an understanding of the proposals.
The provisions of the Anti-Defection Law in the proposed revised form as recommended in para 4.18.2 or
the Report should be made applicable to all the Sixth Schedule areas.
Given the demographic imbalance which is taking place in the North-East as a result of illegal migration
from across the borders, urgent legal step are necessary for preventing such groups from entering electoral rolls and
citizenship rolls of the country. Reservations for local communities and minorities from other parts or the country
should be made in the State Legisla tures . Issuance of multi-purpose identity cards to all Indian. citizens should
be made mandatory for all Indian residents in the North East on a high-priority basis and thl· National Citizenship
Law to be reviewed to plug the loopholes which enable illegal settlers to become ' v i, t uar citizens in a short span of
time, using a network of touts, politicians and officials.
A National Immigration Council should be set up under law to examine and report on a range of issues includ-
ing Work Permits for legal migrants, Identity Cards for all residents, a National Migration Law, a National Refugee
Law, review of the Citizenship Act, the Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunal Act and the Foreigners Act.

93
 Local communities should be involved in the monitoring of our borders, in association with the local police and
the Border Security Force.
As regards Naga land , the Naga Councils should be replaced by elected representatives of various Naga society
groups with an intermediary tier at the district level. Village Development Boards should be less dependent on State
and receive Centrally-sponsored funds.
As regards Assam-
(i) the Sixth Schedule should be extended to the Bodo/and Autonomous Council with protection for non-tribal, non-
Bodo groups,
(ii) other Autonomous Councils be upgraded to Autonomous Development Councils with more Central funds for in-
frastructure development; within the purview of the 73rd Amendment but also using traditional governing sys-
tems at the village level.
As regards Meghalaya-
(l) A tier of village governance should be created for a village or a group of villages in the Autonomous District
Councils, comprising of elected persons from the traditional systems plus from existing village councils with not
more than 15 persons at each village unit.
(2) The number of seats in each of the Autonomous District Councils in Meghalaya should be increaseJ by IO seats.
i&.., to a total number of 40 seats. Of the 10 additional seats, having regard to the non- representation of women
and non-tribals, the Governor may nominate up to five members from these categories to each of the ADCs . The
other five may be elected as follows:-
(a) By Syiems and Myntris, from among themselves to the Khasi Autonomous Council.
(b) By Dolois from among themselves to the Jaintia Autonomous District Council; and
(c) By Nokmas from among themselves to the Garo Autonomous District Council.

As regards Tripura-
(i) The changes which may be made in respect of other Autonomous Councils should also apply in respect of the
Autonomous District Council(s) in Tripura.
(ii) The number of elected members in the Council should be increased from 28 to 32.
(iii) The number of nominated members should be increased to six from the current two. The existing non-tribal
seats (curre nt ly, they have three elected seats) be converted to tribal seats. Three non- tribals may nominated
by the Governor and three tribal women may be nominated by the Chicl Executive Member.
As regards Mizoram-
(i) An intermediary elected 30-member tier should be developed at the district level in areas not covered by the
Sixth Schedule, i&.., excluding the Chakma, Lai and Mara District Autonomous Counc ils . T he re would
thus be two tiers below the State Legislature: the District and the Village .
(ii) Village Councils in non-Scheduled areas should be given more administrative and judicial powers; two or more
villages be combined to form one village council, given the small population in the State.
(iii) Consideratio,,.should be given to groups seeking Sixth Schedule statµs, depending on viability of the demand, in-
cluding size of population, territorial and ethnic contiguity.
(iv) Central funding as outlined in general recommendations should be provided to the ADCs.
(v) Nominated seats for women, non-tribals and Sixth Schedule tribes in non-scheduled area (not to exceed six over
and above the size of the Councils, making a total of 36 members); current size of ADCs shou,ld be increased to
30 with a similar provision for women and non-scheduled tribes.

94
 As regards Manipur-
(i) the provisions of the Sixth Schedule should be extended to hill districts of the State,
(ii) the 73rd Amendment should be implemented vigorously in the areas of the plains where, despite
elections, the system is virtually non-existent.
Thus the NCRWC has given concrete proposals after going into the entire gamut of federal relations in India .
Democracy has wider moral implications than mere majoritarianism. A true democracy is surely one in which the
existence of the power of the many is conditional on respect for the rights of the few. In para 2.107 of the report it
is stated that the framers of the Constitution sought to unite the vast country with its great diversity and many lan-
guages and creeds within the common bond of constitutional justice on the great ideals of Justice, Liberty, Equality
and Fraternity. The framers showed an uncompromising respect for human dig nity, an unquestioning com-
mitment to secularism, equality and non-discrimination and an abiding concern for the poor and the weak. They
made a bold attempt to base the constitutional foundations on the firm faith that all classes of people, followers of
all faith and particularly the traditionally under-privileged should all join to work for their united constitutional
salvation on the shared faith that the peoples as a whole must sink or swim together and that in the long run pros-
perity and salvation are in union and not in division. It has been hoped by the Commission that its specific recom-
mendations will go a long way in restoring these ideals.

95
 UNIT-V

INDIAN FEDERALISM
Subhendu Ranjan Raj
Reader, PGDAVE College
University of Delhi

Federalism is considered to be the foundation of the Indian constitutional framework. The five decades of the
working of the constitution and the polity is ample proof that the federal polity has been indeed the keystone of the
political system. We have ample instances when the working of the constitution and the polity has been centred
around Center-State and the right or the States in our federal set up. But, of late this has come under tension and
individual states·are even protesting that their autonomy no longer exists.
Indian Political scene ushered in a new era at the beginning of the 1990s giving federalism a shot in the arm.
The period of political domination by Congress (I) came to an end with the party's defeat in the 1989 general
elections, and India began a period of intense multiparty political competition. Even though the Congress
(I) regained power as a minority government in 199 1 , its grasp on power was precarious. The Nehruvian socialist
ideology that the party had used to fashion India's political agenda had lost much of its popular appeal. The Con-
gress (I) political leadership had lost the mantle of moral integrity inherited from the Indian National Congress ' s
role in the independence movement, and it was widely viewed as corrupt. Support among key social bases of the
Congress (I) political coalition was seriously eroding. The main alternative to the Congress (I), the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), embarked on a campaign to reorganize the Indian electorate in an effort to create a Hindu
nationalist majority coalition. Simultaneously, such parties as the Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party, and the Bahu-
jan Samaj Party (BSP) attempted to ascend to power on the crest of an alliance of interests uniting Dal its, Back-
ward Classes, Scheduled Tribes and religious minorities.
The structure oflndia's federal system not only creates a strong central government but also has facilitated the
concentration of power in the central government in general and in particular in the Office of the Prime Minister.
This centralization of power has been a source of considerable controversy and political tension. It is likely to
further exacerbate political conflict because of the increasing pluralism of the country' ·s party system and the
growing diversity of interest-group representation.
Once viewed as a source of solutions for the country's economic and social problems, the Indian polity is in-
creasingly seen by political observers as the problem. When populist political appeals stir the passions of the
masses, government institutions appears less capable that ever before of accommodating conflicts in a society
mobilized along competing ethnic and religious lines. In addition, law and order have become increasingly tenuous
because of the growing inabi Iity of the police to curb criminal activities and quel I communal disturbances. Indeed
, many observers bemoan the "criminalization" oflndian politics at a t'ime when politicians routinely hire" mus cle
power " to improve their electoral prospects, and criminals themselves successfully run for public office. These
circumstances have led some observers to conclude that India has entered into a growing crisis of govemabil ity.
Few analysts would deny the gravity oflndia's problems, but some contend they have occurred amidst the mat-
uration of civil society and the emergence of new, more democratic political practices. Backward Classes, the Dal
its, and tribal peoples increasingly have refused to rest content with the patronage and populism characteristic of
the "Congress system". Mobilization of these groups has provided a viable base for the political opposition and
unraveleq the fabric of the Congress. Since the late 197 0s, there has been a proliferation ofnongovernmental
organizations. These groups made new demands on the political system that required a substantial redistribl}tion
of political power, economic resources, and social status.
Although TT Krishnamachari said during the Constituent Assembly debates that Federalism is "...not a definite
concept, it has not got any stable mean i ng. It is a concept the definition of which has been changing from time to
time" 1, the federal construct as discussed in our constitution has been variously describe as quasi- federal, federal
with a strong unitary or pro-centre bias, federal in structure but unitary in spirit or federal in normal times but with
possibilities of being converted into a purely unitary during abnormal times.

96
K.M. Munshi, another member of the constituent assembly held the view that the Constitution made India " a
quasi
federal union invested with several important features ofa unitary governme nt" 2 It• is no secret that the roots
of Indian's present federal system are found in the Government of India Acts of 1919 and espec iall y, of 19 35.
Thus, the Indian federal union with a strong centralizing tendency was effectively the product of some eight dec-
ades of British rule and on this foundation the constituent Assembly raised the federal superst ructures .
While on the concept of federalism it needs to be known that actually federalism is a construct which is used
for partaking of power in contexts of territorially-based pluralism. As SC Kashyap states, " As a poli t ic al sys-
tem it can be a meaningful performer only for a society faced with territorially identifiable ethnic or other diversi-
ties. It is an arrangement between separate territorial entities to share power through free democratic will. Our
pluralism is not territory-based. Our diversities are within and cut across territorial units and in a sense; they are
our greatest strength and a great-cementing force for national unity. Diver,sity is not division and unity does not
mean uniformity or conformity. Also, the unity of India and integrity of the nation as concepts are very different
from national or political in tegrat io n. The fact is that the Indian Union cannot be put in any mould of a unitary
type nor does it fit into any of the accepted federal mode ls." 3 As he has made clear the Indian federation doesn't
fit the bill.
This is because our variant offederalism has interred both federal and unitary features . It is not un itar y be-
cause it provides for explicit distribution of executive and legislative powers between and center and the states
and the provisions affecting the powers of the States or Union-State relations cannot be altered without
:,eeking the ratification by the State. The text of the constitution does not use the term ' federa l ' or ' federat ion' .
BR Ambedkar has explained the importance of using the term 'Union of States' instead of 'federation of states'
thus: "The drafting committee wanted to make it clear that though India was to be a f«;!deration, the federation
was not the result of an agreement by the states to join in a federation and that the federation not being the result
of an agreement, no state has the right to secede from it. The federation is an Union because it is indest ruct ive.
Though the country and the people may be divided into different states for convenience of administration, the
country is one integral whole, its people a single people living under a single imperium derived from a single
source." The Supreme Court in State of Rajasthan v. Union of India, (AIR 1977 SC 1361) has inferred the Indian
Union as ' federal' , 'quasi-federal' or 'amphibian' meaning sometimes ' federal' and sometimes 'unitary'. On the
other hand our arrangement cannot be thought of as being federal because the residuary powers reside with the
Union. Under the provisions of Art. 249 the Parliament can legislate on matters included in the State list. Further
under the Articles 356-357, the ones dealing with Emergency provisions regarding the states the executive and
legislative powers of the states may be taken over by the Union government and under Articles 352 to 354, the
constitution can be converted into an entirely unitary one inasmuch as during emergency, the executive and leg-
islative powers of the Union extend over the State list. One also can cite the provisions of Articles 2, 3 and 4
whereby new states may be formed and areas , houndaries or names of existing States can be altered by ordinary
law passed by the parliament. He nce , the constitution makers sought to lay the ground rules which was tilted in
favour of the union in all matters , be it adminis trative, fiscal or legisl ative.
The deliberations of the constituent Assembly were conditioned by the fact that the principle of a federal con-
struct for India has in the past been mooted over the past several years and had been accepted at the First Round
Table conference by the representatives of practically al I major parties and sections of opinion then prevailing
the country . The Indian National Congress, which had not been represented in the First Round Table conference
had particip_ated in the second session of the conference, thereby had given its approval to the idea of an all-
India federation comprising the provinces of British Indian and the Princely states. The constitution mak rs of
free India were inevitably influenced by the fact that the trend of constitutional development in Ind ia , since the
initiation of a policy of decentralization after the 1857 Mutiny and, more unmistakably, since the introduction of
partial provincial autonomy under the Mont-ford reforms, had been in the direction offederalism. Hence there
was an unquestioning assumption that the federal from of government alone would suit the requirements of the
Indian subcontinent. It has been pointed out that it was the Constituent Assembly which 'played a decisive role in
creating a Monstrous Central in Indian federal democracy.

97
This assemblage of supposedly the creme de la creme of Indian intelligentsia at time was not elected by direct
universal adult suffrage. As many as 82 percent of the members were from the Congress which dominated the
proceedings of the assembly.4 It may be said that this resulted in creation of the federal provisions which are
found incorporated in the constitution and these were basically are arrangement with some additions and dele-
tions of provisions while maintaining the Union's preeminence over the states in both nonnal and abnormal situat
io ns. M. Ananthasayanam Ayyangar, a member of the constituent Assembly described the constitution as a " rep
lic a of the Government oflndia Act, 193 5."5
Notwithstanding this, there are several federal features in the Indian const it ution . The constitution is an
elaborate written constitution which is an essential conditions of a federal system. The supremacy of the Indian
constitution is a known fact and as is required for a federation, the constitution is supreme and is a source of
strength for the center as well for the federating units. It is also a rigid constitution as all provisions concerning
federal state relations can be amended only by the joint actions of the state legislatures and the Parliament. Such
provisions can be amended only if the amendments passed by a two-thirds major it y of the members present and
voting the Parliament (which must also constitute the absolute majority of the total membership) and ratified by
at least one- ha lf of the states. There is a clear division of powers and the centre is required to enact and legislate
within their sphere ofactivity and none violates its limits and tries to encroach upon the functions of others. The
VIIth schedule contains three legislative lists which enumerates subjects of administration, namely the Union,
State and the Concurrent lists. Another feature is the independent judiciary which is supreme. It is required to be
the custodian of the constitution. It has the power and it has in practice, declared any law which is contravening
the constitution as ultra vires. In order to ensure the impartiality of the judiciary, our judges are not removable by
the Executive and their salaries cannot be curtailed by the Parliament. In addition, India possesses a bi-cameral
legislature wherein the upper house gives equal representation to the states (and the Rajya Sabha gives represen-
tation to the elected representatives by the State legislative assemblies of the states).
These provisions are however, no guarantee against the centralizing or the hegemonical tendencies in the
federation of India.
This is because Articles 245 to 255 contain a charter of the legislative powers of the Union and states which
are broad enough to incorporate Union's legitimate and non legitimate interference in the working of the federal
states. Art 248 provides the threefold distribution of the legislative powers, yet articles 256 to 265 seek to regu-
late administrative relations between the Union and the States. The letter and spirit of these provisions provides
that executive powers of the state government be exercised in such a way tliat its ensures compliance with the
laws made by the Parliament. In additions it is manifestly made clear that the Union executive is empowered to
give such directions to a state as may be deemed necessary to the Government oflndia for the purpose. For ex-
ample Art 263 empowers the President to establish an Inter state council to enquire into and advise upon dis-
putes between states inter se or between the Union and states . Art 257 similarly provides that the executive
power of every state be so for example Art 263 empowers the President to establish an Inter state council to en-
quire into and advise upon disputes between states inter se or between the Union and states . Art 257 similarly
provides that the executive power of every state be so exercised so that Union's executive power is not impeded
and the Union may issue directions in that regard and for protection of railways and communicationsfor national
or military purposes.
The Contemporary scene
In fiscal matters the centralization is manifest openly. The Union is financially very strong. The states have
comparatively lesser resources, although the Union gives them substantial amounts by way of grants in aid,
shares in certain taxes etc. A Finance commission is also appointed every quinquenium to examine the distribu-
tion of tax proceeds between the Union and states and to determine the principles which should govern the
grants in aid. Many states such as West Bengal, Tamilnadu, Kerala, A.P. have time and again protested against
the financial allocations made to them, terming it inadequate and lopsided. Even those states who are not protest-
ing have a disquieting concern over this and are dissatisfied .

98
 There is increasingly a growing concern at the growing attacks on the rights of the Indian states, adversely af-
fecting federal character of the Indian polity and crippling the economy of state governments. The character of-
lndia as a multi-national, multi-lingual, multi-religious state is being blatantly ignored and attempts to impose a
unitary form of government are being made in the country. The relevant recommendations of the Sarkaria com-
mission on the restructuring of centre-state relations are not being accepted and implemented in true spirit by the
NOA government, as a result of which there is a persistent trend of centralization of economic and political pow-
ers in the country. The examples ofabuse ofarticle 356 of the .co nst it ut io n to dislodge the elected RJD gov-
ernment in Bihar on two occasions and the summary removal of the governor of Tam ilnadu for mere 1efusal to
accept the central dictate are not isolated instances. The democratic concept of consulting the state governments
and paying due importance to the opinion of the stl,\te governments before the appointment of governors is pur-
posefully violated. The right of the largest party in the state, elected by the people, to prove its majority on the
floor of the assembly is also being violated by the governor of Uttar Pradesh, which is a shameful example
after the historic judgement of the Supreme Court in Bommai case. Numerous examples of gross interference by
the central government in the law and order matters of the states have come to Iight. The uneven economic devel-
opment in the country is becoming more acute due to the failure of the central government to party special atten-
tion for the development of the economically backward states . In order to preserve the unity and integrity of the
count ry, this aspect assumes crucial importance. In the financial sphe re, the centre is forcing the introduction of
the IMF-WTO-World Bank-led policy ofliberalisation on the states, by deliberately causing serious economic
problems for the states, and pressurising them to sign MoUs for toeing the Iine of liberalisation policy as the price
for any paltry central assis tance . It is anti-people and contrary to the interest of the states and the country as a
whole.
Although there was a decision in the standing committee of Inter-State Council that the states' share of devo-
lution from the combined pool of central taxes be raised from the existing 29 per cent to 50 per cent and, to being
with, to at least 33.33 per cent, no decision has been taken by the centre on this issue by reso rt ing to ilatory tac-
tics. The BJP-led central government has again betrayed the states by not fulfilling its commitment of bearing 50
per cent of additional burden of the states, due to pay revision related to the central dec is io n on this issue. The
BJP-led government is passing its own financial problems by creating loan burdens on to the states by making all
the new central schemes I 00 per cent loan-based schemes . The rate of interest i s as high as 12 per cent although
the center itself is domestically raising loan only at 7 per cent, and tramferring the net small savings collection in
the states (i e, net of deduction for withdrawals of depositors) once again as lo ans to the states at a light rate of
interest. The demands of the state governments that the centre should bear 50 per cent of the additional burden of
the states due to pay revision related to the central decision should be conceded. Furthe r, the centre should con-
tinue and strengthen the subsidised public distribution system of essential commodities, in full coordination with
the state governments.
It is only through powerful movements that present anti-people polic ie s of the central government can be
chan ged and the powers of the state governments can be enhanced , which will preserve national unity and in
tegr it y oflndia in the true sense.
A new trend has begun in Gujarat which has some implications for Indian federalism-this pertains to the
growing use of communalist and fundamentalist recourse to retain power by parties both at the center and the
states. Now the balance of federal construct is being misused to haunt minorities by the majority communities
with the connivance of the state and the central government whenever a party feels that it is losing votes . Now
losing the will of the electorate could be the result of its performance in power or anti incumbency factor, but the
party in power reso11s to winning its vote share by orchestrat i ng communal is m. The political backdrop of the
Gujarat carnage is not insignificant given the cynical use of communal violence by political part ie s of all hues in
the past. Having assumed power in Gujarat in 1998 after winning by an overwhelming two-thirds majority, the
BJP has since been suffering defeat in local electio ns . The refo re, it orchestrated a schema of communal ism by
overt and covert means to restore itself to power. In the panch ayat, taluka and district elections that took place in
2000, two-thirds of the areas were won by Congress . That was th e first major defeat BJP suffered after coming
to power. In the election to six municipal corporations , to 25 district panchayats and to the closer-to-the-ground

99
elections held simultaneously in December 2000, the BJP lost heavily. It lost control in alm ostall the district pan-
chayats. It retained four of the six municipalities but its two losses were in the most prestigious municipalities of
Ahemadabad and Rajkot, where the Sangh Parivar had its strongest foothold. The BJP had held the Ahmedabad
corporation for the last 15 years and Rajkot for the last 25 years. The Congress party was the biggest beneficiary of
the BJP' s electoral reversals.
In September 2001, the BJP lost to the Congress in the by-elections for two assembly seats that were held.
Shortly after that debacle, chief minister Keshubhai Patel was replaced by Narendra Modi in a bid to
arrest the party's dwindling fortunes in a state that the Sangh Parivar considers to be the ' Laboratory or
Hindutv a' . However, in by-elections held on February 24, 2002, for three assembly seats, all of which were held
previously by the BJP, it lost two of them by heavy margins to the Congress. Modi was elected from Rajkot, the
third constituency, but a much-reduced margin as compared to the previous poll.
"Given the continuous downslide of the BJP in the state since '98, the question has been raised by many as to
whether there were any electoral-political calculations and machinations behind what subsequently happened in
the state from February 28 onwards. While this remains in the realm of speculation, the fact is that the Modi gov-
ernm ent prematurely dissolved the state assembly and pushed very hard for early elections even though the situat
ion in the state was far from normal. For this he was widely criticised and the BJP was charged for trying to cash
in on the carnage. The impression certainly gained ground that with the BJP consistently losin g at the grass-root
level and with assemb ly elections in the offing, Modi cynically tried to use the politics of division and violence to
gain a fresh mandate from the people."6
This is a dangerous development and ind icates that along side the breakdown of social order and the use or
communalism for partisan state centric ends there is a greater threat - namely the disintegration of the federal sys-
tem in India. Rajni Kothari has noted this and according to him " the larger trend I notice in the Indian polity is
how nations of citizenship and participation in a multicultural and multi religious nation state came under threat,
particularly at a time when the spaces for citizenship and participation were actually widening. India's uniqueness
lay not in being the largestdemocracy in the world-a rather bland and rhetorical association -but in being a politi-
cised coalition of a vast diversity of interests , communities and people; led by some kind of a vision that devel-
oped during the course of the nationalist movement and continued for quite some time after in dependence. The
spread of communalism is now posing a threat to some of these very distinguishing features that separated us from
many other parts of the world." 7

I. See Constitutiona l Assembly Debates Vol.XI, p. 950, London (I 949).

2. Munshi, K.M . The President under the Indian Constitution, Bombay , Popular (1967)pl.
3. Kashyap, S.C. Blueprint of Political Reforms, Delhi, Shipra Publications (2003), p.241.
4. Khan , Arshi, " Rethink ing Indian Federalism" £counter Vol. I, No. 5 (1998) p.58.
5. See Constitutional Assembly Debates Vol.X I, p.776.
6. See "Crime Against Humanity" Volum e I-An inquiry into the carnage in Gujarat List of Incidents and Evidence By
Concerned Citizens Tribunal -Gujarat 2002.
7. Rajni Koth ari, Culture of Communalism in Gujarat Economic and Political Weekly Nov . 30, 2002.

100
 UNIT V

CENTRE STATE RELATIONS

The structure of India's federal-or union-system not only creates a strong central government but also has
facilitated the concentration of power in the central government in general and in particular in the Office of the
Prime Minister. This centralization of power has been a source of considerable controversy and political tension. It
is likely to further exacerbate political conflict because of the increasing pluralism of the countr y's party system
and the growing diversity of interest-group re presentat io n.
If it was once viewed as a source of solutions for the country' s economic and social problem, the Indian polity
is increasingly seen by political observers as the proble m. When populist appear less capable than ever before of
accommodating conflicts in a society mobilized along competing ethnic and religious lines. In addition. law and or-
der have become increasingly tenuous because of the growing inability of the police to curb criminal activities and
quell communal disturbances. Indeed, many observers bemoan the "criminalization" of Indian politics at a time
when politicians routinely hire "muscle power" to improve their electoral prospects , and criminals themselves suc-
cessfully run for public office. These circumstances have led some observers to conclude that India has entered into
a growing crisis of governability.
The Constitution in its very first article describes India as a Union of States. When the British power was es-
tablished in India it was highly centralized and un itary. To hold India under its imperial authority, the British had
to control it from the Centre and ensure that power remained centralized in their hands. A strong central authority
was for the British both an imperial and an administrative necessity. The country continued to be ruled under the
1919 Act by a central authority untiI 1947. And, since under the 1919 Act, there was a central government, a central
legislature, a system of central laws etc., the use of these terms continued under the colonial hangover.
In the Constituent Assembly, the Drafting Committee decided in favour of describing India as a Union. alt-
hough its Constitution might be federal in structure . Moving the Draft Constitution for the consideration of
the Constituent Assembly on 4 November 1948, Ambedkar explained the significance of the use of the expression
"Union" instead of the expression " Federat io n" . He said "...what is important)s that the use or the world '
Union' is deliberate... Though the country and the people may be divided into different States for conven-
ience of administration, the country is one integral whole , its people a single people living under a single imperium
derived from a single source." Finaily,--when the Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949, it provided for
India being a Union of States and its States and territories being as specified in the First Schedule. The
Schedule specified four types of units - Parts 'A', 'B' and 'C' States and Part ' D' territories.
During the last half-a-century, many structural changes have been made and the map of the Union or States re-
shaped. Categorisation of States has disappeared, names of several territorial units called States have vanished,
many new States have been formed on linguistic and other criter ia, boundaries, area, names etc. of some States
have been altered and many relationships have been transformed. As at present, the Union consists of 28 States and
seven Union Territories. Some unique solutions of regional coun cil s. development boards , etc ., have been at-
tempted with varying degrees of success. The three newest States are Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh.
It is a tribute to the farsightedness of the markers of the Constitution that al I these changes cou Id bl:
brought about largely peacefully and entirely within the four-walls of the Constitution. The predominant concern of
the founding fat ers as also of the various Commissions and Committees appointed since Independence to consider
reorganisation of States or Union-State Relations - the JVP Committee, the Dar Commission, the State Reorganisation
Commission (SRC), the Rajamannar Committee, the Sarkaria Commission, etc. - has been that of the unity and in-
tegrity of India. We are still engaged in the stupendous task of national integration which is also an admission of the
hard reality of our nation and Union being still in the making. The SRC report concluded. It is the Union oflndia
which is the basis ofour nationality...States are but limbs of the Union, and while we recognize that the limbs must be
healthy and strong...it is the strength and stability of the Union and its capacity to develop and evolve that should be
governing consideration of all changes in the country.

101
 Legislative Relations
The Constitution , based on the principle of federalism with a strong and indestructible Union, has a scheme
of distribution of legislative powers designed to blend the imperatives of diversity with the drive or a com-
mon national endeavo ur. In this respect our constitutional theory as well as practice have kept pace with con-
temporary deve lo pments . The current trends emphasise cooperation and coordination, rather than demarcation of
powers, between different levels of government. The basic theme is inter-dependence in orchestrating the balance
between autonomy of the State and the inner logic of the Union. The Constitution adopts a three-fold distribution
of legislative powers by placing them in any one of the three lists, namely I (Union List), II (State List) and IIl
(Concurrent List) . Articles 245 and 246 demarcate the legislative domain, subject to the controlling principle of
the supremacy of the Union which is the basis of the entire system.
The Concurrent List gives power to two le gislatu res, Union as well as State, to legislate on the same subject.
In case of conflict or inconsistency, the rule of repugnancy, as contained in article 254, comes into play to uphold
the principle of Union power.
The Concurrent List expresses and illustrates vividly the underlying process of nation building in the setting
of our heterogeneity and diversity. The framers of the Constitution recognised that there was a category of sub-
jects of common interest which could not be allocated exclusively either to the State or the Union. Nonetheless , a
broad uniformity of approach in legislative policy was essential to combine specific requirements of different
States with the articulation of a common national policy objective. Conceived thus, harmonious operation of the
Concurrent List could well considered to be creative federalism at its best.
The problems that have attracted attention in the field of Union-State relations have less to do with the struc-
ture or the rationale of the Concµrrent List than with the manner in which the Union has exercised its powers. In a
fundamental political sense, the passing of one party dominance that characterised the first four decades of the Re-
public has also ended the drive towards over centralisation. Even the powers that unqu estio nably belong to
the Union , for example the power to temporarjly assume the functions of a State Government under article 356,
are heavily circumscribed by the political reality of a multi-party system where the States have acquired signifi-
cant bargaining power vis-a-vis the Government of Indi;.
The evolving political system has thus imparted considerable vitality to the federal impulses of the Constitu-
tion. However, what has been gained in the actual practice of legislative relations between the Union and the
States, in terms of restoring the balance inherent in the constitutional scheme , has not entered the realm of institu-
tional validation. To this extent, the unilateralism of the Union in regard to the exercise of legislative powers un-
der the Concurrent List remains a potential problem area. The principal critique of concurrency is not that it is not
requ ired, but that it is used without consulation, that it is not exercised to deep en inter-dependence and co-
operation but to stress dominance of the Union point of view.
It has to be conceded that institutional arrangements for facilitating exchange of views between the States and
the Union on matters falling within the field of concurrent legislation leave something to be des ired. This has
happened in spite of the existence of the Inter-State Council under article 263. The Council has yet to develop in-
to a mechanism to be relied on for an ongoing process of dialogue on vital socio-economic and po li tical is-
sues between the Union and the States and among the States. It is not as if such consultation is absent. There are
Chief Ministers' Conferences on specific iss ues . There are State Ministers' Conferences on a variety of sub-
jects on which common policy positions have to be formu lated, such as Value Added Tax.
There is , howev r, no formal institutional structure that requires mandatory consultation between the Un-
ion and the States in the area of legislation under the Concurrent List which covers several items of crucial
importance rto national economy and security. Even the National Development Coun cil , whose ambit may occa-
sionally be widened beyond the Five Year and the Annual Plans, is seldom convened to test ideas and evaluate
experience in policy formulation and implementation in areas where both the Union and the States are in-
terested for the sake of social and economic development.

102
 The Concurrent List provides a fine balance between the need for uniformity in the national laws and creating
a simultaneous jurisdiction for the States to accommodate the diversities and peculiarities of different regions. This
also provides a distinguishing feature in the federal scheme envisaged by the framers of the Constitution. This is
further reinforced by placing a mode of altering the provisions in lists I, II and III in the 7th schedule among oth-
er matters of provisions substantive in nature and basic to the structure of the Constitution that all within the pur-
view of the proviso to clause (2) of Article 368. A bill for amending the list in the 7th schedule has to be passed
by Parliament by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than 213rd of the
States. This mechanism provides a statutory tilt in favour or consultation and cooperation with the States in matters
pertaining to the Legislative sphere and inherent balance between flexibility and rigidity.

Financial Relations
Division of financial powers and functions among different levels of the federal polity are asymmetrical, with
a pronounced bias for revenue taxing powers at the Union level while the States carry the responsibility for sub-
jects that affect the day to day life of the people entailing larger expenditure than can be met from their own re-
sources. On an average, the revenue of State from their own resources suffices only for about 50 to 60 percent of
States' current expenditure. Since the insufficiency of the States' fiscal resources had been foreseen at the time of
framing the constitution, a mechanism in the shape of Finance Commission was provided under article 280 for fi-
nancial transfers from the Union. Its function is to ensure orderly and judicious devolution that is deemed neces-
sary from the point of view of avoiding vertical or horizontal imbalances.
The Finance Commission is only one stream of transfer of resources from the Union to the States. The Plan-
ning Commission advises the Union Government regarding the desirable transfer of resources to the States over
and above those recommended by the Finance Commission. Bulk of the transfer of revenue and capital resources
from the Union to the States is determined largely on the advice of these two comm is sions. By and large, such
transfers are formula-based. Then there are some discretionary transfers as well to meet the exigencies of specific
situations in individual States.
These institutional arrangements served the country well in the first three decades after indep endence . Testi-
fying to the strength of these institutions neither the Union nor the States suffered from ar'ly large imbalance in
their budgets, although the size of the public sector in terms of proportion of government expenditure to Gross
Domestic Product had nearly doubled during this period.
Imbalances have become endemic during the last two decades and have assumed alarming proportions recent-
ly. For this state of affairs, the constitutional provisions can hardly be blamed. Broadly, the causes have to be
sought in the working of the political institutions. There are shortcomings in the transfer system. For example, the
'gap-filling' approach adopted by the Finance Commission and the soft budget constraints have provided perverse
incentives. The point, however , is that these deficiencies are capable of being corrected without any change in
the Constitution.
Indian politics entered a new era at the beginning of the 1990s. The period of political domination by the
Congress (I) came to an end with the party' s defeat in the 1989 general elec tions , and India began a period of in-
tense multiparty political compet ition. Even though the Congress (I) regained power as a minority government in
1991, its grasp on power was precarious. The Nehruvian socialist ideology that the party had used to fashion In-
dia's political agenda had lost much of its popular appeal. The Congress (1) political leadership had lost the mantle
of moral integrity inherited from the Indian National Congress's role in the independence movement, and it was
widely viewed as corrupt. Support among key social bases of the Congress (I) political coalition was seriously
eroding. The main alternative to the Congress (I), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), embarked on a ampaign to re-
organize the Indian electorate in an effort to create a Hindu nationalist majority coalition. Simultaneously, such
parties as the Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party, and the Bahujan Samaj Party attempted to ascend to power on the
crest of an alliance of interests uniting Dal its, Backward Classes, Scheduled Tribes and religious minorities.

103
 Few analysts would deny the gravity oflndia's problems, but some contend they have occurred amidst the
maturation of civil society and the emergence of new, more democratic political practices. Backward Classes, the
Dalits, and tribal peoples increasingly have refused to rest content with the patronage and populism characteristic
of the "Congress system". Mobilization of these groups has provided a viable base for the political opposition and
unraveled the fabric of the Congress. Since the late 1970s, there has been a proliferation of nongovernmental or-
ganizations. Thee groups made new demands on the political system that required a substantial redistribution of
political power, economic resources, and social status.
Whether or not developments in Indian politics exacerbate the continuing problems or give birth to greater
democracy broadly hinges on efforts to resolve three key issues. How will India's political system, now more
than ever based on egalitarian democratic values, accommodate the changes taking place in its hiterarchical social
system ? How will the state balance the need to recognize the interests of the country's remarkably heterogeneous
society with the imperatives of national unity? And, in the face of the declining legitimacy of the Indian state
and the continuing development of civil society, can the Indian state regenerate its legitimacy, and if it is to do so,
how should it redefine the boundaries between state and society ? India has confronted these issues throughout
much of its history. These issues, with their intrinsic tensions, will continue to serve as sources of change in the
continuing evolution of the Indian polity.
Centre state Relations Today
In fiscal matters the centralization becomes manifest openly. The Union is financially very strong. The states
have comparatively lesser resources, although the Union gives them substantial amounts by way or grants in aid,
shares .in certain taxes etc. A Finance commission is also appointed every quinquenium to examine the distribution
of tax proceeds between the Union and states and to determine the principle which should govern the grants in aid.
Many states such as West Bengal, Tamilnadu, Kerala, A.P. have time and again protested against the financial allo-
cations made to them, terming it inadequate and lopsided. Even those states who are not protesting have a
disquieting concern over this and are dissatisfied.
There is increasingly a growing concern at the growing attacks on the rights of the Indian states, adversely af-
fecting federal character of the Indian polity and crippling the economy of state governments. The character of In-
dia as a multi-national, multi-lingual, multi-religious state is being blatantly ignored and attempts to impose a uni-
tary form of government are being made in the countr y. The relevant recommendatidns of thi.: Sarkaria commis-
sion on the restructuring of centre-state relations are not being accepted and implemented in true spirit by the
NOA government, as a result of which there is a persistent trend of centralization or economic and political powers
in the count ry. The examples of abuse of article 356 of the constitution to dislodge the elected RJD government in
Bihar on two occasions and the summary removal of the governor ofTamilnadu for mere refusal to accept the cen-
tral dictate are not isolated instances. The democratic concept of consulting the state governments and paying due
importance to the opinion of the state governments before the appointment of governors is purposefully violated.
The right of the largest party in the state. elected by the people , to prove its majority on the floor of the assembly
is also being violated by the governor of Uttar Pradesh, which is a shameful example after the historic judgement of
the Supreme Court in Bommai case. Numerous examples of gross interference by the central government in the
law and order matters or the states have come to light. The uneven economic development in the country is be-
coming more acute due to the failure of the central government to pay special attention for the development of the
economically backward states . In order _to preserve the unity and integrity of the country, this aspect as-
sumes crucial impo rt ance . In the financial sphere, the centre is forcing the introduction of the IMF-WTO-World
Bank-led policy of liberalisation on the states, by deliberately causing serious economic problems for the .st ates,
and pressuring them to sign MoUs for toeing the line of liberalisation policy as the price for any paltry central as-
sis tance . It is anti-people and contrary to the interest of the states and the country as a whole.
Although there was·a decision in the standing committee of Inter-State Council that the states' share or devolu-
tion from the combined pool of central taxes be raised from the existing 29 per cent to 50 percent and, to
begin with, to 'at least 33.33 percent, no decision has been taken by the centre on this issue by resorting to di-
latory tactics. The BJP-led central government has again betrayed the states by not fulfilling its commitment of
bearing 50 per cent of additional burden of the states, due to pay revision related to the central decision on this is-
sue.

104
The BJP-led government is passing its own financial problems by creating loan burdens on the states by making
all the new central schemes I 00 per cent loan-based schemes. The rate of interest is as high as 12 per cent
although the center itself is domestically raising loan only at 7 per cent, and transferring the net small savings
collection in the states (i.e . net of deduction for withdrawals of depositors) once again as loans to the states at a
high rate of interest. The dem nds of the state governments that the centre should bear 50 per cent of the
additional burden of the state due to pay revision related to the central decision should be conceded . Further, the
centre should continue and strengthen the subsidies public distribution system of essential commodities, in full
coordination with the state governments.
It is only through powerful movements that the present anti-people policies of the central government can be
changed and the powers of the state governments can be enhanced, which will preserve national unity and
integrity of India in the true sense.
The real test of a civilized society, it has been argue d, is how it treats its minorities. This is important to
remember in a pluralist society like India which is in fact dominated by one religious commu n ity. Protection of
minorities has always to be balanced with the danger of creatin g, special enclaves for them with the inherent
dangers of ghettoization. In India, this is a challenging task before the society and the state since Muslims, the
largest religious minority, have, for reasons rooted in history, been laggards in literacy, education and therefore in
the employment bazaar. The special privileges and protection granted to Muslims and to some of their socio-
religious practices have always been a subject of controversy in a country which is democratic and sec ular. The
latest judgment of the Supreme Court reducing drastically the right of the minorities to administer their educational
institutions can be read as an attempt to create a level playing field for all schools. The judgment also marks an
enormous expansion in the interventionist powers of the Indian state. Such an expansion is fraught with dangers
for every realm of society, more so in the field of education. The political party in power invariably uses the state
machinery to impose its own views on history and culture by manipulating syllabi and textbooks. This passes in
the name of nationalization of educat io n. The apex court, with all its goods intentions, has created a space for
this kind of ominous interve nt io n.
The enormous increase in the state's powers is indexed by the Supreme Court' s opinion that the state can
interfere even in those educational institutions which do not receive any aid or subsi yfrom the state. The court
grounded this decision on "educational excellence". Nobody denies that excellence in education is a very
laudable goal. But there is no ready consensus on what constitutes this excelle nce . It i s unlikely that such a
consensus will every emerge. By this judgment, the Supreme Court has in fact allowed the state to interfere in
and regulate the affairs of any school which does not meet with the state ' s approval. There can be some reasons
for accepting that those schools that receive financial subventions from the state should be open to state regula-
tions an monitoring. But to argue that all schools are liable to state intervention is to see the state as being more
powerful than civil society and its inst itut io ns . In a democracy, the state is the instrument of civil society and
not the other way round.

105
 UNIT-V

REGIONAL AUTONOMY
Suhhemlu Ranjan Raj
Reader, PGDAVE College
University of Delhi

Occidental scholars have held that India is a puzzle for students of comparative democratic politics. The
functioning oflndia asa stable democracy is considered quite a miracle by them and the continuing success or
democracy in one of the largest and most heterogeneous countries is acknowledged take-all democracy --
characterized by the concentration of power in bare-majority one-party governments, centralized power, a dis-
proportional electoral system, and absolute majority rule.
The question of regional autonomy has always risen when there is a political party atthe Centre which is
not found replicated in the states. Hence right from the sixties when West Bengal and Kerala were raising the
banner of regional autonomy till now it has been found that opposition party ruled units across the political di-
vide used this ploy for politicking.
However a sea change has occurred with the onset of current politics.

The new social forces

The BJP' s rise to power is related to a fundamental process of change that goes beyond routine electoral vic-
tories and defeats and the mechanics of government formation and alteration. In its multi-pronged attempts to win
an electoral majority and create for itself a somewhat stable support base, the BJP has created a new social bloc,
a new coalition of various social groups, that now lays claims to political power. The BJP's attempt to become the
'natural party of governance' has resulted in a new kind of majoritarianism, which is deeper and subtler than what
both its spokespersons and its critics would allow for. It is not a simple Hindu majoritarianism backhandedly.
Seemingly this goes contrary to the argument that democracy is 'next to impossible' in multi-ethnic countries and
almost completely impossible in linguistically divided countries (a view that was first mooted by John Stuart
Mill in 1861, seen posited in his work Consideration on Representative Government (1958) [1861) Liberal Arts
Press, N. York p.230). Another paradox is the survival India despite widespread poverty and illiteracy, challeng-
ing yet another aphorism that there is a hypothesized link between the level or socio - economic development and
stable democracy, something that is also been negated by the success or several other Third world established sta-
ble democracies such as Costa Rica, Jamaica, Malta, Mauritius, Barbados, Papua New Guinea etc. 1 Myron
Weiner has talked about an 'Indian paradox' that is 'the farmore puzzling contradiction between India's high level
of political violence and its success at sustaining a democratic political system'.2
It has also confounded Selig S. Harrision's prediction made in 1960 which is in line with Jolm Stuart Mill ' s
argument oflndia's democratic failure and /or territional disintegration: 'The odds are almost wholly against the
survival of freedom and ... the issue is, in fact, whether any Indian state can survive at all.' 3 "The Indian puzzle
is even more troublesome for consociational theory . It contrasts with Mill's and Harrison's thinking, power-
sharing theory holds that democracy is possible in deeply divided societies but only if their type or democracy is
consociatio nal, that is characterized by (i) grand coalition governments that include representatives of all major
linguistic and religious groups, (ii) cultural autonomy for these groups·, (iii) proportionality in political represen-
tation and civil ervice appointments, and (iv) a minority veto with regard to vital minority rights and autonomy.
In contrast, under majoritarian winner-Although religious symbolism has been a trademark of the BJP' s mobili-
sational strategy, and religious exclusions continue to mark the boundaries of the new social constituency, reli-
gion· is not one of the principal faultlines in the creation of this new social bloc. The new social bloc is formed
by the.convergence of traditional caste-communitydifferences and class distinctions. It may be an exaggeration
to say that the BJP represents the rebellion of the elite, but it is nevertheless true that its rise to political power
has been accompanied by the emergence of a new social group that is defined by an overlap or social and eco-
nomic privileges.

106
 It is important to interpret the signals of the 1999 verdict in the light of this process. For an obsession with
the game of numbers or the business of alleged vote banks can draw attention away from the larger picture. Since
the official data on the elections are not very helpful in learning about the social basis of the voters' choices- of
who voted for whom -we shall mainly use here the post-poll survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of
Developing Societies and Frontline. This survey is part of a longer series of National Election Studies conducted
by the CSDS and is one of the few sources of reliable data with a social science perspective and which allows
one to see the current picture in a historical perspective.
BEFORE one looks at the precise shape and nature of the new social bloc, let us first take a look at the over-
all picture of flow of votes between the 1998 elections and the latest round. In the 1990s, elections in India have
witnessed a high level of churning of votes. While the overall shares of the major parties do not undergo any
dramatic change, a very large number of voters change their voting preferences from one election to another. In
this respect, however, Elections '99 have proved very different from the previous two elec tio ns . All the major
parties have been able to retain the support of a large chunk of those who voted for them i11 1998.
But one must not read too much into these figures. These are provisional figures that are liable to being
scaled down after checking out carefully. Also, the recent round of elections were held within 20 months of the
previous elections and without any major change in the pattern of electoral alignments at the all-India level. Yct
the figures do indicate a greater crystallisation of voter preferences. It is not clear if this phenomenon will endure
and lead to a deeper institutionalisation of the party system in the face of the social churning that is taking place.
But it does suggest that the process of creation of a social bloc may have reached a certain stage of completion.
A closer look at how votes changed hand between 1998 and 1999 does not support the suggestion made by
some commentators that voters are drifting towards a bipolar choice. Most of the gains made by the BJ P- ied
front came from the erstwhile United Front and the allies of the Congress(I). But these votes did not flow directly
to the BJP: they accrued to its allies. If anything, in a direct exchange of votes, the Congress(I) gained from the
BJP more than it lost to it (11 percentage points gained, 6 percentage points lost). The Bahujan Samaj Party and
the Left parties retained the support of a very high percentage of their vot rs, but largely because their base is not
expanding to a considerable extent. The U.F's votes were fragmented and went either to the BJ P's allies, the
Congress(I) or to several regional parties. This fragmentation prepared the ground for the creation of the new so-
cial bloc by the BJP.
A look at the division of votes along caste and community lines gives one an idea of the shape of this new
social bloc. The ten-fold classification used here is not the most refined one, and certainly does not do justice to
State-level configurations, but it does give a more elaborate description of the community bas is of voting than is
usually available.
The first point to note is the difference between the support base of the BJP and that of its allies. Together.
the BJP and its allies secure the support of 60 per cent ofupper-caste Hindus and 52 per cent of the dominant
Hindu peasant castes (which are not classified as Other Backward Classes) suc h as Jats, Ma rathas, Pat ida rs.
Reddys and Kam mas. But between the BJP and its allies, the relative share of the allies goes up as one moves
down the social hierarchy from the upper castes to the lower OBCs. This is a new pattern, as compared to
1998 and earlier elections. Since the 1998 elections, the BJP-led alliance's share of votes from among the
second, third and the fourth categories has gone up by nearly IO percentage points each. And the BJ P's own
share among these "middle cas es", as compared to those of its al Iies, has declined from about two-thirds to
one-half or even less. The lo wer the category, the lower the BJ P's contribution to the vote share of the al I iance
. It is not that voters have shifted from the BJP to its al Iies in the 1999 e lec tio ns . It is just that regiona I and
political expansion has brought in new middle-caste parties such as the DMK, the Janata Dal (United) and
the Telugu Desam Party and clarified the tendency inherent in the BJ P's rise to power.
The vote share of the BJP-led alliance drops among Adivasis and Dal its. Although both these figures
are higher this time as compared to the 1998 elections, it is clear that these groups are not the primary constitu-
ents of the new social bloc. The figures go down even further when one turns to the minorities. The BJP has
maintained a fair share of the votes of Sikhs ever since the community became disillusioned with the Con-
gress(I) following the anti-Sikh riots in 1984; but the BJP inspires little confidence among Muslims and Chris-
tians.

107
 One needs to look at subtle changes here. Throughout this decade, the vote share of the BJP-led alliance
among Muslims has grown, even if only slowly; in the 1999 elections, the share reached a two-digit figure. At
the same time, the BJP's own share of votes of Muslims has declined compared to 1998, and is concentrated
among Ashrafs. The increase in the alliance's vote share among Muslims is entirely owing to allies such as the
TDP, the Trinamul Congress and DMK. Similarly, in the BJP-led front, the allies account for more than half ol'
the votes of Christ ians.
In heterogeneous pluralized societies such as that oflndia where within one country one can find bafflin!!,
co-existence of a plural universe, compendium ofuniversal diversity at all levels finding manifestation in the
most remarkable fashion, these encyclopaedic diversities and multivariate specificities of social, anthropo-
morphic, ethnic , racial heterogeneities have constructed a truly challenging verisimilitude where the process of
politica I formation is diffic u lt, to say the least. Competing identities are at loggerheads in the process of crea-
tion of a base for political mobilization. In such locations we find alliances and coalitions at the social level op-
erating assiduously for creating political space and articulation. The BJP is discovering this.

Rise ofregional aspirations

The idea that there is in India a 'growing crisis of governability' was caused by the close connections between
democracy and rising discontent of the people. This has been explored in depth by Atul Koh li. 4 It is widely
agreed that though India has become more democratic than it was initially, in the sense that more people were able
and were al lowed by constitutional process to take part in the political ,process, parliamentary orotherwise
(though this was not comprehensive nor did it encourage fuller participation of the rural dispossessed, the da lits ,
minor ities) . It is to be insisted however, that the democratization of the public sphere went hand in hand with cor
rupt io n, deliberate Machiavellianism of the vested interests, sidetracking of the democratic idealism inherent in
the principles inherent in the Preamble, giving rise to discontent of the masses who were at the receiving end .
Unless this revolution ofrising frustrations is addressed to, our professed social pluralism would not get a
chance of being implemented .
Let us take a case study of local level politics at the base level and panchayati raj. Every political party makes
commitments about rural development but these are invariably forgotten once it assumes power. It could be that
the comfort of richly furnished bungalows and posh offices distance the people who govern from the poor kisans
labouring in their tiny farms.
Hardly and Central or state minister takes the trouble to visit the rural areas of their constituencies. The rural
populace thus continues to be deprived of basic facilities like drinking water, electricity, healthcare, education and
housing. The panchayats were supposed to shape rural destinies with liberal help from the Centre and other agen-
cies. But this dream has been largely unrealized.
In fact, several panchayats are yet to function properly. Those which exist often face severe funds crunch and
most of what little money reaches them is siphoned off by members who wield influence. Only a few prominent
panchayats manage to draw the attention of politicians and that too for their personal interests.
On their part, kisans often wonder leaders visit them frequently before the elections to assure them prosperity
if they are voted to power. Yet when a farmer tries to visit his leaders, he is not even al lowed inti, their offices by
peons and bodyguards.
Meanwhile, th.e s ing le ministry of agriculture at the Centre has multiplied into a plethora of subordinate m i
nistries . One wopders whether this has translated into any effective gain at the grassroots level. For the ordinary
villager still remains completely confused when he has to seek the help of the government. He rarely ventures into
the citadels of power where he knows he wi11 not be entertained. Therefore, it is questionable as to who benefits
from these ministries which claim a giant share of the Central exchequer by way of salary and perqu isites . Quite
obviously, these have been created to accommodate the growing political partnerships of the government with
scarcely any regard for the cumulative cost of doing so.

108
 While several schemes of rural development have been put into operation after the haphazard expansion of the
ministry of agriculture, the reality is that hardly a small percentage of the money disbursed for these have reached
the target groups.
Former prime m inister , Rajiv Gandhi, in his characteristic way, had once remarked that only IO per cent
of the funds actually reach the rural areas while most of the rest get lost in the long channel of distribution. On
an average, 40 per cent of the funds released by the government goes to the distributing agency, IO per cent is
spent in filling the pockets of those distantly connected with the project and only around 50 per cent reach the
people.
Such a situation calls for some soul-searching. The moot question is , can the situation be improved? Can we
not think of bette, r alte rnat ives to reach out to the target groups a1id eliminate the middlemen? Perhaps the gov-
ernment should be more serious about curbing its expans io n-spree . Stringent government action is required
against bureaucrats and government officials who embezzle funds . For the fear of losing whatever financial
help they get from governme nts, non-governmental organizations often fail to report against corrupt office rs.
Non-governmental organizations should be more forthcoming in reporting corruption.
The best solution lies in strengthening the panchayati raj institutions which should be made solely responsible
for programmes of rural development and for which they should be provided with adequate funds. Also panchayats
should be encouraged to employ experienced people to audit their accounts. Panchayat members, drawn from the
rural community itse lf , should be trained in efficient management. In _ste ad of expanding the ministry of agric u
ltu re, the government should thus pay more attention to consolidating the panchayat system.
The real test of civilized society, it has been argued, is how it treats its m inor ities . This is important to re-
member in a pluralist society like India which is in fact dominated by one religious community. Protection of mi-
norities has always to be balanced with the danger of creating special enclaves for them with the inherent dangers
of ghe ttoiz atio n. In India, this is a challenging task before the society and the state since Muslims, the largest re li
gious minority, have , for reasons rooted in history, been laggards in literacy, education ijnd therefore in the em-
ployment bazaar. The special privileges and protection granted to Muslims and to some of their socio-religious
practices have always been a subject of controversy in country which is democratic and secular. The latest
judgment of the Supreme Court reducing drastically the right of theminorities to administer their educational in-
stitutions can be read as an attempt to create a level playing field for all schoo ls . The judgment also marks an
enormous expansion in the interventionist powers of the Indian state. Such an expansion is fraught with dangers
for every realm of society, more so in the field of education. The political party in power invariably uses the
state machinery to impose its own views on history and culture by manipulating syllabi and textbooks. This
passes in the name of nationalization of educat io n. The apex court, with all its good intentions, has created a
space for this kind of ominous intervention.
The enormous increase in state ' s powers is indexed by the Supreme Court's opinion that the state can interfere
even in those educational institutions which do not receive any aid or subsidy from the state. The court grounded
this decision on "educational excelle nce" . Nobody denies that excellence in education is a very laudable goal. But
there is no ready consensus on what constitutes this excelle nce . It is unlikely that such a consensus will ever
emerge. By this judgment, the Supreme Court has in fact allowed the state to interfere in and regulate the affairs of
any school which does not meet with the state's approval. There can be some reasons for ccepting that those s hools
that receive financial subventions from the state should be open to state regulation and monitoring. But to argue
that all schools are liable to state intervention is to see the state as being more powerful han civil society and its in-
stitutions. In a democracy, the state is the instrument of civil societ y and not the other way round.
The rise commumtlist politics
Another factor that is giving vent to regional autonomy, in a crooked lop sided way is the rise of communal
ism.
Thus, while Gujarat may enable Modism, a new word coined by the media to signify to signify an electoral strategy
based on bringing about a communal polarization to mobilize Hindu votes solely on the basis or religious affilia-
tion, to gain new ground in the sangh privar, it is also apt to engender a backlash from regional and caste groups,
which are firmly opposed to alienating the minority communities, and also provide a new incentive to Pakistan-
based terrorist groups to extend their proxy war against the Indian state to new areas. It will be no small irony if the
forces of Hindu nationalism thus unwittingly play into the hands of Islamic fundamentalistand separatist groups.

109
 It is impossible to overstress the dangers implicit in the communal polarization strategy in the country which
has been plagued for years by many insurgencies in tribal areas and has had to contend for over a decade against
separatist movements in Kashmir, which often work in concert with both the Pakistan government and the militant
groups funded and trained by it.
The Gujarat story has also made people here wonder how secure are the supposed secular foundations or Indi-
an soc ie ty. With each passing day, the question acquires a new pathos as well as a new edge. In one sense, the
very division of the subcontinent on communal lines was a fatal blow to the secular ideal. That the two- nation
theory, already rebutted by history, could pass muster in 1974, was not solely the work of the colonialists. It was
also a result of the failure of the Congress to mobilize the Muslim intelligentsia and youth in Hindu majority prov-
inces and the latter's blindness to the all-too-obviousfact that partition would reduce them from a 30 per cent mi-
nority in the undivided country to 12 per cent in a truncated India.
It is a truth that the British did not create the communal divide. They merely exploited what was already there
to prevent the nationalist movement from fully mobilizing the Muslim community in the struggle f61 independ-
ence. It was not too difficult a job since the reactions of the two communities to the coming of the British left suf-
ficient political space for the British to ensure that the degree of cohesion between different sections of the popula-
tion which national unity demanded would not materialize.
While large sections of the Hindus welcomed the coming of the British as a liberation from oppressive rule by
decrepit and despotic Muslim regimes and an incentive to have a fresh look at their own moribund tradition, which
made them an easy prey to a succession of foreign invaders, the Muslim elite groups either took refuge in nostalgia
for their lost glory or cooperated with the British, like some of the Hindu landed gentry, to save theirold privile
ges.
However deep one goes into the history of the seven centuries of Muslim domination oflarge parts ofth1.: sub-
continent or of British colonial rule for over a century, it is difficult to apportion with any precision the responsi-
bility for the rights and wrongs of the communal divide. Whatever the evil feudal or weld the numerous religious,
regional, caste and tribal groups into a nation-state. That the country's two neighbours, in both th1.: west and the
east, have declared themselves Islamic repub lics , may have made its task more difficult. But whatever the solu tio
n, the fact that the Muslim population in the country is still as large as in Pakistan, together with a substantial pres-
ence of other religious minorities, rule out any project of turning it into a Hindu rashtra.
Some leaders of the national movement like Jawaharlal Nehru may have grossly under-estimated the hold of
religion on people ' s minds. And others Iike Gandhi may have over-estimated the appeal of syncretism based on
the unity of all religious groups at the highest level, forgetting that the mystic way in perceiving that for a madden-
ingly pluralist society like India' s, the only valid path to unity was peaceful coexistence under a democratic sys-
tem. In any case, national inte gratio n, as one thinker has sagely pointed out, depends not so much on shared
memories as on a shared amnesia or forgetting old wrongs.
When the founding fathers committed the country to secularism, it was not in the Western sense of the word
where, as T.N. Madan, tpe well-known sociologist, has pointed out, the concept was produced by a dialectic of
Protestantism and the Industrial Revolution and led to a separation ofreligion and politics. Most religious groups h
re regard such a divorce between the two as opposed to their faith. That is why the idea or sec ularis m in India has
been pared down to one which merely demands from the state due regard for the susceptibilities ofallreli-
gions(sarvadharmsadabhava) and neutrality in all religious matters (dharmanirpekshila).
How these innocuous ideas, which do nothing more than provide a pragmatic basis for peaceful coexistence of
different religious groups, has been mauled in recent years is shown by the cynical comment of a sangh privar
functionary who hails the Gujarat election result as a victory of genuine secularism over pseudo- secularism. In
any case, why is the BJP so anxious to appropriate this word, so alien to it?
It is all too easy to prove, as T.N. Madan does, that secularism has been a failure so far and ideas of both equi-
distance and neutrality trivialize the strength ofreligious beliefs. But do the strong emotions religious differences
arouse justify the maintenance of permanent divides in political life or the all too frequent outbursts of violence
that have disgraced India's history since independence?

110
Conclusion

If the Gujarat experiment, which has yielded rich political dividends to the BJP and lent a certain legitimacy
to Modism, is ever tried out in other states, it will further queer the pitch for peaceful coexistence to the detriment
of both internal peace and economic growth. It would lead to more demands for regional autonom y and not
merely demands of states for administrative autonomy, but social demands of the people from the grass roots with
vicious and irreparable consequences. We may not be able to replicate the experience of the West. But there is
nothing to prevent us from adjusting the secular idea to the country ' s need by giving it a local ambience as well
as habitation. What counts is not the philosophical or sociological validity of the secular idea, but the harsh ne-
cessity of peacefu I coexistence of al I religious groups in the Indian context.

I . Robert Dal - Democracy an"'d its critics Yale Univ . Press, new Haven (1989) p.253.
2. Myron Weiner - The Indian Paradox : Essays in Indian Politics Sage, N. Delhi ( 1989) p.9.
3. Selig G. Harrison - India : The Most Dangerous Decades Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton (1960) p.338.
4. Especially in 'his work Democracy and Discontent : India's Growing Crisis o/ Governability Cambridge Univ .
Press, Cambridge (1990).

111
 UNIT V
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

The Const it ut io n, based on the principle of federalism with a strong and indestructible Union, has a
scheme of distribution oflegislative powers designed to and indestructible Union, has a scheme of distribution of
legislative powers designed to blend the imperatives of diversity with the drive of a common national endeavour.
In this respect our constitutional theory as well as practice have kept pace with contemporary deve lo pments.
The current trends emphasise cooperation and coordination, rather than demarcation of powers, between different
levels of government. The basic theme is inter-dependence in orchestrating the balance between autonomy of the
States and the inner logic of the Union.
The Constitution adopts a three-fold distribution of legisfative powers by placing them in any one of the
three lists, namely I (Union List), II (State List) and III (Concurrent List). Articles 245 and 246 demarcate the leg-
islative domain, subject to the controlling principle of the supremacy of the Union which is the basis of the entire
system.
The Concurrent List gives power to two legislatures, Union as well as State, to legislate on the same
subject. In case of conflict or inconsistency, the rule of repugnancy, as contained in article 254, comes into
play to uphold the principle of Union power.
The Concurrent List expresses and illustrates vividly the underlying process of nation building in th1.:
se tting of our heterogeneity and divers it y. The framers of the Constitution recognised that there was a category of
subjects of common interest which could not be allocated exclusively either to the States or the Union. Nonetheless, a
broad uniformity ofapproach in legislative policy was essential to combine specific objective. Conceived thus, hanno-
nious operation of the Concurrent List could well be considered to be creative federalism at its best. The problems
that have attracted attention in the field of Union-State relations have less to do with the structure or the rationale of
the Concurrent List that with the manner in which the Union has exercised its powers. In a fundamental political sense,
the passing of one paity dominance that characterised the first four decades of the Republic has also ended the drive
towards over centralisation. Even the powers that unquestionably belong to the Un io n, for example the power to tem-
porarily assume the functions of a State Government under article 356, are heavily circumscribed by the political reali-
ty of a multi-party system where the States have acqu ired significant bargaining power vis-a-vis the Govern-
ment oflndia.
The evolving political system has thus imparted considerable vitality to the federal impulses of the Consti-
tution. However , what has been gained in the actual practice oflegislative between the Union and the States, in
terms of restoring the balance inherent in the constitutional scheme, has not entered the realm of institutional val-
idation. To this extent, the unilateralism of the Union in regard to the exerc ise . of legislative powers under the
Concurrent List remains a potential problem area. The principal critique of concurrency is not that it is not re-
quired, but that it is used without consultation, that it is not exercised to deepen inter- dependence and co-
operation but to stress dominance of the Union point of view.
It has to be conceded that institutional arrangements for facilitating exchange of views between the States
and the Union on matters falling within the field of concurrent.
It has to be conceded that institutional arrangements for faci1itating exchange of views between the States
and the Inion on matters falling within the field of concurrent legislation leave something to be desired. This has
happened in spite of the existence of the Inter-State Council under article 263. The Council has yet to develop in-
to a mechanism to be relied on for an ongoing process of dialogue on vital socio-economic and political is s ue be-
tween the Union and the States and among the States. It is not as if such consultation is absent. There are
ChiefMinisters' Conferences on specific issues. There are State Ministers' Conferences on a varie ty of subjects
on which common policy positions have to be formulated, such as Value Added Tax.
There is, howev r, no formal institutional structure that requires mandatory consultation between the Un-
ion and the States in the area of legislation under the Concurrent List which covers several items of crucia I imp o
rtance to natim1al economy and security. Even the National Development Council , whose ambit may occasionally be
widened beyond the Five Year and the Annual Plans, is seldom convened to test ideas and evaluate experience

112
in policy formulation and implementation in areas where both the Union and the States are interested for the sake of
social and economic development.
Inter - State Council
Article 263 provides a mechanism for resolving problems by collective think ing, persuasion and discussion
through a high level coordinating forum, namely the inter-State Council. In view of frequent friction between the Union
and the States and between the States, the article has become more relevant. Article 263 empowers the President to estab-
lish an Inter-State Counci I at any time if it appears to him that the establis, hment of such a Council would serve the pub-
lic interest. The Council could be charged with the duty of-(a) inquiring into and advising upon disputes which may have
arisen between States; (b) investigating and discussing subjects in which some or all of the States, or the Union and one or
more of the States, have a common i nterest; or (c ) making recommendations upon any such subject and, in particular,
recommendationsfor the better coordination of policy and action with respect to that subject.
An Inter-State Council was established in 1990 but it met for the first time in 1996. Under the States Reorganiza-
tion Act, 1956 five zonal Councils were set up. Besides this, North-Eastern Council has been setup under the North-
Eastern Council Act, 1971.
Indeed Article 263 vast potential and the same has not yet been fully utilized for resolving various problems con-
cerning more than one State. It has been seen that where a treaty is entered into by the Union Government concerning a
matter in the State List vitally affecting the interests of the States no prior consultation is made with them. The forum of
inter-State Council could be very well utilized for discussion of policy matters involving more than one State and arriving
at a decision expeditiously.
The Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State Relations had recommended that in resolving problems and coordinat-
ing policy and actio n, the Union as well as the States should more effectively utilize the forum or inter-State Council. This
will be in tune with the spirit of cooperative federalism requiring proper understanding and mutual confidence and resolu-
tion of problems of common interest expedit io us ly.
Article 246 (I) read with Entry 14 of List I- Union List of the Seventh Schedule empowers Parliament to make
laws with respect to "entering into treaties and agreements with foreign countries and implementing or treaties, agreements
and conventions with foreign countries". As per the provisions contained in article 253. Parliament has, notwithstanding
anything contained in article 245 to 252, power to make any law for thl.! whole or any part of the territory oflndia for im-
plementing any treaty, agreement or convention with any other country or countries or any decision made at any interna-
tional conference, association or •other body. This article (article 253), therefore, overrides the distribution oflegislative
powers provided for by article 246 read with Lists in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. Entering into treaties and
agreements with foreign powers is one of the attributes of State sovereignty. No State can insulate itself from the rest of
the world, whether it be in the matter of foreign relations, trade, commerce, economy, commun ic atio ns , environment or
ecology. The advent of globalization and the enormous advances made in communication and information technology
have rendered independent States more inter-dependent.
The NCRW Commission has recommended that for reducing tension or friction between States and the Union and
for expeditions decision-making on important issues involving States, the desirability of prior consultation by the Union
Government with the inter-State Council may be considered before signing any treaty vitally affecting the interests of the
States regarding matters in the State List.

113
 UNIT-V

FINANC.E COMMISSION

The Concurrent List provides a fine balance between the need for uniformity in the national laws and creating
a simultaneous jurisdiction for the States to accommodate the diversities and peculiarities of different regions . This
also provides a distinguishing feature in the federal scheme envisaged by the framers of the Constitution. This is
further reinforced by placing a mode ofaltering the provisions in lists I, II and Ill in the 711 s c hedu le among other
'

matters of provisions substantive in nature and basic to the structure of the Constitution that fall within the purview of
the proviso to clause (2) of Article 368. A bill for amending the list in the, 71o schedule has to be passed by Parlia-
ment by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than 213rd of the members of
the House present and voting-and followed by ratification of legislatures ofnot less than½ ofthe States. This mecha-
nism provides a statutory tilt in favour of consultation and cooperation with the States in matters pertaining to the
Legislative sphere and inherent balance between flexibili ty and rigidity.
The institution of the Finance Commission has been one of the major success stories of the Constitution. The
board terms ofreference as laid down in article 280(3) are une xceptio na ble . Howeve r, other matters in the interest
of sound finance can also be referred to the Finance Commission. These would constitute additional terms of refer-
ence. It has been suggested that it would be desirable to associate the States more actively in deciding the additional
terms ofreference, preferably by having the National Development Council (comprising the Prime Minister and the
Chief Ministers of States) to endorse the additional terms ofr eference .
The National Commission for Review of the constitution is not in favour of an amendment of artic le
280(3)(d) to enable such enlargement of the scope of the Finance Commission, However, it is recommended that
terms ofreference of the Finance Commission should be broader and comprise of matters which would take care, in a
comprehensive way, aspects of the financial relations between the Union and the States. The broadening of such terms
ofreference could also be discussed earlier by the National Development Council.
Under article 28 I , the recommendationsof Finance Commission are laid before the Houses of Parliament
along with an explanatory memorandum as to the action taken on them. The recommendations are not theoretically
binding , although there has been no case so far when the Government oflndia has deviated from recommendations of
successive Finance Commissio ns . It has been suggested that the Constitution itself should describe the recommenda-
tions as an award binding on both the Union and the States . This has been urged in the context of the mechanism of
the State Finance Commissions which are set up under articles 243-1 and 243-Y which too make only recommenda-
tions and not awards. The State Finance Commissions are a comparatively new constitutional mecha nism . They
would take some time to strike roots in the constitutional soil. Politicians at the State level have also to find their
bearings in the new landscape where the old landma rks of patronage at the State level have yielded place to a non-
discriminatory passage of resources from the State exchequer to the local government inst it utions . Keeping in view
the factors pointed out above the Commission does not consider it necessary to recommend the amendment of the
Constitution to provide for the recommendations of either the Finance Commission constituted under article 280 or of
the State Finance Commissions constituted under articles 243-1 and 243-Y being treated as awards.
The geographic al c l_imate , environmental, technological diversities amongst States have to be harmon ized
in order that these may link with global processes for viable sustained, development and growth. A major field of und
ertaking new initiatives in these spheres would lie in the legi s lative domain where a certain concurre nce s and coher-
ence between the Statesand their different needs have to be harmonized to evolve national policies. This is also re-
flected in issues that pertain to techno lo gy, trade financial services etc. in the global context.
On the who le theframework oflegislative relations between the Union and the States, contained in articles
245 to 254, has stoo,d, the test of time . In particular, the Concurrent Lis t, List 111 in the Seventh Schedule under
article 246 (2), has to be regarded as a valuable instrument for consolidating and furthering the principle of coopera-
tive and creative federali s m that has made a major contribution to nation buil ding . The Commission is convinced
that it is essential to institutionalise the process of consultation between the Union and the States 011 legislation under
the Concurrent List.

114
 Division of financial powers and functions among different levels of the federal polity are asymmetrical, with a
pronounced bias for revenue taxing powers at the Union level while the States carry the respons i bili ty for subjects that af-
fect the day to day life of the people entailing larger expenditure than can be met from their own resources. On an average,
the revenue of States from their own resources suffices only for about 50 to 60 percent of States' current expenditure. Since
the insufficiency of the States' fiscal resources had been foreseen at the time of farming the Constitution, a mechanism in
the shape of Finance Commission was provided under article 280 for financial transfers from the Union. Its function is to
ensure orderly and judicious devolution that is deemed necessary from the point of view of avoiding vertical or horizontal
imbalances.
The Finance Commission is only one stream of transfer ofresources from the Union to the States. The Planning
Commission advises the Union Government regarding the desirable transfer of resources to the States over and above those
recommended by the Finance Commission. Bulk of the transfer of reven ue and capital resources from the Union to the
States is determined largely on the advice of these two Commissions. By and large, such transfer are formula-based. Then
there are some discretionary transfers as well to meet the exigencies of specific situations in individual States.
These institutional arrangements have so far served the country well in the first three decades after independence.
Testifying to the strength of these institutions neither the Union nor the States suffered from any large imbalance in their
budgets, although the size of the public sector in terms of proportion of government expenditure to Gross Domestic Product
had nearly doubled during this period.
Imbalances have become endemic during the last two decades and have assumed alarming proportions recently.
For this state ofaffairs, the constitutional provisions can hardly be blamed. Broadly, the causes have to be sought in the
working of the political institutions. There are shortcom i ngs in the transfer systeir,. For examp le, the 'gap-filling' approach
adopted by the Finance Commission and the soft budget constraints have provided perverse incentives. The point, however,
is that these deficiencies are capable of being corrected without any change in the Constitution.

Scope of the Finance Commission - Shouldn't it be Enlarged

The institution of the Finance Commission has been one of the major success stories of th Constitut ion. The
broad terms ofreference as laid down in article 280(3) are unexceptionable. However, other matters in the interest of sound
finance can also be referred to the Finance Comm is sion. These wou Id constitute add itiona I te ms of reference. It has
been suggested that it would be desirable to associate the States more actively in deciding the additional terms ofreference,
preferably by having the National Development Council (comprising the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers of States)
to endorse the additional terms of reference. The Commission is not in favour of an amendment of article 280(3)(d) to en-
able such enlargement of the scope of the Finance Commission, However, it is recommended that terms of reference of the
Finance Comm ission should be broader and comprise of matters which would take care, in a comprehensive way, aspects
of the financial relations between the Union and the States. The broadening of such terms ofreference could also be dis-
cussed earlier by the National Development Council.
Under article 281, the recommendationsof the Finance Commission are laid before the Housesof Parliament along
with an explanatory memorandum as to the action taken on them . The recommendations are not theoretically bind ing;
although there has been no case so far when the Governm ent oflndia has deviated from recommendations of successive it-
self should describe the recommendations as an award bind i ng on both the Union and the States. This has een urged in
the context of the mechanism of the State Finan ce Comm ission which are set up under articles 243-1 and 243-Y which
too make only recommendations and not awards .
The State Finance Commissions are a comparatively new constitutional mechanism. They wou ld take some time
to strike roots in the constitutional soil. Politicians at the State level have also to find their bearings in the new landscape
where the old landmarks of patronage at the State level have yielded place to a non- discriminatory passage of resources
from the State exchequer to the local government i nstitut ions. Keeping in view the factors pointed out above the
NCRWC did not consider it necessary to recommend the amendment of the Constitution to provide for the recommenda-
tions of either the Finance Commission constituted under article 280 or the State Finance Commissions constituted under
articles 243-1 and 243-Y being treated as awards.

115
 Share of States in taxes, ceses and surcharges
The Constitution was amended to provide a prescribed percentage of the revenue receipts to be transferred to
States (article 270(2)). However, surcharges and cesses do not form part of the divisible pool. Cesses an. intended for spe-
cific purposes and the States can have no complaint if the money is spent on predetermined purposes. Surcharges can be
regarded as a not so thinly veiled device to deny the States their share in receipts from such surcharges. Keeping in view
the complexity of the present national and international situation whic h has placed additional burden on the Union, the
Commission would not recommend any constitutional amendment to make surcharges shareable but would expect public
policy to move decisively in the direction or doing away with the surcharges as part of the Union's fiscal armoury.

Tax on services
In recent years, services have emerged as the dominant component in the gross domestic product (GDP). Yet there
is no mention in the Constitution in any of the three lists (Union List, State List, Concurrent List) enabling any level of
government to tax services. The Union has used the residuary power in the last entry of" the Union List (entry 97) to levy
taxes on selected services. The efforts have not succeeded in tapping the full potential of the service sector of a vast range
of services which are primarilyt loc al in nature . It is necessary to enhance the revenue potential of the States in view of
their major responsibilities for social and physical infrastructure. It might be worthwhile to provide explicitly for taxing
power for the States in respect of certain specified ervices. For the Union also an explicit entry would be helpful, rather
than leaving it to the residuary power of entry 97. However , it may be better to first let a consensus Iist of services to be
taxed by the States come into force to be treated as the exclusive domain of the States, even if the formal taxing power is
exercised by the Un io n. In other words, the golden rule here would be to hasten s lo wly.
A de factor enumeration of services that can be taxed exclusively by the States should get priority from polic y
mak ers with a view to augmenting the resource pool of the States. The NCRWC did r.ecommend specific enumeration of
services that may become amenable to taxation by the States. This is necessary with a view to augmenting the resource
pool of the States. The Commission recommended an appropriate amendment to the Constitution in this behalf to include
certain taxes, now levied and collected by the Union, to be enabled to be levied and collected by the States. Illustratively a
list of such subjects in respect of which service tax is levied under the relevant section of the Finance Act, 1994 (Act 32 of
1994) as amended from time to time is give n below :
(1) Section 65(48)(e): "To a client by an advertising agency in relation to advertisements in any manner·' . Corre-
sponding Entry in List-II of the Constitution -Entry 55- "Taxes on advertisements published in th1.: newspapers [and ad-
vertisements broadcast by radio or television]".
(2) Section 65(48)(f)-"toa customer, by a courier agency in relation to door-to-door transportation of time- sensi-
tive documents , goods or articles " . Corresponding Entry in List-II of the Constitution - Entry 56 - "Taxes on goods and
passengers carried by road or on inland waterways".
(3) Section 65(48)(m) - "to a client, by a mandap keeper in relation to the use of a mandap in any manner includ-
ing the facilities provided to the client in relation to such use and also services, if any, rendered as a caterer " . Corre-
sponding Entry in List-II of the Constitution-
- Entry 49- "Taxes on lands and buildings".
(4) Section 65(48)(0) - "to any person, by a rent-a cab scheme operator in relation to the renting of a cab.. Corre-
sponding E1Jtry in List-II of the Constitution- Entry 57- "Taxes on veh icles , whether mechanically propelled or not ;
suitable for u e of roads, including tram-cars subject to be provisions of Entry 35 of List-III
(5) Section 65(48)(za) - "to any person, by a mechanized slaughter house in relation to the slaughtering or 130
bovine animals."
The Finance Commission was supposed to be an administrative mechanism with a constitutional sanction to deal
with the vexations issues of centre state relations and promote solutions to them. There is a need for a greater role for it, in
the changed circumstances of today. The NCRWC has suggested the contours of this role admirably and these should
stand us in good stead if only politics were kept out of its working.

116
 UNITV LESSON 7

FEDERAL POLITY: SOCIO-STRUCTURAL

DEMOCRATIC AND INTERNATIONAL
TRENDS OF GOVERNANCE, PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE

Subhendu Ranjan Raj

Reader
PGDAV College
University of Delhi
At the threshold ofthe millenium interalia many new things an universal support for decentralisation in gov-
ernance has converged. In an effort to find a suitable exemplar or the contour of an ideal system federal governance
has few parallels. Ever since the American Federalists laid bare the blueprint of a decentralised system, federations
have ruled the roost in all democratic experiements we have had. Today even non democratic systems, have acqui-
esced a grudging acceptance ofsome form political and consti- tutional organization that unites intoasingle polity
anumber of diversified groups orcomponent polities so that the personality and individuality of the component and
distinct political unit. However, this system is facing several challenges today which are likely to intensify in the for-
seeable future, particularly in the Indian context
This paper would concentrate on a few such issues. It is the conviction of this paper that the horizon of fed-
eration asa prototype of accommodation, tolerance of diversities apart from beinga legalis- tic schema for pluralistic
self expression is under serious threat given the culture of disintegration that exists today.

Utility of Federal Governance

MODERN DAY federal systems aresomesort of constitutionalorganizations or contrivances 'for determining the
location of and the useofcoerctive power which isneeded to hold society together toprevent and punish the unsocial con-
duct of individuals and groups and to promote the common good and the general welfare.' There are many varities offeder-
ations. Todayofthe 185 orso politically sovereign states intheworld, there areabout fifty which follow federal principles
ofautonomy with varyingdegree although only twenty claim · to be federal. Interestingly, about 70% of the world popula-
tion lives in these fifty states.
According to Chaubey, Federation "though useful in regionally dispersed heterogenous societies does allow gen-
eral powers to national authority and yet retains political autonomy for States... Federation is actually a complex and cum-
bersome method of governance because it often involves a number of potentially overlapping jurisdictions and mainte-
nance ofsimilar institutions at each level of jurisdiction." 1 Hence the maintainance ofidentities ofthecentre and the units
iswithout compromising on their abilities to perform for the welfare of the people is perhaps the hallmark ofany federal
system.
However a drift towards centrifugalismor rather centralisation occurred due to historical reasons across all coun-
tries where federal system were introduced. This was caused due to various factors such as the enlargement of the public
sphere ipthe economy; the enlargement of thecentral sector within the public sphere and the growth of technology which
made it possible to control remote and outlying areas through limited resources. This trend underwent some adaptation
with new theories such as cooperative federal- ism, participative democracy coming tQ the fore. In the Indian context the
spirit of cooperative federalism was sought to guide the'relations between the federating unit and the Centre. It is pertinent
to know that despite a panoply of constitutional provisions the onus of safeguarding the legitimate domains of state gov-
ernments in India is now on the states' themselves and the resource to the judiciary remains the last resort. Unless the
states' are vigilant there can be no safeguarding of their legitimate autonomy.

117
 In this context the utility of federal principle is being questioned. There is an increasing record of cases with the
courts for seeking relief from the courts for transgression of authority of the states' by the central govt. Besides there are
any number of friction points which undermine the federal construct given in the constitution, be it misuse of the Article
356 or the controversial role of the Governor, the leverage that the Governor has in cases of unclear majority in coalitional
politics and the right to invite a particular coalitional group to take up power or the eternal group of states regarding the
sharing of financial resmrrces ever since the age of West Bengal and Kerala's espousal of this issue.
Some recent developments have given hope that federalism can perhaps be of use to us. Following the Rajaman-
nar Committee Report which suggested the repeal of Art 356 & Art 357 the Bomai case decision of the Supreme Court has
given hope. The Supreme Court has now categorically stated that in given circumstances Art 356 can be justifiably used
by the Centre. The grounds cited were that for the maintainance of the ideas enshrined in the Preamble, and Art
14,15,16,25,26,29,30, 44, 55 i.e., for the establishment of secularism the centre may invoke emergency in states. By impli-
cation it may be under- stood that the Supreme Court would show similar enthusiasm to uphold constitutionalobligations
of the centre towards the states. Of course there is little gainsaying that the true utility of federalism for the states would
manifest only if very pertinent recommendations made by various commissions are given full respect and implemented ra-
ther than gathering dust as is the case now.
In this context the recommendations made headlines many years ago, ofthe Sarkaria Commission on almost all
aspects of relationship between the centre and the states need to be implemented. Apart from detailed guidelines regarding
distribution of fiscal resources, it made the point ofconsulting the state cabinet in the appointment of the Governor and the
urgency to choose not burnt out actively in politics and should be related toacademics, the arts and other counsel that the
corporation tax should be shared with States; certain other levies, loan procedures and foreign exchange entitlements
should be liberalised in favour of the States, municipal bonds should be tax exempt, centrally sponsored scheme should 6e
strictly limited as per the recommendationsof the Ramamurti Committee.'2
Irrespective of the party in power at the centre if the recommendations such as the ones cited above and innumer-
able others of like nature could be the article offaith of Indian federalism a lot ofcurrent · problems could seem to be less
intractable and solutions could be found to many vexacious issues.

Crucible of Challenges

It is being posted in this paper that even if theabove mentioned prescription isfollowed there still would remain
afew challenges which threaten the entire federal structure asconstructed under the consti- tution. Thechallenges are from
internal and international contexts. They need adeeper rethinking on many issues and our attitude towards solving them.
These challenges lie both in theoretical conceptualisation of our social overview and at the interstices of international po-
litical economy. They are also intrinsically related to our being a part of the Third world reality.
Perhaps_the first such challenge is posited by the peculiar social structure that we have and the consequent socio
structural problems it gives rise to. In the Indian context, the social problem atique is compounded by the existence at the
same time, of various complexities both at the level of the state and civil society. After five decades of existence of the In-
dian sub-continent (post-independence that is) and a millenium of existence oflndian society India resists formulation into
neat categories. To begin with there is an amazing problem. Quite contrary to many Third World states there exists in In-
dia alevel of stateism and 'stateness' and administrative capacity that has been the git of some four centuries ofMoghul and
British subcontinental rule. Thestate as seen here is independent of the civil society which it moulds, manages and coerces
and at all times dominates it. The country's steel frame, the bureaucracy, the givers and professionalised technically expert
technocracy have helped evolve institutions totake care ofthe governance.

118
 One surmises that this problemogena that ofastrong state and invincible state apparatus could not have occasioned
but for the fact that here the state is more developed at the superstructural overlay. A second issue is the ideological pot pour-
ri - thecountry seems agreed ideologically onsecularism, socialism and democracy and a mixed economy which seems to be
part socialist and part capitalist (though the recent liberalisation wavecurrently one, would seem to suggest that the economy
isgiving upall pretences of being socialist). Social pluralism issought to be tempered by adopting a liberal democratic politi-
cal framework and a detailed federal framework. This was but the logical extension of the liberal democratic institutions that
have gradually been introduced and extended for the last hundred years before we gained independence and have survived
many challenges and impartial state system side byside withan inequitous social system which is complete in itself-it is
based on foundation which are contrary to the spirit of the political system.

N Politics of Class

For anation of I 000 million where economic deprivation and poverty isendemic, where the lower strata of society
lost all pervasive, while the upper class though inaminority, control almost every aspect of the economy, the entire state and
all democratic institutions and maintain a lifestyle which as a western observer3 noted 'is more in tune with that of the west,
sometimes more extravagant and exclusive than of the elite elsewhere; isn't is surprising that class is not afacto. There is no
politics of class which is pursued in the body-politique? Despite the great disparities of wealth and power no national party,
right or left pursues the politics of class.
In a country where secularization is an important guarantee of faith without which the nearly encyclopaedic multi-
tudes of creed, religion, faiths which the society isdeeply divided cannot ever subsit and keep its body and soul together isn't
it surprising that politics iscentred around the debate of secular- ism and communalism. This because all politcal parties (and
not merely te saffron clas hindutvp parties') that are in existence and circulation use thecommunal card. Iam of course here
using communalism in a wider perspective. I consider that what passes as casteism, linguism, regionalism and conflicts
engenered by it - and these are important bases for the identity ofalmost all the political parties in independent India
- are in essence aspects of the hydra called communalism.3 This isbecause all these are factors which lead to diver-
sionary exclusion (they tend to divide rather than consolidate a people).
Politics based on this surmise can never lead usto the democratic conciliation of interests that isso much necessary
in a federal construct. Nor can it lead us to the important goal of understanding class polarization which exists inexorably
and without fail in all societies and ours is certainly not anexception. When the subalterns are busy hatcheting each others of
their society over amasjid or atemple; or wipe out entire villages as in Bihar; or raise fracas over a Bodoland or Khalistan; or
test which caste issuperior to whom and in what way, the political parties' follow these events carefully and set their agendas
accordingly to suit their convenience.
Hence class afactor in Indian society has.never been central to the consciousness but religious and casteist cleavages
remain significant. Two important forces that might support class politics- the organized workers and private financial and-
industrial capital - are politically marginal, the working class despite being in existence for some time now and due to the
burgeoning middle class isa potential force but is divided by party union competition and corporate of government manipula-
tion. Besides, the bulkofthe workers in theagricu\tµral sector are unorganised and oflittle relevance.
Alongwith this reality, in the socio-structural sphere, the risk of intermediate castes have led to attacks on the politi-
cal structure, in the recent past. Many castes who were considered as backward have after independence risen in social status
and assumed political importance after tasting economic success, they have posited serious challenges to the federal balance
of power. The Yadavs or the Vokkalings are such examples. In order to assert their new found status they are very aggressive
and are not above creating political crises in legitimately elected governments to dominate politics in a particular state. Most
often disability in astate may be the machination of emerging castes who want political hegemony along with legitimacy. It
is a different matter that this is giving rise to aculture of coalitional politics and break- down of constitutional federal ma-
chinery both in the states and at the centre.

119
 Similarly there is a shift in our democratic traditions. It was assmued that the great Indian middle class was in con-
trol of the political leadership. The Brahmin-Kshyatriya-Kayasth were holding the levers of power. Not for long. There has
been a percepting shift in this scenari -With the emergence of kulak today now new castes have descended on the political
scene. They may not be similarly educated but are well endowed having benefitted from the Green revolution and aregime
where there is no income tax on agricultural earnings. Hence the rural based power centres and pressure groups are coming
to political ascendency, the ruling elite class is udergoing a change. This new emerging caste-class is not so well capable of
understanding the nuances of federal governance and pluralistic democracy.
The scenes in legislatures, the fracas that goes by the name of democracy is an indication thatsome of the challanges
that are faced are due to a new cult - the cult of indiscipline and gross neglect of consti- tutional niceties and decorwn. This
is being also manifestly seen in growing intolerance of minorities' human 'rights of all, the flagrant breakdown of rule oflaw
at all levels.
These then are some of our ground realities in which our federal experiment isgrowing. How these challenges would
betackled fortheefficient engineering or federalism, onlytime willtellforthemoment, these look like insurmountableobstacles
on theroad offederal and pluralistic democracy.

Some International Posers

THE DIALECT!CS of world economy has started shaping and moulding our federal polity. Due to the worldwide
penchant for liberalisationand the resultant integration of the state into the world economy unknown threats have
nowemerged. To a percepient observer the far reaching implications of globalisation of Indian society are not far to seek.
Today India is at the cross-roads. In various inexorable ways India stands to lose its rights its entitlements, its freedom and in
fact its identity itself. Globalisation has rendered the relationship between thecommunities and theindividual, the state and
the community, the state and the corporation (the TNCs and MNCsO as it existed earlier totally redundant and obsolate.
In this context, all talk about the state being the oppressor has to be replaced. The new actor now is the corporate
predator- State now is being undermined by internationally entrenched corporate protec- tionism ofTNCs. This is at the heart
of the globalisation process.
"globalisation now means... the role of the state in regulating commercial interests and corpora- tions is now dimin-
ishing, the role of the state in enhancing corporate rights and corporate monopolies is increasing for citizens and communi-
ties, this implies the withdrawal of ... protection (of the state)."4
Globalisation means allowing increasing transfer of resources of the society to external predators through the in-
strumentalityof the federal state. Globalisation has come to mean in India the bartering of resources ofits community to a
Cargill oran Enron. These corporations are so powerful financially that they can usurp the rights of.communitieswith the
state being a mute spectator and foist on them terms which are unequal, unjust and discriminatory. This portends the end of
the state. Vandana Shiva points this out and states what it means for the individuals.
"For citizens and communities, the erosion of state power implies the withdrawal of two kinds of protection. The'
first protection that is withdrawn isthe protection available through the regulation of com- mercial profit seeking behaviour,
to prevent the destruction oflivelihoods, the environment and people's health. The secondprotection that is withdrawn is the
protection built into traditional enviromnental rights and the rights to knowledge and culture, rights which are often custom-
ary and not written into law..." 5
Federalism is basedon the principle of recognising the inherent autonomy of not only federating units but also indi-
viduals todecide the independence todecide how they would shape the life and futures of their growth. Now this is no longer
possible. The world Bank, IMF etc now see to it that it is not done. The Development programmes that they chart out are
heavily loaded against third world countries. Their development plans have perforce to be followed by states and these mean
the sure and unflinching path to destruction. Theirdevelopment programmesare meant to induce poverty.
Under the impactof the new globalisation programme on the anvil:
"T he state cannot resist the inexobable forces of dependency that they have unleashed which today threaten to sub-
sume the identity of the state. Hence what we have here is a classic case of dual expropriation and exploitationby the agen-
cyof the state and international forces on the individual which has seriousrepercussions for thefuture of human rights of the
people of India in particular...' '6

120
 Thusfor federalismnewchallenges posed by these international dependent regimes are now fast becoming true.
Thelogic of these developments is to chart an unilinear path ofdependent development for the profit of the TNCs or its pro-
mote countries most noboly US. They do not permit human rights to be enjoyed by the society. This would meanabreak-
down of all our efforts to give rights to different groups of dispossed, poorand minorities.
It would also mean an end to pluralist democratic process of growing and sharing together- the hallmark of a federal
system. This wouldbe a dangerous precedent. Federalism should not be merely constructed in a legalistic framework.As
K.Suresh points out:
"It should be reflected both in society and in the pattern of nation and state building. It is our submission that the
conceptof federal nation building weaves a thread which largely corresponds to the demands of both autonomy and integra-
tion... It is based on the belief that the celebration of cultural heterogeneity has its own validity once it is justaposed to the
homogeneity inaplutral society. However, there must be acommonspacefor mediating the demands ofidentity an difference.
Federal nation building offers such space.At one level it believesin the existence of cultural pluralism, social diversity and
hetero- geneity, at other level it does not denythe commonness of experienceand shared sense of identi,ty. ,.,
Conclusion
True Federalism in the Indian context demands an awareness of the present realities which have the potential of de-
railing itsoperationin the future.Agreater consciousness of the social structural matrix would be necessary to articulate real
demands of the people. An understated but vital requirement of federalism is thecorrectenunciation of politics. Who gets
what/when and how is to bedecided by those who should be factors in politics not their agent who masquerade as their rep-
resentatives and posit their personal agendas on casteist, communal lines and pass it offas threat of the vox populi. Further
the new onslaughts ofan international dependencia regime is hard to ignore. It is fraught withserious repercussions for the
federal consensus on sharedexistence with respect given to pluralism. It threatens to substitute it with an unilineardev lop-
ment paradigm where the west determines our priorities in thename of openness and liberalisation. Rather than decentraliza-
tiondetepnining the focus of federal polity and local federating units involved in an regular exchange with the Union we
would soon be besieged by a-n alienorder. Such a political alternative is no guaranteefor conditionspeace, harmony and or-
der. In order to achieve the goals of political and social federalismwe may have to heed the timely reminder of Rasheedud-
din Khan who observed that "a Federal nation is a mosac of people in which unified political identity is reconciled with so-
cio economic diversities. Its hallmark is unity of polity and plurality of society."

121
 FOOT NOTES

1. P.K. Chaubey (1998) - "Towards an Ideal System of Federal Governance: An Attempt to

Develop Prototype Fraternal Model Journal ofIIPAAnnual No 1998 p. 537.
2. SeeArshi Khan (1998)-"Rethinking Indian Federalism" Encounter Vol. I, No.5 Delhi (1998).
3. Subhendu Ranjan Raj (1987)-"Social identities, National Integration and Communalism"
Link Newsmagazine, Vol 30, No 16, Nov. 22,1987 p. 19-23.
4. See "Intellectual Property Rights, Community rights and Biodiverity -A new partnership
for National Sovereignty (Mimeo) Reserach Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural
Resources Delhi (1996).
5. Vandana Shiva (1997) - "The Alternative to Corporate Protectionism" Bijo Issue No. 15,
1997.
7. Kumar Suresh (1999)- "Multiculturalism, Federalism and the Agenda of Human Rights" In
Vijapur & Suresh ibid.
8. Rasheeduddin Khan (1992) - "Federal India: A design for Chang" Vikas p. 29.

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 UNIT VI LESSON 8
PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA
(NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS)

- Tanvir Aeijaz
Senior Research Fellow (UGC)
Delhi University

Introduction
The development of political parties,as mentioned in the last chapter, seems tied up with that of democracy,
that is to say with theextension of popular suffrage and parliamentary prerogatives. It is a fact that the originality of
twentieth-century parties lies in their organization. It isalsoafact that this organization is tending to become an essen-
tial factor in the activity of the party, in its influence and its function. Aparty is therefore, acommunity with a particu-
lar structure and modem parties are characterized primarily by their autonomy.
With the exception of single-party states, several parties coexist in each country. The forms and modes of
their coexistence define the"party system" of the country in question. Two series of elements enterinto this definition.
In the first place, there are similarities and disparities that can bediscovered in the internal structures of the individual
parties that make up the system such centralized/decentralizedparties, flexible/rigid parties, totalitarian/restricted par-
ties etc. In the second place, acomparison distinguish new elements in the analysis that do notexist foreach party
community considered in isolation such as numbers, respective sizes etc.A party system is defined bya particular rela-
tionship amongst all these characteristics. Party system are the product of many complex factors, some peculiar to in-
dividual countries,
others general such as tradition and history, social and economic structure, religious beliefs, racial compo- si-
tion, national rivalries and so on. However, there are three chief factors common to all countries-socio- economic, ide-
ological and technical. Socio-economic factors are mainly concerned with the influence of classstructure on political
parties, and the influence isquite profound. For instance, the appearance of socialist parties at the beginning of the
twentieth century coincides with the entry of working classes into politics. Political ideologiesthemselves, to acertain
extent - correspond to class attitudes. But the corre- spondence is neither general nor absolute. Ideologies are never
simple epiphenomena in relation to the socio-economic structure, and some are related to class in ways that are indi-
rect and of minor importance. The most important technical factor is the electoral regime i.e., the method of ballots,
that moulds the structure of every party, generally the number, size, alliances, representation etc. conversely, the party
system exercises a vital influence upon the electoral regime, for instance the two party system favours the adoptionof
thesimple majority and single ballot form. Therefore, the party system and electoral system are the two realities that
are inextricably linked influences in this respect and areaspectsof the life of the nation such as ideologies and particu-
larly the socio-economicstructure.

Party System in India

The importance and relevance of party system in India may be seen in the light of its historical developmen-
tand th fact that India is primarily adeveloping country which hasopted foraparliamentary form of government on the
British model. The emergence and working of party sy.stem is, therefore condi- tioned by the historical situation of the
movement from tradition to modernity. As the party system devel- ops and transforms itself, it is bound to face nu-
merous problems that are characteristic features of this evolution. According to Rajni Kothari - theparty system in In-
dia in pre-independenceyears wascharacterised by an ' identifiable centre' which was represented by the Indian Na-
tional Congress. The INC was only party which developed nation-wide organiz.ation and leaders.

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 The Indian party system owes its origin and transformationtothis"political centre" of the indepen- dence years.
Some parties like CPI, Akali Dal and DMK originated from outside the congress, parties like the Socialist party, the
Swantantra, the BLD, the BKD, the Janata Party were formed by political leaders who were primarily important and
erstwhile members of INC. At the regional level of also, many parties like the Bangla Congress the Java Congress and
Utkal Congress in Orissa, for this instance, were outcome of factional struggle within the congress. Political dissent has,
therefore, been afragmentation of the political centre of the society, rather than a projection of autonomous interests in the
social and eco- nomic spheres.
India has evolved a multi-party system which accounts for competitive political process in the country. It isdiffi-
cult to make aclear-cut classificationof the Indian Party system because ofits multiplicity and diversity. Hanson and
Douglas writes,"Multiplicity and diversity made an attempt to classify Indian political parties a very hazardous undertak-
ing..... nevertheless, aprovisional classification can be made- parties ofleft, parties of right, traditional parties, regional
parties, minor parties (sub regional)."
Rajni Kothari in defence of multi-party system in India argues that once the real contribution of party system to
political development is perceived-which is, party system acting asacatalyst to govern- mental performance at various
levels i.e. parties do not simply compete and represent but also tum com- petitive arenas and representational process into
resources for and against government-then a two party system does not necessarily provide an adequate framework for
coalition-making and the assimilation of diverse identities that characterize a plural society. He further adds that the evi-
dence of mounting frustration and anomia in some western nations suggests that even there a two-party system often fails
to provide efficient means of political choice and interaction, especially for minority and dissident groups, and that a
more dispersed organization of parties, with linkage at different levels of government, may perhaps do this better. Party
system in India, instead of previewing it in terms of interest aggregation theory, is more often perceived asa part of an in-
teracting process of governmental penetration, performance at various levels and society's response to such penetration
and performance.

Nature and Characteristics

The general context from which the party system hasevolved and the patterning ofconsensus and dissent in thefunctioning
can be laid out to serve the purpose of characterizing and outlining the nature of party system in India. According to Rajni
Kothari :
1. The party system evolved from an identifiable political "centre" that emerged in the country in the decades before
independence. The institutional expression of this centre was the INC, crystallized through its nation-wide organiza-
tion, and identifiable in terms of itselite.
2. It was asmall elite, homogenous in social background, mainly uppercaste, English educated and consti ting almost
a"oneclass" ensemble.
3. Opposition groups also emerged from this class. Even before independence the congress had contained quite a de-
gree of factional differentiation.After independence both factionalism within the Congre-ss and the crystallization of
opposition outside it went further. Most of the . dissenting elites, however, had at one time belonged to the Congress
and shared much of the social and intellectual background ofcongressmen.
4. Politi al'dissent was thus a function of fragmentation of the "political" centre of society rather than projection of au-
tonomous interests in the social and economic sphere. Such dissent was largely articulated through the new institu-
tions of parliamentary democracy and adult franchise at different levels of governmental and developmental activi-
ty.
5. The "process of dissent" speaks of the vague and overlapping differentiations between government, dissident fac-
tions within the government party, opposition parties and dissident factions within the opposition parties. Both the
structure of authority and the structure of opposition are found to be amorphous and fragment; consequently there
are no clear lines between government and opposition and both seem to dissolve into the"ruling class". This also
makes the line between "government" and "party"difficult to draw.

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 6. There is not only a sharing of outlook and ideological consensus because of common socialization in the past; there
is also the compulsion to maintain links with the governmental framework as it exists in the present. This necessi-
tates the maintenance of factional and party identities : only so is it possible to have entree' into the system. There al-
so seems to be a paradox that Indian parties are able to enforce a greater measure of disciplines on their members
than in thecase with American parties despiteahigher incidence of mobility between parties in India. Government
begin a centre of almost everything political, only those who maintain channel with it-for or against-happen to sur-
vive.
7. Such astructuring of political communicationshas led toavery open system. Not only is there freedom to form new
parties and frequent movements between parties, but there is another kind of openness which is somewhat peculiar
to India: the continuous interaction between opposition parties and factions within the government party. The con-
tinuum between government and opposition was structured by factions, which made for a considerable openness of
political communications.
8. The role of opposition parties in influencing decision-making has been found to be more effective where the authori-
ty of the government party is stable and due to a comfortable majority than where its margin of preponderance is ei-
ther their or unstable. This is due to two main reasons. Where governmental authority isstable, factional competition
within the party is both possible and permitted. Second, astate margin of differentiation between the government and
opposition leads to asmooth working of the "rules of the game" of democratic politics, more so than would be the
case when the margin is unstable and the temptations to flout conventions and somehow topple the government from
power becomes irresistible. Both kinds of opposition are to be found in India.
9. The openness of the system is not, however, limited to the functioning of parties. There are protests, by the elements
that fail to find access to the institutional channels, through so called extra constitutional means, have always been
important in India and, what is more significant, they have enjoyed acertain measure oflegitimacy. The nationalist
movement 'itself left behind alegacy oflegitimate protest.
On the whole barring asection oflegalist opinion, there isacceptance ofthe value of such protests, and governments, have
learned to be sensitive to them and to deal gently with them. Where agovernment lacks such sensiitvity, it has found it to
uphold its authority.
10. Geperally speaking, both dissident movements within a government party and protest movements outside the
framework of political parties are directed not so much toward upsetting the old order as to finding an entry into it.
Such movements tends to the sporadic and unaggregated and as the normal run of politics assumes its course, their
course tends to be laid aside. In their agitational phase, of course, such movements adopt the pedagogy of "confron-
tation."
11. The goals of dissenting and oppositional elements tend to belimited and they do not challenge the basic institutions
of the system or the values that sustain them. Rather by pushing toward the center of power, they share in the overall
consensus of the system: more often than not they base their appeal on the values declared by theruling elite but
which wee not implemented so far. Because conflict is accepted as legitimate, its institutionalization takes place
largely within the permissive boundaries of the system. ·
12. The centrality of government in the political system indicates that much of the party system functions through the
government : the government party itself spreads its network through the coverage that the structure of patronage
and development resources provide; the dissident factions aimat acquiring positions in this resource structure; and
opposition parties and protest movements make demand on the same structure. Furthermore , the bureaucratic rou-
tine of government is responsible for such alarge part of the political system that periods of instability in party
alignments do not seriously jeopardized the moral functioning of the system. And still further the creative role of
government in the integration of society sets the stage in which parties function.
However, the political system got legitimized through identification with aparticular leadership, and its agents and heirs.
Later, when the forces of dissent gained ground, they acquired the symbolism of "anti-government". Thus both the orienta-
tion oflocal elites and the role of electoral confirmation and reprisal have crystallized around the central symbolism of gov-
ernment.

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 13. The striking thing about the ideological dimension of Indian politics is thefrequency with which intellectual doubts
about the system are expressed, sometimes by leading membe;s of Indian society, which, however does not serious-
ly disturb the systems functioning. In fact, the legitimacy of the system has working of the system evokes cynical at-
titudes from certain quarters. However, since such criticism comes mainly from intellectual and urban elements who
also seem to value freedom of opinion and expression of dissent the "fundamental critique" seems to take place
largely at a verbal level.
14. While the modem setting of government provides goals and structures the styles they pursue often represent conti-
nuity of antecedent modes. One aspect of this is the importance of personalized networks, their shifting and amos-
phour character, and their Jack of organised aggregation. A related aspect is isolation and fragmentation, even be-
tween parts of the same organization. National and state organs of the same party pull in opposite directions, coa-
lesce with elements that are socially and ideologically incongruent, and invite the charge of opportunism. As politi-
cal mobilization has increased, the role oflocal parties and independents as well asthe regionalisation of"national"
parties has increased rather than diminished.
15. Although the role of charismatic individuals is on the decline, from time to time powerful personalities have enjoyed
an almost arbitrary role in crystallizing political relationships. In a very real sense a"succession crisis" recurs in the
functioning of public political organizations in India.
16. Despite considerable fragmentation in the ranks of non-congress parties, their access to governmental power, follow-
ing the dimunition of the Congress Party's degree of dominance since 1967 has increased their sense ofeffica-
cy.Also, on the one hand there isa greater sense of participation and involvement on increased stake in the system,
and a chastening of extremist positions and doctrinaire orientations. Whereas, on the other hand, such an ascen-
dancy of parties with universe backgrounds ofinterests and ideological positions and the contraction of the Congress
Party's margin of preponderance are both leading to a greater issue of confrontation in Indian politics.

Adaptation, legitimacy, Integration and Institutionalization

A systematic account oflndian politics after independence were usually placed within "liberal modernization theo-
ry" and to a large extent, celebratory in tone. Certain key institutions of the modem state were shown to have been put in
place in the period of British rule; after independence it was believed that with a liberal democratic constitutional system
and universal suffrage the Indian political system would gradually develop its own processes of democratic decision-
making, rational administrationand modern citizenship.
Later, more complex variants of modernization theory were produced most notably by Rudolph and Rudolph in
"The Modernity ofTradition" (1967) and in the collection ofon"Caste in Indian Politics" (1970) edited by Rajni Kothari,
in which it was argued that even elements of''tradition" such as caste and religion could infiltrate a modem system of
political institution, adapt to it transforming themselves, find an enduring place within it as parts of political modernity
itself. Rajni Kothari's theoretical tools were largely structural functional in his"politics in India"and the identified
the"dynamic core" of the system of political instituti ons in India in the Congress Party. The whole system worked
through the dominance of the Congress as explained earlier in this chapter.

Marxist accounts were better able to describe conflicts and the repressive use of state power as sys-
temic features of Indian politics. More nuanced accounts that tried not only to describe enduring struc- tures of class
power but also specific changes in political processes and institutional practices began to emerge in the 1980s. Rudolph
and Rudolph in their later work, "In pursuit of Lakshmi : The political Economy of the Indian State" (1987), which takes
organized interest groups as the principal actors in the system, have tried to periodize Indian politics in terms of the tussle
between a"demand polity'' in which societal demands expressed aselectoral pressure dominate over the state and
a"command polity" where state hegemony prevails over society. Rao and Frankel in their two-volume edited collection,
"Dominance and State power in Modem India"(1990), have made adestruction between public institutions such as the
bureaucracy and organised industry and political institutions such as legislative and political parties. The history of poli-
tics of independent India, they say, is one of the rising power of formerly low states groups such as the lower castes and
the poorer classes inthe political institutions and the attempt by upper caste and middle class groups to protect their privi-
leges in the public institutions.

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 Rajni Kothari in his recent writings has attempted to develop a normative framework and ex- pounded that how the
national and political elite has lost its autonomy and the state has ceased to be an agent of social change and has instead
become more and more repressive. He argues that there is need now to assert through grass-root movements and non-party
political formations, theautonomous force of civil society over a repressive and increasingly unrepresentativestate. Ashish
Navdy views that the mod- ernist state has repeated failed whenever it has tried to impose on Indian society a set of institu-
tional practices adoptod from the modem west that go against the firmly entrenched everyday practices of collective living
in local communities. Sudipta Kaviraj analyses that the State, acting as asite, over which several dominant classes try both
to outmanoeavre one another and to work out coalition arrangements in order to preserve their dominance as a whole. The
political process can then be described in terms of changing balances in the ruling class coalition.
After five decades of self-government in India, and despite acute traumas and persisting threats to open, competi-
tive politics still qua li fies. It may seem that few dramatic changes have actually occurred within and among Indian parties
. Nonetheless the decay within parties and increasingly destructive conflict among parties have so eroded the strength of
the open political system that its survival is in question, particularly in the coalition politics. It may appear that the victory
of the Congress Party in the 1984 general election closely resembles all but one of those that have come before-the aberra-
tion being 1977- and that one need only dust off and update the classic studies of the party system that Rajni Kothari and
Morris-Jones produced some years ago. To adopt that view, however, is to overlook a numbe·r of basic changes in Indian
politics over the last two decades that have substantially conditions within parties, relations among parties , and partly be-
cause parties have provided the main links between state and society, state-society relations.

From 1947-67

This phase is well accounted by Kothari-Morris-Jones, who described it as a"dominant party system" in amultipar-
ty system, in which the INC enjoyed a dominant position both in terms of number of seats at the central and state level and
in terms ofits immense organisational strength outside the legislature. Indeed, it was its dominance at the organisational
level that was more important, for on that rested its legislative superiority. The might, the reach, and the subtlety ofits or-
ganization also enabled it to dominate the actions of bureaucrats who were charged with the implementation of policies
and laws at regional and especially at subregional level. The opposition parties had little hope of preventing the congress
from obtaining seizable majorities in the legislatures despite the ruling part'sfailure, on most occasions to gain majority of
valid votes cast.. So here was a"competitive party system in which the competing parts play ther dissimilar roles. The rul-
ing party was a"pary of Consensus" and the opposition parties were parties of pressure".
It was within congress, at the same time, and not between Congress and the opposition parties, that the major con-
flicts within Indian politics occurred. It was within Congress that nearly c\11the groups that mattered in Indian politics
could be found.
The Congress organization was also the main instrument that knit together state and society, which is to say that it
was India's central integrating institutions. As aconsequence one did not find in India as in the west,"a relationships be-
tween the government and party "organization in which the latter plays an instrumental and subsidiary role.
Congress occupied not only the broad centre of the political spectrum, but most of the left and right as well. This
relegated the opposition parties not only to the margins of Congress, but to the margins of the political and party system as
well. The task of creating and sustaining immensely broad congress coalition in that first phase was, at least in the view of
Morris Jones, facilitated by the complexities and ambiguities of Indian society, which presented polarization (in class
terms) and the formation of contradic- tions that might fracture such an all embracing alliance ofinterests. Myron weiner
argues that the task of building the Congress coalition waseased by traditional values and roles of conciliation that con-
gressmen astutely toop up, and the Rudolphs contention that traditional elements of the caste system assisted the develop-
ment of modern, representative politics in India. Of crucial importance was Congress effectiveness in destructing the re-
sources which it acquired form its control of state power, among existing and potential clients inexchange for their political
support. The same skill at alloting patronage also enabled the congress toco-opt and absorb within itself groups whose
grievances "had been ventilated through agitations launched by theoppositi n parties. This was reinforced by the Congress's
"policyof neutralizing some of the more important sources of cleavage and disaffection."and by the leadership tendency "
to preserve democratic forms, to respect the rule oflaw, to avoid under strife, and to show "great sensitivity on the question
of respect for minorities.

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From 1967 to 1977
In this phase also the earliest and most perceptive comments on party system came from the studies by Morris-
Jones and Kothari. One important feature of the old system that persisted was, "the central role of Congress in maintain-
ing and restructuring political consensus. The socio-economic and demographic profile of the polity changed rather
fast....The mobilization of new recruits and groups into the political process... gave rise to thedevelopment of new and
more differentiated identities and patterns of political cleavage. As a result "the dominant party model started to give way
to a more differentiated structure of party competition.
The 1967 election saw the congress lose power in six states, the competition had grown too severe to becontained
by the party's internal bargaining, so that "dissidentcongressmen played an impor- tant role in the weakening of party.... in
perhaps every"lost" state except Tamil Nadu. This brought number of opposition parties fully into the market place or to
say, according to Morris-Jones, a"market polity" emerged, and competition that had previously occurred within the
Congress was now brought into the realm of interplay conflict.' 67 election also made centre-state relations an important
feature of interparty competition.
Post' 67 elections witnessed another new phenomenon, which in Morris-Jones was a pretty regu- lar and con-
tinous "defectorsmarket". The defectors flowed both ways, both into and out of the congress. More flowed out, however,
than in, causing the fall of Congress governments in three states. The highly disciplin ed ideologically oriented parties of
the Marxist left and the Hindu Chauvassist right remained almost entirely immenseto this new trend. The Communist
experienced a split over ideological issues, but that was different fromdefection. The election (67) had created asituation
in which Congress dominance was strikingly diminished because its performance in the art of governance was subjected
to harsh judge- ment by supporters and opposition alike.
The schism in the Congress inn 1969 was a major shock to the political system in India. The new political pro-
cessprovedunable to manage the tensions and cleavagesof a heterogenous party operating in a heterogenous society and
federally governed. A major crisis in the system followed. Mrs. Gandhi's victory in the 1971 electionmade it appear, in
Morris-Jones words, that "the end of the dominant party had beentoo readily proclaimed in 1967" and that "now it is
back". The new system entacted the aban- donment of inter-party democracy. Positions in the Congress organizations at
all levels were filled by appointments from above rather than by election from below. Thus created openings for the
opposition and by 1974 , under Jaya Prakash Narayan's leadership, an opposition movement had acquired real sub-
stanceand momentum. Mrs. Gandhi, who found herself under growing pressure from within her own party, in particular,
(indeed, it was thence that the main threat came in mid-197?) turned increasingly to a small circle ofconfidants in which
her son Sanjay figured most prominent.
There followed the Emergency, during which relations between Congress and the opposition reached their nadir.
Not only wereopposition activists faced with imprisonment but power within congress was further centralised.But the
centralizing often had the opposite effect to that which was intended. It cut off still further Mrs. Gandhi and her iriner
circle from reliable information from states beyond the Hindi belt. And instead ofhomogenizing the regions as intended,
centralization made possible the assertions of their natural heterogeneityso that they actually diverged from one another.
Mrs. Gandhi'scentralizing violated the basic logic by which India had been governed under both the Crown and Nehru's
Congress.

From 1977 to 1984

The years from 1977 to 1984 were, broadly speaking, a time of abrasive conflict and bad feeling between politi-
cal parties and a period marked by decay and fragmentation within parties. Two broad themes, which had become plainly
evident before 1977 and which dominated the phase thereafter, were awakening and decay. Awakening in the sense that
people at all levels of society became increasingly aware of the logic of electoral politics, of the secrecy of the ballot and
of the notion that parties and leaders should respond to those whom they represented. It was more advanced among
prosperous groups, but it also occurred among the poor. Decay means erosion or say decline in the capacity of institutions
to respond nationally, creatively or even adequately to the pressures from society. This decay affected both the formal
institutions of state and most political parties, including, above all, the Congress party. The awakening of the electorate
and the decay ofinstitutionscombined to generate five further changes as by- products.
1. Achange from days before 1972, when incumbent governments at the state and national levels usually won re-
election, toaperiod in which they usually lost. The incumbents have been less able to respond to society at a time
when the expectations and assertivenes of the electorate have increasingly demanded responses.
2. There was a marked decline in confidence in the State as an agency capable of creative social action as opposed to
an agency with the coercive power to maintain order). This occurred within the Congress led by both Gandhis.
This decline was also observable within many opposition parties, among many intellectuals who were critical of
Mrs. Gandhi, and among large numbers of people in local areas all across the sub-continent.

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 3. The change in the tendency for society and politics to diverge. As political institutions, especially parties, became
less able to respond rationally to appeal that arose from society, social groups tended to give up on politics and
politicians and to turn inwards, battening parochial sentiments and whatever internal resources they possessed.
This led to an increase in conflict between social groups as the socio-political divergence and the decay of politi-
cal institutions reduced states capacity to manage and defuse conflict.
4. The blurring of the relatively clear lines that had existed between many political parties and their social bases,
both at the national level and in many Indian states.
5. There was a growing divergence between the logic of politics at the national level and the political logic in
various state-level areas. The most obvious sign of this was theemergencein the early 1980 of regional parties in
several states.
This period, from 1977 to 1984, wasmmked by free competition between political parties butalso by greater in-
stability intheputysystemandwithinmany es.Itwasatimecharocteri.zed byabundant alternationbemffl1µmies inpowerat-
thestateand central levels, bycontinued decay and fragmentation within parties by atendency towards controlof esorsplin-
tersbyeminentandnot-oo-eminentpoliticians,andbygreattluiditywithintheputy systemasfoctionsand rumpsandindividu-
alsdefected orrealigned themselves this way and that.
The defeat of Congres.5 l by Mrs. Gandhi in 1977 andtheemergence ofJanataParty-which was actually a coali-
tion of parties-brought immense changes to the party system. Defeat caused the Congress to disintegrate.Two fuctors
accentuatect the disintegration one, Mrs. Gandhi had imposed something very close to personal and dynastic rule on the
political system and the party. Second, the reconstitution of her version of the Congress party in January 1978 under the
lable of the" Indian National Congress-Indira", or the " Con- gress-I" was emblematic of this increased personalization.

However, the Janata Government that held power between March 1977 and July 1979 was hastily assembled
coalition of quite different opposition groups untied mainly by their opposition of Mrs. Gandhi and Emergency. Given
the heterogenous composition of Janata Party and the fierce ambitions of its three leading figures-Morarji Desai,
Jagjivan Ram, and the BLD leader Charan Singh-it is no surprise that the government was unable to achieve much
cohesion. This led to loosening of ties between the national and state levels within both the party and political system.
When Janata government disintegrated in rnid-1979, many of the elements that had formed it also splintered.
This paralled the disintegration that had occurred on the Congress side after the 1977 election, and the result was
aconfusing array of fragmentary parties, many of which were little more than personal cliques presided over by
individual politicians. In this content, Mrs. Gandhi's Congress-I appeared to be the only coherent national party-even
though its own organization was in considerable disarray-and this image enabled it to take advantage of the strong
popular reaction against the Janata government and win the 1980 in making common cause persisted from the early
1980s through the election prepartains during the third quarter of 1984. The assassination of Mrs. Gandhi on 31 October
1984 seemed to ensure an emotional-based victory for her son and party, making opposition unity still more difficult to
achieve. The 1984 election landslide was achieved in spite of serious organisational weakness. However, Stanley
Kochanek has usefully identified four broad tendencies "in Indian politics that unite particular elements in society
around certain sets of ideas. These are acommunist tendency, a socialist tendency, a non-confes- sional rightist tendency,
and a confessional rightist tendency. All of these have at times been represented by non-congress political parties
whereas the 1984 election victory of Rajiv Gandhi represented both the maintenance and the restructuring of political
consensus.

1984 to 1989
The Congress and its youth wing experienced a tremendous recovery and boost due to the accession ofRajiv
Gandhi. In the beginning Rajiv Gandhi had been more accommodating in his dealings with the opposition and more
conciliatory toward regional movements and parties. All his associates and aides in the party organization moved into
the government. In fact, the Congress Party in 1980s seems to maintain a more visible presence in the parliament and
State legislatures than outside, if we look for the semblance of a structure rather than the generally wide but largely
unorganized following of the recent Prime Ministers. This fact directs attention to two aspects of the Congress Party
today: (i) the crucial significance of the parliamentary and legislative wings largely atroplying the organisation wing,
and (ii) the wider mass appeal of the Prime Minister than the popularity of his party.
This was the period, as argued by Richard Fox, when the Congress too came to make "Hindu appeals" to the
electorate in the north India. Consequently the BJP realised that it was no longer the sole representative of Hindu
nationalism. Hence BJP decided in1985 to abandon "Gandhian Socialism" which had been causing some embarrassment
to it and which, it felt, was no longer needed asa special means of legitimation . This led to decline of the Congress Party
and got bedevilled by poor performance in curbing inflation and corruption.

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From 1989 onwards

This ongoing phase is seen more as an era of coalition politics or minority governments. It started, more or lesson
continuous basis, since 1989 with the formation ofV.P. Singh's Government supported by two major political parties from
outside. After the fall of V.P. Singh's Government as a result of withdraw! ofBJP support- another government which was
formed by Chandra Shekhar, also with the outside sup- port from the Congress, did not survive for more than six months.
After 1991 election, P.V. Narasirnha Rao formed his minority congress government which nevertheless lasted nearly five
years, because the opposition parties could not unite to pull down the Rao government and a number of their members
joined the Congress through party splits and mergers.
In 1996 polls, Congress was reduced to the second place with BJP emerging asan alternative force. Neither Con-
gress nor BJP formed the government but the UF with a fragile combination of 13 odd parties formed the government. In-
dian politics took a historic turn as political power at the centre passed into the hands of regional parties. The UF govern-
ment was unable to balance the pulls and pressures and the withdraw} of support led to another election in 1998. This 12th
Lok Sabha election once again ended in hung parliament indicating he demise of single party dominance. However, few
notable changes were perceived in the post 1998 elections. One, Congress that claimed the only genuine Pan-Indian party,
got undermined. In the same time period, its key challenger in recent times, the BJP, has not only increased its vote share,
but has managed to win seats from 17 states and 3 union Territories term showing rise of BJP. The third fronts's future, on
current indications of non-Congress, non -BJPcoalition playing a crucial mediatory role cannot be said to be bright. Next,
there is asteady gain made by regional parties.
What seems apparent from the current trend is that we are likely to witness fractured verdicts, hung parliaments
and unprincipled pre-and post-poll alliances to ensure narrow and fickle majorities not quite designed to inculcate confi-
dence.

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 UNIT VI LESSON 9
POLITICAL PARTIES IN INDIA

(A Historical Background)

- Tanvir Aeijaz
Senior Research Fellow (UGC)
Delhi University.
Introduction : Political Parties
Political parties conjure up an image ofloosely organized group bearing some sort of symbol, seeking vote dur-
ing election period to represent people in the political institutions. The modem-s tate, where politics is integral to it, can-
not be imagined without parties. Though there are states where we find theabsence of parties, they are, therefore con-
temporary states and not the modem state. For instance few small, traditional societies, especially in the Persian Gulf,
that are still ruled by the families who were dominant in the regions they control long before the outside world recog-
nized them as independent states. Then there are those regimes in which party and party activities have been banned.
Nevertheless, the conduct of both politics and government in modem states seem to require that there be political parties.
Given that parties are so important in the modem state, the upshot question to ask is what precisely are they ?
The problem with definition as it iswith any other term lies in delineating the boundaries of the term.Therefore, the prob-
lem is that of identifying precisely the boundaries between parties and other kinds ofsocial and political institutions. For
virtually every definition ofaparty produced by political scientists it is possible to find some institutions that are recog-
nizably parties that do not conform with the definition in some significant way. Edmund Burke defines "Party isabody of
men united for promoting by their joint endeavours the national interest upon some particular principle in which they are
agreed." Laski viewed it as an organisation which seeks "to determine the economic constitution of the state". In the
words of Sidgwick, it is "an inevitable incident in popular government". There are some who consider parties responsi-
ble for perversities in politics. Ostrogosiki felt that at its origin "the best kind of party is in some sort of a conspiracy
against the nation" and Robert Michels characterized it essentially asan oligarchy. Parties are therefore not revered insti-
tutions. Even in countries where extensive party involvement in public life appeared to have ahigh degree of public ac-
ceptance, dissatisfaction with politics could rebound on all the major parties. In Germany, for example, in 1993, apro-
test-movement calling itself 'Instead of Party' won seats in the Hamburg provincial parliament. However, Alan Ware at-
tempts to define a party. "A political party isan institution that (a) seeks influence, often by attempting tooccupy posi-
tions in govern- ment, and (b) usually consists of more than asingle interest in the society and so tosomedegree attempts
to aggregate interests."
To the extent that political organisation isessential to the functioning of modem political systems, it is difficult to con-
ceive ofrealisfic alternatives to political parties competition between parties gives practical meaning to emocracy where
there is the system of competitive elections, the parties play an important educative role through the promotion of prin-
ciples and alternative conceptions of good life by argument and debate. They are the two way link between society and
government. They give national outlook to local politics and frames public policy in the light of public opinion. By per-
forming the function ofinterestarticulation and aggregation, political parties convert a number of different individual and
social demands into collective goals. They act aschannel for recruiting and socializing elites into political process and
mobilizing the popular for the task of nation-state-building. Yet even while the political party modern- izes society, it is
in tum"indigenised" and imbued with traditional features like caste calculations. Parties also usurp effectively the pow-
ers of parliament inmodem parliamentary democracies.
Parties may becohesive in termsof one or more social characteristics such asoccupation, religion, region lan-
guage or ethnicity. Or they may be"catchall" parties without cohesiveness in termsof any major social variable. The lon-
gevity of parties' rests on their links with social segments. The stability of a party system' rests on the strength of the re-
lationship between social cleavags and partisanship (that isloyalty to a party). If two or more parties have secure bases of
support in one segment of society each, then the core support of parties will structure the competition between them on
an enduring basis.
The three-stage model, (Lipset-Rokkan-1967) explains the linkage between social cleavages and party sys-
tems. The first stage is a stage of centre periphery conflict. The centralizing and rationalizing nation-builders are pitted
against the regional, linguistic and cultural minorities. The second stage is of state-church conflict not so relevant to In-
dia as there isan absence of authoritative church hierarchy. The third stage is the emergence into party politics of the ur-
ban-rural divide, a conflict between primary producers in the countryside and the merchants and entrepreneurs in towns.
While the first stage is the product of national revolution, the third stage is the product of an industrial revolution. So too
would be the emergence of the owner-worker cleavage.

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An Historical Background

The Indian situation provided hardly any ground for the development of the party system from within. The par-
ty system in west developed forthefunctioning of representativedemocracy made possible by the rising middle-class
movement against bureaucratic absolutism. The middle class mainly consisted of commercial and professional ele-
ments of society. They also contributed in promoting the sovereignty of the common people oflaw and legislative au-
thority. The bureaucratic state gave way to bourgeois revolutions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
However, In India, there was nothing like aself-generatingagency of social and political change in the indige-
nous situation. The development of the party system, like capitalism, also proceeded from an application of external
stimuli. The British thrusted it as part ofan historical process. Thestate because the main level of social change, which
intum led totheintroduction of representative government and the party system. In India, social and economic develop-
ment did not precede, as in west, the political development. The changes effected by the state agency in the social and
economic field was of a limited nature and on a limited scale not extending beyond the spheres oflaw, legislative au-
thority and education that conduced to professional diversification, to the emergence of new middle classes and various
types of elites. The elites and intelligentsia in the Indian situation remained tradition bound and the common sociologi-
cal bond of education could not remove the gap arising from caste and religion.
However, with the increasing trickle-down effect of education and extended franchise the backward and lower
caste groups sought sharing the political and social control by demanding the opportunity to C(?mpete for the legiti-
mate recognition of their claims. The members oflower caste were thu.s trying to rise sacramentally into the status of an
upper caste through a political process without representing any structural change. On the other hand, the foreign Impe-
rialist tendency was to pressure for political reasons the divisive character of the Brahmanic social order. However, the
rules oflaw and modem political institutions tried to weaken the prevailing social order and the Indian middle class
elites used this functional principle of social and political organisation, in their attempt to reduce the landed aristocracy
b,y pressing their demand for the recognition of elective principles in the organisation of legislative authority. This In-
dian middle-class-eliteconsisting mainly ofliterary and professional element in Indian society spearheaded the move-
ment for representativegovernment and the party system that flowed from it. The big businessmen and their leaders and
the industrialist-classdid not pose a struggle against bureaucratic dominance. They worked in tandem with administra-
tion. Interestingly enough the bureaucratic despotism of post 1857 period created conditions· leading to the establish-
ment of representative government in India.
But perhaps, the single most importantpoint in the development of political parties is that ofits ''timing". Parties
that emerge today easily slip into any one of the already readymade ideologies which was quite difficult for the 19th
century political parties as they had to evolve their own ideologies to suit the existing conditions. Also, universal suf-
frage was introduced all at once where interests were not clearly differentiated and organised. There was thus the
measure of unpredictability in the behaviour of these groups and consequently adegree oflatency in Indian politics.
The Indian political groups did not gradually take over the apparatus of government but took power all at once.
Therefore, the"suddenness" with which the adjustment took place with the entirely new political system led to unantici-
pated political behaviour of the existing social group. Even the opposition parties that emerged after 1947 existed be-
fore independence, were largely political groups within the Indian National Congress functioning in acommon cause as
part ofa National Movement.
The national movement itself passed through three stages of development : first it was a pressure group, then a
national movement and finally a political party. The INC initially worked asa pressure group that sought to influence
rather than control the government on behalf of the special interests ofits members. " Itsoutlook was urban rather than
rural; it has no organic connection with peasants, labourers or country traders.......The great majority of those who at-
tended the congress were lawyer, teachers or journalists, that isto say, they belonged to the three new profession which
had grown up under British rule; a few Englishmen or Scotsman gave substantial help in the early stages; the procedure
was modelled on English practice; and the movement may justly be described asan attempt to influence the Govern-
ment within the existing constitution".
The INC, with its members mostly from urban professional interlligentsia, till l 920's'had little communication
with the masses of thecountry. It was G dhi who successfully fused religious notions and political objectives and rallied
the villagers behind him. The congress was, thus, able to bring together a wide assortment of groups from business, la-
bour and peasantry. There were communal considerationsthat substantially divided the national movement, with Mus-
lims, Sikhs, Anglo-Indians, and Parsees maintaining their own organizations to act on behalf of their communities. The
groups that opposed largely were part of the congress fold during pre-independence days: the socialists, the Hindu
communalists, the Marxist leftists, and the communists. Although Nehru and many other congress leaders were deeply
committed to parliamentary institutions there were many in the nationalist movement who were not.

132
 Broadly speaking, Indian politics moved forward with the congress in the centre flanked by the left on one side and
the Right on the other, the latter including both Hindu and Muslim communalists. The whole system of party relation-
ships, however, remained a highly complex phenomenon, governed not only by the consideration of power politics as a
major category, but also by personal prejudices and groups rivalries. Average politicians were, infact guided by consid-
erationsof individual or groups interests, not by the"general will", especially in astate of social development where no
such ''will" had yet come to be universally recognized as a substitute for caste or local loyalty.
Independenc.eled to a drastic change in the political setting and INC got transformed from a national move-
ment to a political party. The expression came in the form that the new party constitution which forbade party inembers
from belonging to any other political party. After the commencement day, the political parties began preparing them-
selves for the first national elections.
On the eve of first election there were four major groups of parties that had emerged. The first more or less ac-
cepted the basic democratic, secular state provided for in the constitution. These were Congress Party, the Socialist Par-
ty, the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party, and several small state parties such as Krishikar Lok Party in Andhra. Asecond
group advocate Soviet or Chinese political or economic system and rejected the western-type parliamentary constitu-
tion. These groups were communist party of India and various Marxist left parties : The Bolshevik party in India, the
Revolutionary socialist party, the peasants and worker's party etc. The third group also rejecting the existing state,
turned toward the Indian tradition for its inspiration. This group was led by Jan Sangh, the Hindu Mahasabha and Ram
Rajya Parishad, the Hindu communal parties. And the fourth group could be characterized as "indifferent to the consti-
tutional framework, being primarily concerned with some provincial or communal interests. The Sikh Akali Dal, the
Scheduled Caste Federation, the Jharkhand Party and the Tamilnadu Congress were in this group. These parties not on-
ly made demands on behalf of their own communities; they were carriers of a group consciousness, sometimes com-
munal, sometimes provincial and infew instances tribal.

Political Parties in Parliamentary Framework

The makers of the constitution have taken over the British parliamentary system in more or less complete
form.All other alternatives which were developed during the independence movement were abandoned. India, therefore
took over almost a 'clean' form of the parliamentary system, which combines all elements of the ' efficient' part of the
English Constitution. However, the political parties, as inany other state, have to function within the larger political
system, it becomes an a priori to know the aspect of Indian political system, that have a bearing on the nature and func-
tioning of the party system.
The Indian political system has aspects clearly mentioned in the preamble of the constitution. The Republic of
India maintains anopen society, promotes secular politics, respects free media, adheres to the principle of'rule oflaw'.
India's federal system originated in the demands of the Indian national movement for anall-India central government
capable of reconciling regional pulls and pressures. The urgent need for national unity was further underlined by the
trauma of the partition of the country in 1947. Constitutionally and politically, therefore, India's federal system isof the
Union type that isasystem in which the structural- functional balance is in favour of thecentre.
Contemporary politics in India, in its main thrust and overall strategy, is really the politics of national recon-
struction, the politics of modernization, the politics of national integration and the politics of development. The party
politics has to work in this context and plays the role of a political instrument of socio-economicchange. Political par-
ties in an endeavour to reach such end, mobilizes people not merely for electoral politics and/or winning ofseats in the
legislative, but more importantly for building awareness and enthusing people for nation's building, state-building, citi-
zen-buildingand democratic identity building. Prof. Rashududdin Khan mentions three important aspects within this
background.
1. A major heritage of the national movement was the building of national consensus on the three significant di-
mensions of"national interest". viz. national unityand political integration, national socio-economic development
and national defence and security. The pre-independence congress, asthevehicle of thenational movement, ac-
quired pre-eminence in publicconsciousness, precisely asa party protecting and promoting national consensus.
This characteristic facilitated its emergence as the dominant party of the Indian political system after independ-
ence.
2. The other heritage of the national movement was its broad ideological base. The co-existence of the left, centre
and the right in the national movement during the freedom struggle, not only gave it a wider support base and
provided it with an all-India legitimacy but also laid down a tradition to toleration and accommodation of differ-
ent points of view. Indeed, India is a classic example ofadepolarized polity. This aspect of the Indian political
culture, rooted in the national movement, provided the framework for the growth of the multiparty situation in
India.

133
 (iii) The continental size of the country comprising well defined and distinct socio-cultural region, with their
own language and dialects, specific patterns of caste and jatis, community and tribal formations, provided the
objective conditions for the rise of regional parties and groups. Under conditions of freedom and a democratic
political system, the regions were bound to demand and quite legitimately, their autonomous right to self-
development. The rise and persistence of regional demands was inevitable, therefore, This resulted among other
things, in the emergence and popularity of the regional parties.
These three factors consequently led to the dominant characteristicsof Indian party politics within the par-
liamentary framework, (a) one-party dominance within the framework of multiparty situation in the centre and (b) a
multi-party system in the states run a combination of regional parties in some states, coalition of national and regional
parties in few others, and by branches of the all India parties in some other states.

Typologies of Political Parties

For a long time party system have been classified by counting the number of parties-whether one, two, or
more than two i.e. single party system, Bi-party system and multiparty system. By now, however, there is a near unan-
imous agreement that the distinction on such kind of party arrangement is highly inadequate as Crotty explains that
a'judgement as tothe number of major parties....obscures more than it illuminates.To havesufficiently meaningful in-
sights, therefore, the typology of political parties need not be based on quantitative criterion but on several other quali-
tative criterion as well. But before going in for various typologies of political parties, the conceptual clarity of classifi-
cation and typology hasto be set. A classification isan ordering based on mutually exclusive classes that are established
by the principle, or criterion, chosen for that classification. Atypology is more complex matter: It isanordering
of"attribute compounds", i.e.an order resulting from more than one criterion. •
Neuman distinguishes between parties of"expediency interests" and those ofanallinclusive "faith- move-
ment". The former may be called "interest-based" and the latter as"ideology-based" political party broadly. The gene-
sis of interest based party takes its origin from one or more dominant interests prevalent in a given political society.
These interests may initially be cultural or religious or economic but they eventually impinge on the political system
and make demands on the same. The greater the degree and extent of interest-aggregation in agiven society, and of
theattendant social mobilization for the purpose of using political power to satisfy those interests, the closer do inter-
est-based groups in society come to becoming political parties properly so called. The ideology-based parties are sup-
posed to originate in a clearly and comprehensively articulated world-view which sets forth the goals to be attained,
the scale of priority in their attainment, the hierarchy of values associated with those goals and the manner in which
the means are to be directed towards the desired objectives. Though there cannot be a "neat" distinction between ide-
ology and interest based parties, the distinction is useful in that it brings home to us what may be termed the dialecti-
cal" relationship between interest and ideology as these come into play within and among parties and pary systems.
Marxist parties, though ideologically oriented, have the interests of the proletariat at heart. The liberal parties of the
west, which originated in the socio-economicinterests of the higher middle classes have an ideology of their own based
onfundamental individual right and the rule of law. Aparty like the Bharatiya Lok Dal could, with the above cautions,
be considered to be an interested- based party while CPI (M) could, with the same cautions, be considered an ideolo-
gy-based party.
One classification is also based on the criterion of membership i.e., "mass-based" or "cadre-based".
Durveger distinguishes political parties' based on "direct" and "indirect" parties, depending on whether members are
enrolled in the body of the party itself or in some other body like a trade union affiliated to a party Mass based parties
are open to any and every individual who has a minimum sense of involvement with and commitment to the party pro-
gramme. It will necessarily be a party of broad consensus, interested in integrating diverse social elements into a single
though uniform pattern. Cadre-based parties restrict membership to afew carefully screened and meticulously trained
workers, from whom a high degree ofinvolvement and commitment is expected. Therefore, it will primarily be a party
of"achievement"in which the task of attaining the societal goals will be accentuated. The very fact of a party being
mass-based obliges it to develop an ethos ofharmonizing as many of the diverse interests of society as is possible. This
constrains it to "go slow" in its programme so that the existing clevages in society are not accentuated beyond a certain
threshold of tolerability. As a result, goad-attainment tends to be a long drawn out process. On the other hand, the ca-
dre-base party, ideology will be more pronounced, discipline will be stricter, authority will be more concentrated, link-
ages of structural units will be more vertical and "unitary'', and the interest prevalent in society will be subordinated
tothe attainment of the goal that the party envisages for society. Since, the emphasis ison goal-attainment, the tempo of
party activism will be more pronounced than in the case of the mass-based parties. The communist parties are exam-
ples of cadre-based parties, while the Indian National Congress would be an apt illustration of mass-based party.

134
 Another way the political parties have been distinguished is in their "style" of operating, which ean
be"patent" (open) or"latent" (hidden). If it is 'patent' the decision-making process within the party will take the form of
an open forum in which the general membership is encouraged to participate. A high degree of rapport is sought to be
established between leaders and party members. If it is ' latent ' the decision-making process within the party will tend
to be restricted to elite groups within the party. Latent parties tend to operate within the framework ofR. Michels' con-
cept of"iron law of oligarchy". The ethos of the rank-and-file membership will be"differential" in thatthey defer to the
decision arrived at by elites. Party rapport with non-party members will beof a selective nature. It is difficult to come
across a party that is totally patent or latent operationally, though its preferred style may be one rather than the other.
For example, the plenary sessions of the INC or of CPI are not the forums for the formulation of key policies of strate-
gies. However, this classification hasone more aspect that of recruitment of party activists. It may be co-operative or
elective or combination of both. If members are co-opted by elite groups at different levels of the party organisation, it
is more likely that the latent operational style prevails in the decision- making process. If members are elected rather
than co-opted, the patent operational style is more likely to prevail. The INC offers an interesting example of a party
which combines co-option with election in its mode of recruitment of members of party offices.
A further basis for distinguishing political parties ison the basis of the"territorial" and "functional" structur-
ing of political parties. Under this parties could be viewed as"unitary" or"federal". Aunitary party is one in which pow-
er tends to be concentrated in a single source. If the image of a circle is employed to illustrate the power nfiguration in
such a party, then the centre would be such a source and power would radiate outward towards thecircumference. In a
federally structured party, on the other hand, power flows in the opposite direction. Using the image of a pyramid in
this case, power would be concentrated at the base of the pyramid and would be delegated upwards for specific func-
tions, with the residual power always resting at the base. The several territorial units of such a party would have the
prerogative of withdrawing the delegated power and functions from the apex, should the need arise. In India, political
parties tend to be pf the unitary type, though they are constrained to accommodate certain federal elements of organiza-
tion at state level to suit the peculiar political complexions of several states.

Samuel J. Eldersveld develops the concepts of "stratarchy" in his discussion of the hierarchical structure
of parties. The general characteristics ofstratarchy are the proliferation of the ruling group and the diffusion of power
prerogatives and power exercise. Rather than centralised 'unity of command' or a general dilution of power throughout
the structure 'strata' commands exist which operate with varying but considerable degree of independence.
The "scope" of party activities may also be taken asa basis of party classification. Some parties are penetra-
tive in nature so much so that it organises, directs and controls as many areas of human life as possible, even entering
into the private sphere of human life in an endeavour to reform the thought and behaviour patterns of individuals and
groups so as to transform the entire complexion of the society. There are other parties that limit the scope of their activ-
ities to broadly public purposes and interests. Therefore, parties are of"limited" and " unlimited" scope. Neuman distin-
guishes between the "party ofindividual representation" and the "party ofintegration", the former being limited in
scope, while the latter is more comprehensive. In the latter of"democratic integration" and the"party of total integra-
tion". Lapalombara and Weiner propose for the competitive party systems the following four fold typology: (i) hege-
monic ideological, (ii) hegemonic pragmatic,(iii) turnover ideological, (iv) turnover pragmatic. G Sartori prefers classi-
fication, instead of typologization, of political parties as class, which according to him denotes the format having inter
linkages with type that connotes the properties.Therefore an attempt has been made by him to bracke the political par-
ties into seven classes viz. one party, hegemonic party, predominant party, two party, limited pluralism, extreme plural-
ism and atomized. Sartori also tries to categorise the power structure of political parties on concentration dispersion
spectrum and to correspond it to his classification of political parties. The power structure identified is total monopoly,
hierarchy, unimodel concentration, even concentration, low fragmentation, segmentation, low fragmentation and/or de-
polarized concentration, high fragmentation with polarization and dispersion. He places India and Japan at unimodel
concentration (i.e. prevalence without alternation) on the power structure spectrum corresponding to the class of pre-
dominant party.
However, any rigid categorisation of political party will lead toaclosed system as th re is no such thing as
"pure" party type or party model. Parties are usually amalgams of several traits so much so that they cannot be neatly
pigeon-holded according to academic predictions. The Indian National Congress, for instance, is a typical case of polit-
ical party that displays an amalgam of diverse party traits. While holding to acertain ideology, the party is based on
identifiable interests, while being federal in form it has unitary power-structure; while being "patent" in style as befit-
ting a party of masses, it has its latent operationalprocesses as well. Thus we should refrain from facile generalizations
on the basis of party stereotype.

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Ideologies : Left, Right and Centre

Political parties; at the outset will try to set before itself certain objectives with a view to solve those prob-
lems and to decide a certain strategy of means by which to attain those objective. In doing so, each political party will
articulate its overall perception ofitsenvironment and the role it envisages for itself in the same. In short, each party will
speed out its distinct ideology. Ideology may be defined as a comprehensively articulated assessment ofagiven envi-
ronment interms of desirable objectives that can be attained. When a political parcy formulates its ideology it declares
how it proposes to enable society to perform the triple function of pattern-maintenancegoal attainment and environmen-
tal adjustment. Ideology has therefore, a erucial role to play in party politics, though non-ideological determinants such
as 'personalities' and ' interests' also playasignificant part in party functioning.
To know'whetherthe ideologies oflndian political parties, in respect of its ideological colouring, forms a po-
litical spectrum in termsof' left', ' centre' and ' right' , we must know the character ofit. Since the character ofany politi-
cal community is mainly determined by who controls the economic resources of that community it is the ownership of
means of production that is crucial factor in deciding whether a political economy functions on a 'leftist' or ' centrist; or
'rightist' basis. An ideology that advocates socialisation of the means of production would bea 'leftist' ideology. Aright-
ist ideology would champion the privatization ofthemeansofproduction and centrist ideology would combineameasure
ofsocialisation and privatization. In India, we see political parties that advocate socialisation in varying degrees and in
similar view there are political parties that favour private ownership of the means ofproduction with varying shades
ofemphasis. And then there are centrist parties which lean either left of centre or right of centre. Thus-one can in a real
sense speak of a political spectrum of party ideologies.
Certain political parties formulate their ideologies in terms that appeal to certain identifiable segments of so-
ciety and not others. lbisis because both ideology and interests have a vital role to play in the coming into being and
subsequent functioning of a political party. Ideology and interests are closely related in the sense that ideology grows
out of interests though it can in some respects, transcend interests. An ideology seeks to give a rational justification for
existing or emerging patterns of interests. It provides a theoretical framework in which interests of a particular section,
or group or class in society would be reflected in the ideology subscribed to by that section or group or class. In fact, no
ideology could even survive ifit were to run counter to the basic interests of society. Any section or class of society
would repudiate an ideology incompatible with interests perceived by it as vital.
Now the veritable social segments service the ideological stance of a particular party as reflective of their vi-
tal interests. For instance, the working class would more readily support a left inclining party whose ideology reflected
the interests oflabour through a policy of socialisation of means of production than they would a rightist party whose
ideology reflected the interests of the capital-owning, classes; who would in turn support the latter type of a party.
Political parties ought to be clear in their ideological formulations, that is the segment of society to which a
party addresses " itself, relatively restricted in socio-economic terms", must be clearly identifiable. Consequently, their
interests can be articulated with greater clarity and urgency. Parties of the left and of the right are clearer, to a very
large extent, in their ideological formulations, whereas ideological clarity is somewhat dimmed in centrist party. The
central party appears more asa pragmatic party with an 'ethos' rather than an ideology, the ethos being oneof bargain-
ing, balancing and compromise. The centrist ethos is formulated in broad terms in an attempt to accommodate the wid-
est possible range ofinterests. However, the ambiguity and vagueness in certain key concepts seems called for so as to
accommodate the interests of the large segments of the society. For instance, acentrist party might talk of'socialism' but
the meaning and scope of the term will lack clarity, unlike the left parties. This is because if a centrist party were to de-
fine ' socialism' but the meaning and scope of the term will lack clarity, unlike the left parties. This is because ifa cen-
trist party were todefine 'socialism' in the manner that the leftist parties did, it would forfeit the support of the middle
and big bourgeoisie. Instead, socialism given the form of a 'mixed economy, in which, private and public ownership of
the means of production would go hand-in-glove. Thus measure of socialization is adopted asa gesture to the left, while
private ownership is maintained so as to cater to the interests of the right. ·
The ideological spectrum extending from left to right is represented by the Indian political parties. One could
relate the left ideologies of parties such as socialist parties and the two communist parties to the interests of urban and
rural labour and to their allies among the middle classes. Similarly, one could relate the ideologies of rightist parties
like the Jan Sangh- BJP,the Bharatiya Lok Dal etc. to the interests of the middle and upper middle classes respectively.
And finally, the ideologies of the centrist parties, like the congress, would b' relatable to the interests of a veritable
cross-section of Indian society comprising the labouring classes, the middle classes and the upper classes both urban
and rural.

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However, this does not mean that any single party holds amonopoly of any single class in society but that aparty will
have hold on a class or part of it to the extent that the interests of that class are reflected in its programme and perspec-
tive. There has to be some sort of overlapping and criss-crossingof party loyalties across class lines but it is generally
true that party appeal varies with perception of class interests vis-a-vis the ideological stance of the party concerned.
It has been seen that too much emphasis is being laid on the 'class' factor to the neglect of the important
'castes' factor in political life. Caste asa unit of economic and political organisation is to the fore and castes that have
bettered their economic status over aperiod of time have risen on the social scale and have come toexercisepolitical
power. The Brahmi.nswho for generations were on top of the caste ladder both ritualistically and often also politically
have yielded their privileged political position to the rising middle castes. Examples are, Jats (Haryana), Bhumihars
(Bihar), Maratha (Maharashtra) Kamaras and Reddis (Andhra) and so on and so forth. Thus, according as a caste has
improved its 'class' status, it has risen in political importance as well, whatever its ascriptive status in orthodox caste
terms. It would, therefore, be appropriate to conclude that increasingly class-consciouscaste, rather than caste-
conscious classes,have come to occupy the centre of the political stage, with important consequences for political par-
ties and their support bases.
Various aspects of system such aseconomy, polity, foreign, inter alia being closely inter related as dimen-
sions of the same social reality, one can expect acertain consistency in the ideological formulations for political parties
with respect to these three dimensions. Aparty favouring socialisation of the means of production in theeconomywill
advocate apolitical system that places egalitarianism above free enterprise and distributive justice above property
rights. For instance, a Communist Party would place itself in the vanguard of toiling people's movement to establish a
classless state unlike the 'bourgeois' democratic State founded on control of the economic resources of the community
by a small privileged class. A communist state would by run by the communist party functioning on the principle qf
democratic centralism. Say in foreign policy, acommunist party would favour close economic, cultural, political and
even military ties with states runby fraternal communist parties. Going bythe same logic, it would beon its guard
against nationsrunon capitalist-imperialist lines.
Arightistparty, similarly, would uphold the sanctity of private property and would extol the merits of a 'free'
economy unhampered by state interference. It would advocate the attainment of"civil society" where in "civil" will be
allowed to operate within the framework of market mechanism, that iseverything brought within the ambit of civil will
have itsown value according to the forces ofdemand and supply being generated in thesociety. The question
of"political would be restricted to the decision made by a small coterie at the helm of the affairs of the state.This group
would have almost no control overthe functioning of the market. Its role would be limited to bring in order, in case
there is chaos, in the market so that the market runs smoothly.The political system would institutionalize the right to
property asfundamental. Both legislative and judicial pronouncement would be required to function within the frame
world of "civil society." Again in foreign policy, a rightist party would naturally seek ties with ' freeeconomy" coun-
tries such asadvancedcapitalist countries of the west. It would favour the closet economic cultural, political and possi-
ble evendefence collaboration with those countries. Conversely, it would view the non-capitalist world, in particular
thecommunist nations, with distrust and even hostility.
Acentrist party would seek to combine the merits of just social order with those ofafree economy. It would
favour a," mixed economy" in which a measure of socialisation would be implemented as a means of fostering egali-
trainist and a fair measure of free enterprise would be allowed so as to carry on the initiative, competition and progres-
sunhindered. The political system would thus have to institutionalize
delicate balance between individual rights and egalitarian principles, between private initiative and public
intervention. Legislative and judicial functions would have to reflect that balance. In foreign affairs, the centrist party
would tend to steer clear of blocks and arguments in an effort to keep bridges of contact open to nation of the capitalist
persuasion on the one hand and to those ofthe socialist persuasion on the other.
However, it should be borne in mind, that notwithstanding up real difference among the political parties of
India which permit their grouping as leftist, centrist or rightist parties, there are certain very broad similarities among
the three groups. These groups are the products of the same socio-economic and political milieu with its distinct histor-
ical conditioning. Thus, one can speak of'consensus' underlying the polity and comprising left, centre and right. Rajni
Kothari, while speaking of India political system makes the observation, "It is the consensus system which operates
through the institution of a party of consensus that is ofcentral importance in thisscheme of politics".This consensus
may not always be evident in explicit theoretical formulations of the respective party positions but it exists nonetheless
as an over-all framework ofreference by which political debate and party behaviour are circumscribed. The consensus
in Indian polity is the consensus that exists in the broadest sense and may not even be admitted explicitly in the theo-
retical positions of political parties.

137
 It is a functional consensus more than ann ideological one. This functional consensus does not obscure
the many,even fundamental, ideological divergences that exist among the party groupings ofleft, right and centre and
indeed among individual parties within the same group to these divergences. attention. needs to be devoted.

Changes in Political Parties

Strictly speaking, any alteration can be considered a change. Though a political party understood asan or-
ganisation, undergoes continual changes, it is the change in the organisational order" altering the power-structure, that
leads to the modification of relations among organisations internal groups, altering the distribution of control over in-
centives and restructuring vertical power games i.e. the elite follower exchanges and horizontal power-games i.e., the
elite-elite exchanges, as well. Such kind of thange takes placed due to the pressure of environmental challenges for in-
stance resource distribution among different groups, and internal preconditions like generational turnover organisa-
tional rigidity etc. Change in a party's organisational order and thus in its political strategy will naturally alter its be-
haviour and its political activity. Keeping in view the above theoretical framework, Indian political parties have un-
dergone a veritable change. This is due to the changing socio-political framework of society, the degree of moderniza-
tion for their pluralism and diversity, various amendments in the constitutions and the shifting focus of pressure
groups along with media. In the post-independenceera parties developed mainly in the parliamentary and electoral ar-
eas of politics. In these new contexts the early promise of class-based and principled political mobilization was gradu-
ally dissipated and parties tended into ideological clan that had marked politics in the freedom struggle gave way to
rank opportunism, greed and corruption. The degeneration of electoral and governmental processes reinforced this
trend. Few parties could escape the trend of succumbing to political bossism and dynamic control. Politics of defec-
tion turned the legislative and governmental processes into a farce.

In the era of one-party dominance, the congress pursued a strategy of electoral mobilization, premised on
multi-regious,multicaste, multi-regional appeal. Even though its electoral coalition comprised distinctly in dentifiable,
set of social groups in the Nehru-India era, it was significantly large enough in plurality termsto ensure a sizable num-
ber of parliamentary and legislative seats. When durable cracks in its support structure opcurred at least four rival con-
ceptions of convertible political majority came to be iculated by non-congressparties : (i) the Hindu-centered champi-
oned by the BJP and symbolized by the Ayodhya Mandir movements and Rathyataras; (ii) The Dalit-centered Janta
Dal symbolizing the Manda! Commission’s issue of reservation and social justice; (iii) the one centering on working
class employees- common man interest spearheaded by the communist parties organizing occasional strikes for the
common causes; and (iv) the one aiming at linguistic religious/tribal interests and identities mobilized by regional par-
ties in power or in opposition in some states. By the early 1990s the congress itself tended to downplay its socialist
and nationalist pretensions and embraced the diametrically opposite doctrine of economic, liberalization and globali-
zation. Economic nationalism came tobe more 140egiona advocated by BJP(swadeshi) in terms of theoretical debates.
In addition to party and electoral reforms legislated by the government, ideological mainspring and social movements
are the sources of regeneration and revitalization of political parties in ademocracy. The need for ideological reinvig-
oration social movements notwithstanding parties trying to struggle to retain their autonomy as instruments of democ-
racy andsocial transformation. As Habermas remarks :”This paradox.... manifests itselfin the fact that if parties wants
to gain or retain the power of office, they have to secure the trust of private investors and of the masses simultaneous-
ly”.
Apart from mainline all-India parties, some regional parties have always been influential both in their re-
spective states and at the national level. The 1980s witnessed the rise of some new regional parties ofTDP inAndhra
Pradesh, AGP is Assam, Sikkim Sangram Parished etc. In the 1990s regional or state based parties have come to ac-
quire unprecedental salience of national politics, in state and union politics. The regional tenor of national politics is
also accentuated by the fact that many all Indian parties have been actually confined by and large to particular regions
and other have tended to electorally shrink or failed to acquire an effectively all-India spread. These trends have
brought the federal potentialities of the Indian political system into a fuller play, both in the government and opposi-
tion.
Much before this latest phase of 140egionalization and federalization, even all-India parties displayed the
tendency towards confederalization. Confederalization regional or State units becoming practically coordinate with
then ational unit oflndian political parties may appe<\f to make the task of building and maintaining coalitions diffi-
cult, but it isdemocratic challenge that ought to befaced. Temporal priority of the coalition vis-a-vis the election, an
all-pervasive coalition encompassing the various levels-and arenas of polit ics, sizeable seat-share of the largest party
in the coalition, ideological compatibility among the coalition partners, an effective coordination committee (without
turning itselfinto a super cabinet), and a reconciliatory and persuasive executive leadership are the factors likely to
contribute to stable and purposive coalition governments.

138
Latest Party Position 12th Lok Sabha
BJP/Allies-251 CongJAllies-169 UF-95 Others/ND-24
BJP-178 CONG-142 CPM-32 BJP-5
AIADMK-18 RJD-17 SP-20 HLD-4
SAP-12 RPl-4 TDP-12 NC-2
BJP-9 IUML-2 CPl-9 AC-2
SAD-1 RJP-1 DMK-6 ASDC-1
TC-7 UMF-1 . JD-6 MAC-1
SS-6 KC(M)-1 RSP-5 SJP-1
PMK-4 PWP-1 TMC-3 ECCONG-1
MDMK-3 FB-2 IND-5
LOS-3 AllffiM-1
HUP-3 •, SJP-1
JP-I
lRC-1

139
 UNIT VI LESSON 10
NATIONAL PARTIES
-Tanvir Aeijaz
Senior Research Fellow (UGC)
Delhi University

The political parties are indispensable for the working of democratic government. They play an important
role in interest articulation and interest aggregation and thus enable the people to take part in the government deci-
sion-making.Inan eraof mass suffrage they establish adirect and intimate contact with their supporters and sympa-
thiz.ers and contest elections withaviewtocapture power and implement their programmes of social reconstructionand
economic development. Thedifferent political parties compete witheach other to win the support oflargest number of
voters and to capture the governmental power. Maciver has rightly observed that without party organization ''there can
be no unified statement of principle, noorderly evolution of policy, no regular resort to the constitutional device of
parliamentary elections, nor of course, any of the
recognized institutions by meansof which aparty seeks or maintains power".
A political party according to Burke is"a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavours, upon
some particular principles in which they are all agreed". Maciver defines political party as"an association organised in
support of same principles or policy which by constitutional means it endeavours to make the determinant of govern-
ment". Prof. Gilchrist says "Political Party is an organized group of citizens who profess toshare the same political
views and who by acting as a political llllit try to control the government. The chief aim of the party is to make itsown
opinions and policy prevail. "Yet another definition of political parties is provided by Prof. Leacock. He defines it an
"a more or less organised group of citizens who act together asa political unit. They share or profess to share the same
opinions on public questions and by exercising their voting power towards acommon end, seek to obtain control of
the government".
On analysis of the definitions of political parties enumerated above we can deduce the following features of a
political party :
(i) It isa voluntary association.
(ii) It is formed by persons holding common views on certain basic political, economic and other matters.
(iii) It must be organised and possess well-laid down rules and regulations.
(iv) Its members believe in peaceful and constitutional methods.
(v) It aims at capturing political power with a view to promote public rather than narrow interests of the
members.

Inview oftheintroduction of parliamentary system ofgovernment and promulgation ofthe principle of 'univer-
sal adult franchise' the political parties have come tooccupy an important position in the Indian political system. The
history of the origin of the political parties is generally traced back to the year 1885 when the Indian National Con-
gress was founded. Almost around the same time the Muslims under Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan(aleader of the Aligarh
School of Muslim Politics) evolved their independent political party under the name Muslim eague. This party was
open only to the Muslims and was founded with a view to infuse asense ofloyalty in the heart of the Indian Muslims
towards the British Commllllity and to safeguard thepoliti rights and interests through their representatives. Asa reac-
tion to the founding of the Muslim League, a rival organization of the Hindus was formed under the name Hindu Ma-
ha Sabha. In addition to these a large nwnberof sectional and local organizations oflandowners,Anglo-Indians Mer-
chant Europeans etc. also emerged. However of all these organizations only three could be put in the category of po-
litical parties, viz, Indian National Congress the Muslim League and the Hindu Maha Sabha. Actually if these parties
were subjected to the rigid test and requirements of a political party none of them could claim to be a political party in
the true sense. During the subsequent years more parties like the Schedule Caste Party, the Justice Party, the Krishak
Praja Party of Bengal, the National Agriculturist Party of UP, the Unionist Party of Punjab, thedemocratic Swaraj par-
ty of Bombay, and thecommunist Partyetc. appeared, but they also lacked the genuine features of a political party.

140
 It is only in the post independence period that the political parties in true sense made their appearance in India.
Most of these political parties were framed by the splinter groups from the main political party, viz, Indian National
Congress. In addition a large nwnber ofstate or local political parties were also formed. At present there are more polit-
ical parties in India than the number of states. While some of these parties are national parties, the others are merely
state parties. A national party isone which has the support of four percent of the electorate in any four states of India. At
present the national parties are :-
(i) Indian National Congress (1)
(ii) Bhartiya Janata Party
(iii) Communist Party of India
(iv) Communist Party of India (marxist)

In additional there are about fourty state parties. Aparty requires the status ofa state party ifit gets at least four
percent of the total votes in any one state. Apart from the National and state parties there are number of other unrecog-
nized parties which can acquire the status of a registered party if they secure atleast one percent of the votes in a state.
As it is not possible toexamine the policy and programme of all these political parties, we shall confine the study to
some of the important political parties only.
The Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is the oldest political party of the country. It was formed in 1885 with a view to
mobilize the public opinion in India on various problems confronting the country. Though initially it served primarily
asa national forum for thediscussion of socio-economic problems of the country but subsequently isemerged asastrong
leader of the nationalist movement. The country was ultimately led to independence under this party. The party wit-
nessed anwnber ofcleavages bothinthe pre-independenceand post-independenceperiod, but succeeded in maintaining
the political leadership in its hands.
Organization - The party has an elaborate organization. The basic unit oforganization ofthe party has not been
specified in the constitution and is left to be determined by the district Congress Committee. Accordingly this unit is
known bydifferent names in different areas, viz. Block or constituency, orsubordinate Congress or Taluka Congress
Committee. Above the basic units stand the District Congress Committee. The District Congress Committee consists of
four indirectly elected members, some co-opted members and the party leaders of the district. The Pradesh Congress
committee which is the next higher organization in the hierarchy is also constituted in the similar manner. Above the
Pradesh Congress Committee stands the All India Congress Committee (AICC). Each Pradesh Congress Committee
sends one-eighth ofits members to the AICC. These members are indirectly elected. But the most powerful organization
of the Congress is its working Committee. It consists of the President of the Party and twenty members. Ten of these
members are elected by the AICC and the rest are nominated by the President of the Party. Thus the working Commit-
tee,, consists of the top party leaders. Though the working committee of the party is accountable to AICC, it vested
with extensive powers. It supervises the working of the Pradesh Congress ' Committee and receives annual-reports
about their working. It can form new Pradesh Committees or abolish the existing one. It can also suspend the Pradesh
Committee for violation of party constitution or failure to carry out its directives. The party finances are also under the
control of the working committee.
The All India Congress Committee also sets up two other committees. viz. Parliamentary Board and central
election committee. The members of these committees are prominent party leaders. Some of these members are also
members of the congress working committee.

Social Base and Ideology - The congress enjoys a fairly wide social base and draws its support from various
sections of society. In the main the party draws its support from religious minorities. The Muslims, the Christians and
the Sikhs have consistently supported the Party and the party in return has always tried to champion their cause. The
backward classes, labourers and women are also staunch supporters of the party which has projected itself as their bene-
factor and supporter. The rich and the capitalist class also support the party because they feel this party alone can pro-
vide political stability which is so vital for the economic prosperity of the country. On its part the Congress party has
also tried to promote the interests of the capitalists despite its profession of faith in socialisrsocie ty. In short it can be
said that the Congress has a fairly wide social base. According to D.L. Sheth, who made a survey of Indian electorate in
1967, the supporters of Congress consist of middle-aged and old voters and less of young voters, high proportion ofillit-
erate voters support the Congress than educated voters; more rural people support Congress than the urban people. It
receives less support from higher income groups than poor and middle income groups.

141
 As regards the ideology of Congress I Party, it has affirmed its faith in Socialism, secularism and democracy.
It seeks to establish socialistic pattern of society through democratic methods.The party also holds faith in liberal and
Gandhian principles.

Policy and Programm- The policy and programme of the Party, has undergone consistent chang)8 according
to the requirements, of the time. Initially the chief objective of the Congress was to att¢n independence. After independ-
ence it extended its objective to work for social and economic freedom of the people. In its Avadi Session, the Congress
party declared its goal as establishmeqt of ' socialistic pattern of society.' On other issues also the party made different
pronouncements and adopted different resolutions. From the perusal of all these we can clean the following programme
of the Party :
In the first place the party stands fora 'socialistic pattern ofsociety' to beattained through establishment of a so-
cial and economic order based on equality of opportunity and on social,economic and political justice; removal of dis-
tinctions based on caste, creed, sex or social or economic status; right of work and living to all able-bodied persons; ef-
fective control of the means of production and material resources of the community; organization of theeconomic system
in amanner asto prevent the concentration of wealth and means of production in the hands of few persons; speeding up
the production of country's wealth; decentralization of economic and political power. It may be observed that party wants
to attain all this through peaceful and constitutional methods.
Secondly, in the industrial sphere the party stands for maximum production, full employm ent, social and eco-
nomic justice and building up of key industries like iron and steel, machinery and tools, electric power, transport com-
munication etc. It stands for the development of public as well as private sector but would like the basic industries to be
located in the public sector. It stands for discouraging imports and stands for meeting the demands of the country through
indigenous resources and efforts. However, it is not against import of goods which are absolutely essential for internal
consumption.
Thirdly, the foreign sphere the party has advocated the policy of non-alignment. It has kept away the power
block which emerged in the post world war II period and tried to steer an independent foreign policy. It has' opposed co-
lonialism and imperialism and extended full support to the national liberal movements in variousAsian and African coun-
tries.
Performance - The party remained in Saddle at the centre and most of the states up to 1967, but in the subse-
quent years its fortunes fluctuated a great deal. In 1969 the party faced the major split because certain members of the
party wanted it to adopt more radical policies. After the split of 1969 it was expected that the party under the leadership
of Mrs. Indira Gandhi would adopt radical programme, but theseexpectationswere belied. Anew vigour was imparted to
the policies of the party in the wake ofits sweeping victory in the mid-term elections of 1971, which were sought by Mrs.
Gandhi following Supreme Court's judgements in the case of bank nationalization and privy purses of the Princes. How-
ever, soon the party was confronted with internal bickerings. In the face of growing agitations in different parts of the
country the Congress Government of Mrs. Gandhi imposed national emergency and introduced a number of progressive
laws. It launched a twenty five point programme for impr.ovingthe lot of the oppressed classes. During this period the
liberties of the citizens were jeopardised and there was great resentment against the goverment.

In view of the mounting pressure when elections were held in 1977 the party miserably failed at the polls. The
defeat was attributed to the excesses oflndira Gandhi government during the emergency and resulted in second split, with
a number of Congress Stalwarts like Brahmanand Reddy, Y.B. Chavan, Karan Singh, Swaran Singh etc. dissociating
themselves with the party inthe first week of 1978. The two wings of the Congress drifted further after differences
cropped up between Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Dev Raj Urs, and the break away group joined hands with Urs.
In the elections of 1980 the Congress Party under the leadership of Mrs. Indira Gandhi returned to power with
an overwhelming majority, while the other wing of the Congress could not give agood account of itself.

In the elections of 1984-85 the Congress gave agood account ofitself. At the centre it secured an unprecedented
majority. It captured 401 seats and managed a three-fourth majority. In the Assembly elections the party managed to re-
capture power in the states where it was earlier ruling, even though its strength was considerably reduced.
In the subsequent election which followed i.e. in 1989, 1991 and 1998 the party's electoral performance was not
satisfactory. A party which at a time was the Single dominant party at the centre, showed a downfall trend in these elec-
tions. In 1989, the party was thrown out of power and a United Front government under the leadership of V.P.Singh
formed the goverment at the centre. In 1991 the party was somehow able to form the government at the cenre under the
leadership of Narashirnha Rao but it was a minority government. After the fall ofNarsirnha Rao's government the party's
electoral performance in the 1996 and 1998 elections was not up to the mark. In the 1998 parliamentary election (which
was the 12th parliamentary election) the party managed to secure only 140 seats which is far below the majority. Hence
it seems that the era of one-party dominance at the centre has finished and the era of coalition politics has followed.

142
Bhartiya Janata Party (B.J.P.)
The Bhartiya Janata Party was formed in 1980 as a result of split in the Janata Party. As it mainly consisted of
erstwhile Jan Sangh members, who had merged with other parties to form the Janata Party, it isoften held that the Bhartiya
Janata Party is old Jan Sangh with new label. This change has been levelled because most of the stalwarts ofthe former Jan
Sangh like L.K.Advani, Nanaji Deshmukh, V.K. Malhotra, Bhai Mahavir, S.S.Bhandari etc. are members of the new par-
ty. In addition some non-Jan Sangh mem- bers are also included in the Bhartiya Janata Party. These include persons like
M.M. Joshi, Mrs. Vijya Raje Scindia and b'thers committed to rightist ideology.

Social Base and Ideology-The party draws its support from all sections of society and all parts of country, even
though maximum number of its supporters isconcentrated in northern India. Further, its supporters in urban areas far ex-
ceed its supporters in therural areas. In the main its supporters consist of educated youth, small business men, government
servants. In certain areas even the backward sections of society have also extended support to the BJ .P.
As regards the ideology of the party, it stands for nationalism, national integration, democracy, positive secular-
ism, Gandhian Socialism.

Organization- Like other political parties the Bhartiya Janata Party also possesses a hierarchical organiz.ation.
At the baseof the party organiz.ation exist the local committees consisting of five to eleven mem- bers. Above
the local committee exist Mandal Committees consisting of President and 20 members. The area of the local committee
as well as the Mandal Committees isdecided by the States Executives of the concerned states.
Above the Mandal committee exist District Committees. Generally thearea of the district commit- tees coincides
with the area of the administrativedistricts but cities with more than five lakh population can be treated as separate dis-
tricts, if the state executive so decides. Adistrict committee generally consists of a President and 30 members elected by
the members of the Mandal Committee in the District.
At the state level exist two bodies - the state council and the state Executive. The state council consists of (a)
members elected by District units; (b) IO percent of the party members of the state legisla- ture, but the total number of
such members should not exceed I0. However, it there are IO or less members of the legislature all the members are in-
cluded in the state council ; (c) IO per cent of the party members of parliament from that State, but thisshould not be less
than 3 members. But if the total number of members of Parliament from the state is less than three, all the members are
included as members in the state council; (d) all the members of the National Council from that State; (e) all the members
of State Executive; (t) not more than 20 co-opted members and (g) all Conveners and Presidents of Allied organi- zations.
The State executive consist of President and 40 members nominated by the s' tate President. The President is
elected by certain categories of the members of State Council as per rules.
At the National level three bodies exist-national Council, National Executive and Plenary session. The National
Council consists of(a) members eiected by the state councils; (b) 10 percent of the members of parliament belonging to
the party with a minimum of 10 members; (c) all Presidents ofstate council; (d) Leader of the party in Parliament. (e)
Leader of the party in state legislature; (t) Leader of the party in the Metropolitan council; (g) not more than 20 coopted
members; (h) all members of National Executive; and all India Conveners/Presidentsof the Allied organiz.ationsof the
Party.
The National Executive consists of President of the Party and 50 members to be nominated by the President. The
President of the party iselected by an electoral college consisting of all the members of the state councils and all members
of the National Council.
The Plenary session of the party, which is generally held once in two years, can beattended by (a) all members of
the national council; (b) all members of the State councils (c) all members of the party in legislatures of all the states;(d)
allmembers of party in parliament. (e) Presidents of all the District commit- tees. The decision taken flt the plenary ses-
sions or special sessions are binding on all units, organs and members of party. Leaving apart the matters decided by the
plenary session the final authority regarding decisions rests with the National Council.
In addition to the above organs the Party also has aparliamentary Board, which isconstituted by the National Ex-
ecutive of the Party. The Board consists of the Party President and eight other members, one of whom is the leader of the
Party in parliament, with Party President asthechairman. The parliamentary Board regulates and coordinates the Parlia-
mentary activities ofthe party and frames necessary rulesinthis regard.
The BJPholds faith in ideals likenationalism and national integration, democracy, positive secularism, Gandhian
socialism. It believes in democracy and stands for its preservation by creating aconsensus on all major national issues. It
wants the peopleofdifferent faiths and ideologies toco-exist in peace and harmony but would like to keep out those people
who owe extra-territorial loyalties. The party believes in 'positive secularism' and isopposed to the policy of appeasement
towards any community. However, it is in favour of according fall protection to the life and property of minorities. The
party gives high priority tothe preservation of national independence and would be prepared to make any sacrifice for the
purpose. The party stands for full merger of Jarnmu and Kashmir with the rest oflndia at the earliest. It believes in promo-
tion of common moral values and stands for eradication of corruption. It believes in independence of judiciary and stands
for cheap and speedy justice.
143
 In the economic sphere it stands for replacement of capitalism and statism by cooperative system and form of
trusteeship in various economic spheres. It wants to establish economic democracy in the country in which there would
be equal opportunity for all. It is in favour of nationalization of all basic and defence industries and stands for indianisa-
tion of mining, tea plantation and other industries which are at present in the hands of the foreigners. It favours imparting
ofcompulsory military training ofall young men.
The party is committed to provide a minimum living standard to the people and lays stress on the need ofland re-
forms, restructuring of the agrarian system, eradication of poverty, food for work, adult education, drinking water of rural
areas, low-cost housing, nutrition and primary health care, family plan- ning vocational education, employment-
guaranteed schemes for youth, etc.
In the foreign sphere the party favours agenuine non-alignment policy. It is in favour of an indepen- dent foreign
policy which could preserve world peace and promote enlightened self-interests of India. It lays more emphasis on closer
relations with the neighboring countries and stands for greater regional co- . operation among the countries of South Asia.

Performance - The party for the first time took part in Assembly elections in 1980 and gave a good ac-
count of itself by capturing 149 seats. In the by-elections to Lok Sabha held in 1982, the party captured 2 of the 7 seats
for which it put up candidates. In Madhya Pradesh the party managed to capture equal number ofseats with congress but
wasdenied toform government. InAndhra Pradesh and Karnataka also the party gave a good account in the Assembly
elections held in 1983. In the Lok Sabha elections of December 1984, however, the Party miserably failed and could
capture only two seats. But in the Assem- bly elections held in March 1985 the party considerably improved its position.
In the Lok Sabha election of 1989 the party managed to secure 88 seats. This increase in number shows the increasing
popularity of the party among the masses. The following election of 1991, 1996 and 1998 also showed the increase in
the strength of the BJP. In the twelth Lok Sabha election the party managed to secure 179 seats with the help of the al-
lies its strength was raised up to 252 seats. Hence with the support of its allies the party managed to form the govern-
ment at the centre.

The Communist Party

The Communist Party is the second oldest party of India. It was founded in 1924. However, soon after its for-
mation it was banned. It continued its activities underground till the ban was lifted in 1954. The party supported the
English during the second World war following Russia's entry into the war. After the independence of the country the
communist party cpnsolidated its position and captured 29 seats in the first election to Lok Sabha. In the states it cap-
tured 193 seats. In the 1957 election the party captured 29 seats in parliament and J62 seats in state legislatures. It
emerged as the largest single party in Kerala and thus gained the distinction of being the first non-congress party to form
the government.
The Communist Party was also confronted with acleavage among the members. Certain members like P.C.
Joshi,Ajay Ghosh and Dange favoured closer links with Soviet Union. The other group led by Namboodiripad, Jyoti
Basu etc. believed inviolent and revolutionary activities. The cleavage between the two groups came to force in 1959
following border dispute between India and China. While the former group supported the government of India's stand on
the border, the latter held that a Communist country could not aspire toacquire other country's territory. This division
became more sharp at the Eight Congress of Communist Parties held at Moscow in 1960 when the two groups supported
Soviet Union and China respectively. For some time efforts were made to bridge the gulf between the two groups of the
Communist Party, and some sort ofcompromise was arrived at. But this unity proved short-lived and inthe wake of Chi-
nese aggression of October, 1962 the two groups again took opposite stands. While the moderate groups supported the
government oflndia and condemned Chinese aggression, the extremist leaders like Jyoti Basu, Sundarayya, Surjeet
Singh etc. refused to do so on the plea that a socialist country could not commit aggression. In 1964 the two groups of
the party held separate conventions. In September 1964 the communist members under A.K. Gopalan formed a separate
party and named it as Communist party (Marxists-Le ninist). The two parties issued separate manifestoes during the
fourth general election and put up separate candidates. Thereafter they continued to cooperate as independent parties.
Occasionally efforts have been made to bring the two parties together but so far no success has been achieved.

Social Base and Ideology - The communist parties in the main draw support from the labourers and peasants.
The other supporters of the party include educated unemployed in the urban areas and the low caste groups in therural
areas. In certain states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu even the Muslims and other religions minorities
have extended suppo rt to the two communist parties. Anotable point about the base of the communist parties is that
their supporters are not evenly distributed in all the regions. They are mainly concentrated in West Bengal, Kerala, An-
dhra Pradesh etc.

144
 The Party firmly believes in the ideology of Marxism and Lenin and wishes to replace the present social and
economic caste system, exploitation and social evils and shall assure social and economic security to the weaker section
of society.
Organization- The organization ofthe communist Party is based on the principle of democratic centralism. This
means that the central leadership is based on intra-party democracy and the intra-party democracy is based on central-
ized leadership. In simple language this means that the members of the party enjoy complete freedom of debate within
the party. They can criticize the actions of the leaders and make suitable suggestions for party programme. However,
once the programme has been decided the members are expected to strictly follow the directions and guidelines ofthe
party leaders.
The Primary unit of the organization of the Party is known as Branch. These branches are present in the village,
panchayat, municipal ward street, industry etc: They work as the basic units for collection of membership fees and sale
of partyliterature. Above the branch exist the local council, the District council, the State Council and the national coun-
cil. The National Council, the most powerful organ of the Party, is responsible for convening e party congresses and en-
forcing party constitution. Being an unwiedly body it elects a central Executive committee. The central executive com-
mittee can also set up such other bodies as it deems necessary to handle the party work. Then there are chairman and
general secretary of party. In addition there isa central secretariat which works like an inner cabinet of the party and di-
rects the party administration.

Policy and Programme of CPI - Though there is not much of difference in the policy and programme ofthet-
wocommunist parties, it isdesirable tostudy their programme separately. The communist party ofl ndi,;t,w ants to estab-
lish people's democracy led by the working people and realise the ultimate goal of socialism and communism. It stands
for confiscation of foreign capital, abolition of Zamindari without payment ofcompensation, abolition of police force,
and organiz.ation of national militia, linguistic. reorganizationof state, full social security and employment f-or all de-
velopment of industries in public sector. The party isopposed to communalism, untouchability and caste system.

In the foreign sphere it stands for cooperation among various countries. It stands for closer rela- tions with the
communist countries and favours full support to the anti-imperialist struggle for the colonial and dependent peoples. At
its meeting held at Varanasi in March 1982, the CPI expressed opposition to Mrs. Gandhi's reactionary and authoritarian
internal policies and supported her foreign policy of non- alignment and friendship with the Soviet union. The party
condemned Maoism and Euro Communism and described the Soviet Communist Party as 'Vanguard' of the world
Communist movement.

Policy and Programme of the C.P.I. (M)- The party believes in establishing social democracy with the
helpof leftist and democratic parties. Itfavours take over offoreign capital anda banon investment of private foreign capi-
tal, a moratorium on foreign debt payment, nationalization of monopoly houses and adequate financial assistance to
small and medium industries, take over of foreign trade, eradication of corruption and bureaucratism in public sector un-
dertakings, abolition ofland lordism, take over of the entire land of the landlords and their distribution gratis among the
landless labourers and poor peasants, cancellation of debt of peasants, landless labourer and rural poor, supply of inputs
and essential articles at cheap rates to them, remunerative prices for the produce firm measures against oppression of
Harijans, making of right to work afundamental constitutional right etc. In the foreign sphere it stands for aforeign poli-
cy based oncooperation with the socialist countries and condemnation of anti-imperialist activities all over the world.
In its conference held in July 1982, the CPI (M) defined its policy as"one of support for both the Soviet Union
and China without siding with either, and criticized the Soviet Party for itsenmity to China, the Chinese party for its alli-
ance with the United States against the Soviet Union and the CPI for its 'right reformism' and the CPI (ML) for its left
adventurism."

Though the programme and policy of the two Communist parties seems to be identical, there are differ-
ences between the two parties. In the first place while the CPM holds that revolution can be •brought
about by the working class leaders along, the CPI holds that socialist transformationcan be achieved by close al-
liance with together democratic forces. Secondly the CPM believes indislodging the existing states and replacing it with
a people's Democracy led by the working classes. CPI is not in favour of dislodging the existing government and favours
formations of a national democratic front for the elimination of the reactionary forces. Thirdly, CPI holds faith in peace-
ful and constitutional means. It wants to transform Parliament into a genuine instrument of people's will. The CPM,
however, holds that the ruling classes would never give up power voluntarily and therefore asserts the imperative need
of useof force. Fourthly CPI isinfavour of extending full support to the Government of India for resolving the border
dispute with China, CPM stands for peaceful settlement of the border dispute without describing China as an aggressor.

145
 Performance of Communist Parties - The Communist Partytookpartinthefirst general elections held in 1952
and captured 26 seats in Lok Sabha and 193 seats in the various state legislatures. In 1953 the Party was recognized as
an All India Party by the Election Commission. In the second general elections held in 1957 the party increased its
s!!ength in Lok Sabha to 29, while in the states its strength dropped to 162. However, in Kerala it emerged as the largest
single party and formed government. In the election of 1962 once again the party captured 29 seats in Lok Sabha and
secured 197 seats in State Assemblies. In the election of 1967 the two groups of the Communist Parties viz. CPI and
CPM contested elections separately and managed tocapture 23 and 19seats respectively in the Lok Sabha elections. In
the Assembly elections these parties secured 123 and 126 seats respectively. In the mid-term elections to five state as-
semblies in 1969 the two parties captured 25 and 3 seats respectively. In the Lok Sabha elections of 1971 CPI captured
24 seats while CPM got 19 seats. In the Lok Sabha elections of 1984, the strength of the two communist parties consid-
erably declined with CPI claiming 6 seats and CPM claiming 22 seats. In the Lok Sabha election of 1998, CPI managed
to get 9 seats whereas CPM got 32 seats Thus we find that Communist Party has not been able tocapture any substantial
number of seats in Lok Sabha, although it managed to give good account of itself in Kerala and West Bengal, where it
even succeeded in forming thegovernment.

Splits, Mergers and Institutional Decay

A party is subject to split when one-third of its members decide to form separate party under separate leader-
ship. Aparty is subject to merge when two-third of its members decide to merge the party with some other party. Indian
politics has seen the process ofsplits and mergers from 1969 onwards when Indian National Congress was split into two
factions. Not only the Congress but almost every party has been the victim of this process of split and merger. Different
political parties at the national level indulge in this politics of combinations and break-ups, mostly with the pure motive
of capturing the governmental authority.
This trend has more particularly been witnessed after elections to Fourth Lok Sabha in 1967. Before these elec-
tions; India has been ruled by the Congress virtually without any serious challenge from theopposition parties, but the-
outcome of 1967 elections gave a staggering blow to the Congress dominance. Although it retained control at the centre,
it had been severely battered.
Even before the process of 1967 elections started, there was an era of pre-electoral; alliances in different states
between different political parties. This was primarily prompted with a view todislodge the ruling congress from power.
The outcome of the 1967 elections might have had a salutary effect on the development of a more competitive party
system. In the aftermath of these elections, there were only fragmented party structures and aseries of unstable, unwork-
able and patchwork coalitions. Political morality, constitutionalism, regard for political conventions, party discipline
and leadership frequently disintegrated. Almost all the parties, moved from the national to the regional level in their ap-
peals.
Generally it isseen that when the interest of the candidate is not fulfilled under the banner of the party, he or she
chooses to form a separate party with some of their followers. Recently a case in this direction could be seen when La-
loo Prasad Yadav broke away form the Janata Dal to form a new party called Rastriya Janata Dal. Similarly in Gujrat,
Shanker Singh Vaghela broke away from BJP to form Rastriya Janata Party.

146
 UNIT VI LESSON 11

REGIONAL PARTIES
-Tanvir Aeijaz
Senior Research Fellow (UGC)
Delhi University.
One of the notable features of the Indian Party System is presence oflarge number of regional parties. By Regional
party we mean a party which generally operates within a limited geographical area and its activities are confined only to
a single or handful of states. Further, as compared to the broad ranging diverse interests of national parties, the regional
parties represent the interest ofa particular linguis- tic religions, ethnic or cultural group which are concentrated in a par-
ticular area. Insimple words regional parties differ from All India parties both in terms of their outlook as well as the in-
terest they pursue. Their activities are focused on specific issues concerning the region and they operate within the lim-
ited area. They merely seek to capture power at the national government. It is noteworthy that in India the number of re-
gional parties is much larger than the national parties and some of the states are being ruled by the regional par-
ties,viz.,AndhraPradesh, Kamataka, Tamil Nadu,Assam, Jammu and Kashmir etc. The presence ofsuch alarge number
ofregional political parties in Indiacan beattributed to the following factors.
In the first instance the social, ethnic, cultural and geographical diversities of India have largely contributed to
the rise of regional parties. Primordial sentiments like caste, religion, region ethnicity have been quite strong in India and
no wonder these sentiments have been exploited by the local leaders. These local leaders encouraged the formation of
regional parties to assert their importance. The formation of DMK, Shiva Sena, Jharkhand Party, Akali Dal etc. can be
cited asexamples.
Secondly, certain areas, due to strong historical and traditional reasons, have shown keenness to maintain their
independent entity and resisted all attempts at integration. For this purpose they formed regional political parties.
Thirdly, factional fights within the larger parties also encouraged the formation of regional parties. The political
leaders who were not permitted to play their due role in the state preferred to form their own parties. The formation of
Bhartiya Kranti Dal in UP, Bartgla Congress in West Bengal, Kerala Congress in Kerala, Jana Kranti Dal in Bihar etc.
can be cited as some of the examples.
Fourthly, the growing economical disparity between various parts of the country has also encouraged the growth
of regional parties is backward areas. In such regions parties were formed to demand greater attention to their develop-
ment.
Finally, in certain areas regional parties merged asa protest against the ever increasing centralizing tendencies.
For example in Andhra Pradesh, Telugu Desam was formed primarily asa protest against the growing interference of the
centre in the affairs of the state.

Role of Regional Parties

Though the regional parties operate within very limited area and pursue only limited objectives, they have
played significant role both in the states as well as national politics. However, their role at the state level has been more
significant than their role at the centre. The regional political parties formed governments in several states and tried to
give concrete shape to their policies and programmes. Some of the important regionaf parties which formed governments
in various states include DMK andAIADMK in Tamil Nadu; National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir; Telugu
Desam inAndhra Pradesh; Assam Gana Parishad in Assam Maharasthtrawadi Gomantak Party in Goa; Mizo National
Front in Mizoram, Sikkim Sangram Parishad in Sikkim; All Party Hill leaders conference in Meghalaya. Some of
theregional parties were also partners in the coalition governments formed in several states after the fourth general elec-
tions of 1967. At the centre how<::ver, the regional parties have been able to play only a limited role due to pre- domi-
nance of congress. DMK, a regional party, supported Mrs. Indira Gandhi's government after split in the party in 1969
and enabled her to carry or government despite loss of majority in the parliament. Similarly, Morarji Desai'sgovernment
stayed in office with the support ofAkali dal and DMK. In the eight Lok Sabha, Telugu Desam Party-a regional party
emerged as the official opposition and ably discharged its responsibilities. Further, the representatives of the regional
parties focus the attention of the Parliament on issues in their region and try to influence the policies of the governmentto
promote their own interests.

147
 But probably the greatest service rendered by the Regional Political Parties is that they have focussed the atten-
tion of the people is remote areas on various political & economic issues and contributed to their political awakening.
Above all, the regional parties have been able to impress on the national political parties that they cannot put up with
their attitude of indifference towards regional problems and have compelled them to take keen interest in the resolution
of their problems.
In short, it can be said that the regional political parties have not only profoundly influenced the regional poli-
tics but also left tremendous impact on the national politics.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)

The DMK which literally means the Tamilian Development Party, grew out of the Justice Party, founded by the
well known non-Brahmin leaders of Madras such as Dr. C. Natesa Mudaliar, T.M. Nair, Sir P. Theoagroya Chetty etc.
for the Social, economic and political development of the non-Brahmins (Dravidians). The prevailing factionalism and
discontent in the Justice party obliged E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker to organize a separate party for the Dravidians in 1944.
As this party refused to honour the National Flag and later refused to recognize the Indian constitution, a group of mem-
bers led by C.N. Annadurai left this party and formed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in September 1949.

The party shed its communal character and projected itself as the champion of the cause of the poor, the illit-
erate and the downtrodden among the people of Madras. Naturally the party won the support of the socially and eco-
nomically frustrated elements of the population as well aseducated unemployed. The party did not contest the elections
of 1952. In the election of 1962 the DMK greatly improved its position in the State Assembly and captured 50 seats. It
also got seats in the Lok Sabha in the election of 1967 the DMK emerged as a majority party and captured 138 of234
seats in the Assembly. It also captured all the 25 seats contested by it for the Lok Sabha. the DMK formed its govern-
ment in the state under C.N. Annadurai and managed the affairs of the state quite efficiently. While the non-Congress
parties in other States could not work unitedly the DMK retained its solidarity. In the mid-term elections of 1971 once
again the DMK was able to capture power in the State. It also managed to get 23 seats in the Lok Sabha as against 24
seats held by it in the previous Lok Sabha. This was in complete contrast to the performance of other opposition parties,
which suffered serious setback in the mid-term elections of 1971.

The DMK continued to bein powertill 1976 when agroup of members led by M.G Ramachandran left the party
and formed All India Anna DMK Party. In the elections of 1977 the two groups set up separate candidates. In these elec-
tions the AIADMK gave a better account than the DMK and managed to capture 130 out of234 seats in the State As-
sembly & formed the government. The DMK could manage to capture only 48 seats. IN the Lok Sabha elections held in
Jan 1980 congress and DMK reached an understanding, which resulted in serious setback to theAIADMK and the DMK
managed to capture 16 seats asagainst hr? captured bytheAIADMK. In theAssembly elections of may-June 1980,
theAIADMK once again stayed a remarkable comeback and captured 129 seats in the Assembly out of 234 seats. Thus it
once again captured power in Tamil Nadu. In contrast to this the performance ofDMK was rather disappointing and it
could capture only 38 seats in the Assembly.

In the Lok Sabha elections held in December 1984 DMK could capture only one seat while ADMK captured 12
seats. In the Assembly elections also the Party did not give good account of itself and managed to capture only 20 seats
as against claimed by Anna D.M.K. In the elections to the State Assem- bly held in Jan 1989 DMK returned to power af-
ter a gap of 13 years. It captured 148 of the 232 seats for which elections were held. AIADMK could not give good per-
formance onaccount ofitsdivision following death ofits leader M.G Ramachandran. The two factions of AIADMK could
capture in all 28 seats.

However, in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections DMK managed to get 17 seats in Lok Sabha and AIADMK was com-
pletely washed out. But in the Lok Sabha elections of 1998 the situation was some- what different. Whereas DMK se-
cured 6 seats. AIADMK secured 18 seats.

As regards the policy of the DMK it has undergone changes over the years. In the earlier stages the Party stood for
an independent South Indian Dravidian State including territories of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Mysore & Kerala.
However, this demand for separate state was given up by the party after the Chinese aggression in 1962. Thereafter the
party has pleaded for greater autonomy for the State within a loose federal set up. It stands for the popularisationof the
Dravidian culture & language which it considers as Superior to the non-Dravidian culture. The party has also been com-
plaining of domination of the North over the South in various spheres, which naturally gave rise to North-South contro-
versy. The party isopposed to the introduction of Hindi as the National language. It favours establishment of regional
languages as state language and retention of English as official language.

148
 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)

The party was formed byasplinter group of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in October 1972. It formed
government in Tamil Nadu following its sweeping victory in the elections of 1977 when it captured 130 seats in the As-
sembly and 18 seats in the Lok Sabha. The party added the words"All India" to its name in 1976 (earlier it was known as
Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and started operating in Pondichery and succeeded in forming minority ministry
twice in 1974 and 1977-78. In the Lok Sabha elections of 1980 the party suffered a setback and its rival DMK succeeded
in capturing 16 seats as against two captured by the AIADMK. However, in the Assembly elections which followed in
May-June 1980 the AIADMK once again staged a remarkable come back and captured 129 outof 234 seats and formed
government. In the Lok Sabha elections of Dec. 1984 the party managed to capture 12 seats. Its performance in the as-
sembly elections was also quite brilliant. It captured 132 of the 232 seats for which elections were held and formed gov-
ernment under M.G Ramachandran. However, following death of chief Minister Ramachandran in 1988 the party split
into two factions led by Jayalalitha and Janaki Ramachandran respectively. The internal bickerings led to the fall of AI-
ADMK government. After a brief spell of Presidential rule the State went to polls in Jan. 1989. The two factions of AI-
ADMK put up separate candidates.Asa result noneofthe twocould give good account ofthemselves. While the Jayalalitha
group managed to capture 27 seats & emerged as the second largest party in the Assembly, the Janaki faction could cap-
ture·only 1 seat in the Assembly. Subsequently the two faction decided to remerge. At presentAIADMK is in opposition.

As regards the policy Qf the party it stands for transfer of all power to the states which are not reserved for the cen-
tral government. It wants abandonment of Hindi as India's national language and favours adoption of the regional lan-
guages as the language of each state. It favours retention of English as a link language between various states. It stands
for total prohibition throughout India; aceiling of income; nationalization of large scale industries and the means of pro-
duction and distribution of all essential commodities. It wants confiscation ofill-gotten wealth. It is also in favour of pro-
vision for the recall of the elected members in case they do not live up to the expectations of the voters.

Shiromani Akali Dal

The party was established in 1920 as a Supreme body of the Sikhs to carry on crusade and compel the British gov-
ernment to enact necessary legislation for the management of the Gurudwaras. In 1926 the Shiromani Gurudwara Pra-
bandhak Committee (SGPC) was constituted. After sometime the Party started taking interest in the political affairs and
played an active part in the independence struggle. It participated in the various deliberations to find out a constitutional
solution for the Indian problem and sought to protect the interest of the Sikhs.
After Independence, the party took keen interest in the formation of states or linguistic basis. In October 1958 the
Party temporarily merged itself with the Comers. However, in 1962 when elections to Assembly were held it contested
the same as an independent party. However, it could not give a good accqunt of itself due to internal division in the ranks
of the party thereafter the party launched a movement for Punjabi Sabha or a Punjabi speaking state with Punjabi in
Gurumukhi script as its official language. After prolonged agitation it succeeded in getting aseparate Punjabi speaking
State in 1966. In 1967 Akali Dal emerged asthe largest Party in theAssembly elections and formed acoalition government
in co-operation with Jan Sangh. In 1972 the Party cost majority, but continued to play an effective role as opposition.
During the national emergency of 1975-77 the Akali Dal ran into troubled waters due to the arrest of the leading
leaders of the party. After the lifting of emergency in 1977, the Akali Dal contested the elections asan ally of the Janata
Party. This resulted in formation of acoalition ministry under the Akali Dal leader Prakash Singh Badal. In the elections
of 1980 the Akali Dal a gain suffered a setback and was pushed to the position of an opposition party.
While in opposition the Akali Dal launched an agitation for the implementation of the Anandpur Saheb resolution
which seeks greater autonomy for the State and fulfillment of certain other social and religious demands. Asection of
theAkalis led by Sant Jamail Singh took recourse to violence to pressurise the government to concede their demands.
Though the government made certain concessions the group persisted with agitational methods. As this posed a serious
threat to the national unity and communal harmony the central government was forced to place the state under President's
rule and take firm action. In the midst of these development the Lok Sabha elections took place in December 1984 and
Punjab could not take part in these elections. Asection of theAkali Dal which believed in constitutional methods contin-
ued to persist for greater autonomy for the state. Ultimately an agreement was reached between Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi andAkali Dal President Sant Longowal, which paved the way for the holding of elections in Punjab. In this elec-
tionAkali Dal (Longowal) secured aclear cut majority and formed the govt. under Surjeet Singh Bamala. However, soon
the Akali Dal wasconfronted with a split and asection of party members left the party, reducing Barnala government
intoaminority government. But Congress (I), Bhartiya Janata Party, and other parties offered to extend support to Bamala
government and it continued in office for some time before it was dismissed and President's rule imposed in the state.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and its alliance partner, BJP, has performed well in the last Assembly elections as well as in
the Lok Sabha election. The party is in power and is ruling the state Govt. under the leadership of Prakash Singh Badal.
In the Lok Sabha elections of 1996 and 1998, the Party has managed to secure 8 seats and is giving its support to the BJP
at the centre.
149
 Policy and Programme: Like so many other regional political parties, the Akali Dal has made frequent adjust-
ments in policies and programmes to secure the support of the largest section of the Sikhs. In the election manifesto of
1951 the party declared its beliefin Socialism and Welfare State. It favoured equitable distributioq of country's wealth and
stood for increasing state control of the means of production and distribution. It even favoured far reaching land reforms
without compensation to the landlords. But with the passage of time and large number of agriculturists supporting the
partyit made modifications in its policy and began to oppose land reforms and cooperative movement. It lays emphasis on
increasing agricultural production with a view to reduce the gap betwee. ntherich and the poor and favour reduction of
prices of agricultural implements and exempting them from sales tax. It isopposed to all restrictions on the free movement
of food-stuffs in the country. It stands for free and compulsory education up to 10th standard.It is in favour of family
planning but is strongly opposed tctcoercive methods. It stands for safeguarding the social, religious and cultural interests
of the minorities and wants repressive laws like MISA to be done away with.

Telegu Desam
The party was formed on 29 March 1982 by N.T. Rama Rao, a popular film star of the South India as a protest
against the corrupt and inefficient Congress (1) govt. in the state, and the tendency to· impose the chief Ministers on the
State by New Delhi. The party gave a remarkable performance inthe Assembly election held in Jan. 1983 and captured
202 seats ina house of294 members. The party faced a split in 1984 when a section of its members withdrew their support
from the govt. This led to the dismissal ofN.T. Rama Rao ministry. However, in the face of countrywide agitation the
ministry was reinstated in office. After the announcement of Lok Sabha election Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao recom-
mended dissolution of the Assembly and sought fresh elections. In the Lok Sabha elections the party gave a good account
of itself and emerged as the largest opposition party. In the Assembly election held in March 1985 also the party gave an
outstanding performance and captured 202 seats for which elections were held. However, the party was faced with anoth-
er split during the last days ofN.T.Rama Rao. A faction led by N.T. Rama Rao's Son -in-law N. Chandrababu Naidu dis-
sociated himself from the parent party. The party got divided into two, one led by N. Chandrababu Naidu and the other
led by Lakshmi Parvati, widow ofN.T. Rama Rao. In the last Lok Sabha election the TDP under Naidu managed to get 12
seats. The party isalso in power in the state and it is playing acrucial role is providing stability tothe central government.

Policy and Programme - The policy and programme of the party was outlined iriits manifesto issued on the eve
of Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections. In these manifestoes the party laid emphasis on rural development for the
improvement of standard of common people. It pledged special measures for the protection of women and promised free
day meals to children in primary schools. The other points emphasized by the party in its manifestoes were provision of
administration free of corruption, unemployment allowance, curb on useless expenses ; grant of greater autonomy to the
states adoption of Telegu as the language of state. The party stands for complete cooperation with the centre. The party
promises a special deal to the backward & poor sections of society.

National Conference
The party came into existence during the pre-independence period and maintained close links with the Indian Na-
tional Congress. It ruled over the State of Jammu & Kashmir from 1947 to 1965. In 1965 the working committee of the
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference decided to merge itself with the Congress. However, asection of the party did
not agree with the decision and contested the elections in 1967 as a separate group. It managed to capture 8 seats in the
Assembly. In the elections to Assembly held in 1972 this group could not capture any seat.
The party was revived in 1975 under the leadership of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah. In 1977 the Jarnmu & Kashmir
National Conference contested the elections to the State Assembly and captured 47of the 76 seats. It also captured two
Lok Sabha seats. In 1978, the Party faced a split following dismissal of Afzal Beg, its vice-President. Afzal Beg along
with his supporters left the party and formed the Inqalabi (Revolutionary) National Conference. In 1980 the National
Conference contested the elections in alliance with the Congress.
After the death of Sheikh Abdullah the leadership of the party passed into the hands of hisson. Dr. Farookh Abdul-
lah. The party contested the Assembly elections in 1983 and won a clear cut majority despite all the predictions that the
party would not beable to do well on account of cleavages & bickerings amongst its members. However, soon Farookh
govt. wasfaced with a crisis when 13 members of his party under the leadership of GM. Shah withdrew their support from
the ministry. Anew ministry under G.M. Shah continued to rule the state with the support of Congress (I) members. But
in the Wake of Communal riots in the Kashmir Valley and in view of the failure of the Shah ministry to provide a clean
government the Congress (I) withdrew its support and the ministry fell.

150
For a while the State was placed under Governor and Presidential rule, before asa result of an agreement between Rajiv
Gandhi and Farookh Abdullah, a coalition government of National Conference and Congress (I) was installed in Jarnmu
and Kashmir under the ChiefMinistershipof Farookh Abdullah. Soon after assumption of office he recommended dissolu-
tion of State Assembly and sought fresh elections. These elections were held in March 1987 . Na- tional Conference
fought these elections in alliance with Congress and captured 27 of the total 76 seats, while Congress (I) captured 25
seats. Once again Farookh Abdullah was sworn in as Chief Minister of the coalition government. Thus at present Nation-
al Conference under FarookhAbdullahis in majority and ruling the state. National Conference also has one elected mem-
ber in the Lok Sabha at present.
As regards the programme of this party, it believes in socialist policies and is opposed to Hindu Communalism. It is
in favour of maintaining special status of the state, specially will regard to civil liberties. The party accepts Kashmir as an
integral part of the Indian Union. It isa strong supporter of demand for greater autonomy for the states.

Asom Gana Parishad

This party wasformed in 1985 through the merger ofAsom Jatiya Dal and Purbanchaliya Lok Dal, which had been
agitating for the ouster of foreigners from Assam for several years. The need of this party was felt following Assam Ac-
cord of August 1985 to secure the mandate of the people of state.It was felt that the responsibility for the implementa-
tionof the Accord should be entrusted to the leaders who had been spearheading the movement. The party contested the
elections to the State Assembly in December 1985,and was returned in majority. It formed government under the leader-
ship of Prafula Kumar Mohanata, a student leader. In the election manifesto the party pledged to ensure dominance of
Asom in a society swamped by the outsiders, specially from Bangladesh. It demanded special status for the State of As-
sam on the lines of Jarnmu and Kashmir. The policy also promised to protect the minorities and usher in a new era of
peace, progress and prosperity in the State. It may be noted that despite the assertions of Asom Gana Parishad that it
stood for the protection of the interests of minorities, it has chiefly acted as the representativeof the Assamese speaking
Hindu community of the Brahmaputra Valley and all its policies have been directed in that directions. Asa result of its
policies soon minorities, specially the Bengalis and the Marwaris, got alienated with theAsom Gana Parishad. Within the
ranks of the party also dissentions took place and there were signs of growing revolt against the leadership ofMohanta
Ministry. The party critics have alleged that the mohanta Ministry has failed to fulfill the promises made at the time of
election. The party which indicated its intention to work in cooperation with the centre has also developeddiffer- ences
with the centre on the question of revision ofelectoral rolls for the next elections. Even the All Assam Minority Students
Union (AAMSU) has adopted path of confrontation with the State government. It organised a bandh which resulted in po-
lice firing and death of four persons.

Mizo National Front

This is regionalparty of Mizoram which was set up in 1960. It took part in the elections to Assam Assembly in 1960
and 1962 but could not get good account of itself. As a result, the party decided to resort to extra-constitutional methods.
In 1965 the party put forth demand for thecreation of Mizoram, a· free Sovereign State to govern itself to work her desti-
ny and toformulate her own foreign policy. The party threatened to launch non-violent struggle for the attainment of
thisobjective. But contrary to its professions of adopting non-violent methods the Party resorted to large scale killing and
insurgent activities. This compelled the govt. to call military to handle the situation and MNF insurgents went under-
ground. The party persisted with insurgency for about two decades. During this period periodic efforts were made to
bring the Mizo National Front leader Laldenga on the negotiating table to resolve the is ue through peaceful methods.
However, these efforts proved futile. Ultimately in June 1986 the Central govt. signed an accord with Laldenga, the MNF
leader, whereby Laldenga was made Chief Minister of Congress (1)- MNF coalition govt. In February 1987 the Party
contested elections to the Mizoram Assembly and captured 25 of the 40 seats. It formed govt. under its leader Laldenga.
In its election Manifesto the party insisted on Mozoram for the Mizos. It promised to protect the culture, religion and lan-
guage of the Mizo people. It assumed greater freedom and rights to the women. The other principles emphasized by the
party in its manifesto where safeguarding ofChristian values; establishment ofa self-reliant economy in the State; elimina-
tion ofcorruption etc.

Problems Confronting Political Parties

Though the political parties have a vital role to play under the Parliamentary-system of government adopted in In-
dia, they have not worked that successfully, onaccount of presence ofanumber oforganization, financial and disciplinary
problems. Some ofthe bottlenecks which have come to thesurface in the operation of the political parties in India areas
follows:-

151
 In the first place, the political parties are not organised on the basis of social and economic policies but on the
basis of religion, caste, culture etc. Asaresult the parties have tended to promotetheir respective groups interests.
Often within the same party different groups pull in different directions which greatly which strains the organization
of the party and affects its effective working. Quite often it has held to division within the parties. Asa result, the
political parties have not been able to play a veryeffective role.
Secondly, the political parties in India face the problem ofleadership crisis, and there are not very many honest
and dedicated leaders to guide the political parties. Generally the leadership of parties has tended to slip into the
hands ofopportunist politicians. The politics stands so much discredited in India that most of the brilliant and
pushing young men shun politics and prefer to join govt. service or private Companies.
Thirdly, the political parties in India by and large operate in an undemocratic and authoritarian manner. They
donot hold periodical organization elections orrun their affairs in democratic orconstitutional manner. They rarely
publish the membership lists. All this is contrary to the practice prevailing in other democratic countries.
Fourthly, the evil of growing defections, which prevailed in the country till 1985 also greatly hampered the
smooth working of the political parties. Members often left one party and joined another in the hope of quick
pqlitical gains, which led to political instability. This evil was sought to be checked through the enactment of the
52nd amendment in 1985 which placed a ban on all defections.
Fifthly, the growing role which the black money hascome to play in India hasalso greatly affected the working
ofthe political parties. Theelections in India arequite expensive affair and various parties have to depend ondona-
tions from companies & business houses to meet theexpenses of elections. In return for these donations the political
parties seek to protect and promote the interest of these companies and business housesi Asa result, the political
leader shave tended to be corrupt and dishonest. This has also affected thegenuine representativecharacter of the
elected members, who tend to use their positions to collect maximum money rather than promote general welfare.

Sixthly, the presence of a large number of independent members in the Parliament aswell as State legislatures
has also undermined the position of the political parties. Quite often influential leaders, after they are denied tickets
by their parties, contest elections as independent candidates and on the basis of their personal influence manage to get
elected, which has greatly undermined the position of the political parties.
Seventhly, too much importance given to the leaders, which often culminated in worship of these leaders, has
also adversely affected the role of the political parties. Asizeable number of Indian voters still possess a feudalistic
outlook and support certain leaders on account of their family connections and past positions. This is certainly not in
keeping with the democratic norms and has greatly undermined the importance of political parties.
Finally, the spirit of mutual cooperation and coexistence iscompletely missing among the political parties in In-
dia. Unlike other countries where the political parties despite their policy differences show a spirit ofaccommodation
towards other parties, in India despite close resemblance in the policies of various parties the spirit of co-operation
and co-existence is virtually missing. Often the political parties conflict with each other on the basis of personal
differences of party leaders rather than their policy decisions. It is well known that in 1977 various opposition parties
joined hand with the sole object of ousting the Con- gress from power but in the absence of any common ideology or
programme they could not keep united for long and soon fell prey to their internal bickerings.
Thus we find that political parties in India have not been able to work as effectively as was ex- pected of them.
Despite these shortcomings it cannot be denied that the political parties in India have performed important function
of political aggregation, articulation, socialization and participation and have played a vital role in the working of the
Indian political system. Prof Rajni Kothari has rightly observed that we should "look at the party system in India not
so much in terms of discrete organizationalentities known as parties in the fashion of interest aggregation theory, but
rather as part of an interacting process of governmental penetration, performance at various levels, and society's
response tosuch' penetrationand performance".

Role of Regional Parties in National Politics

After the fall of Congress Ministers in some of the Southern States in the Assembly elections of 1967, the trend
of one-party dominance came to be short-lived. It showed that some of the regional parties started making their
appearance in the Indian political scene. Not only in the states but also at the centre the role of the regional parties
has grown considerably. The growing influence ofthe regional parties was evident in the 1977, parliamentary elec-
tions. Subsequently after the 1989, Lok Sabha elections govt. was formed under Mr. V.P. Singh which comprised of
several regional parties and hence the govt. was named united Front govt.

152
Again in the 1996 and 1998 elections this trend followed. At present the Atal Bihari Vajpayee govt. at the Centre
comprises of several regional parties. The importance of regional parties came on the forefront when the Telegu
Desam Party of Chandrababu Naidu played its crucial role in the parliament during the confidence vote ofVajpayee
govt. It was Telegu Desam Party which saved the Vajpayee govt. from its fall and hence it survived. These are some
examples which shows that one-party dominance at the centre has come to an end and unless and until there issome
sort of cooperative endeav- our govt. at the national level is not going to last long.

153
 UNIT VI LESSON 12

NATIONAL PARTY-8.J.P.

- Subhendu Ranjan Raj

Reader,
PGDAV College,
University of Delhi.
In the Indian political scene, multiple party system obtains. In keeping with its heterogeneity the diversity of par-
ties' is an important feature of our political system. We have parties of all hues, shades of ideology as well as regional-
ist, caste and religion based parties. Interestingly, the BJPisaparty which is a different party because it stresses its
difference from other parties. However, in its 'difference' lie the identity ofits diabolical politics.
As a political party, the BJP has been known to operate in quite different a manner than other parties. The BJP has
been closely identified with the rise of the Hindu Nationalist politics in India as also with the emergence of phoney
religion secularism into the mainstream of the body politique. Though originating as a political party in the garb of Jana
Sangh, today BJP is more than a political party. It operates through the identity ofa party only partially; its more astute
and diabolical identity is masked in ' parivar' organisations like the RSS, Viswa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal Ram
Janmabhoomi Nyas etc. Hence it would be unwise to treat BJP merely as a party; it' d be better ifwe analyse the BJP as
the progenitor of what a news magazine termed "as Jehadi Hinduism".1 It isperhaps the most competitive and aggres-
sive interms of its agenda and manifesto and has seen the most remarkable growth in membership, electoral fortunes,
having captured power at the centre breaking in the process, the entrenched Congress system which dominated Indian
politics close to some five decades. BJPhowever, had modest beginnings and it took a long time to reach its pinnacle.

The Origins : The Jana Sangh

The BJP's parent body was the Jana Sangh. It was founded in 1951 by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee who was a mul-
tifaceted personality. Aformer Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University, he was made the finance minister in provincial
government in Bengal by Fazl ul Haq in 1941; hejoined the Hindu Mahasabha in 1938, later going on to become its
working President. In national politics he was known for his moderation and administrative ability which madehim
acabinet minister, from which he resigned in 1950 . The Jana Sangh began with the advantage of having a genuine-
leaderand tried to exploit the widespread sympathy for Hindu traditionalist ideas when these were germinating in the
flush of post inde- pendence nascent resurgence of a nation.
It brought into vogue a rigid organization all cadre of pracharaks who had been seconded to the party by the
Rastriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) but met with little electoral success initially.

Nehru's passing away meant that the opportunity to break through the Congress hegemony by reaching new audi-
ences was at hand. The party brought Balraj Madhok and much credit is given for the Jana Sangh's successes at the 1967
polls to his robust and direct leadership . (Jana Sangh got 35 seats - the maximum sofar) This success could well have
been taken as a vindication of the principle that a Hindu nationalist party does best when it trusts its constituency and
leaves controlling power with its parliamen- tary groups and their leaders. But the Jana Sangh took the opposite course
and subsequently reaffirmed the primacy ofits central organiz.ational groups in the conduct of the party's affairs.

154
Thus "The Jana Sangh under Upadh ya from 1955 onwards, adopted a style of party activity which maintained discipline
and control at the expense of openness and adaptability and which therefore left the party badly placed to exploit the
weaknesses of the Congress party's political empire which were revealed in the early 1960s....The Jana Sangh's remote-
ness enabled it to maintain discipline, and to preserve its privileged connection with the RSS, but left it beyond the reach
of those interests which were beginning to break away from the Congress party in the second decade of independ-
ence."2

BJP - The Second Phase

The BJP's growth chart can be divided into three phases - First phase: from its emergence as a party till the
1966.
- Second phase : begins with the 1967 elections till the 1984 elections.
- Third phase : possibly began in post 1984 elections, consolidating with the 1989 elections' gain of86
seats, continuing till today.
We have already charted the first phase. The second phase can be called the period of gradual rise when the
BJP made concerted attempts to increase its tally in Lok Sabha in terms of success in 1967 elections when it secured
9.4% of the vote share with 35 seats.
The BJP's forerunner, the Jana Sangh had very good and lofty ambitions. This can be seen from Deendayal
Upadhaya 's exhortation as in 1964 he said " Jana Sangh is a party with a difference....(lt) is not a party but a movemen t.
It springs from the craving of the nation to come into its own. It is the urge of the nation to assert and accomplish what it
has been destined to."3
It has been·the refrain of much of the followers of Jana Sangh ever since - trying to seek glory by any means;
though posing as Hindutva following an aggressive agenda of ethno-religious mobiliz.ation. The type of which has ot be
n seen or followed by any other political party in India.
The second phase saw the marriage of traditionalist integration with the sanghathanist populism in the party.
The strategy which the party adopted in the seventies' entailed a new social and economic radicalism and an appeal to
the patriotic sentiments endgendered by the war with Pakistan in 1971 . The efforts of Vajpayee and others, in pursuing
this course of action met with stiff opposition from conserva- tives among the party. In any case it was difficult to use
populism asa means of building support when the Congress (R) under Indira Gandhi was also exploiting the same appeal
with great success. Populism as Edward Shils points out "proclaims that the will of the people as such is supreme over
every other standard, over the standards of traditional institutions, over the autonomy ofinstitutionsand over the will of
other strata. Populism identifies the will of the people with justice and morality. It exists wherever there is an ideology
of popular resentment against theorder imposed onsociety by a long-established,differentiated ruling class, which is
believed to have a monopoly of power, property, breeding and culture."4
The Hindu nationalist surge that isassociated with the BJP has affinities with populism because its populist
slant places a high value on the general will of the Hindu community implying that the existing institutions, including
those of the state were not expressions of the will of the people called Hindus and therefore lacked definite legitimacy.
"But it was difficult for the RSS and the Jana Sangh to make these ideas explicit because they also represented the social
and political interests of the upper and intermediate castes, and thus the principle of hierarchy. Gradually, however,
these organisations added populist overtones to their election campaigns"5• The Sanghathanist discipline was en-
trenched and the RSS had taken over and tightened its hold over the Jana Sangh. In 1967 Upadhya had taken over the
presidency of Jana Sangh after Madhok, giving his alliance plans the go by.
Madhok's public denouncement of the leftward drift in the party, which he blamed for its electoral reverses of
1971 and his fight against the control of RSS over the party and call for the party's internal working be made democratic
were cause enough for his being expelled from the party. Vajpayee's re-election as President of the party during 1969-
1972 allowed him to train his populist strategy. Claiming that it represented the people, the Jana Sangh with its eye
increasingly on future electoral successes began to promise social reforms that were often unrealistic.

The Bhartiya Janta Party was formally put in place on 5April 1980. There were strong reasons for this. After
the low of22 seats in Lok Sabha registered in 1971 with a vote share of only 7.4%, the Jana Sangh had fought the elec-
tions as a constituent of the Janata Party in 1977 and 1980 elections. It as a party distanced itself from the former Jana
Sangh. It accepted the Janata Party's electoral manifesto. Vajpayee proposed that the party's creed was 'Gandhian social-
ism' and 'postitive secularisrrt and pre- sented them as a cooperative third path that was particularly close to the Jana
Sangh tradition because of its decentralizing and social reformist implications.

155
 In its efforts at distancing from the Jana Sangh's ideological moorings , the BJP moved towards a recogni-
tion of the composite character of the Indian nation. BJP's Lok Sabha election manifesto of 1984 stated that "Unity in
diversity has been the hallmark oflndian culture, which is a unique, multihued synthesis of the cultural contributions
made over the centuries by different peoples and religions. "Simultaneously', socio-economic issues were highlighted
in a manner that recalled the populism of the Jana Sangh in the seventies.7 It supported the Janta Party from outside
but realised that they would not gain much by amalgamating with them. The reason was there for all to see. The period
from 1980 till 1984 saw that in its post Jana Sangh avatar as part of the Janata coalition the party had tried to present
itself as a moderate, centrist political party but it did disastrously in the 1984 elections Uust 2 seats in Lok Sabha
though fighting/fieldingcandidates in 229 constituencies).
Hence in a"context of deepening uncertainty and flux the BJP and the Sangh combine were the one collec-
tive force that had the organizational means, the ideological clarity and the inclination to pursue the politics of mass
mobilisation (vyithin the country).8
The BJPwas helped by the 'Sangh parivar' (the clusteroffarnilyorganizations such as the RSS, VHP et.al.,),
in particular by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the transformationsof the 1980s. As Thomas Hansen has argued, what
was new in the 1980s 'was not so much the employment of the new idiom of communalism per se; but rather the inge-
nuity and the scale with which this idiom was differentiated and disseminated through an array of new technologies of
mass mobilization.'9 The VHP set up in 1964 had been established to 'revitalize Hindu society' and aimed at mobiliz-
ing Hindus-defined as'all people who believe in, respect or follow the eternal values oflife that have evolved in Bharat'
against the threats presented as being posed to them by Christianity, Islam and Communism. In the eighties', the BJP
began to reflect the VHP stance whose incipient defensiveness transformed into an aggressive, anti-Muslim cultural
nationalism. The VHP despite itsassociation with Hindu religious leaders ina blatant manner is not at all a scripturalist
organization, and as van derVeer argues, it rather articulates a modem Hinduism as the national religion of India, ap-
pealing in particular to an urban, middle - class constituency. This brings it into conflict with the principles of secular-
ism as laid down in the Constitution, for by the VHP's definition Muslims and Christians are not part of theHindu na-
tion.10
In the eighties' the critique of secularism that was sustained by the Jana Sangh earlier- acritique which had
protested against the special treatment of Muslims and campaigned for a politics of equal ' religio us' privilege - "was
repackaged by its successor organization, the BJP as a more forceful affirmation of the claims of the Hindu majority.
More so than the leadership of the Jana Sangh, the leadership of the BJP in the 1980s aimed to recover an ideology
ofHindutva from the works of Veer Savarkar, and others , and to present these ideas forcefully, imaginatively and
without apology to the Indian public. L.K. Advani in particular- after the party shifted from its attempt in the early
1980s to present a centrist image- was keen to press home the argument that India was labouring under a doctrine of
pseudo - secularism which had been imposed on the country by Nehru and the modernizing wing of the Congress par-
ty." 11
The electoral successes of the BJP in the 1980s and 1990s were remarkable, being the product of various
reasons. Not all of it goes to the party's Hindutva ideology as the Mandal issue of reservations had exercised the voters
and sought to vote for an alternate party not in power. It was also due to the failure of the left parties, as Corbridge and
Harriss have opined.

@ Note : The BJP was a constituent of the Janta Party in 1977 & 1980.
Source: Subrata K. Mitra & J. Chiriyankandath (eds.) Electoral Politics in India Segment, N.
Delhi (1992) & Election Commission, Reports for 1996-99, N. Delhi.

156
 Table3
BJP's Support Base Regionwise - Inflow Table*
Election 1952 1957 1962 1967 1971 1984 1989 1991 1996 1998
Year
Primary region 62.2 71.3 68.8 65.5 63.6 55.5 48.2 45.1 41.6 31.4
Secondary region 17 .0 24.6 25.2 26.8 29.4 35.3 44.3 31.3 40.0 28.2
Tertiary regio n, 20.8 4.1 6.0 7.7 7.0 9.2 7.5 23.6 18.4 40.4
* Inflow Table indicates t e percentage of people who voted BJP (regionwise)

Notes: BJP primary states= Raj., Guj., MP, Delhi, UP & Himachal
Secondary States= Kar., Bihar, Goa, Mah., AP, Orissa, Assam, Punjab and Haryana. Tertiary
states= Kerala, TN, W.Bengal, North Eastern States.
Source: Oliver Heath- "Anatomy of BJP's Rise to Power" Vols. 34 & 35; 21-27 Aug, 28 Aug. - 3 Sept.
19 99, Economic and Political Weekly.
It can be seen from the above table no. 2 that the BJP started increasing its tally from 1989 on-
wards after a dism al show in 1984. It also became confident to contest more and more Lok Sabha seats reaching the
high of 471 constituencies wherein it fielded its candidates in 1996. This is significant because BJP is primarily a North
based party having its bulk of support from the states of Delhi, UP, Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP, Himachal. As can be
seenfrom Table No. 2 the BJP received its bulk of support from its primary catchment area (31.4% of the voters in this
region voted the BJP) of the North, in 1998. Though this was a decline from the high of7 1.3% that had been clocked by
them in 1957; yet its expanse into new territories in the tertiary areas such as in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, North Eastern states
and W. Bengal paid rich dividends by giving it 40.4% of the voter suppo rt. This was very low in all earlier elections till
1991.
This Table No.3 shows the inflow of where the BJP's support comes from, i.e., each region as a percentage of
the total number of people who voted BJP into power. The table illustrates how the BJP's relianc e on the primary states
has dwindled over the years.
They are also of the opinion , that "from well before the final decade of the twentieth century the BJP with its
often problematic but always significant connections with the cadre based organization of the RSS, and its links with the
other organizations of the Sangh parivar, has been-with the exception of the CPI(M), at least in West Bengal- the most
coherent and the best organized force in Indian politics.12 However, as Sudipta Kaviraj has pointed out, its unity is in-
deed partly an illusion which could be main- tained only so long as it did not hold office and 'its leaders have appeared to
have a purpose which is higher than that of the pursuit of individual power for private gain, and they held together in a
way that has distinguished them both from the old men who led the Janata in the 1970s, who lost the initiative due to
their personal squabble s and from the lead ers of the national front in the 1990's. 13

BJP- It's Pinnacle of Rise and Glory

C. JAFFRELOT has pointed out that the BJP attracted support by default because the Congress was deeply
unpopul ar, the BJP probably won over former Congress supporters because of their anathema to corruption, inefficiency
and ran1pant factionalism in Congress. BJP also began to winsupport not only from its traditional base in the trading
castes but also from prominent executives, ex-servicemen, and former administrative personnel. The Janata Dal/National
Front simultaneously lost its support from amongst the middle classes who are predominantly from the higher and mid-
dle ranking castes, because of its advocacy of the policy of reservations for members of the Other Backward Classes and
of the handling of the anti Manda! Commission student agitators in 1990 .
The third wave of the BJP's rise is associated with itsgrea test moment of glory largely because in the salubri-
ou s climate of anti Middle class policies the wide base that BJP had lacked since its originating moment got rectified.
The extent to which their religious appeal to the middle class mattered is being debated. C. Jaffrelot argues that tlie Ram-
janmabhoomi issue did not exercise the middle classes and they did not play a large part in its mobilisation. He says "
For such people religious factors apparently played a minor role compar·ed to their opposition to the reservations issue
policy and commitment to a more disciplined (or even authoritarian) form of politics and the image of the BJP.14 The
opposite view has also gained ground that to some extent, the religious fundamentalism helped in assua$ing the Hindut-
va brigade in the party and outside in its quest for power.

157
This group of mostly Hindu followers ofBJP, according to Pratap Bhanu Mehta are of a different mindset. These "Hin-
dus seem to be suffering from insecurity (which . is) linked to a crisis of self esteem about India. Acrisis connected to
India's (as also their own) w!ll being and place in the world. There is a feeling that we have been left behind and lost out
in the globalised world. So they look for scapegoats and the convenient one is the Muslim." 15 (Additions in brackets
are mine).
Hence the growth of the BJP is associated with the worst communal conflagrations seen in independent India.
6 December 1992 assault on Bahri Masjid was followed by appalling communal violence (in January 1993) Surat, Bho-
pal, Bombay. In 199 1, the party had got 119 seats and 20 per cent of the valid votes cast in its favour, establishing itself
as the second party nationally.
Yogendra Yadav in his analysis of State Assembly elections between 1993 and 1995 ha posited that they
seeme d to mark the ensuing of a third phase in the history of India's party system. Starting with the Congress domi-
nance, the second phase starting from the 1970s "saw the emergence of genuine competition to the Congress, both at the
state and at the national level, often aided by electoral waves.... This phase (he suggests calling it the 'Congress-
Opposition System') saw the emergence of bipolar con- solidation in various states without yieldi ng a bipolarity at the
national level." The third phase, initiated by the state elections of 1993-1995 and confirmed emphatically in the general
election of 1999, marks "a move towards acompetitive multi-party system which can no longer be defined with refer-
ence to Congress." 16
A multi party competitive model of governance meant BJP staking its claim to power soon. It did when the
1996 general elections gave it 161 seats helping the BJP emerge for the first time as the largest single party, though
without significantly expanding the basis of its support numerically, socially or geographically, over its 1991 results.
The BJP sought power but as it did not command a majority with its 161 MPs in 1996, it formed a govern-
ment for precisely 13 days. It was only in May 1999 that it could gain real substantive power. The nature oflndian polity
and in particular, its party system saw it that it had to explore the route of coalitions. The BJP contrary to its earlier stand
of seeking power alone, had to compromise on this count. It formed pre-poll and post poll alliances because despite its
best efforts it could not irl1prove on its tally of 182 seats in 1998 and 1999 general elections.
Hence the BJP's National Democratic Alliance consisted of23 partners, which consisted of regional parties
like Telgu Desam, Shiv Sena, Biju Janata Dal etc. ·
This coalition has been in existence till date and for the sake of record, has clocked the maximum time of four
years' plus- this is the longest period for any coalition government in independent India.
Upshot
An analysis of the BJP, electorally speaking, the predominant political party contemporaneously shows that
various factors have assisted in its growth of which, the rampant communalist Jehadi Nationalism is one which has been
its sui generis contribution. Hqwever, looking at the conundrum of multiplicities, heterogeneities and complexities in
which the polity operates, it is but natural that it could come to power only by virtue of a coalition governance.
Even now, despite a massive expansionist outsurge, its presence all-India is much to be desired. It could con-
test only 339 seats in 1999 elections and cornered only 23.8% of the valid votes polled (falling from the all time high
of25.5% in 1998 ). As Harold Gould put it, the BJP remains more a 'mega-regional party' than a truly nationai party.17
The incapability of the BJP to retain its lofty heights and its falling image in the post Godhrariots in Gujarat
in March 2002 and after; its war hysteria with Pakist an and alienation of the middle and poor classes with the insensi-
tive and lopsided economic policies that are foisting 160ecognized160on agendas to the detriment of the Indian people
are inter alia, some of the causes for concern for the party. Whether its ultra nationalism can tide over its overtly com-
munal agenda remains to be seen.
It needs to be 160ecognized that coalitional politics and the ending of the era of predominance of One party
has come side by side with some very important developments in the last two decades. Political power is drifting from
the Centre to the regions as also the empowerment of the subalterns (or what may be called the backward and lower
castes) has brought them into power. Entrenched political parties like the BJP have not quite acquiesced this and learnt
lessons, though they are trying. -However, it is disturbing that the crumbling hold of the elite classes and parties has
foisted more populist democracy and less substantive change. Unless the BJP accepts this and comes out with alterna-
tives to meet the situation head on, its ascendancy could be in danger. Fomenting communalist programs in BJP domi-
nated states is not going to give it leverage in its goal, nor Hindu rastra provide the panacea.

158
 FOOT NOTES

1. See Soutik Biswas - "A Faith Besieged" Outlook July 8, 2002 p. 56-64.
2. B.D. Graham - "The Leadership and Organization of the Jana Sangh, 1951 to 1967" in Zoya
Hasan's Parties and Party Politics in India Oxford Univ. Press Delhi (2002) p. 189.
3. D.D. Upadhaya in Organiser Diwali Special issue (1964), p.11.
4. Edward Shils - The Torment of Secrecy Heinemann, Melbourne (1956) pp.98 & 100.
5. See C. Jaffrelot -"A Specific party- building Strategy: The Jana Sangh and the RSS Network" in
The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics: 1925 to the 1990s Viking, Delhi by C.
Jaffrelot. p. 210. (1996).
6. SeeA.B. Vajpayee -India at the Crossroads BJP Publications, N. Delhi (1981) p.3.
7. See Resolution on the Economic Situation National Council, BJP: Cochin (25 Apr. 1981) pp.
5-6 .
8. Achin Vanaik - The Furies of Hindu Communalism Verso, London (1997) p.313.
9. T.B. Hansen - The Saffron Wave _: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern IndidPrinceton
Univ. Press, Princeton (1999) p.159.
10. P. van der Veer's book Religious Nationalisms Hindus and Muslims in India Univ. of California
Press, Berkeley (1994) is a good exposition on the subject.
11&12. S. Corbridge & J. Harriss - Reinventing India - Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism
and Popular Democracy Oxford University, Press Delhi (2002) p.122.
13. Sudipta Kaviraj - "TheGeneral Elections in India" Government and Opposition v.32, p3-24.
14. C. Jaffrelot-supra p.433.
15 . Pratap Bhanu Mehta quoted in Soutik Biswas's piece supra p.59.
16. Yogendra Yadav - "Reconfiguration in Indian Politics : State assembly elections 1993-95"
Economic and Political Weekly v. 312 p.99.
17. Quoted in S. Corbridge & J. Harriss-supra p.130.

159
 SELECT BIBLIOG RAPHY

1. AHMAD,Aijaj -In Theory Verso; London (1992).

2. Brass, Paul R - Language , Religion and Politics in North India CUP (1975)
3. -Theft of an Idol : Text and Context in the representation of Collective
Violence PUP (1997) .
4. Buch M - Rise and Growth of Indian Nationalism Baroda Univ. Press Baroda (1940 ). .
5. Chaudhri Nirad C " The Hindu-Muslim Confrontation in India" The Statesman Festival 1993 .
6. -Hinduism B I Publications Delhi (1979) .
7. Chatterjee Partha - The Nation and its Fragments PUP Princeton (1993).
8. Chandhoke N - Beyond Secularism: The Rights of Religious Minorities Oxford Univ. Press,
Delhi (1999).
9. Das Veena- Critical Events : An Anthropological Perspectiv e on Contemporary India OUP,
Delhi (1995).
10. Gordon R - "The Hindu Mahasabha and the Indian National Congress, 1915 to 1926 Modern
Asian Studies, v.9: p. 145-203.
11. Graham B- Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics : The Origins and Development ofthe Bharatiya
Jana Sangh CUP Cambridge (1990).
12. Hansen TB - " RSS and the popularisation ofHindutva" EPW v. 28 ; p. 2270-3 (1993).
13. Harriss J & Corbridge S - Reinventing India OUP, Delhi 2001.
14. Hasan Z- Politics and the State in India OUP, Delhi (2000).
15. Hawthorn G - "Caste and Politics in India since 1947" in D Mac Gilvray (ed.) Caste ideology
and Interaction CUP, Cambridge (1982) p. 204-30.
16. Manor J - "Anomie in Indian Politics" EPWV. 1 8 ; p. 725-34 (1983).
17. _ _ _ _ - "The BJPin the South: 1991 General Elections" EPWv. 27; p. 1267-78.
18. . Nandy A et.al. - Creating a Nationality : The Ramjanmabhoomi Movement and
Fear of the Self OUP ( 1995).
19. Omvedt G- " Hinduism and Politics" EPW v. 25; p.723-90 (1990).
20. Rajagopal A- " Ramjanrnabhoomi , consumer identity and image based politics" EPW v. 29, p.
1659-68 (1994).
21. Savarkar Veer- Essentials of Hindutva BG Paul, Madras (1922).
22. Srinivas MN - Caste : Its TwentiethCentury Avatar Penguin, Delhi (1996).
23. Vanaik A- The furies of Hindu Communalism Verso, London (1997).

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 UNIT VI
LESSON 13

POLITICS OF ELECTORAL ALLIANCES AND COALITION

Subhendu Ranjan Raj

Reader
PGDAVCollege
University of Delhi

Political systems are in a ferment throughout the world but more so in the developing world for arguably a
variety of reasons. It is also a fact that it is not easy in our day and age to find diverse parties competing freely and
without encumbrance and interference of the State for mass electoral support. Durable, liberal systems ofrepresentation
may be hard to find and largely limited to democracies ; but more significantly, problems of mandate are relatively new
phenomena which have become intractable.
India, however does'nt present the problem associated with the former though the latter manifests greatly in
its body-politic. India, after some five decades of independent existence and about close to a dozen General elections
has faced relatively speaking free operation of political forces but not without being associated with traumas and per-
sisting threats to open competitive politics. Related to this is the experience of coalitional politics and the politics of al-
liances that have become the hallmark of its operation.
Political behaviour of political parties in effect determine largely the nature of governance and as it is De-
mocracy in the Third world setting has tosurmount many trammels and face innumerable challenges. The la-politiques
in this part of the world have posited severe structural and ideological roadblocks in the functioning of democratic insti-
tutions and processes. The most major process namely the process of elections through which the representation mech-
anism operates aggrandizing the political consensus or otherwise of the sovereign masses is perhaps the most vulnera-
ble to such onslaughts. In generai, in most democracies in our part of the world, there exists a dysfunctionality in the
electoral system by not express- ing clear mandate in the aftermath of elections. This has foisted a new culture of nebu-
lous' alliance politics ' and the regimes of coalitions in power sharing and government formation.
Though ipso facto, the new politics that this has spawned has been in some measure also been an occidental
phenomenon 1 , what with major democracies of the West finding themselves in the same boat; it is in settings like that
ofindia that its most sinister and exasperating implications are found in their most tenuous forms. There is also a school
of thought that considers such alliance and coalition politics in welcome addition to Democracy.2 But, mostly and on
this there is broad consensus that it presents a new formal format for the blending of divergent forms of opinion - a
novel but unclear mandate of the people to share power, reflecting the country's socio-political plurality and the diver-
gent hetrogeneity and thereby underlining the significance of governance of this great country through mode of consen-
sus. Hence accep- tance of alliances and coalitions is an acquiescence of the multivariate nature oflndia politics. Any
insis- tence in the tradition of the era of yore, bygone past on narrow identities, fixed tenure of Parliament (especially,
for its lower house) brute majorities', dynastic succession or insistence on single-party gover- nance would reflect a
failure to recognize socio-political realities.
Hence the politics of coalitions and its corollary alliance formation is a feature of plural societies'. No plural
society has,e, ver been able to satisfactorily solve the problem of integration of their various constituents in such a way
that their respective sovereign identities are safeguarded whil_e attaining and retaining cohension, required for the via-
bility of a nation.3 The increasing number ofcoalition experiments
in the last one and half decades and even earlier underscore this reality. It should therefore be understood J
that the diversity and social pluralism in India have made it almost imperative that political power be shared and there
is a great need for political accommodation cutting across communities , linguistic groups, religious identities, less de-
veloped castes, regions and even marginal/minority groupings.
However it needs to be recognised that the age of alliances and coalitional politicking has led to the growth
of transitory bargaining, manipulation, horse-trading in the realm of politics and ephemeral terms of governance which
apart from being short lived encourage populism, ad-hocism in policy planning and is notorious for foisting instability
in the political system. 4

161
 E. Sridharan posits that a coalition, in addition should be viewed as a stop-gap mechanism, some- thing that
is transitory in nature from which all parties' try to improve their positions so that they can form a government by them-
selves without having to form acoalition again. He says, "a reality absolutely critical to coalition behaviour and stabil
ity, is that any coalition is at best a second-best situation for every major political party. Each party during the coali-
tion's lifetime will seek to position itself to improve its vote and seat share in the next election. Thus, conflict is built
into coalition and /or minority govts. Each coalition will see jockeyin g for long term electoral gains along with short-
term maximisation of power among its members."5
Given this theoretical background in brief, we would try to view electoral alliances and coalition formation
in India since independence and also analyse them. We would limit ourselves to a study of coalitions at the Centre.

II
INDIA'S EXPERIMENT WITH COALITION GOVERN-
MENTS
Although coalitions have been in existence before the constitution came into existenc;e (with undi- vided In-
dia having its first coalitional experiment in 1937), Independent India's brush with coalition began first with state gov-
ernments which were headed by some non Congress parties (for example in the very first elections in 1952 there were
coalitions in Orissa, PEPSU, Travancore-cochinetc). At the national le vel, no express coalition emerged. One party
dominance of the Congress was responsible for this and there was a break in the tradition when the fourth general elec-
tions (1967) for the first time challenged the hegemon y by throwing up new political forces. It ushered the era of polit-
ical instability, coalition politics and political alignments of convenience. Multiparty politics came into vogue in which
no single party should claim absolute majority at any level of the political spectrum. "The elections led to the replace-
ment of single dominant party system by the multiparty system in which no particular party claimed absolute maj01ity
at any level of the political structure with the result that the model ofintra-party (tacit or implied) coalition was replaced
by the inter party (express or formal) coalition system. The Congress vote dropped from almost 5% and while it had
held 74% of the seats in the previous parliament, it now managed to win only 54%. Even more stunning was the num-
ber of seats in which it failed to win a majority (or lost it because of defections soon after the elections); there were as
many as nine States - Punjab, Haryana, UP, MP, Bihar, West Bengal , Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala-which now had
non-congress governments. This brought in a completely new situation in Indian politics whereby opposition parties in
some states experimented with coalition politics and government formations.''6
It is not S\J,rprisin g to know that in the period from I 967 till 1971 there were many coalitions formed in the
above mentioned states. There were some states within them where the politics of frequent defection resul.ted in the
making of various coalitions existing for very short durations. In Bihar forexample there were six governments in the
period headed respectively by Mahamaya P. Sinha, Sh. B. P. Mandal, B. P. Shastri, Sardar H. Singh, Bhola Paswan
Shastri and Daroga P. Rai in this period with an average tenure of 4.2 months with President's rule interspersed in be-
tween for and and a half years.7
Similarly, there were four coalitions in West Bengal, five in U.P.; three each in MP, Punjab, Pondicherry,
Manipur in this period. Thus the first phase of coalitional politics was largely spread to the states in the lQdian Union
and despite the lackadaisical performance of the Congress in this period, the status of being the single dominant party at
the Centre remained with it till the nineth general elections (except for the l977-79 period when a coalition ruled at the
Centre). Yet, simultaneously the electoral base of the Congress was being successfully challenged all over the country.
Thus, the first phase of coalitions starting from 1967 onwards was a fallout of dissension in one patty domi-
nance and the onset of regionalisationoflndian Politics. Analysts believe that parochial identification and localised
power struggles give rise to regionalisation. "Regionalisation is itself a political consequence of assertive social cleav-
ages and changing social coalitions."8
Second Phase
The beginning of coalitions in the states' as noted above marked the beginning of the decline of Congress.
Although the non Congress governments forged out in the states' were not able to give viable and stable alternatives it
led to the beginning of a new 'phase of assertion, competition, bargaining and accommodation among political parties,
particularly the opposition groups...' It was bound to hit the hurstings at the national level and it did a bit later. The ma-
jor turning point was in 1977 which brought the first major coalition at the Centre, hitherto the bastion of hegemonic
Congress party rule. The Janata Party rule (1977-1979) was the by-product of Indira Gandhi's fascist overtures in the
1975-1977 period when she imposed National Emergency. The period saw major upheavals asall important political
leaders of all non-Congress party were jailed.

162
The major parties were Jana Sangh, Socialist party, Congress (0), Bhartiya Lok Dal. The 1977 elections posted a major
success for them as they chose to contest on a common platform and symbol. They also had a common manifesto. The
new entity, christened, the Janata Party Secured 43.17% of the polling and captured 55.1% of seats in the Lok Sabha
(293 seats out of 540). Though this coalition started well, the inbuilt contradictions in its formation soon caught up with
it and brought about its end.

Since the composition of the coalition was based on anti-Congressism, and it brought to- gether ideologically
disparate groups together; there was no concerted thought given to post electoral set up i.e., how to provide a cohesive
and strong governance to the people. Morarji Desai was the PM but there were besides Desai at least two other heavy-
weights who were aspirants to the post viz, Jagjivan Ram of Congress for Democracy and Charan Singh (BLD). The
tussle between Jana Sangh and BLD over retaining RSS affiliations and allegations against Morarji'sson of corruption
were some other factors that took them into. Troubled waters. Y. B. Chavan's noconfidence motion reduced the minis-
try toa minority and Desai resigned 1 July 1979.
Charan Singh formed the government with the support of Cong (I) and some Left groups, but only three weeks later,
Cong (I) withdrew its support and Lok Sabha was in a limbo. "Failure of the Janata coalition was thus caused by per-
sonality clashed, ideological differences and defections. These draw- backs were furthe suppliented by strategy of ma-
nipulations pursued by the Congress(!). However, the major achievement oflndian democracy was that the 1977 elec-
tions showed the power of the ballot against authoritatianism. It also showed that there can be two dominant parties in
oriented parties to work
out their differences first and then get prepared for governance. The Janata Party rule also showed the force
and bargaining power of the coalition against the dominant Congress at the Centre which had never been challenged
before.'">
For a short interregnum from 1977-79 we saw two coalitional arrangements. After the nineth general elec-
tions in 1989, there was a new alignment of forces at the centre and there have emerged four major coalitional govern-
ments since then, based on proactive consensus and struggles for power. These n'l.ay be mentioned hereunder.
1. V. P. Singh's National Front Coalition (1989-1990).
2. H. D. DeveGowda's and I. K. Gujral's experiments in United Front governance (1996- 98).
3. A. B. Vajpayee's hydra headed coalition - 1st phase (1998-1999).
4. Vajpayee's post 13 general elections' coalition- 2nd phase (1999-till date).

163
 III
COALITIONAL ALLIANCES-THE CRUCIAL PHASE
The National Front coalition, properly speaking inaugurated the era of coalitions in India. It was the creation
of coming of age, as it were of the multi-party system. Calling itself as the ' third force', the 1989 elections were a volte-
face to the Congress (I) which was the target of the right and left forces. The Bhartiya Janata Party (erstwhile known as
Jana Sangh) and ushered in the 'the politics of Kamandal' by its Babri Masjid imbroglio. The Left and the centrist parties
had rallied around the corruption issue in the Bofors arms deals. A host of other successes of Rajiv Gandhi government
were the other pinpricks, leading the opposition forces to believe that the Congress stood to gain at the elections. viz., its
maket savvy economics, technologyhypeand international successes in disarmament talks, rejuvenating regional group-
ings such as SAARC et. al, success is finding limited succour in the context of vexations Punjab, Northeast problems.
•
The National Front was composed of centrist parties such as Janata Dal, Lok Dal (A)& Lok Dal (B), DMK,
Cong (S),Asom Gana Parishad and the Left parties and the BJP on the other hand supported them, despite the presence
of deep cleavages between them. They came together because of deep seated against the Congress (I) . Aminimum
working agenda was agreed upon which talked ofimplementing tough strictures against corruption, especially finding
asolution to the Bofors quagmire, promoting secular- ism, constitutional reforms,suggesting federal solutions to the Pun-
jab and Kashmir problems. The elector- ate gave the Congress a resounding blow and its vote share fell from an all time
high of 48% in 1984 to 39/ 5% at the national levelin 1989; in terms of seats it tumbled from a majestic 415 seats in Lok
Sabha to a partly 143 seats in the same period. All the opposition parties joined the V. P. Singh government in December
1989, and the Left and BJP agreed to support them 'from outside'. (They were not part of the coalition directly but sup-
ported them).
V. P. Singh's.brand ofMandal politics to bring into its fold (the Janata Dal's that is) the socially and economi-
cally backward castes (other than the SC's and ST's) was an attempt to meet the BJP's militant populism on the
Ayodhya-- B bri issue. BJP was succeeding in gaining acceptance and widening its voter base and its implication was
felt on the National front government. When its (BJP's) bargaining and tone became strident. JP played the upper caste
Hindus to its advantage. Advani's Rath Yatra was aimed at mobilising the upper caste Hindus and itcaused communal ri-
ots besides aggravating anti-Muslim feelings in the cow belt, forcing Singh to arrest him. This led to withdrawal of out-
side support from the National Front coalition government.
Chandra Shekhar further weakened the Front when his outfit broke away from the National front and was
made the PM with the support of the Congress (I). He remained in power for six months after which the Congress (I)
snatched the rug from his feet.
Perhaps the most significant of coalition governments, the National Front's success for less than a year was an
important milestone. Its formation gave an optimism to the down and out marginalised forces, both political and other-
wise that they could be factors of governance. It (i.e., Janata Party) despite being perpetually in a state of vulnerability
was able to restore.some democratic principles such as instituting the Inter-State Council following the Sarkaria Com-
mission's recommendation to this effect. An effort was also made to find solution to Kashmir and Punjab terrorism and
subsequent alienation through a concerted will to solve them under the rubric of the federal framework as given under
the Constitution. The National Front government was an example that within the confines of restricting parameters, a co-
alition could be effective and could take important measures by showing the political gumption. Analysts have noted that
this formation was able to take initiatives, some of which could not be taken under the previous Congress governments,
despite marshalling far greater numbers in the Parliament.

ii) Interregnum Before the Advent ofThe United Front

Momentous events took place in the aftermath of the fall of the National Front coalition. The Congress which
had upset the post V.P. Singh government formed by Chandra Shekhar because of very flimsy reasons (namely that two
policemen were found surveilling Rajiv Gandhi's residence) was into difficult times with the assassination in 1991 , of
Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur. Bereft of the Nehru- Gandhi icons, the Congress found it difficult tostand upon its own.
A party where there were no grassroots elections and no internal democracy thrived on' leaders imposed from above'.
Simultaneously, the BJP privar was cashing in on communal polarisation on the Ayodhya issue and receiving mass adul-
tation had found a niche audience even among educated intelligentsia and middle class. Alongside this, another devel-
opment was that non-Con gress parties, regional outfits, Janata Dal and even the BJP were slowly entrenching their in-
fluence and were succeeding in forming their government in several states.'

164
 This period of the eighties' and the beginning of the nineties ' was also a period of great social transition.
Although V.P. Singh is pilloried for having opened the pandora box ofMandalisationof politics, all parties' openly
played this brand of politics, espousing the cause of the OBCs and SEBCs, justas the Congress had in the past cham-
pioned the cause of SC & STs independently and quite silently another social revolution had hit Hindi belt, namely,
the resurgence of the middle castes and the lower classes. In Bihar, for example Yadavs had not only experienced
economic development but had usurped political power from the traditional upholders, the Bhumihar-Kayasth-
Brahrnin upper castes. Hence its impact had started affecting national politics. Elsewhere , the SC & STs had become
restive because the national parties' especially the Congress was paying only lip service to them. The formation ofLa-
loo Yadav's party (now known as Rastriya Janata Dal), Samajwadi Party ofMulayam Singh Yadav, The Bahujan Sa-
maj Party of Mayavati and Kanshi Ram are indicators of this trend. These new castes had started accumulat- ing votes
and political power as never before and giving the national parties a tough time.9
It is apparent that regionalism along with vocalisation of dalit power was the new reality of the nineties.' It
isalso observed by commentators ofthis trend thatfo the North this social phenomenon led to the marginalisation of the
erstwli.ile dominant party the Congress. It also gave serious challenge to BJP. The result was that the Congress along
with other parties such as the Janata Dal, BJP etc., were returned to power with trunc"ate d majorities. On the other
hand the vote share ofregional parties grew in the context of hung parliament. The Congress was barely able to gain.
Narasirnha Rao could barely manage to be in power from 1991 till 1996. "It was after completing of five year term of
the Congress government, multi party politics finally paved the way for the coalition government, which best suited to
the interests of the non-Congress parties. The Congress aversion to coalition and alliance with the 'third force encour-
age the BJP and other parties to survive with coalition and alliance. It is important to mention that after the term of the
10th Lok Sabha in early 1996, three general elections have been held in 1996, 1998, 1999 and coalition governments
became indispensable for governance. At the same time, they strengthened multi- party system."10
The United Front came into existence after the 11th general elections. In these elections the BJP came out
as the largest single party securing 161 seats. Combining with its pre election allies namely Shiv Sena (having 15
seats), haryana Vikas party (3 seats), Samta party (8 Seats) and its post poll alliance partner namley Akali Dal (8MPs)
the BJP group had 195 MPs in the house which had 543 members in total. Yet this number was not enough to give it
majority. No other party extended support to it. Resultantly the BJP despite being called to form government by the
President could not muster the numbers and its 13 day government fell. "For the first time, the general elections of
1996 resulted in a Parliament which truly reflected the national pluralism. There was not a single political party which
truly reflected the national pluralism. There was not a single political party which could claim absolute majority as the
basis to form the government. Nearly a score of parties had their spokesmen in it, some of whom were lone represen-
tatives. Further, there was no state represented by less than two parties. However, two parties and a coalition group
were large enough to stake claim to power provided they could win support. It was, so to say, a hung Parliament in
which a coalition alone could form the government by mustering support of a majority of parliamentary members.
BJP had ... 35% of seats... the Congress had less than 725% seats. (BJP had 21% of the votes polled in comparison to
32% of the votes polled by the Congress, yet managed to secure more seats) even the United Front which secured 28%
votes had more seats than the Congress. This discrepancy between votes and seats was due to low voter turnout (about
51%), concentration of BJP in northern and western India and its tactics to put up 'cover' candidates from all social
groups to detract ballots from the main candidates." 11

iii) The United Front Coalition

Emergence of United Front as a conclave of 13 parties willing to step in the shoes of the BJP is a very sig-
nificant marker for students of coalitional politics. The provess of its formation, the manner of deliberations that went
into its eventual outcome are equally important.
After the fall of 13 day government ofBJP the United Front was invited by President. United Front was
composed of 13 parties such as the Janata Dal, CPM, CPI, Telugu Desam, DMK, Tamil Maanila Congress, Samajwa-
di Party, Asom Gana parishad, Samta etc. The Congress Party gave outside support. Initially the Communist parties
gave support without being part of the government witlun it, acore group including representativesof six parties con-
stituted the Federal front. They structured the common minimum programme which among other things, stressed on
focussing on the federalisation process by wishing to implementing the Sarkaria Commission recommendations. H. D.
DeveGowda, the PM stated that ... " We regard this front (UF) as the people's power to be used for realising your
hopes and aspira- tions. It is also the beginning of a new way of governance based on federalism, decentralisation,
equality and justice. Secular outlook and democratic spirit are the foundation of this coalition."12

165
 1n many respects this was the government that started with built in contradictions. It was a ragtag of differ-
ing ideological perspectives. Moreover, it was not a pre-poll alliance. The alliance came to being in its entirety only er
the election results of the 11th Lok Sabha were announced. Yet, it is creditable that this government of 13 parties car-
ried on its administration on the time-honoured principle of ' agreementto differ' meant for coalitional governments.
The crucial role of the Congress in supporting and maintaining the government eloquently demonstrated that asconstant
element in the party system it isfar from being out of the game. It was able to manipulate a change in primeministership
from Deve Gowda to I. K. Gujral and, then, pressed for the dissolution ofI ,ok Sabha. The Congress party was yet un-
der an illusion that as the constant of the Indian political system, it would be able to return to the Parliament with a
spectacular majority and on its own. Naturally, this did not come by because the twelfth parliament (though changed to
a significant extent) was in ultimate analysis, another with nosingle party wielding majority in it. This became an occa-
sion for the Congress to realize that the era of coalition government had dawned on India and it would have to adjust it-
self with the coalitional politics. This was matched by asimilar realization on the part of the other non-Congress secular
parties that anti-Congressism is no longer a valid strategy to pursue. Even the BJP, which had a rudimentary electoral
alliance in theelections of 1996, also made up its mind to follow in a big way a policy of electoral alliances to pave the
way ofits own coalition government in the elections of 1998. Thus, coalitional politics was finally established in India.
As can be seen from the composition of the Houie, the big national parties (viz, the INC, BJP, JD/ JP, CPM,
CPI) together won only 391 seats out of the total of 543 seats in Lok Sabha. Ifone compares their performance from
1996 till 1977, it becomes apparent that in 1977 the big 5 held on to 481 seats out of 542 seats in Lok Sabha. Percent-
age wise whereas the big 5 parties secured 89% of the total seats in 1977, by 1996 they were able to capture a mere
72%. This shows that other parties, regional, linguistic, caste based etc. have entrenched upon their political space and
votes, perhaps the most truest indicator of the era of coalitions and alliances. Moreover, this phenomenon also suggests
that there is no uniformity in the spread and extent of other parties' i.e., to say that regional alternatives to the big five
are not always available inall states. It isalso a fact that even the presence of the big 5 is not uniform in all states. As
may be seen the BJP gains most from the northern and werstern states asdo the other three, barring Congress. The BJP
has minimal or negligible voter base in the North East and the same is true for the other 3 parties namely JD, CPM,
CPI. (See Table No. 2) These realities got reflected in the coalition of 1996 and even in coalitions formed in 1998 and
2000.
Despite the severe problems of governance, the UF made some achievements in providing legiti- macy and
importance to regional parties in federal governance. But an intransigent Congress, out of power and increasingly being
subordinated by the UF, smarting under its inability to get its priorities ac- cepted by the government, such asexcluding
DMK from the coalition because ofitscomplicity in Rajiv assassination, pulled the rug from the United Front. On 3
November 1997, the UF collapsed 'despite being united in itscommitment to"shared rule".

IV
COALITIONAL ALLIANCES-COMING OFAGE?

The tribulations of the United Front for 19 months brought to focus the changed reality oflndian politics (althoughas
noted earlier this had emerged a long time back) and its demise served notice to political parties of all hues that the
eraof coalitions hasto be accepted by all. Further it was now recognised that it was not easy to form governments and
run them as even the given belligerence of a small splinter group/faction can upset the most well thought out plan.
The post UF period brought the 12th Lok Sabha elections. The composition of parties gave out yet again, another un-
certain mandate. Yet it was a sure electoral mandate to them that India shall have coalition. There were forty parties,
national, regional and some very small in place of twenty-eight in the previous Lok Sabha. Since no party emerged
asa majority groupand their pattner/constituentswere divided as to how they should combine to provide a minimum
necessary majority for forming the government; we were witness to much manipulation and horse trading before a
government could take oath. It needs to be noted that this election registered an increase in the voter turnout from
58% in 1996 to 62% in 1998. It could not be said therefore, that a fractured mandate had manifested because of vot-
ers' apathy.

166
 The BJP sought the right to form government even if it was'nt the one to have or manage an absolute major-
ity because it had the maximum seats, viz. 182 seats (as compared to 141 of the Congress and the figureof50 of the
LeftPartiesand60 of non Left Parties such as SP, JD, RJD, DMK, BSP, TMC, Janata Party). In the new Lok Sabha. It
secured the support of the small groups like Haryana Lok Dal (INLD) which had 4 MPs, Arunachal Congress with 2
members, National Conference with 3 MPs, and some four regional parties having single member presence in the Par-
liament.
BJPhad pre poll arrangements with 11 parties. Interestingly, all of them were single state centred parties.
These were BJD, AIADMK, PMK, Samta, Trinamul Congress, Lok Shakti etc., which collectively (with the help of2
Independents like Maneka Gandhi, S S. Kainth) added 74 MPs to the tally ofBJP taking the total to 256. With the later
post poll adhesions notably with Telugu Desam (having 11 MPs) and the small groups mentioned above, a further
boost of27 to their figure occurred. This in the· game of alliances, the BJP was able to pull off a great success. But it is
not entirely due to its ability alone; the BJP was helped by other factors. Alongside thedecline of Congress, as seen by
the falling vote share from 34/5% in 1977, 39.5% in 1989 to 28.8% in 1996 to 25.9% in 1998 there was a let up in its
(i.e., the Congress Party is) hold on its traditional bastion among the minorities. For example "only 37% of the Mus-
lims voted for the Congress in 1996 as compared to 59% in 1971 .... the decimation of the Congress in its traditional
bastions of the Gangetic Plain is indeed striking; it obtained merely 6.02% of the valid votes polled in UP, and 7.4%
inBihar. In Tamilnadu, where the two dominantDMK/AIA-DMKledalliances continued to hold sway, itcould only
muster 4.78%13." These figures for earlier elections went further in the same direction. This made iteasier for regional
parties like theAIADMK, PATTALI MAKALKatchi toalign withBJP.
BJP was very clear that for coming to power they were to compromise on their fundamentalist position of '
mandirand kamandal'. This they adroitly managed and despite being against coalition they succumbed to it. "The BJP,
with itsspecific agenda and carefully nurtured support base, had never really been comfortable with the idea of federal
coalitions. Being essentially an ideological party in its core, its first preference was understandably for like-minded
parties with whom it has shared power at the state level , viz, the Shiv Sena and theAkali Dal. Determined initially to
tread a lonely path as a party unlike any other, it moved with astonishing rapidity towards demostrating that it could be
a party like any other." 14 Party president L. K.Advani noted the limits ofBJP's 'hindutva' agenda. At the Presidential
address at the meeting of the party's National Executive he stated that"... since the 1996 elections, it is not the same
ideological factors which have sustained our growth. Equally emphatica lly, it is not these ideological factors which
have brought us new political allies in different states." 15
The pre-poll arrangement of BJP with 11 parties and independents was assiduouslyincreased to include
some minor parties which took its post electoral coalitional toll to 283. This included the Indian National Lok Dal (0)
(with 4 MPs), Arunachal Congress (2 MPs)16, Sikkim Democratic Front, Manipur Congress Citizen's Front, Bodoland
State Movement Committee (all with 1 MPeach), National Confer- ence (with 3 MPs). Telgu Desam's 11MPs, 2 An-
glo Indians and one unattached MP(Anand M. Singh) made the BJP a 24 party behemoth. The coalition was to be
guided by a steering committee (called coordination cowrnittee). In reality this was ineffective.
There were "major differences within the coalition (which) was resolved bilaterally or aired in parliament.
For instance, an increase in the price of fertilizers included inthe Union Budget for 1998-99 had to be reversed on the
insistence of the Akali Dal andAIADMK, who also demanded and obtained major changes in the proposed reform of
the electric power sector to 'protect the interest of their farming (lobby). The AIADMK also pressured vociferously
for the dismissal of the government in Tamil Nadu; while the Trinamul Congress even suspended its support to the-
coalition for a week to express its dissatisfaction with government policies concerning West Bengal. Throughout its
thirteen-month tenure, the Vajpayee govern- ment was beset with internal crises caused by fractitious and disputa-
tious allies. Despite these irritants, it is remarkable that, when it fell, the Vajpayee government managed to retain the
support of most of its alliance partners. It lost about 20 MPs (AIADMK' S 18, National Conference's 1, Arunachal
Congress' I) but gained 6 (DMK's) to finish with a tally of269 against 270 that the opposition was able to muster.'' 17
Analysts have noted that with the advent of alliance politics with VP Singh's National Front
when national level coalitions started and till BJP's fall in 1999, there have been basic changes. Apart from the obvi-
ous fact that multi-level or multi-party politics was dictating governance (including for the first time perhaps, the stel-
ler role of regional and small parties asdeterminants of the course of national parties) one also found that parties with
different social bases were participating in competitive assertion and alliance formation. It'd not be practical to digress
upon this, keeping the scope of this paper. Suffice to state here that behind all this change isa great social churning re-
flecting the coming of age, as it were, of disparate communities, groups which were hitherto considered backward or
unassertive (for whatever reason) in the mainstream of political process. Call it resurgent regionalisation if you will,
but its impact on politics was tremendous and it gets reflected in the efflorescence of new parties.18 Consequently, the
politics of "alliance structure reduces pluralities of parties towards a polarised pluralism in which multiple form of
party system operates at different levels.19
167
 The Verdict of September 1999

The September elections were fought by the BJP with a vengeance. The others werr not so sure about their
aims. The BJP contested 339 seats, of which it won 182 seats i.e., 33.51% of the Lok Sabha seats. In terms of percent-
age of votes secured nationally we notice a decline. Its national vote share fell from 25.47% in 1998 to 23.70% in 1999.
Analysts who have tracked the elections closely note that not much change has occurred in the social support base
ofBJP in the two elections. BJP's ... "social base reflects a graded entrenchment into different social groups and classes.
During the last three general elections, BJP has built up its own social bloc through skillful use of caste and class dif-
ferences, and by striking alliances with regional groups and parties. However, if we move down the graded social com-
po- sition ofl ndia, the BJP social support declines across the social groups below the middle level. As the CSDC's data
reveal, BJP enjoys support of 46 percent Hindu upper caste; 30 percent Hindu Dominant peasant caste such as jats, Ma-
rathas, Patidars, Reddys, Kammas etc; 40 percent Hindu Other Backward Castes; 19% Adivasis and 12 percent dalits.
Among the religious minorities, it receives support of 8 percent Muslims, 9 percent Sikhs, and 10 percent Christians.
In class terms, BJP is most favoured among the upper and middle class, but finds little favour (27 percent) among the
poor and the poorer."20
The Congress, in contrast to the BJP has benefitted in this elections. Though this may not be reflective in the
total number of seats won in the Lok Sabha, it has improved its national vote share which has increased from 25.9% in
1998 to 28.4% in 1999. This gainof2.54%overthe last election in 1998 could not offset the loss of 27 seats. "The most
important reason for non convertibilityof votes into seats seems to be the Copgress undermining of regional par-
ties/groups, therefore, not striking pre-electoral alliances w,ith them. On the other hand, the pre-electoral alliance with
almost all the important regional groups helped BJP to win about the 50 seats (and the clinching margin) despite a drop
in its vote share."21 The Congress contested 453 seats, but secured 115 seats, which was 21.17% of the total seats in
the Lok Sabha. Contrary to the case ofBJP, one notices that Congress's vote increases as one scales down the graded
social hierarchy. "It has the support of only 21 percent of upper caste Hindus, but its vote share among the dominant
peasant groups such as Jats and Marathas, but has gained greater support among both the categories of OBC's (Hindu
upper and Lower). The Congress (I) gets the biggest share of the votes of Adivasis, Dalits, Muslims and Christians."22

Due to the increasing political mobilisation of other parties the 'Other Parties' have evolved into big time
power sharers. These motley group of state specific, region/linguistic specific and community specific parties have
come to rule the roost in Indian politics. They, between them lay claim to 204 seats in the Lok Sabha. Ifwe add to this
tally ideological parties like Left parties (CPI, CPM et. al.) which are also region specific parties toa large extent then
tally goes upto 247 seats. This means that they between themselves, have captured 45.48% of the seats in the Lok Sa-
bha. They are credited with securing close to 30% of the national vote share. "It is this size ofrepresentation that makes
coalition inevitable. Each of them has weaved a presumably enduring social coalition for power sharing. Being too lo-
calised,social coalitions cause subregional fragmentation of electoral spectrum in which theentirely ' local' detennine
the voting behaviour in national elections. Thus, earlier demarcation of universe between parliamentary and assembly
elections seems to bedisappearing. Thesalience of' local' introduces multipolarity in the political system in which the
two major parties have to share power with the ' local' ."23
The verdict of 1999 is loud and clear. It has characterised the emerging Party system ascoalitional. Coali-
tional systems mayalso beseen asmultipartysystems. However, inthe Indian system one has to state that coalitional gov-
ernance ormultiparty functioning assumes the presence ofat least two major national level parties around whom
thesmaller parties, veer around the intricate and confrounding task ofalliance formation.
The BJP's coalition has since the 1999 elections endured for an appreciably longer term now (closing on
to two and a half years) as compared to its earlier shortlived experience. Apart from the management ofintricacies
by deft political bargaining, sharing of power, resolution of intra-coalition spats, offering of sops to parties with-
drawing support and other intractable issues that crop up almost daily with bewildering frequency which are con-
tributing factors for the longevity of this government, perhaps the most important reason is the acceptance and
preparation for it with adequate groundwork by the BJP to alter its politics for the new reality of Indian politics,
viz., coalitional politics. Vajpayee has been responsible for the moderate line of the party's stand on major issues.
BJP hasalso recognised in time that its organizational base is still in an infancy in many states and over the last
quinquennum itdecided toextend a power-sharing offer to all regional parties engaged in State level contests with
the Congress. This was stated in as many words: "India's interests can be served best by involving regional parties
in the process of govemance."24

168
 In contrast to this, the Congress has still not woken up to this reality ofindia politics. Its sogged resistance to-
coalitions and its living inachimera that coalitions areapassing fad and harking back the past are evidence that it isill-
prepared for coalitions. Atthe Panchmarhi conclave ofthe AICC Sonia Gandhi exhorted.... ''Thefact that wearegoing
throughacoalitional phase at national level politics reflects in many waysthedecline of the Congress. This isapassing
phase and we will come back again with full force and onourownsteam."25
The 12th Lok Sabha which gives a strength of296 to BJP and its allies (this went up later to 30 I at its highest
poin9 was possible because it counted the entire gamut of regional parties as its allies (pre- poll & post-Poll). These may
be cited here namely as Janata Dal (United), Telugu Desam, AITC (West Bengal Trinam,ul Congress), BJD,
SHS,ABLTC, BSP (Jantantrik ), DMK, HVC, TNLD, PMK, MDMK, SAD, SDF, TRC, MGR-MADMK, MGR Ka-
zhagam, Arunachal Congress, LC, MSCP, INDEPEN- DENT (Maneka Gandhi). (National Conference joined it later).
The Congress can boast of a modest tally of 137counting onlyafewallies namely, AIADMK, RLD, RID, Muslim League
and Kerala Congress (Mani).
The BJP has somehow managed to overcome the precarious instability of minority and coalition govern-
ments, something which could be thesubject matter of another paper. This paperwould'nt digresson it. Suffice to say here
that the BJP has recorded the successful operation of a coalition for the longest period oftime in post independence peri-
od, till date. This has been possible in no small measure due to its concerted management of alliances, coalition for-
mation and effective strategies for perpetuation of such a system - which happens to be the governing reality of our
times. It seems therefore, that coalitions and alliance politics have come of age.
To recapitulate, the trends inthelastquinquennium, haveshown amply clearly thatthe Indian democratic exper-
iment isnow set tochart coalitional designs whichareasvariegated in theirnatureasisthecolourful cultural fabric of this na-
tion. It has also highlighted the centrist (or at best veering towards' left ofcentre') ideologies of the major parties at the
national level, which augurs well for forming coalitions as broadly parties of thesame ideological spectrum orsimilar to
it canform adhesions in any pre-poll or post-poll arrangement.
The BJP, notably profitted from coalitions only after it shed its ultra-rightist and fundamentalist posturing and
adopted an acceptable liberal face via Vajpayee. Even the left partieswho strongly opposed coali tions, have in the recent
past, been forced to tone down their trenchant criticism and were participants in the cabinet as ministers. The ones who
have not recognized this reality have been left out in the political wilderness, namely, the Congress party. Regional and
fractitious outfits have gained and so have caste based parLies. This, then is the new leitmotif.

Conclusions
The objective of this paper was to set out the tapestry of coalitions in the Indian setting, as coali- tions are the
necessary concomitant of unclear electoral mandate and assome say, of the nature of majoritarian populism and demo-
cratic structures worldwide. It is also an effort at giving multi-dimensionalityand plurality to consensual systems. In In-
dia, coalitions emerged at amuch later stage in national scene, in the fonn they are recognized in the West, but they had
been immanent in the characteristicone-party dominant system that was in existence under the Congress hegemonic era.
The breakdown of the Congress's over- arching dominance and the 'comingof age' of dalit and subaltern politics, long
suppressed, in the form of regional, caste and linguistic parties challenged this framework. As traced herein, in this pa-
per, the Indian experiment in coalitional politics from 1977 onwards was the result of new alignment of forces, largely
centrist in nature (rather than leftist) and recrudescence of primal loyalties (such as caste, communal, religious and lin-
guistic affiliations) irrespective of the nascent modernization brought about by the Indian state in quarter century of po-
litical change.
The social and political system in churning continually and thetype of political stability (even though ephem-
eral) seen in coalitional systems in the West would probably elude us in the regime of coalitions' even in the future. This
seems logical because firstly, coalitions and alliances are intrinsically prone to creating instability and are ephemeral and
shortlived by their very nature. Even though they have proven to the contrary, to a limited extent, {n the West the same
cannot be seen happening here in India. Connected with this is the seconp assumption, namely that the structural short-
comings of coalitional model of gover- nance is confounded when it is practiced in a heterogeneous and multivariated
developing country where ethno-cultural dive' ity and squabbling political immaturity is legion (though there are some
who believe that cultural factorsdo not matter). Thus, even though the subject of Coalitions may not be too recondite, it
is difficult to be reconciled easily. But, in so far as coalitional and alliance systems provide us with a framework of pow-
er sharing, bringing different groups into power than had been thecase hitherto, they are welcome additions tothe polity.

169
 NOTES
1. See William H. Riker The Theory of Political Coalitions, New Haven, Yale University Press
(1962) ; William Gamson, "ATheory of Coalition Formation", American Sociological Review,
26(1961); Lawrence Dodd, Coalitions in Parliamentary Government Princeton, Princeton Uni-
versity Press (1976).
2. See fore.g., RobertAxelrod conflict of Interest, Choicago Markham (1970) and Abram de Swaan
Coalition Theories and Cabinet Formation Amsterdam, Elsevier, (1973).
3. Easwaran Sridharan, Coalition politics in India*: What we can expect from Theory, Comparison
and Recent History New Delhi, Centre for Policy Research (May 1997) (mimeograph), p. 3.
4. E. Sridharan- ibid., p. 6.
5. E. Sridharan- Ibid., p. 8.
6. Arshi Khan-"Coalition Politics in India since 1967" in.Akhtar Majeed (ed.) Coalition Politics
and Power Sharing, Delhi Manak Publications, Delhi (2000).
7. See S. C. Kashyap--The Politics of Power Delhi, National (1974) for details.
8. Ajay K. Singh-"Social Bases, Electoral Configuration and Emerging Party System" in A. Mazeed.
op. Cit. p. 127.
9. Arshi Khan--0 p. cit. p. 156.
10. Arshi Khan--0p.cit. p. 161.
11. Z. M. Quraishi-"Coalition Government*: Experience and Prospects", in S. Bhatt and V. S. Mani
(eds.) India on the Threshold of the 21st Centµry New Delhi, Lancers (1999)J>· 117.
12. A. Khan-"Need for Rethinking Indian Federalism" The Radical Humanist, v. 60, no. 7, Oct.
1996, p. 70.
13. Balveer Arora-''Negotiating Differences : Federal coalitions and National cohesion" in Francine
Frankel et.al. (eds.) Transforming India-Social and Political dynamics of Democracy OUP,
Delhi (2000), p. 188.
14. Balveer Arora-ibid, p.192.
15. See The Hindu, 12April 1998.
16. Of all the post poll coalitional partners, only Arunachal Congress was represented in the ministry.
17. B. Arora--0p. cit. p.196.
18. Currently thereareabout 139 registered political parties who actively fight elections.
19. A. Singh-"Social Bases, Electoral configuration &emerging Party'' op. cit. p. l 06.
20. A. Singh-ibid., p. 112\
21. A. Singh-ibid., :P 117.
22. Yogendra Yadav, S. Kumar and 0. Heath, "The BJP's New Social Bloc". Frontline 19 Nov.
1999, p. 33.
23. A. Sip, gh--0p. cit. p. 121.

170
24. See The Hindu 3 May 1999 for BJP's Political Resolution at the New Delhi session ofits National
executive.
25. Quote D in B.Arora p. cit. p. 197.
26. E. Sridharan- op. cit. p. 7-8.
Table 2
Performance in the 1996 Lok Sabha Elections
Party Wise & Policy Wise

ZONES Total No. Congress BJP Others*

of Seats No. of % No. of % No. of%
Seats Seats Seats
Secured Secured Secured

All -India 543 140 25.8% 161 29.6% 103 18.8%

North & North
Western States 245 39 15.9% 128 52.3% 78 31.8%
East&North
Eastern States 88 19 21.6% 09 10.2% 60 68.2%
Western States 78 42 53.9% 25 32.0% 11 14.1%
Southern States 132 41 31.1% 20 15.1% 71 53.8%

Source: The statistics for this Table has been taken from Tables 3, 1 & 8 from Balveer Arora's
"Negotiating Differences: Federal Coalitions and National cohesion" in Transforming
India (ed. by F. Frankel et. al.,) Oxford University Press New Delhi (2000). pp. 176-
206.
N.B. @ Other Parties included here are as follows:
Janata Party/Janata Dal - 46 seats
Communist Party of India (M) - 32 seats
Communist Party of India - 12 seats
AIIC (Tiwari) - 1 seat
Samata Party - 12 seats
* The total seats ofBJP in the four zonal regions total upto 182. This figure states the
compositjon ofBJP along with its allies in the house (12th Lok Sabha).

171
 Table 3
BJP's MAJORITY IN THE 12TH LOK SABHA, 1998
Parties Type Seats · Distribution

A. Pre-Poll arrangements
1. BJP National 182 All states except
Kerala & North East
2. All lndiaAnna DMK (0) Single State 18 TamilNadu
3. Samata Party (0) Single State 12 Bihar 10/UP 02
4. Biju Janata Dal (0) Single State 09 Orissa
5. Shiromani Akali Dal (R+) Single State 08 Punjab
6. Trinamul Congress (0) Single State 07 West Bengal
7. Shiv Sena (R+) Single State 06 Maharashtra
8. Pattali M. Katchi (0) Single State 04 TamilNadu
9. Marumalarchi DMK(O) Single State 03 TamilNadu
10. Lok Shakti (0) Single State 03 Karnataka
11. Haryana Vikas (R +) Single State 01 Haryana
12 . T. Rajiv Congress (0) Single State 01 TamilNadu
(V. Ramamurthy)
13 . Independents 02 Maneka Gandhi
Satnam Kainth
Sub-Total 256

B. Post-Poll adhesions
14. lndianNational
Lok Dal (0) Single State 04 Haryana
15. Arunachal Congress (R) Single State 02 Arunachal Pradesh
16. Sikkim Dem. Front (R) Single State 01 Sikkim
17. Manipur Congress (R) Single State 01 Manipur
18. Citizens Front (0) Single-State 01 Mizoram (Independent)
19. Bodoland State
Movt. Cttee.(0) Single State 01 Assam (Independent)
20. Telugu Desam (R) Single State 11 Andhra (Excludes
Speaker)
21. J. K. National Conference (R) Single State 03 JK
22. Anglo Indians Nominated 02
23. Unattached Defection 01 Bihar (Anand M. Singh)

Sub-Total 27
Grand Total (A+B)" 283
Source * Balveer Arora - ibid. p. 194.
Notes * (0) Indicates Party was in Opposition
(R) Indicates Ruling Party.
(R+) Indicates Ruling coalition at the State level.

172
 FOOT NOTES
1. See M. Lover and N; Schofield-Multi Party Government (Oxford : 1990).
2. For e.g., H. Deoldar and P. Main- Western Party Systems (Safe: London) 1983.
3. See Rasheeduddin Khan - Federal India (Vikas : 1992) New Delhi.
4. See especially P. Chatterjee (ed.)-State and Politics in India (Oup: Delhi) 1997.
5. E. Sridharan - Ibid , p. 8.
6. Arshi Khan-"Coalition Politics in India Since 1967" inAkhtar Majeed (ed) Coalition Politics
and Power Sharing Manak Publications, Delhi (2000).
7. See SC Kashyap - The Politics of Power National, Delhi (1974) for details.
8. Ajay K. Singh.- " Social Bases, Electoral Configuration and Emerging Party System" in A.
Majeed. op. cit., p. 127.
9. Arshi Khan - op. cit., p. 156 .
* Some of these parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samata Party, though regional outfits are
listed as national parties by the Election Commission.
10. ArshiKhan-op.cit.p.161.
11. Zaheer M. Quraishi-"Coalition Government: Experience and Prospects", in S. Bhatt and V. S.
Mani (eds.) India on the Threshold of the 21st Century Lancers New.Delhi 1999, p. 117.
12. A. Khan-"Need for Rethinking Indian Federalism" The Radical Humanist, V : 60, No. 7,
Oct. 1996, p. 70.
13. Balveer Arora - " Negotiating Differences : federal coalitions and national cohesion" in F.
Frankel et. al. (eds.) Transforming India - Social and Political Dynamics of Democracy
OUP, Delhi (2000). p. 188.
14. Balveer Arora- Ibid. p. 192.
15. See The Hindu, 12 April 1998.
16. Of all the post poll coalitional partners, only Arunachal Congress was represented in the ministry.
17. B. Arora- op. cit., p. 196.
18. Currently there are about 139 registered political parties who actively fight elections.
19. A. Singh-"Social Bases, Electoral Configuration and Emerging party" op. cit., p. 106.
20. Ajay K. Singh - Ibid., p. 112.
21. AjayK. Singh- lbid., p. 117.
22. Yogendra Yadav, S. Kumar and 0. Heath, "The BJP's New Social Bloc" Frontline 19 November
1999, p. 33.
23. A. K. Singh- supra., p. 121.
24. See The Hindu , 3 May 1999 fp. BJP's Political Resolution at the New Delhi session of its
National Executive.
25. Quote in B. Arora- supra. p. 197

173
 UNIT VII LESSON 14

GLOBALISATION AND IMPACT ON WEAKER SECTORS

Subhendu Ranjan Raj

Reader, PGDAVE College·
University of Delhi

Globalisation is a worldwide phenomenon, as it is the extension of capitalist imperial ism in its latest and
most exploitative phase. Naturally therefore under its impact a Third World country such as India stand to loose in
various inexorable ways its rights, its entitlement, its freedom and in fact its identity itself. This process has already
started and we are in throes of achieving bankruptcy because Globalisation has meant that our nation-state is allowing
increasing transfer of resources of the Indian community to external predators through the instrumentality of the state
structure . It is the conv ictio. n of this paper that the Indian state apparatus haw become coerced under the rubric of
dialectics ofNeo-lmperialism to thrust on its people development strategies, public policies and models of growth and
progress that aim at improving the economic, social and political interests of the Metropolitan countries of the West at
the cost of the present prospects and the future of its own people. Who are to lose in this process. Naturally, the people
oflndia.
The full implications of this process are becoming manifest only now after a decade of globalisation because
of a variety of reasons, of which deliberate misinformation regarding the Liberalization program undertaken by the
Indian state in the post 1991 period was a very important one masquerading the diabolical nature of this capitalist
privatisation and imperialist exclusion ism. The State is so coerced by international capital and aid giving donors, be it
bilateral or multilateral (like the World Bank, IMF etc.) that it is actively collaborating in their agendas of exploiting the
people of their resources and wealth. The Indian State, under its Liberalization Programme is being forced by the logic
of Globalisation process to impose anti-people policies and 'exploit_ative politics in the federal framework. As case
studies delineated in the following sections would show, clearly the Indian State is pursuing federal dynamics of a type
in which the local choices regarding a particular development alternative are being neglected giving the states' little or no
freedom to choose their preferred development measure.
Now it can be established with some hard facts that the Government is bent upon creating unemp loymen t,
cutting down on employment opportunities by privatising or divesting government monopolies, PSU 'sand by introduc-
ing increasingly the widespread practice of sub-contracting private bodies in domains that a few years earlier would have
been inconceivable to think would have been anybody except that of the State. These have very dangerous ramifications
that were kept under wrap due to a wel I orchestrated executive fiat of deIi berate misinformation. This is not limited
merely to Central government establishment but the state 'as well, becau se the central government is giving directions to
this effect expressly or creating grounds of fiscal stringency as plea to impose such draconian epistles. Needless to say, it
is well known in public by now that it is merely following express guidelines and structural adjustment laid out by aid
giving majors such as IMF, World Bank etc. in this regard. These have very sinister Implications for the Federal
imbalance, that it would sure ly tantamount to, in the not too distant a future.
A very dangerous precedent is being set with regard to disaster management and emergencies caused by natu-
ral or man made causes.
Ad-hocism and total governmental apathy exists (of course , this is not a new feature, it has been part of our
national culture since the birth of the republic) regarding the nation's responsibility towards such calamities. Oflate
more than ever earlier it is being touted that it is the state government's responsibility to provide funds in such cases.
The Center makes a token contr ibution, at best leaving the desp icable , condition of grief stricken affected people as
some one else's responsibility. After all, the aid giving donors such as I MF , World bank have giv 11 loans not for
charity, but to earn returns. This is very contemptible fallout of Globalisation and one that will open the true face of the
Indian State-showing its ruling class as compradore ' dalals' collaborating with a faceless neo-imperialist major,
completely bereft of humanism or even the basic minimum civ ic niceties of human virtue, with a classic indifference to
match.
We cannot show the deleterious impact on the people unless we present facts. I wish to present evidence now
to gauge the wide reaching implications of such predatory Globalisation with specific example.

174
 1. The Infrastructural Fallout

The fist such evidence of the impact pertains to the reforms to the power sector Stepping a few years in
the nineties ' into liberalization brought on by Man Mohan-economics, it was realised that major shortfall exis
ted in the realms of power availability, roads, communication etc., where the center would concentrate its energies. After
all, overseas investment's fate depended on the health of these sectors. A good diagnos is . Hence it was decided to
invite international MNCs to invest in these sectors. The decision to open this very crucial infrast ruct ural sector
was a laudable one. It needs to be pointed out that it is an intrinsic part of the agenda of Ii bera Iization process to
open up such sectors which earlier were 'swadesh i' domains. A!though the objective was laudab le the modus-operandi
employed by the Central Government to implement the decision was not. Why? We will see this as we proceed.
Many super projects in thermal and hydel sector have been sanctioned in various parts of the country in the
early n ineties . Some of the more notable ones being discussed here are the Enron-Dabhol Power Corporation project
(Maha rashtra), the Sawalkote-NCC International. As of Norway project (Jammu & Kashmir), the AES-Gridco privati-
sation of power (Orissa) project. In all the three cases, some very disturbing issues have arisen which are a challenge
to.the federal rubric of this country as also to the sovereignty of I nd ia. The proble ms though economic, ask serious
questions regarding the role of the MNCs in entering into these projects and wha t conceptualisation did the state have,
if any of the insidious logical corollaries of virtually inviting such MNCs to come and loot the people of lndia. They al-
so raise severe and intractable environmental issues. Further the Maheswar projects's privatisation reveals the corrup-
tion angle ofliberalization.
(i) Enron-MPSEB Case
U.S. multinational Enron sponsored Dabhol Power Corporation was one of the first fast track projects to be
set up . It was supposed to be the showpiece of federal collaboration as the Center wanted the most advanced state of
Maharashtra to benefit from increased power availability which would help as a magnet to attract capital investment in
the state. The Maharashtra State Electricity Board was told to enter into a Power Purchase Agreem e nt (PP A) with En-
ron to buy the electricity that Dabhol Corporation produced. Now 8 years later since its inception it is being realised by
the State that the Enron project is a total catastrophe for the State.
Firstly, the State d id n ' t have much of a choice in choosing a partner for collaboration nor did it have the op-
tion of checking the feasibility ofinstalling such a multinational aided power project. The decision to invite Enron and
give it the prize project was the Center's doing A I 3 day government (which later fell for its inability to secure majority
legislative support in Lok Sabha) under Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the one which cle ared the decks for the enron pro-
ject.
Significantly no competitive bids were invited and none received for undertaking possibly the most costly
power project of all times in independent India. Hence the Central government virtually gave Enron the project on a
platter. Government of Maharashtra didn't have the choice of deciding the feasibility or otherwise (both the financial and
log is tic al) of the project. It was Central Electricity Authority, an arm of the Central governmen t which was thrust with
this responsibility. According to Madhav Godbole Commission which gave its report recently the Central Electricity
Authority (CEA) has perpetrated a fraud on the state by giving this project a techno-econom ic clearance , because the
CEA "...did not discharge the statutory duties" as required by the law.
Secondly, the PPA that the MSEB was made to sign with Enron was a draconian document. It makes the
power sold to MSEB at the highest rate in the country (at Rs. 6.30 p. per unit which is higher than Rs. 2.50 p. paid to
othe r gener ating units). Further it is made compulsory that the MSEB has to buy all power produced by DABHOL.
Further ; "the Central government had agreed to give counter guarantees (which meant that if Maharashtra defaults in
making periodical payments the Central government will pay up). The Center has made such a tranche of payment
but in the process has deducted that amount from the maintenance grants given to Maharashtra according to the budget-
ary allocation. The full implications of the PPA cannot be understood unless it isgraphically detailed. According to Ab-
hay Mehta who has authored the book 'Powerplay·• documenting the Enron deal perhaps the wide ranging ramifications
can be understood in the following doggerel.
"I pay ifl turn on a light bulb
If I turn it off, I still pay
Ifl own a light bulb and never turn it on I still pay
As a citizen of Maharashtra, even ifl do not own light bulb
I still pay
Welcome to the new age of light 3
175
 The State had to pay $1.4 billion a year for the power. This was to rise annually over the next 20 years. No
State Electricity Board even in perfect health can make such payments . How costly the power is can be gauged from
the fact that at current rupee dollar exchange rate more that Rs. 76,000 crores are required to be paid to enron annually.
"If the rupee behaves in the same manner it has for the last 50 years then we will be paying Enron above Rs.
4,000,000,000,000/-".
Does anyone even remotely understand the magnitude of these zeroes? Put simply, it means that every Ma-
harashtrian family would have had to pay Rs. 4 lakhs to Enron (whether they use its power or not)"4.
Thirdly, apart from the fact that the PPA was an iron clad document from which there was no escape for
Maharashtra there is evidence available now that the worst type of political manipulation was on in the political circles
to keep Enron. "Most of the political apparatus in this country was party to the whole mess (both the political elites at
the Center and at the State). The consequences of this go far beyond the ordinary reaches or corruption. This is several
hundred times more than that of before in contractual d ues . The outcome is complete economic bankruptcy of the
richest state in the Union" 5
Madhav Godbole is on record to note and state that powerful political forces were behind him to sabotage
his findings in order to let enron continue. This paper will not delve into that inorder to stay in foc us . We need there-
fore concentrate on what the Godbole report says. As stated above the report categorically states that the techno-
economicfeasibility and clearance which is an essential prerequisite to any contract was given by CEA. which fraudu-
lently allowed the enron company to get in India and further it is also stated therein that the tariff comparison done (by
CEA) were fraudulent ! to benefit Enron.
That this contract was violative of this nation's Constitution, was never thought ofby thegovernment of the
day . "The type of guarantees and counter-guarantees that were accorded to Enron are not allowed under the constitu-
tion, and although this agreement declares that the constitution is not binding on the deal, but then no state or central
government is allowed under the Indian constitution to sign a deal that does not recognize the constitution. It has also
been traced above that the contract is against public interest and will place totally unbearable burden on Ma harashtria
ns . Further, now , evidence is available to show that the Contract was signed based on wrong information supplied by
Enron and that the contract itself was conceived in fra ud"." Even the U.S . govt. supported Enron and wanted India to
uphold the dubious sanctity of this contract. S. Yechuri of the CPl(M) states that, "It we don't protect ourselves, the rest
of financial institution wi II perish, that includes crores qf middle class savings. US Ambassador Robert Blackwill at
one point even brazenly threatened India that it will have to adhere to the earlier commitments even as bankruptcy pro-
ceedings were on against Enron in the U.S" 7 Finally, the decision to terminate the obnoxious PPA with Enron has
been a step in the right direction. But an analysis needs to be done as to how and why we entered into such an exploita-
tive and preposterous deal and, how much money we have squandered for how little power we got these last I 0 years
and whose ends did Dabhol serve ! It is a fit case to analyse how governments and multinational corporations ally w,
ith each other to deprive the common people of their economic means.

.
(ii) Sawalkot Hydel Project
The center never seems to le arn. As if Enron was not one serious mistake the Central government is all set
to repeat its folly . The Sawalkote hydel project to generate 600 MV - on Chenab in terroist infested Dada district of
Jammu & Kashmir is expected to cost the state $1.6 billion. The cost could escalate further. The center is again playing
the matchmaker. It has made a decision that Jam mu & Kashmir Power Development Corporation should have collabo-
ration with NCC International As ofNorway (along with Germany's Hochtief AG) for this project A formal agreement
has been entered on 21 April 2001.
We run the danger ofrepeating another Enron here. NCC is also making counter guarantees mandatory.
Hence J & K cannot renege from its commitment of buying power from them and the Center would back them
(through the Indian funding agencies viz., IDBI, SB! & Power Finance Corporation). Thus the script or another no-win
situation has been thrust on the state. Interestingly Norplan As. (The Norwegian environmenta I organisation) contract-
ed by JKPDC for feasibility report"... admits in its study... (or rather in its Environment Inspection Assessment) that
we couldn't visit all the project downstream areas due to security reasons and that a rehabilitation plan remains to be
carried out." It is estimated that 200 to 220 houses will be flooded and probably over I 000 people will be displaced".8
Like in the case of Maharashtra's project, no competitive bids were invited. NCC has been awarded contract
although Indian firm Jaiprakash Industries which quoted lower prices was not even considered . According to global
analysis hydelpower project costs normally hover among Rs. 3-3.6 crores per MW. Even the allegedly overpriced en-
ron project is being constructed at the cost ofrs. 6.1 crores per MW Sawalkote is logging at Rs. 12 crores per MW''9. It
is clear that the foreign partners will lick the Cream & Indian firms who will put $450 million will be the loser. This is
the public money that will go down the drain. The writing is on the wall.

176
Again we will evidence muluctation of the state like in Maharashtra and JK which technically has not entered into an
PPA as yet but has reached similar throes. The state government has been short circuited and center has stepped in and
decided arbitrarily the NCC is the best option for the state of JK, giving the federal process a go by.

(iii) GRIDCO Experience

Usually it is pointed that Orissa apart from some others like West Bengal is a happy case of privatisation in the
field of power. But to a percipient observer this is not the case. In Orissa some different type of problems have
emerged which merit our attenti on. There is an undercurrent of atrophy of state government ' s power over the privati-
sation process which has had very severe repercussions on the authority of the state.
After dismantling the Orissa state electricity board, the Orissa power generation corporation was divested of its
work due to disinvestment in 1998. Under the on going reforms in the power sector of Orissa, the Orissa government
has 51% share in power sector. The 49% share was owned by US based multinational compan y
- AES . The AES was supposed to look after the day to day running ofOPGC. Gridco was the only purchaser and sup-
plier of power to distributing companies in the state which are affiliates ofGridco (namely Nesco & South Co, etc.). As
per the PPA, provisions stipulate that in the event of Gridco not paying its dues there would be delayed surcharge lev-
ied on it by OPGC. OPGC under this agreement is directed to give the post of managing director to AES Company (as
American Gryson Harvell held the post) and the Chairman was to be nominated by the Orissa government. The PPA
stipulated further clearly that for non-payment power could not be curtailed arbitrarily by AES.
In May 2001 the state got a taste of what an MNC can and what modus operandi it can follow if its profits are
threatened. AES wanted dues of Rs. 142 crores . Be paid to it posthaste. Following Orissa Govt's inability to pay this
amoun t, in ari unilateral decision the American MD ordered the closure ofone unit of 18 thermal plant leading to a
shortfall of2 l O MW of power.10 This led to widespread powercuts and public outcry, forcing. the Gridco to buy
power from N1PC at a per day extra cost of Rs. 85 lakh to meet the state' s demand for electricity. When the Chairman,
OPGC ordered that 18 Thermal plant-be reopened"... the MD created a rumpus in the govern ent refusing, to obey the
directive from the Chairman and instead termed it ' interference· in the day running of the thermal uni ts''9. In a front
page report, The Indian Express put the poser in perspectiw by sarcastically headlining "Why is the State Government
afraid of Harvell?" The Orissa government was al its defensive best by trying to placate Harvell instead of following
Chairman OPGC recommendation or invocation of Essential Services Maintenance Act in this context1°.

The state government was taken aback at the manner in which its authority had been flouted. By the time
it dawned upon it that placating AES won't help and strong measures were needed it was already over a month. Ulti-
mately the state government was forced to enforce ESMA on 28 May 200 I ". Here was a company becoming a law to
itself challenging a decision taken in the public interest by a duly constituted government enjoying legislative mandate
of the people in a federal democratic system. Hence in Orissa, liberalisation and reform of the power sector has led to
diminishing of the state's legitimate authority. The last on this matter is not heard of as yet as AES has moved the High
Court in this matter.
This is not the first time that AES has held the state to ransom . After the super cyclone of October 1999 it
showed it pecuniary proclivities by demanding that the Orissa government pay Rs. 400 crores for re-establishing power
generation lines dismantled by the cyclone. Nor is it that this MNC bothers only the government. It has fleeced ordi-
nary power consumers to no end with progressive increases in tariff of power consumed. Resultantly the per unit cost
of electricity is one of the highest in the country. It is also a fact that after the institution of Gridco. The Orissa Electric-
ity Commission has found out that Gridco was making constant losses. Losses ot' Gridco in the year 1998-99 was over
Rs. I 000 crores and in I 999-2000 it had increased to Rs. I 95 I c rores 1 . In contrast AES company is making profits
every year.

The Maheshwar power project on the Narmada illustrates another dimension of privatisation of power sector.
A large dam which has a projected capacity of 400 MW, it'll submerge 61 villages and affect lives, lands and homes
of some 50,000 people. This hydel project was privatised to an Indian company in 1994. This project has been ap-
praised by a number of governmental, independent bodies (such as the Tata lnstitull! of Social Sciences , as also by in-
ternational experts, constituted by development ministry of the German govt.) and "each of these independent expert
bodies found that there was no land no plan for rehabilitation of the project affected people and that even basic and
preliminary studies have not been done to assess the social and environmental impact of the project. Clearly for the
promoters of the project as well as much of the ruling establishment, the people, being mostly poor Dalits and tr ibals ,
are expendable, These projects are viewed only in terms of financial cash flows and profitability.

177
However an analysis of these cold blooded cash flows reveal tht these projects are fundamentally flawed and will
eventualy implode like Enron. In 1994, before its privat is ation, the cost ofMaheshwar project was estimated at Rs.
465 crores. After privatisation its estimated cost has increased five-fold to Rs. 2231 crores.13• A good example toshow
how privatisation help!rby bleeding the people and their collective resources.

The Upshot
Avowedly, liberalisation was intended to bring in efficiency improve production and benefit the people at
large. Whom has it benefited? Certainly not the states', or their people. The State govts' are losing out and still making
losses. Privatisation has meant increased collections from the people. But to whom is , the money going? It is going to
private companies like Enron, NCC, AES, S. Kum ar' s. The liberalization/privatisation shows what Joseph Stiglitz
Nobel laureate for Economics characterized euphemistically as the 'process or briberisation.' Even though lndia'n govt.
was proclaiming its sovereignty, it was week kneed before Enron. It was forcing the Maharashtra govt. cuts form its
budgetary allocation for its non payment to Enron but did not have the guts to question the TNC. Now after Enron has
gone bust and AES packing its bags too, one hopes some remedial action would take place. But the entire experience
of commercialisation of infrastructure has posed the questions. How and why has the Indian State been taken for a
ride?
Was it good enough, in the first place to think that commercialisation, of infrastructure sector would lead
to delivery of services in an efficient and cost effective manner? Should the Centre have gone over the heads of the
state governments to benent such blatant sellout to the private sector?

II. Unemployment-The New Paradigm's Result

The second challenge that stares in the face of people is cascading unemployment and under employment
due to liberalisatioQ and submitting to WTO regime Both the Central and State governments have embarked on a job
cutting exer ise , enthusiastically since this process stated. We are better placed to note its implications now. There is
widespread concern at the diminishing protection of state cover by the gradual eclipse of the government sector in,
public employment. Contrasted to the Nehruvian era of welfare state, the current 'Corporate state' is on a disinvestment
spree. Computerization and over machanisation along with YRS schemes are seeing to it that there is a steady increase
in the unemployment fig ure .
According to one estimate at "least One crore people are joining the queue of unemployed every year" 11 .
They are addition to the existing backlog. Hasmukhbhai Dave, General Secretary Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, the largest
trade union in the country declared at the 37th Indian Labour Conference that " un empl oyment rah: had gone up for
males from 6.7% in 1993-94 to 7.3% in 1999-2000"15• Dave believes that we had a high growth rate of the economy
till the economic reforms began. He says "in 1988-89, the growth rate was around 10.5%. In 2000-2001, it is around
5.5%. The rate of increase of GDP is lower, the industrial growth rate is lower. See the National Sample Survey report.
There is no employment generation at all; unemployment is increasing"16 • In fact, the agenda paper of the ILC, draft-
ed by the Labour Ministry, painted a rather dismal picture of the economy and employment. It stated that "there was a
perceptible decline in formal and public sector employment, while the share of casual wage employment in total em-
ployment showed an increase. On the other hand, self-employment and regular wage employment, it found, had shown
a decline There is evidence of a declaration of growth in employment in the organised sector, while there has been an
increase in the casualisation of the workforce, which also implied the loss of job security for many." 17
The Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh, an affiliate of the BJP has struck a strident note against the government's
anti labour policies and the second phase of economic reforms. It has teamed up with IO major trade unions including
CITU, AITUC, INTUC, HMS, UTUC and others and evolved a programme of action including protests, nationwide
mobilisation againstthis government's labour policies. This is an unprecedented achievement for the first time as the
different ideological outfits, left, right and centrist have uni ted. BMS ex-chiefDottopant Thengdi has not only opposed
the econ mic policies of the government but also called the Finance Minister a criminal. The BMS “ has also brought i’
a dissent note to denounce the WTO . It has demanded on alternative WTO led by developing coun tries” 18./f-1.
Dave General secretary of the BMS, expressed concern over the closure of ordinance factories to privatization, among
others.
Thus Dave has categorically stated”… that there was no doubt economic
• reforms had gone against the in-
terests of workers, small and big industries and, in fact, the nation” 19 The Indian Labour Conference sharply pro-
jected the united opposition of central trade unions to labour policies and the governments’ 180lobalization is in evitab
le’ approach.

178
How are people affected? The Central government is giving detailed directions to cut down employment at the state
levels as it has been doing at the center. State government are willy nilly following these guidelines to downsize and
prune their staff. As a result fresh recruitments in many states have been freezeed; even medical personnel cannot be
recruited for which there is an ever growing demand.
The Upshot
Unemployment and forced pruning of employable persons may lead to economies in the fiscal fie ld,
but it leads to tremendous social discordance and gives rise to crime, degeneration and ali enat ion. State as entity in
Political science gained importance because no other agency could be a substitute for the welfaristic functions that
came to be associated with it after the turn of the last century . Now globalisation has done a death blow to these very
funct ions .
III. The Indifference of the 'Corporate State'
We are witnessing another dangerous implication of corporatisation and commercialization of the State
which is being carried in the name of globalisation. Its utter insensitivity to affected people who have been the unfor-
tunate target ofnatural calamities has now been exposed. The disastrous Supercyclone of October 1999 in Orissa and
the Gujarat earthquake of January 200 l has laid it bare that short of making sympathetic notes, the Indian State and
through its example the state governments have abdicated their role in providing succor, re-construction, P?,rtnersh ip
in longterm ventures to ameliorate the socio-economic condition of the affected people.
Despite the severity of supercylone the State government of Orissa did not have the funds to tackle
such a calamity of an immense magnitude which officially left 10,000 dead but according to eyewitness acco un ts
must have killed a lakh of Oriyas and hence constantly requested for Central assis tance of at least ten thousand crores.
Till date the Centre has barely given a thousand crores. In the Gujarat case also the Centre' s assis ta nce is a pittance.
Various NGO ' s, benevolent private bodies apart from raising funds close ofto Rs, 20,000crores have been involved in
doing an yeoman service in Gujarat. Where was the Nation? It was making excuses, seeking alibis for incompetence
and plain indifference.
It is a shame that when faced with such human suffering the Centre throws up its arms saying it has no
money. Now that a National level disaster mitigating authority has been made and Finance Minister having proposed a
cess in the 200 I budget to collect funds for this purpose, it remains to be seen how much of that will help the victims
of the next disaste r. Impo rtantly , why this is happening ? Why the centre feels that it is beyond it s capacity to pro-
vide welfare? This needs be probed further.
The logic ofliberalisation that our country has adopted considers anything that is a non-profitable sector
as unfit for the investment of capital. It forgets that there is also an investment to be made in society for societal imp
rovement, sustenance and welfare activities have to be undertaken for that is the justification for building the govern-
mental edifice. State is not created to merely make profits or help capitalists with modus operandi to make money.
How can this be reconciled? Is a serious challenge facing us.

IV. Deficit Scenarios-Bleak Future

Another important feature ofliberalization is the continued fiscal deficits that the states' are fac in g . It
has already assumed menacing proportions and it is expected that in the years to come, a situation may so arise that Fi-
nancial Eme rgen cy may have to be declared in some states. Accumulation of deficit has been the cumulativ e effect
of manifold reasons such as profligacy in financial matte rs, bloated bureauc racy, cost over- run of nevery endin g pro-
jects, increase in non-plan expenditure etc.
It is the submission of this paper that budgetary deficits of states have increased manifold dramati-
cally in the last decade-ever since liberalisation drive was started. Although revenue receipts have increased
statewise over the years there has been a drastic increase in revenue deficits (primarily because of state expenditure
overshoot ing their revenue earning).

179
 As Table I shows within ten years of liberalisation the revenue deficits of all states showed a dra-
matic i nc rease-an increase of over 900 percent! (If we compare the figure of I 990-91 which is 5309 er. with the budget-
ary estimates of 200-200 I) . If we. go by hard facts i.e., compare 1990-1 with the figures for 1999-00 which are revised
estimates and are hence closer to real Account figures then the revenue deficit increases by I 050 per cent. Sucl1'has
been the effect of glo ba lisa tio n. By implication it is clear that under the economic refonns package mo re fiscaloutgo is
taking place than the econom ie s achieved through job prun ing, divestment. cutting down of government sector etc.
If we probe further, we will find that there are very few states that are not having deficits. Table No. 2 por-
trays a certain equality now achieved under globalisation-Le., the so called advanced states' of the Union are in the same
dire straits as far as deficits are concerned, with the worst performing states. The elite states viz . , Maharashtra, Karnataka
and Gujarat all have run up huge deficits as the so called 'Bimaru' States (i.e., UP , Bihar, MP). The deficit of Maharashtra
stands at 9494 crores as per 1999-2000 statistics (largely due to Enron debacle) comparing favourably with U.P.'s 7923
crores. Thus irrespective of progress achieved. developmentally evolved infrastructure for growth, even developed states '
like Maharashtra etc., are no better in term of running up deficits. Hence it can be assumed that the greater industrialised
nature of the state is no guarantee for staying above water in the changed scenario under the auspices of liberalisation.

Table No. 2 : Individual State Revenue Receipts, Expenditure & Revenue Deficits (Rs. Crores)

Individual 2002-2001 1999-2000 1998-1999 1990-1991

State Budgetary, Revised Esti- Accounts Accounts
Estimates mates
Maharashtra Revenues Ex- 28,273 24,408 21,737 8,699
penditure Defi- 31,880 33,891 25,663 8,753
cit -3,609 -9484 -3,925 -54
Gujarat Revenues 16,579 14,488 12,742 3,379
Expenditure 18,959 17,248 15,606 4,082
Deficit -2,379 - 2,759 -2,863 -702
Karnataka Revenues 15,572 13,104 11 ,230 3,892
Expenditure 17,155 14,677 12,445 3,971
Deficit -1,582 -2,573 -1,215 -79
U.P. Revenue 27,038 22,645 17,378 8,310
Expenditure 32,923 30,568 26,074 .8,538
Deficit -5,885 . - 7,923 - 8,696 -1,228
M.P. Revenues 14,519 13,804 11,346 4,545
Expenditure 17,058 16,420 14,218 4,746
Deficit -2,538 -2,615 -2,871 -200
Orissa Revenues 7,709 6,510 4,554 2,170
Expenditure 9,641 8,687 6,819 2,190
Deficit -1,934 -2,176 -2,264 -20
Bihar Revenue 14,133 12,578 9,272 4,321
Expenditure 16,534 16,128 10,622 4,887
Deficit -2,400 -3,549 - 1 ,350 -566

Source : Economic Survey, Ministry of Finance, (2002)

Are there any cases where there are no revenue or budgetary defic its ? Yes, a few. Only three states in the
Indian union whose revenues are far in excess than their expenditure and consequently they have surp l us ··
budgets.
A careful analysis would show that these states are basically different category State. Delhi because of the
capital status, Aronachal Pradesh and Sikkim because of special constitutional status are showpiece examples where the
centre is duty bound to make special allocations and grants to tide over any crisis.

180
 Thus the financial condition ofalmost all the states, we can _s ay for sure is precarious. Different states
an.' experiencing almost similar resource crunch . As we have shown the last decade has shown increase of deticil by
more than 1000% all states taken together. This has close nexus with the threats that the states are faciny/ under globali-
sa tion .
Table No. 3: Individual State Revenue Receipts, Expenditure & Revenue Surplus
(Rs. Crores)

Individual 002-2001 1999-2000 1993-1994

States Revised Extimates Accounts

NCTofDelhi Revenues 5,595 4,603 5,669

Expenditure 4,233 3,817 508
Surplus . 1,362 786 59 .
Sikkim Revenues 993 1,546 225
Expenditure 945 1 , 5 45.7 189
Surplus 48 0.3 36
Arunachal Revenues 1,008 1 , 023 546
Expenditure 854 872 398
Surplus 153 151 148

Source : Economic and Political week ly, Sup ra, pp 1902-03.

The situation is so alarming today that the ' Yojana Aayog (Planning Commission) while formulating thl'
tenth Five Year Plan has brought out a blue paper on the situation. It finds that the states 'non-plan expenditure has in-
creased manifold largely because it is being used to pay salaries , pensions, other expenditure etc., ((i.e.. on this head
such recurring expenditure is being accounted for). There has been sharp increases in Pensions (some 200 times over);
similarly the increase Dearness Allowance payment is a big headache. It also notes that there is an alarming increase '
of states indebtedness (market borrowings, overdrafts etc.21

The following statistics corroborate the findings:

Table No. 4 : Statewise Market Borrowings as per RBI Records

(Rs. Crores) ·

State 2000-2001 2000-2001

Gross Net Gross Net
Maharashtra 809 770 552 515
Gujarat 559 522 344 310
Orissa 514 514 446 416
Bihar 455 407 643 614
U.P. 1568 1568 1247 11-34
Karnataka 825 824 285 256
M.P. 582 558 515 496
NCTofDelhi - - - -
Sikkim 25 25 19 19
Arunachal 16 16 6 6

Source : Economic & Politi cal Weekly, supra, p. 1925.

,

181
 The idea being conveyed through the statistics concerning the states ' is categorically to state
that the immiserisation process of the individual is consistency being followed through state channels and all struc-
tures of the administration are surely in the hunt for the steady but consistent popularization of the people. If
states’ are pauperised can the fate of its citizens be far behind.

V. Free-Market Federalism: A Weak Centre and Weaker States

1991 was a watershed year for our analysis of the impact of Globalisation on the people of India.
Forth1: first time, since 1991, the Market and not the Government began to determine development. Wherever, the
government seemed to take the initiative, it was at the instance of the market. The saga of how the Indian sover-
eign state has lost its dignified status has been traced above with the help of a few case studies and statistics regard-
ing. the labour sector and financial health.

The re are enough indications, as of now , to indicate that serious challenges lie up ahead. The Con-
gress Party' s Introspection Group, 200 I has suggested that "Notw it hsta nd ing the many impressive uggestions
achievements...the reality is that still a large number of people live in pove rty'23• Jay Dubashi, BJP ideologue states
quite categorically the shortcomings of the liberalisation reforms when he says, "One significant factor was left out in
the reforms package Neither the Congress, nor subse que nt ly, the BJP have taken into accounl one of the most vola-
tile of all political factors-agrarian unemployment. So, while agriculture contributes 25 per cent to the GDP, it em-
ploys 65% of the total workforce . Little inputs went to the rural areas (as most of the reforms targeted urban areas
and the affluent and the middle classes) which are all grossly ne glec ted . Increased mec han isatic ;m was to spawn
a le aner , state of the art ideal. The job done by five men would be done by on1:. But what happens to"the four who
are laid off?" 24 • Quite in the same vein, admits Prithviraj Chava n, ake y member of the Congress economic think
tank that "the fact is when we pushed reforms without any debalL' within the party, no social security nets were
planned. In fact, given the economic bankruptcy of the time. there was hardly anytime for that. Had there been any
debate on refo rm, c hanc es are th at they would haw been scuttled right there and then" 25•

The problem that will trouble us all in the future is that, while the markets are free, there has been no
reform in the government sector which still happens to be the largest employer in India. The ham handed method in
which this problem ofrising unemployment in the wake of reforms has been dealt with is sure to create continuing
problems of greater magnitude. There is apprehension that if recent recomme,idations or Expenditure Reforms
Commission (ERC) are implemented by the Centre at least 5 lakh Central Government jobs would be cut dow n. C
urrent ly , about 40 lakh Employees are with the Central government. This 13% cul would lead to the losing of em-
ployment by 5 lakh employees as part of the downsizing measures recommended by ERC. Whatever be the merits or
otherwise of this ERC reco mme nd atio n the criticism levied by Chavan above still stands. Labour reforms are
sought to be bu IIdozed into be budgetary pronouncements without any care for its fallout. Amendment of the Indus-
trial Disputes act and Contract Labour Act to ease lay off in units with upto I 000 workers and allowing companies to
hire contract workers for non core activities is a step in thl' government ' s myopic conviction that come what may we
would force throug h unemployment measures to satisfy WTO Regulations. This is being done despite the public
ackno wle dgme nt by Satyanarayan Jatiya. Union Labour Minister that changes in labour laws are just not possible
in a country that lacks a welfare n1:1 and that no minister however comm itted, can move ahead' 26. Forth is stand
Jatiya had to lose his job be being dropped from the Union Cabinet of Ministers, as London Minister.

" The reform proposals have brought together unions with conflicting ideologies. The (recent) attack
on economic policy by NOA convenor George Fernandes has showed that NOA too is d iv ided " 27

As noted above, the BJP' s problem is being compounded by its own affiliates such the RSS, BMS,
Jagrili Manch etc., who are openly opposing the government's plan calling it 'anti labour ' and detrimental to the na-
tional interest. Congress Spokesperson Jaipal Reddy has stated that " We will not cooperate with the go
vernment in implementing labour reform...This is not a viable policy in a developing country, which docs not have an
extens ive,,safety mec ha nism " 28

The decade of globalisation in the Indian context has increased the hiatus between the Centre
and the states' apart from diluting basic principles of governance. In our system the role of the State was devel-
opmental and redistributive.

182
 The structural adjustment was associated with propaganda that such liberalisation woultl lead to
great economic progress, increasing India's production and exports ultimately resulting in raising its output. "In
the event, GPO growth has improved, from the average of 6% in the second half of the 80s to 6.5% in the
second half of the '90s. But there hasn't been any significant increase in either the in vestm e nt ratt· or the effi-
ciency with which capital is used... the real story emerging from official statistics oo.nat io na l and state in-
comes is of disparate growth across regions and sectors and that particularly between agriculture and non-
agriculture''29.
Prof. Abhijit Sen has reported that "Regional income gaps have widened. The ratio of per capita in-
come of Maharastra, the richest state, to that ofBihar, the poorest, which had fluctuated between 2 and 2.5 in the '
80s shot up in the '90s to reach 3.8 by end of the decade.....Fiscal restraint has hit those states harder which were al-
ready poor. And, distressingly, the very idea of central transfer from richer to poorer states is under challenge....not
surprisingly as attitudes towards interregional and inter sectoral equity only reflect a general erosion of the ideal of
eq uality " 30.
Federalism in India was founded upon the well known principle of equality between the Centre and
the States' and the States' inter se. Today this has come under attack and is on the verge of being a sacrificial goat at
the altar of global liberalisation. We have a weak Union because of the systematic onslaughts on it, as depicted in
our earlier sections. The individual states ' have, as a result lost their rights and stand to lose much more in the com-
ing decade, it has reduced sates to such a pathetic situation and the Centre has turned in to a compradore. As we turn
towards the 'second gene ratio n' of such reforms one is apprehensive that this ma y spell the end offederal construct
for all times.

VI. Globalisation and weaker sections - Is there any hope

As we have seen herein globalisation (or more appropriately, one should call it market fundamental-
ism) is highly invasive , appropriating and hegemonising in its character. This has been the experience of all
Third world countr ies ' , which have undergone structural adjustment under its auspices. And not merely the
third world. Even the mighty Soviet economy collapsed after it was opened up to multi-national private com-
panies of the West. True, the Soviet economy was in bad shape and there was considerable corruption even before
perestroika . But the entry of private multinationals in the countr y destroyed structurally all the edifices of pub-
lic welfare infrastructure.
" I ndeed the privatisation of the infrastructure sector will destroy the public f.inancial system and
thl· economy of the country. However, it will greatly benefit, in the short run, the big private player s and tho
se who control the institutions of the ruling establishing. It is they who share in the loot and plunder of public funds
and resources." 31 By usin_g intr ic ate moda li ties , such as by vitiating the federal structure it is bent on enforc-
ing highly skewed, inequality enhancing mechanism which in its ultimate analysis, intend corroding till' democratic
structure.
" Finally, globalisation erodes democracy and the abi Iity of societies and peoples to become arbite rs
of their own fate. By subordinating real human needs to the dictates of global capital- i.e., the package of rampa n
t deregu lation , disinvestment from public services, undeserved tax breaks and dis mant li ng of labour and union
rights, etc.- it puts vital decisions (that traditionally have been the domain of State' s prerogat ive) outside the pur-
view of publicly accountable agencies." 32
The important poser is-are we as a sovereign nation independently incapable of seeing through
the welter of globalisation ai:id effectively incapable of seeing through the welter of globalisation and effectively
blocking the expansion of the west at our expense-at the expense of the futures of our people whic h are now con-
demned? Now there is overwhelming evidence that the current aggrandizing nco- imperialist phase of Capitalism
is putting test. The West is in a depression and the reces s io nary trend s ha ve touched even Japan, S. Korea et. al.
Interestingly, India, China and some socialist count rie s have withstood the down trends.
There is tlierefore merit in ' lagg ing behind the globalisation band wago n ' , the oft refrain of the In-
dian government. e it due to the pace of governmental reforms or the civil so cie ty ' s res is tanc e to labour reforms
or the tortoise pace of disin vestme nt, the fact is that we are better off by not in tegrating our eco nom y entirely into
the world economy. Whereas US is having difficulty in managing even a mea gre 2% GPD growth rate, we have a
health 5.7% GPD GROWTH rate in the fiscal year2001-2002.
This hitherto undiscovered strength of the resilient Indian economy is paradoxically
due to the same edifice the Indian Govt. is hell-bent upon destroying. Namely, our public sector investment in state
enterprises in production, protected markets, insignificant exposure to world trade (our exports constitute only 9% of
our national income), Moreover another bulwark in India against global recession is the size of internal consump-
tion.

183
 Indeed, " India is capable of reaching high growth on the strength of local consumption alone; as in-
come rise it must remove all internal distortion to get there" 31. Hence the Nehruvian vestiges of a welfare state con-
struct ' have helped in maintaining a growth rate which once the late Raj Krishna sarcastically characterised as the
'hindu rate of growth'.

It is not being suggested that one should be smug at this achievement and not seek better growth rate
Iikl' the rate attained by China (7.1 %). One is positing, on the contrary that intergrating with globalisation strategics
and breaking down everything that was once the hallmark of socialist welfare state is an irretrievable 111 istakl' and a
sureshot ticket to nemesis. Prof. Kaushil Basu has recently highlighted that alternative ways to development exist
which need to be pursued. 34 C.P. Chandrasekhar has poignantly pointed out that the disinvestment programme cur-
rently in an accelerated fast-forward mode is being done to seek very short term and , illusory advantages and that :-

"There is little about that if the companies (selected which are being divested of their public sector in-
vestment such as VSNL , IBL, Maruti etc.) concerned are to use their reserves for modernisation and expansion they
would be able to garner, additional revenues that seems to be dr iv i ng the government along the route of'reserve-
farming' which has its consequence the wilful destruction of even the viable segment of the public sector"35.

Upshot
There is a necessity ofa serious rethink on the whole strategy of globalisation and structural disintegra-
tion that the government has initiated in the first and now the incipient stages of the second phase of Iiberal is ation. In
fact as shown above there is no case for it in the Indian context. Rather, the very opposite. We need to retain the older
edifice but attempt at greater productivity and efficiency. This is quite possible. It is not within the scope of this paper
to digrees on them. As noted Kaushik Basu has very significant observations on this score (in fact quite many have
done research on this perspective).

Conclusion
As has been shown here the impact of globalisation on Indian people is a very important theme in cur-
rent politics. Unfortunately, it is an area where there can be no easy black and white documentation to show the impact
of this universal process on a third world populace. One has to analyse various parameters to view and deduct induc-
tively from them in order to prove our point. We have seen here how new fangled ideas in the infrastructural areas un-
der the auspices of globalisation have faltered and proved inimical to the interests of the Indian people. We have also
seen how State governments have been economically paralysed by it. Their economic freedom has been curtailed in
infrastructure areas with the Union increasingly de iding f?r them what is best for them. They face unending pauperi-
sation in the bleak emerging scenarios of falling production. unemployment, mounting indebtedness and deficit of fall-
ing product ion, unemp loyment, mounting indebtedness and deficit budgets. No wonder today there is greater talk of
autonomy and fiscal independence by the sates! from the Centre. There is a real danger that secession ism may take
place in future if the problems that haw been highlighted in this paper remain intractable and are not solved. We have
also provided evidence of how unemp loyment, dispossession and economic pauperisation is taking big strides ever
since globalisation induced neo liberalisation was initiated in Ind ia.
The time to rethink to rethink about growing globalisation is now because the West is imposing on us
its ideas on as to how our economy , politics and even society should be rearranged. This is to be fought against. lfwe
are to make our federal Union and constituent states' more sensitive and human to the needs of our large third world
population, in all its manifestations (and not merely in a limited way as during responding lo calamities and natural
disasters) then we have to strive for an alternative WTO reg ime ; implement an alten1ative to hegemonist West cen-
tric globlisation.

184
1. Abhay Mehta, 2001, "Enron Unplug ged", Outlook, Vol. XU , No. 20, May 21 , p. 52.
2. Abhay Mehta, Ibid.
3. Abhay Mehta, Ibid.
4. See Sandipan Deb 2002 "Cowboys and In dians" Outlook 18 Feb., p. 34 .
5. V. Sudarshan & A.K. Sen 2002 "Don't stand so close to me" Outlook 18 Feb. p. 39.
6. Shantanu Guha Ray, 2000. " Where Angels Fear to Fjord" , Outlook, Vol. XLI , No. 19 , P. 32-33 , May 21 .
7. Ibid .
8. "Oriss a Power Generation Body Order Re-start of 1B Thermal Unit" , Times of India, Eastern India edition, May
23, 200I, p. 6.-
9. See The New Indian Express , Bhubaneswar, May 24, 2001.
10 . See The Samaja (Sambalpur edition) (Oriya), 29 May 2001 , p. 7.
11. See The New Indian Express, 20 May 2001 , p. 3.
12. Prashant Bhushan - " After Enron, it's Maheshwar : The Hindustan Times, 2 Feb. 2002, p. I 0.
13 . Prashant Bhushan - ibi d.
1 .4 See "Niji karan ka paryay bana Udar ikaran , Iambi hui berojgaro ki kataaren ", Rashtriya Sahara ( Hindi), Nw
e Del-
hi, 11 June 2001, p. 1.

185
 15
PHILOSOPHY AND THE BASIC STRUCTURE
OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION
- Amaresh Ganguly
Zakhir Husain College
University of Delhi
Learning Objectives
After reading this article you will be familiar with
• The historic setting. events, personalities and issues leading up to the drafting of the Indian
Constitution
• The underlying philosophy behind the basic structure of the Indian Constitution

India historically has never had a constitution maybe because we have never been one united nation
in a real sense and the whole concept of a single written governing constitution has been alien to us and arguably still
is . A master written document governing the political and legal governance of the country, standing supreme and in
capable of being challenged, holding every person in the land equal befor it and in turn held in reverence by one
and all, sounds strange for this land. If one reflects on the thousands of years of Indian history though, with its
never ending variety and systems of class and caste dominance, both feudal and mercantile, cultures and sub-
cultures and languages and sects, then one is not surprised at all. that all we have had, has been customs rather
than written legal principles ens hr i ned in a written const;tutiort governing one and all. Arguably therefore, the
closest we have had to anything resembling a constitution are the Smritis and the Shrutis of the Hindus and the
Shariat of the Mus li ms . Also maybe, essentiall y secular works like Chanakya's Arthashastra, but then such works
have never had the sort of suprem e standing that the Indian Censtitution was sought to be given by the Constitu-
ent Assembly and has so far has had in the life of independent [nd ia, over the five decades of Indian inde pendence
. The Sl,rutis and the Smritis of the Hindus and the Shariat of the Muslims were of course more fo the nature of
collect io ns of re ligio us and spiritual precepts for the adherents of the respective faiths to live by. that too mostly
in the so called after lives (post death), and while profoundly influencing mdividual monarchs and regimes in gov-
ernance from time to time, has never had the de facto moral and legal authority on the ground to stand supreme
and override if necessary the inequitable and exploitative dictates of powerful monarchical, feudal and class interests
who very often abrogated to themselves the right of interpretation of these ' holy books ' as well.

It is no wonder then that the British educated (and governed) men and women. mostly men, who un-
dertook the drafting of the constitution were anxious to so structure the constitution, that equality beco mes
it's most fundamental of fundamental principles. And they realized that no equality is possible in practice with-
out the establishment of 'social justice' on the ground, a slogan that still reigns supreme in modern Indian polit-
ical discourse.

Also of course. India was truly d iverse . According to some estimates more than 500 languages
existed and still exist in India and the adherents of the most followed religion, Hinduism, has within its fold more
than 33 crores of gods and goddesses. not to mention sects and caste sub-groupings. Faithful of other important
religions like Islam ?nd Christianity too have been divided in many sects . Hence balancing regional, linguistic,
sectarian and communal aspirations and the fact that large parts of the country were under the governance
of princely states necessitated a strong commitment towards federalism' and towards minority rights.
These commitments were also necessitated to refute those who were arguing for a partition of the country and the
creation of Pakistan. Later as partition became inevitable the commitment to federalism was diluted in the inter-
ests of a strong centre as will be seen later. The commitment towards minority rights was maintained however.

The Constitution of India was drafted in the Constituent Assembly, but in the historic setting, events,
personalities and issues in the run up to the opening of the assembly and thereafter during the years of it’ s
life lies the answers in a ·la rge measure as to how and why the constitution took the shape that it finally
did.

186
 The origins of the Constitution are rooted in the history of India under the Britis h.1 The Regu iatin
g Act of 1773 had historically been the first step that the British Crown had taken towards taking charge away from
the East India Company and establishing a system of governance in India based on written codes of law, itself a
novelty for Indian culture of thousands of years, which culminated nearly a hundred years later and through many acts
and constitutional changes in between (that needn't be mentioned here to avoid unnecessary/less relevant details in the
Act of 1858, after the Indian Revolt of 1857 which was the first attempt to overthrow the British completely by Indi
ans, mostly mona rchs , the on ly relevant native Indian political force at the time. The Queen Victoria in that
proclamation of 1858, which brought the century old rule of the East India Company to an end, said among
other things:
'We shall respect the rights, dignity and honour of native princes as our own; and we desire that they, as
well as our subjects, should enjoy that prosperity and social advancement which can only be secured by internal peace
and good government.
We hold ourselves bound to the natives of our Indian territori{;s by the same obligations of d uty, which
bind us to all our subjects. and those obligations, by the blessing of Almighty God, we shall faithfully and conscientious-
ly fill.
We disclaim alike the right and the desire to impose our convictions (religious) on any of our s
bjects . We declare it to be our royal will and pleasure that none be in any ways be favoured, none molested or
disquieted by reason of their religious faith _ or observances, but that all shall al ike enjoy the equal and impartial
protection of the law; and we do strictly charge and enjoin all those who may be in. authority under us that they abstain
from all interference with the religious belief or worship of any of our subjects on pain of our highest
displeasure.
And it is our further will that, that so far as may be, our subjects, of whatever race or creed , be freely and
impartially admitted to office in our service, the duties of which they- may be qualified by their education, ability and
integrity duly to discharge.
We know and respect the feelings of attachment with which the natives of India regard the lands inherited
by them from their ancestors and we desire to protect them in all rights connected the rew ith, subject to the equitable
demands of the State; and we will that ge.ne rally, in framing and administering the law, due regard be paid to the
ancient rights and customs of India .
When, by the blessing of Providence , internal tranquillity shall be restored, it is our earnest desire to
stimulate the peaceful industry of India, to promote works of public utility and imp rovement, and to administer the
Government for the benefit of all our subjects resiqent the rein . In their prosperity will be our strength, in their
contentment our security, and in their gratitude our best reward.
In the opinion of this author the commitments in writing made above particularly in the third, fourth and
fifth points were quite revolutionary in the Indian context of individual monarchs and their satraps having ruled for
thousands of years, ruling pretty much on their whims and fanc ies . Also of course in many situations there had been
a forcible imposition of the religion of the monarchs on the population particularly after a 1nilitary victory as during the
Mughal period. Consequently, in the commitment made in the third point above lies the seed of the notion of
'secularism' really, which later became widely accepted excepting perhaps -by those who asked for Pakistan. Is it a
surprise the n that after a few generation had lived in and experienced this dispensation of ideas , if not of the reality as
well substantially, of secularism, and the clear commitment towards equality of opportunity to all citizens (albeit
merely in a legal sense and no more), that the fourth point above in the queen's declaration enshr ined , the founding
fathers of our cbnstitution and the leaders of the national movement were vehemently for notions like equality of
opportunity and secularism.
Also of course some of the most important leaders of the national movement like Nehru were steeped n
western culture, having lived and having been educated in England. Nehru was sent by his family to England when he was
only fourteen years old and he came back to India in his la!e twenties. with his values and social attitudes having been
substantially shaped by then presumably for his formative years were clearly spent in England.
It is not a surprise then that the essential thrust of the movements and agitations that we now
generally refer to as the freedom movement had often been towards securing greater western styled democratic and
or constitutional reform in the political sense rather than the strict technical legal sense. And the British mostly
attempted to oblige wherever possible for whatever reason. thereby itself helping build a culture of the ruler being
representative of the people and not the other way round as had been case with monarchs/feudal lords for
thousands of years - indeed for all of history. The democratic notion thus. was gaining ground and sending down roots
everyday, arguably. One also needs to remember that whatever the British conceded was never merely verbal and
vague but in written words of enactments and resolutions and declarations thus eliminating the possibility of
their fanciful or whimsical interpretation by individuals a novel practice as far as Indian history was concerned, again
not merely of the last few decades or centuries but taking into account all of the long history of different
monarchies of thousands of years .
187
 The demand for greater peoples representation in the Governing Council, a democratic principle and hence
an alien idea in the Indian culture of political governance essentially. which the Indian National Congress founded in 1885
made one of its main demands as well. was substantially accepted. Lord Curzon. while explaining the objects of the act
said it was 'meant to widen the basis and expand the functions of the Government of India, and to give further opportu-
nities to the non-official and native elements in Indian society to take part in the work of tf1e Governinent', and in that
way says Pylee. ·to lend official recognition to that remarkable development both of political interest and political ca-
pacity that had been visible among the higher classes of Indian society since the Government of India was taken over
by.the Crown in 1858' 4.
A more real turn towards political reforms embodying greater democratic values came with the Minto-
Morley Reforms of 1909. Lord Minto had succeeded Lord Curzon as the Governor-General and Lord Morley. who was
known as a radical disciple of Gladstone5 , had become the Secretary' of State in the new Liberal Democratic govern-
ment. the only time that that party has ruled Britain till date . Lord Minto addressed the discontentment among Indians
on various issues by proposing political reforms to deprive the discontentment of its main prop - 'political reforms'.0 Mor-
ley inde pende ntly, in England had come to the same conclusiO!lS and had been in constant correspondence with Minto.
So there was a confluenc.e- of views between the Governor General and the Secretary of State, a situation not always
readily _ava il able in the past. Morley had caught on pretty early that making political :oncessions was the way forward.
While speaking in the House of Lords he had said:
'There are two rival schools of thought, one of which believes that better Government of India depends
on efficiency. and that efficiency is in fact the end of British rule in Ind ia. The other school, while not neglecting ef-
ficiency. looks also to what is called polifical concessions'7.
A' Royal Commission had been appointed known as the Royal Commission on Decentralisation and based
on the recommendations of that commission an act was passed in 1909, popularly known as the Minto-Morley Reforms.
The chief merit of the Act, says Pylee, "lay in its provisions to fu1ther enlarge the Councils and make them more rep-
resentative and effecti.ve"8. Their number of members on the Council were doubled or more th_an doubled and
the proportion of official and non-official members was changed. The number of non-official members in both the
Governors Legislative Council and the Provincial Legislatures were in reased and for the first time in the Provinces, a non-
official majority was actually established. The most important reform however, which perhaps introduced the concept
of election for the first time in Indian history in a real sense, albeit in an indirect sense, was that of allowing for certain
recognized bodies and associations to recomm nd candidates. Even though there was no obligation introduced to accept
them, in practice the nominations were rarely rejected. Pylee says the government, as a result of this reform, accepted
the position that (i) election by the wishes of the people is the ultimate end to be secured , whatever may be the actual
machinery adopted for giving effect to it , and (ii) that in the circum tances of India, representation by classes and inter-
ests was the only practicable method of embodying the principle in the constitution of the Legislative Councils, but also
says that, the government by the acceptance of that latter principle marked the beginning of ' commun al (religious)
electorates' in lndi a.9 This was obviously a development that later made it easier for the idea of Pakistan to manifest
itself and find acce ptance . Also when the idea of the Constituent Assembly came up. the idea for it to be constituted
not on the lines of direct election based on adult franchise , but ind irect ly by giving much attention to the idea of repre-
sentation to different religious communities and geographic regions and provincial legislatures (which were never repre-
sentative anyway because they were elected by electorates composed of les s than one-fourth of the population due to
undemocratic qualification rules) was not found repugnant but a convenience.
Eventually though , for all its reformist face the Minto-Morley Reforms only whetted the by now
growing appetite of politically conscious and progressive Indians who by now wanted nothing but the highest
standards of constitutional government if they could have it, notwithstanding the thousands of years of Indian
history and culture where notions and norms of democratic constitutional governance and the elective princ iple ,
and that too in a written form enacted by elected bodies, were utterly alien.
Pylee says, 'the disillusionment created by the Act of 1909 in the political atmosphere of India aggravated
and reinforced the demand for self-government'... ... ... and that the ' the Indian people found that self-government would
not descend upon them as a gift of the Britis h ' …..and further that 'meanwhile. they had a fairly clear idea of what was
meant by e lf-go vernment' 10 .
Gokhale in fact had remarked at the time:
' The political philosophy and axioms of the West have become an essential part of Indian li fe, and when
its education came to India it brought with it the politics of Nationality. Liberalism and Freedom'11. He also had come out
with a scheme post the discontentment or lack of complete contentment rather flowing form the changes made by the
Minto-Morley Refo rms. Other schemes and reforms were also proposed which all added up to make the political atmos-
phere rather tense pa11icula1 ly because the First World War had broken out and Indian soldiers and the general public
were being callesi upon to help fight for the empire. Res po ndin g to the rising clamour for real and satisfactory reforms
Montagu the Secretary of State, made the following announcement in the House of Lords:
188
 'The policy of his Majesty 's Government, with which the Government of India are in complete accord ,
is that of the increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration and the gradual development of
self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive rea li s ation of responsible government in India as an integral part
of the British Empire ' 12. After this announcement Montagu visited India and along with the Viceroy, Lord Che lmsfo rd,
toured all over the country studying the Indian political proble m. They then submitted what is known as the 'Montford
Report ' based on which a Bill was passed by both the houses of the British Parliament and which became known
as the Government of India Act. 1919. Pylee says the basic scheme of the Act embodied four general principles :
Complete popular control. as far as possible, in the field of Local Government .
The Provincial Governments to be in large measure independent of the Government of India, and to be
responsible in some measure to popular represe ntatives .
The Government of India to remain responsible to Parliament; yet the Indian Legislative Council to be en-
larged and popular representation and influence in it to be enhanced.
The control of Parliament and the Secretary of State over the Go ernment of India and the Provinces to
be relaxed in proportion to the above changes.13
The British by responding to the demands again. and again in this careful fashion by coming up with a
new act and constitutional scheme every few years, it seems to this author were setting a precedent of democratic ap-
proaches and federalism which helped both the concepts gather further roots in India. The whole idea of a division a
powers and responsibilities between the Centre and the Provinces which became easily and commonly accepted later in the
Constituent Assembly, had its roots perhaps in the schemes of the British over decades which found expression in their acts
of parliament like the Act of 1919.
For
• all its heralding of progressive notions and concepts though. in practice the· act of 1919 was fount want
in g and uninspiring. It seemed like some sort of a 'half was house between autocracy and responsible government' 14. In
practice it became obvious gradually that the Act allowed very little by way of transfer of power to representatives of
the people. Pylee comments on this phase as follows:
Even those optimists. like the Indian liberals, who gave it a fair trial, found it wanting in many respects
and were therefore terribly disappointed. That result was the emergence off a new spirit, a new unity and a new move-
ment of the educated classes under the banner of the Indian National Congress. Mahatma Gandhi lead the movement. He
called it a ' non-vi ole:nt,.-non-cooper ation movement'. Soon. it gathered momentum and assumed the shape of a full-
fledged agitation for complete transfer of power to Indian hands . Every one felt the need of a Constitution, which
would suit the conditions existing in India. The only difference of opinion was as to the nature of the Constitution,
pa11icularly whether it should be federal or unity in character . Thus, for the first time in history of India, the possibility
and the feasibility of an All India Federation became the most important subject for discussion among Indian and British
political leaders.' 15
Since the dissatisfaction remained in the Indian populace and the clamour for a fully responsible government
kept on rising the British government could not rest even after the Act of 1919. Also leaders like Gandhi had acquired
huge stature by now and were persistently asking for a constitutional and responsible self-government elected by the peo-
ple. Gandhi declared in 1922, that Swaraj would not be the writ of the British Parliament, but must spring from 'the
wishes of the people of India as expressed through their freely chosen representatives'. Swaraj to Gandhi and others meant
more than mere political freedom from London or representatives appointed by London. The word had come to acquire a
mythology all of its own by now and meant a sort of self-.governing self-realisation both nationally and personally for
each individual Indian and a throw in g·away of both foreign ways and foreign rule. It is interesting to point out that
this was essentially the appeal of Gandhi to the common man of India as opposed to that of leaders like Nehru or Patel,
who were all, very much for the adoption or continuation rather of Western ways in all aspects of political. economic
and social life and who ultimately prevailed.

The British government announced the appointment of the Simon Commission to enquire into whether and
to what extent the principle of responsible government may. be ii1troduced but because it had no Indians on it more or less
everybody decided to boycott it in including the Indian National Congress. Instead a committee of all parties known popu-
larly as the Nehru committee under the leadership of Motilal Nehru submitted a report which recommended for the first
time the creation of a federation, as a ·constitutional remedy to drive out the twin evils of autocracy and compartmentalism
from Indian political li fe' and also recommended a complete transfer of power on the basis of such a federation, to the Indi-
an people . lndian nationalist opinion was gathering strength by the day and was quoting the English philosopher James
Stuart Mill to the British again and again who has said that 'the government of one people by another has no meaning and
no reality except as the governing people treat the governed as a human cattle farm'.

189
 The British came up with an answer to this, for wh!'tever reasons, which ultimately found acceptance from
all interests and political parties. The Viceroy, Lord Irwin, in 1929, declared that it was the intention of the British Gov-
ernment to grant India the status of a Dominion and to seek the concurrence of all sections of opinion in India to remove
the distrust between the Great Britain and India. All Indian parties responded to the declaration positively and assured full
operation. The First Round Table Conference was announced to take the matter forward but when during a debate in the
House of Commons, the Conservative and even some Liberals were found to be against the idea of giving a Dominion
Status to India. This angered the Congress who passed a resolution in 1930 going further away from dominion and asking
for full independence. Ultimately only the Princes and the representatives of the Indian Liberal party attended and
while the British professed rhany intentions nothing came out of the whole exercise in the end.
Lord Irwin was keen to create an atmosphere of cordiality and as a gesture ordered the release of andhi who
on his part withdrew the Civil Disobedience Movement and after prolonged negotiations entered into a pact known as the
Gandhi-Irwin Pact on the basis of which Gandhi agreed to attend a Second Round Table Conference as the repre-
sentative of the Congress. The fact that the Congress would be represented obviously granted huge meaning to the
conference. Meanwhile the Labour Government in England had lost a there was new government which was a Coalition
Governmeilt dominated by the Conservatives who were of course totally against any level of Indian independence. At the
start of the conference itself, Sir Samuel Hoare, the chief spokesman of the British Government, declared that the confer-
ence was not a Constituent Assemb ly, the tome of which was shocking and sur_prisi ng to In dians. The British Gov-
ernment reiterated that they would be agreeable to move toward a federation but Gandhi stubbornly stuck to his demand
for Purna Swaraj. The conference failed but it did appoint a committee to arrive at agreements on communal and other
outstanding issues. But this committee could not recommend any solutions and hence the British called another confer-
ence 'for a final review of the whole scheme’ . The Indian National Conference and the Labour Party of Britain ab-
stained from participation.
Meanwhile the so called ' Communal Award' came. This award also known as the Ramsay McDonald Award
came on the 411i of August, 1932 and created separate electorates on religious or communal basis, fixing the number of
seat in the legislature for Muslims, Anglo-Indians, Indian Christians, Sikhs, Europeans, etc. But the part of it that provoked
Gandhi to go into a fast unto death was the creation of separate electoral seats for the 'Depressed Classes or the
Scheduled Castes'. A compromise was struck known as the Poona Pact and Gandhi was persuaded to give up his fast.
So the conference went ahead and at the end of the end it a new series of constitutional reforms were proposed with
the objective of creating an All India Federation. But as Pylee says the whole effort "missed the substance of the whole
problem, namely, Indian in dependence!" 16 . The final proposals that the British government made in 1933 in a White
Paper were based on three principles for the proposed constitutional set up - federation , provincial autonomy and special
responsibilities and safeguards vested in the Executive both at the centre and the Provinces . But thrs document did not sat-
isfy Indian parties and so another committee went into the matter under the chairmanship of Marquess of Lin li thgow. The
proposals of this committee came in1934. and recommended that a federation should be formed when fifty percent of the
Princes joined the scheme. They recommended full responsible government in all the eleven British Indian Provinc-
es. On the basis of this report the famous Government of India Act of I 935 was passed. The Bill was the longest ev-
er passed by the British Parliament and had 451 clauses with fifteen schedules.
The Government of India was not accepted well by most parties because it was felt it was attempting too
much were the circumstances were not there and also because the act granted very little real political power to Indians who
had been demanding all along nothing short of full dominion status . As Pylee says. 'to them the Bill constituted a gigantic
facade without anything substantial within it' 17
The Government of India Act of 1935 was very complex and cumbersome and attempted to bind in a
federal set up some 600 Princely States and 11 Provinces. But in the attempt to fulfil the demands of such a diverse ar-
ray of interests some of the 'principles of a good federal system had to be abandoned'.18 The Act wanted to first
break·up the Government into autonomous provinces and then untie them together in a federal set up which would in-
clude the princely states and while the act had the powers to compulsorily bring all Provinces into the federation, it was
powerless to bind the Princely States. And the notion of a document of 'Instrument of Ac.cession ' that was created
to bring in the Princely States was not uniform for everybody with the result that there could emerge a diverse array of
'federal compacts' as· Pylee puts it with the different tates. Thus while India was to be a federation, the federal gov-
ernment wouldn't have an identical range of powers with all the constituent units and certainly rather different sets of
powers with the provinces and the states. Also the government at the centre was not fully 'responsible government' to the
Indian people at the end of the day - a longstanding demand of the Indian people. The Governor- General was responsi-
ble not to anybody in India but to the British Crown and reported to the Secretary of State for India.

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 Important activities like defence and external affairs were under the control of the Governor general and
even if he acted in a manner that was not liked by the members of the federal legislature there was nothing they could do
either to stop him or review his actions. The federal legislature itself couldn ' t ever be fully democratic under the Act of
1935 because while the Provinces were to elected re presentat ives, the ·Prince ly state 's representatives were to be nomi-
nated by the ruling maharajas or princes . Also the number of· representat ives of the princely states was niore than in pro-
portion to what they should have had on the basis of their population. The Governor General also had vast powers of inter-
vention in the affairs of the Provinces, which thus diluted the federal nature of the set up.
There was however one feature which was of great significa n·c e. The cle a; 1 and exhaust ive separation
of legislative powers into three elaborate lists - the Central Lis t, the Provin_c ial Listand the Concurrent List - was at-
tempted for the first time under any federal system anywhere in the world. Later this made the job easy for the Constituent
Assembly after in dependence , as far as the division of powers between the centre and states was concerned to give
effect to tlie federar principle. The Residuary Legislative Power for the provinces however, the power to legislative on
a matter not on either the Central or Provincial List as left with the Governor General who could at his discretion
empower either the Federal or the Provincial Legislatures to enact a law. In the case of the Princely States, the power
was vested in the Princes . Generally, the Centre had more ad1i1inistrative powers over the Provinces than over the States,
according to the Act. For instance, the federal laws were administered in the provinces by the federal officials and the Gov-
ernors in the provinces were under the Governor Gene ra l , but in the Princely States the administration of federal laws
was by the Princely Rulers themse lves . Summing up the effect of the Government of India Act of 1935, Pylee
says:
"The Constitution Act of 1935 did not .evoke any enthusiasm either in Britain or in India. In Britain, a
powerful section of the Conservatives thought that too much power was being given to Ind ians , while many in the Labour
party thought that the Act did not go far enough to satisfy Indian de mands . C hurc hill , who was a vigorous critic of the
Act, denounced if as · ' vo lum ino us but not lumino us ' and ' a work of pigmies ' . In India every party except the Liberals
and the Hindu Mahasabha , was emphatic in condemning the Act. The Indian Princes quietly backed out of the federal
scheme and, as a res u lt , the All India Federation soon became a lost ideal. Nevertheless. the relationship between the
centre and the provinces came to be regulated in accordance with the federal provisions ·of the Constitution wht h came
into operation in 1937." 1 9 And perhaps that was among the most lasting benefits of the act of 1935 - it created and put
into operation, albeit impe rfect , a constitutional framework for a federal relationship between the Centre and the Prov-
inces/States.
A word is due on provincial autonomy flowing from the Act of 1935 in pract ice . Most of the provinces
had Congress ministries elected to office excepting Punjab where there was a coalition government and in Bengal where
the ministry was headed by the Krishak Praja Party, headed by A.K. Fazlul Huq. On the functioning of the govern-
nients in the provinces , particularly in those ruled by the Indian National Congress which was supposedly in logger heads
with the British led by Nehru and Gandhi perpetua ll y, Pylee says: "Contr ary to general expectat io ns , the congress
ministries in all the Provinces functioned in a remarkably effective manner.....although there were minor clashes be-
tween the Ministries and the Gove rnors , by and large, Indian statesmanship and accommodation found in the British
Governors willing partners of a commendable enterprise of laying down· the firm :foundat io ns of a real parliamentary
government in Ind ia_......it was a pity that the system could not work for a longer period on account of the seri-
ous differences of opinion between the congress and the British Government in the wake of the Second World War... ...
yet, during the short period of two years, the experiment proved the value of provincial autonomy if it was- allowed to
function properly." 20
Apart from the establishment of the concept of provincial autonomy, there were other significant develop-
ments as well. For the first time, Indians were forming and running councils of ministers to run governments on \IJe princi-
ple of joint responsibility of the cabinet. The leader of the party which commanded a stable major ity in the Legislature
was invited by the Governor to seek advice in the formation of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet) and the Ministers
were appointed on his advice. In fact, the terms Prime Minister and Cabinet were used for the first time in 1937 and the
public began to understand the significance of the terms very rapidly. The superiority of the Prime Minister over his col-
leagues was also recognised for instance in the higher salary that was given to hirn.
Another major aspect was the functioning of the Gove rnors . There were almost no occasions of
dispute between the Governor and the council of Ministers. When the r.e were fundamental differences between the
Governor and the Minist ry, the latter voluntarily submitted its resignatioi1 when it found that the collaboration
was no more possible, thereby ensuring that the tenure of the ministries were based on the confidence of the leg-
islatures rather than at the pleasure of the Governors . The Governor had special powers to stop legislations if he so wis
hed , but he never did so. Hence, in effect tl1e legislatures in the provinces got the chance for the first time to func-
tion as real legislative bodies.

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Pylee says, indeed the most " str iking feature of the working of provincial autonomy during this period was the behav-
iour of the Governors who functioned as constitutional heads of state" and... ....thus there was ' subst ance of inde-
pendence ' in the provincial field and the two cardinal principles of a parliamentary government, representa-
tive character and the executive 's responsibility t-o the legislature, were for the first time found in practice " 11

The progressive evolution of constitutional parliamentary democracy and federalism was however brought
to a halt with the second world war. The British anticipating war and its requirements of mobilisation of resources and
people , had amended the Government 0f India Act'of 1935 to ·en able the central government to co-ordinate the activities
of the Central and Provineial governme nts . The Congress protested against this amendment of the Act which they said '
aimed to strike at the very root of provincial autonomy and render it a farce in case of War, which in effect could create a
War dictatorship of the Central Government in India and which could make Provincial Governments the helpless
agents of imper ialis m' . Later when the Governo General, Lord Linlithgow automatically declared war on Germany fol-
lowing the declaration by Britain, the Congress felt they were right in their apprehensions about the amendments, particu-
larly since Lord Linlithgow's declaration was made without any consultation whatsoever with the political forces repre-
senting Indian public opinion . Soon after the declaration of war, the Viceroy started negotiations with the Congress,
Muslim League and the Princes with to request their co-operation in the war effort. The Congress after a meeting of the
working committee agreed to support the war effort after offering sympathy to the democracies that were facing
German aggression.
Unfortunately by now and over the next few years all the major parties had begun to guess that British rule
would come to an end sooner or later and had hence .-st arted visualising their position post British rule. This caused a
power play more than anything else to emerge among the many interests and political parties and groups but most bitterly
between the Congress under the leadership of Nehru and the Muslim League under the leadership of Jinnah and Liaqat
Ali Kha n. This intense division hardened to the point where Jinnah decided that nothing short of a separate state of Paki-
stan was what he wanted . He successfully sold the idea to the majority of the Muslim population of the c untry too and al-
so successfully argued with the .Brit is h for at least a guarantee of safety and security for Muslims that he hoped to later
develop into a full acceptance of the idea of Pakistan by claiming that in no dispensation dominated by the Congress
would the Muslims be safe . Unfortunately Nehru and his Congress colleagues were rather obdurate and over-confident
that they would manage to foil the partition agenda of Jinnah and refused to be generous or strategic in the negotiations.
Also the threat of adopti n of violent means by the Muslim League was a constant cause for alarm in Congress ranks.

On 8th of August , 19 40, the British Government made an announcement wh ic h, later on came to be known as
the ' August Offer·'.· The offer was made by Viceroy Linlithgow probably to secure Indian support for the war effort
butt was significant in many respects . The Viceroy for the first time decfared that the framing of a new Constitu-
tion should be primarily (though not solely) the responsibility of Indi ans . The government was ready now to ex-
pand the Gove rnor-General ' s council and include a certain number of represe h tat ives of political parties and to set up a
consultative .co mm ittee provided that some measure of agreement was established between the major political parties -
namely the Congress and the Muslim League . Such an agreement was of course not possible given the self-
aggrandizing manoeuvring stance of Jinnah and Neh ru's general stance of no compromise. The Congress decided to ex-
press their disapproval of the offer in strong terms and in December. 1940, the Civil Disobedience Movement was
launched to register India's protest at being made a party to the second world war without consent. The protest was against
the right of Britain to presume co-operation on India's behalf even though the Congress supported the war as has been ex-
plained above and so decided not to obstruct the war effort.

The war was going badly for Britain and within a few months the Japanese were knocking at India's door
after having captured much of the rest of the east. At home too in Europe, the Germans were marching forward and the
bombing of Britain was in full swing. Under these circumsta nces , Churchill who had otherwise always been hostile to
any level of concession towards constitutional self-government in India in the past decided to yield and on the advice of
his cabinet and the suggestions of the Viceroy, agreed to send Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of the cabinet, and somebody
who had a reputation of being a genuine friend of India and of her aspirations for freedom, to India to negotiate di-
rectly with all political parties and communities' for a settlement. Cripps arrived in India on March 22. I 942 and pre-
sented his proposals for consideration of all the political parties and on a radio broadcast on 30th of March. 1942 ap-
pealed to the Indian people to accept the proposals saying: ' It is with the greatest hope that I look to the events of the
next few days which may, if wisely handled. seal for you your freedom and our friendship'.

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 The proposals were to create a ' new Indian Union which shall constitute a Dominion in the British Com-
monwealth but (which) in no way (shall be) subordinate to Britain in any aspect of its domestic or external affairs' . Im-
mediately upon the end of the war, an elected body (a Constituent Assembly) would be set up for framing a new constitu-
tion with the participation of the Princely States. The British Government wou Id ' unde rtake to accept and implement
forthwith the constitution' subject to (I) the right of any Province of British India that was not prepared to accept the new
constitution to retain their old constitutional position with provision of course of the later accession if they so des ired, and
(2) a treaty being signed after all negotiations were over between the constitution making body or assembly and the British
Government which would cover all matters arising out of the complete transfer of responsibility from British to Indian
hands and which will make provision, as per the promises made by the British, for the ·protection of linguistic and racial
minor ities ' . The princely states would also have to negotiate new treaty arrangements to make their position under the
new constitution clear. The constitution-making body was to be constituted by the membership of the Lower houses of the
provincial legislatures that were to be elected after the end of the war and together the legislature members of the all the
provinces as 'one electoral college' would elect one-tenth of their total strength to represent the provinces in the- constitu-
ent assemb ly. The princely states would also be represented in proportion of their population by representatives who
would have the same powers in the assembly as the representatives of the provinces .
The Cripps scheme was carefully prepared to please everybody from the Congress to the Muslim League
and the minorities , both communal and racial. Unfortunately, nobody was pleased in the end and was ready to accept the
proposal. Both the Congress and the .Mus li m League picked on the same provision for refusal but from totally different
angles obviously. The provision of allowing provinces the option to stay out of the union was too much for the Congress
who saw in it the seed of'a posi:-war Pakis tan. The Muslim League on the other hand felt or claimed that it strongly felt
that the provision was not strong 'enough and properly framed to ensure real protection to the Mus lims . Sir Stafford tried
his best to save the scheme by offering adjustments and modifications and protracted negotiations went on for months to
no avail. The Congress offered to join the government if a national cabinet was formed immediately replacing the Execu-
tive Council of the Governor-General. Cripps naturally said that this would require a constitutional amendments which
would be impossible during war-time. Also he said that in the absence of a national legislature the cabinet would be re-
sponsible to none but itself and could be removed not be removed from office by anybody which would mean a dictator-
ship of sorts. He instead suggested that the , on gress leaders join the Executive Council and establish conventions which
would facilitate the working of the council just as a cabinet. The Congress was not prepared to join the Government on
such terms and so the negotiations came to an end. it is interesting that the Congress leadership packed as they were
with British _traine d lawyer had so little appreciation of the genuine legal difficulties and were so adamant in asking for
the most power for themselves without appropriate democratic and legal safeguards that they showed much sensitivity to
during the drafting of the constitution of free India . One can only put this down to the battle with the Muslim
League for political supremacy that was by now dictating all postures.
After the failure of the Cripps mission, the All India Congress Committee met at Bombay in Au-
gust 1942 and decided to go in for action as the next step towards their ultimate goal. The Congress by now were
following a strategy of.pushing for a total transfer of power to Indians possibly because they felt that the British
were not ultimately serious and had not taken the strategic decision to 'Quit In d ia' - a rallying cry by now coined
by Gandhi. Also they wished to make the most of the fact obviously that the British government under the circum-
stances of a deva tating war· that they were not looking like they would win was more agreeable to negotiate
and grant what they had never considered befo re. After all the Cripps Mission even though it failed had been sent by
a Prime Minister like Churchill who had never before agreed to grant anything by way of self-government to In
dians. Gandhi had been raising a demand for many years by now that the British should just quit India and . leave Indi-
ans to settle their problems presuming that all problems with respect to Muslim apprehensions as expressed by Jin-
nah would be temporary and easily solved..Or the stance was a deliberate ploy to undermine the growing im-
portance of Jinnah and the Muslim League within the muslim coinmunity. It is possible the Congress leaders felt
that the sooner the British left the easier it would be to deal with muslim fears and apprehensions and to se-
cure a consens us' or compromise for a new national life. The British at least under Lord Wave II the Viceroy who suc-
ceeded Lord Linlithgow in 1943 was not inclined to end their imperial rule of India by leaving behind a mess and a
state of civil war that the Muslim League on a daily basis by now. But Lord Wavell since rely believed that unity be-
tween Hindus and Muslims would be needed to have a viable self- govemment. He continued negotiations in one form
or the other from the day he took over to reconcile the Congress and the League. An interesting account of his
efforts can be gleaned from his personal journals that he kept fairly regularly during this all important period
leading up to India's in depe nde nce .22

193
 The British reacted to the ' Quit India Reso lutio n' rather harshly by arresting all the Congress leaders and
by banning all Congress organ is ations . The arrest of the leaders provoked a widespread revolt which came to be known as
the'August Revo lut io n' . Thousands were arrested and put in jail and the war efforts of the Government were seriously
hampered.
In response to the ·Quit In dia ' call of Gandhi and the Congre s, Jinnah gave the call of ' Divide and
Quit' even as the Muslim League gained in strength and unlike in1937 when they couldn' t form the · government even in
one province , now had the major position in about five provinces . He had also advanced a lot in getting the British to
at least acknowledge that it was the duty of the British to ensure the-co mp lete safety and security of muslims before
they left India. Only Lord Wave II hadn't accepted that guarantee must necessarily mean the creatfon of a separate
state of Pakistan.
The Allies began to taste victory in the War in Europe by 1945 and for all these years since the Quit India
Movement most of the leaders were in jail. But the Governor-General's Executive Council was expanded to fourteen and
the ban of the Communist Party which had been in existence for almost a decade was lifted because they supported the
war after Hitler attacked Russia.
In June 1945, Lord Wavell released all the prisoners and announced that he wished to offer new pro-
posals 'to eas·e the present political situation and to advance India towards her goal of full self- government ' . He
also declared that he wised to hold a conference .of all the political parties in Simla on the 25th of June . He start-
ed qegotiations with all the leaders and the representatives of the parties for the conference . The conference was Ul-
timately held but it failed on the issue of parity of numbers between Muslims and caste Hindus in the Executive
Council of the Interim Government before even a new constitution coufd be drafted. that Jinnah wanted, and his
claim to be recognised as the sole representatives of Muslims wi,th the right to nominate all the Muslim members from
the League. The celebrated commentator/author on British h1dia and the former ICS officer, Penderel Moon puts the
reasons for the failure in the following words:
"The rot cause of the failure.was,of course, Jinnah's intransigenc;e and obstinacy, but Wavell recog-
nized that this intransigence 'represents a real fear on the part of the Muslims, including those who do not support
Jinnah , of Congress domination, which they regard as equivalent to a Hindu Raj'.
... ... Although Wavell took responsibility for its failure, clearly the fault was not really his . Some critics
have, however, contended that by capitulating without a truggle to Jinnah's intransigence and abruptly bringing the Con-
ference to an end, he needlessly abandoned a great chance of setting India on the road to united self-government. This
conclusion implies that if he had ignored Jinnah and continued negotiations with the other parties, Jinnah would have
had to give way, since he could not afford to see a new council formed without the League; or, alternatively, that if he
had still refused to come in, he would have lost his hold over the Muslims and more moderate leaders would
hav... come to the fore.
These were possibilities, but hardly much more; and if Wavell was to take advantage of them, such as they
were, he had to be prepared accept, if necessary, a congress- dominated Council. Would this have been advisable? One of his
main objectives in trying to form a new council was to facilitate a long-term solution of India's constitutional problems by
getting congress and the League to coflaborate in the actual task of governing India. If he went ahead without the League,
this objective would have to be forgone; indeed the communal problem was likely to become even more in tractable." 23
Almost immediately following the Simla Conference, two important developments took place that changed
the situation rather dramatically . One was the defeat of the Conservatives and the exit of Churchill and the overwhelming
victory of the Labour Party who had always been sympathetic of Indian desires for freedom an_d a_ full responsible con-
stitutiona,I self-government. The second important defeat was the surrender of the Japanese following the dropping of the
atom bombs and thus the threat of a Japanese march into India. This removed the necessity of any interim settlement of the
Indian problem as the war had ended. It was announced by Lord Wavell after he had gone and consulted the new govern-
ment that elections to the Legislatures would soon take place and post elections a constitution making body would be set up.
In the elections the Congress formed the ministries in eight of the provinces and the Muslim League in
two - Sind and Bengal, and in Punjab there was a coalition ministry formed of the Congress, Akali Sikhs and the Un-
ionist Party which was a Muslim party opposed to the League.
On 19th of February it was announced that a Cabinet Mission would be sent to India to seek a settlement
of the ' constitution al issue'. The Cabinet Mission arrived in India on the 24th of March 1946 and held negotiations with
the Viceroy and all tl1e political parties. The negotiations lasted over seven weeks and tried hard to reconcile the Muslim
League and the Congress. After the negotiations the mission announced what was called the Cabinet Mission Plan. It had
three parts - first, an examination of the case for Pakistan argued by Jinnah and the League; se·cond ly, a scheme for the
setting up of an Interim Government; thirdly, a plan or a long-term settlement.

194
 The Cabinet Mission rejected the p.lea for a separate state of Pakistan and made some recommendations
for a long term or permanent settlernent as follows:
A Union of India should be created compromising of both British India and the States which shall have
responsibility for defence, foreign affairs and communications.

The Union should have an executive and a legislature constituted of representatives from the Provinces
and the Princely States. Any question raising a, major communal issue in the Legisbture should require for its
a
decision majority of the representatives present and voting of each of the two major communities as well as a
majority of all the members present and voting.
All subjects other than the Union subjects and all residuary powers should vest in the Provinces . The
States would retai_n all subjects and powers other than those ceded to the Union.
Provinces should be free to form groups with executives and legislatures and each group could determine
the provincial subjects to be taken in common.
The constitution of the Union and of the groups should contain a provision whereby any province could
by a majority vote of the Legislative Assembly call for a reconsideration of the terms of the constitution after an initial
period of ten years and at ten yearly intervals thereafter.
The constitution-making body should be constituted immediately through indirect elections. (Direct elec-
tion based on adult franchise would lead to long delay.) For this purpose, each Province was to be allotted a number of
seats proportional to its population, roughly to the ratio of one to a m illio n. The total number of seats thus arrived at for
each Province was to be divided among the main communities in proportion to their population and the representatives
allotted to each community were to be elected by the members of the same com· mun ity in the Legislative Assem-
bly. (The communities recognised for this purpose were General, Muslim and Sikhs.)
The representatives so elected would meet together in New Delhi as one body, together with the represent-
atives of the Indian states to constitute a constitution-making body.
The Constituent Assembly would separate into three sections: Section A. Madras, Bombay, U.P., C.P.,
Bihar and Orissa , Section B. Punjab, N.W.F.P. and Sind, Section C Bengal and Assam.
Each section would decide its own provincial constitutions and also whether any constitution for the
group as a whole to be set up and if so the extent of its powers.
After the group constitutions are settled, the groups would assemble together to settle the Union Constitu-
tion.
The Union Constituent assembly would negotiate a treaty with the united Kingdom to provide for certain
matters arising out of the transfer of power.
In the immediate term the plan was to set up an inte r,im government having the support of all the major
political parties in order to carry on the administration while the constitution was being di:afted. The Cabinet Mission
appealed for co-operation to make the plan .a success in the following words:
" We hope that the new independent India may chose to be a member of the British Common-
wealth. We hope in any event that you will remain in close and friendly association with our people. But these
are matters for your own free cho ice . Whatever that choice may be, we look forward with you to your ever- increasing
prosperity among the great nations of the world, and to a future ev_e n more glorious than your past." 24.
The Congress approved the Cabinet Mission Plan on the 6th of June, 1946 at a meeting of the
All India Congress Commi ttee. However, Nehru made many utterances throughout that were bad indiscretions
and which gave Jinnah and the League the excuse to refuse agreements. He demanded clarifications from the
British and even though the British position was that Jinnah was unjustified in his fears for the minor ities ,
the League was not convinced and decided to reject the Cabinet Mission Plan in its entiret y. The Muslim
League also announced that only a sovereign Pakistan would be acceptable and announced 16 th of August,
1946, as 'Direct Action Day' towards that aim. This was nothing but a call for violence and it was seen as
such by the Congress.

The British position at this time, at least as held by the Viceroy, Lord Wavell is worth a look, and the
best way might be to glimpse at what he confidentiality Wrote to London at the time. For instance he wrote in a
letter to the King on July 8th, 1946 explaining the failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan as follows:

195
 " Their (the members of the mission) achievements were also very cons ide rable . They certainly con-
vinced Indian opinion, except perhaps the most extreme, that we really do intend to give India her freedom as soon as
possible; they persuaded the Congress ahd Muslim league leaders to meet at Simla; they produced an admirable
compromise plan in the Statement of May 16th; and succeeded, after some almost interminable haggling on the part of
Congress, in getting it accepted by the two main Parties - though both had, I am afraid, more than mental reserva-
tions in their acceptance...... The failure to secure an Interim Goverment was perhaps more my fault than theirs, since I
conducted duct: of the negotiations to this end. They came near success, I think. But at the last moment Gandhi, whose
conduct, as always, was quite unpredictable, threw a spanner in the works at the Congress end; and Jinnah chose that
moment to give to the Press an intemperate letter he had written to me about the attitude of Congress, before I had
ever received it. And Nehru at the same critical juncture went off on a quite unnecessary and provocative expedition to
Kashmir, mainly for reason of personal prestige and vanity. Such are the irresponsibilities of the leaders with whom we
have had to deal.... Any differences of view that I had with the Mission were on the methods of reaching our ends,
not on the ends themselves, on which we were in full agreement. We are bound to fulfil our pledges to give India her
freedom as soon as possible - and we haven.either the power nor, I think, the will to remain in control of India for more
than an extremely limited period, without s complete reversal of policy; we must try to leave India united; and we
must secure the co-operation of the Congress which represents the great majority of Indian -political opinion, whatever our
views on the past record of the Party.. .. .. .. ..l thought the Mission was too prone to parade the weakness of our posi-
tion; and did not make enough of our strength - India is not yet able to stand without us and I feel that this should have
been brought home more clearly to her rather irresponsible leaders; also what the consequences of attack on the British
in India would likely to be. I considered that the Mission should have taken and kept the initiative more; and should
not have been so dependent on the shifts and changes of a inexperienced, short sighted and sometimes malevolent
politicians. After all, we are still in charge of Ind ia , and are giving a boon rather than asking one. Further, I
thought it was a mistake that the Mission should ' have, outside the official discussions , such a continuous and
close touch with one of the two main Parties , the Congress; this naturally aroused the deep suspicion of the Muslim
Parties , the congress; this naturally aroused the deep suspicion of the Muslim League , and was probably a cause of that
letter of Jinn ah 's which contributed to the breakdown on the Interim Governmen t-. . . ... .. . .. .. Of the immediate
future in India it is difficult to write with much confidence . I am left with one rather sticky i nfant, the Constituent As-
semb ly, which I shall find much difficulty in nursing through its childhood; and one still-born babe; the Interim Govern-
ment, wh ic h I am expected to resuscitate by some means. The Sikhs , who have always more conceit than political sense,
are threatening to make trouble; Jai Prakash Narain and the Congress left wing will certainly do so if they see a chance
; the Services, on whom the good government of India depends , are tired and discour aged; the loyalty of the Police and
Indian Army in face of a really serious challenge to British rule is problematical; and the Congress are convinced that
irnmediate power is theirs for the asking . This has always been their real objective, and they will concentrate on it rather
than on const itut io n-mak ing ; that is in their eyes a sequel to the seizure of power, not a preliminary. The Congre. s s is
, however , by no means a united body and a considerable proportion are in favour of constitut io nal progress rather than
viole nce . We may be able to secure an orderly withdrawal from our rule over India without a rebellion or civil
war; but it is likely to be a close-run th i ng. And no-one can feel much confidence in the ability·in the ability of the
Indians who will take over from us to make a strong or prosperous new India. Sti ll, if we play our hand well, the y are
likely to continue to lean on British he lp, and may· maintain some connection with the Commonwealth; but
these three months close contact with Indian politicians have certainly not enhanced anyone's opinion of their wisdom
or foresight."25
It is obvious that ' a person of foreign origin', to use a termino lo gy from current Indian political d.iscourse had
the commonsense to foresee the communal mayhem and chaos that could arise if the constitutional changes and the exit of
the British wasn't handled well, but Indi a's selfish politicians did not, many of whom we are used to praising to the skies
as being endowed with almost supernatural powers.
Lord Wavell kept on trying to cobble together an interim government though. When elections to the pro-
posed Constituent Assembly were comple ted, he invited the Congress and the League to agree to a joint government
but when the League refused, he asked the Congress to go ahead and so on the 2nd of September for the first time ever a
fully popular Govern-Genera l ' s .Counc il consisting of national leaders like Jaw aharlal Ne hru, Vallabhbhai Patel,
Rajendra Prasad and Rajagopalachari took over the re igns of Indian admin is t a,tio n. Nehru was its first Vice-
President.
The Mus li m-Le ague 's observance of Direct Action Day caused a communal holoc aust due to rioting in
Calc utta and other cities and thousands of people were butchered . Lord Wave II while organising troops under British
command for the riot hit areas, continued on the path of persuading the League to join the interim government because he
genuinely believed no constitutional life of a free and prosperous India was possible without all Indians being a part of
that union.

196
 After protracted negotiations he managed to persuade Jinnah, and the first representatives of the League
joined the government on 26th of October, 19 46. According to the Pylee, the only reason the League joined was to
wreck the government. He puts it in the following words :
The Interim Government however did not function success fully. This was mainly because of the intran-
sigent attitude of the Muslim League which did not want the Interim Government to function as a harmonious
team as it feared that it might consolidate the position of the Congress. In fact, the Muslim League ' s anxiety to enter the
Interim Government was motivated more by the considerations of thwarting the congress doing well in government
than by its sharing political powe r. Hence, it became evident soon that the League contingent in the Government
was using its position in Government for the realization of the League ' s ambition of establishing a sovereign
Pakistan. Lord Wavell tried his best to persuade Jinnah to rescind the League ' s Bombay resolution by which it
rejected the cabinet mission's Statement of 16 May. But Jinnah adopted an evasive att it ude . Further, the League
representatives in the Interim Government refused to accept Ne hru's leadership as Vice-President of the Counc il, and
tiouted the principles of collective responsib ilit y. When the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9th of
December 1946, the League representatives boycotted it. There were also during this difficult period communal
disturbances in different parts of the country to make the situation worse for bringing about any sett le me nt . ' 20
In a bid to settle the differences the British Government invited leaders of the parties to London, but
the talks there as well led nowhere. The League continued with it ' s demand for a Pakistan and the Congress in their
irritation of the League ' s intransigence and their continued boycott of the Constituent Assembly now demanded the
resignation of the League members from the Executive Council. Lord Wavell was not inclined to expel the
League members and continued to make efforts to get the League to fall in line behind the idea of a united In
dia.
Suddenly on the 20th of February, Prime Minister Clement Atlee made a statement in the House of
Commons declaring their intension of effecting a complete transfer of power to Indian hands by June 1948 at the
latest and also announced the replacement of Lord Wavell with Lord Mbuntbatten as the Governor General to oversee
the final transfer. The statement kept open the question as to whom exactly the power would be transferred and
whether India would be partitioned or not as demanded by the League . This was a sad development because
arguably at the time on the British side anyway, there was nobody as determined to try to keep India united in the
face of the petty egoistical war over the spoils of freedom between the League and the Congress, than Lord Wavell.
Who knows what might have been achieved had the Lord Wavell been allowed to continue and the British had decided
not to withdraw suddenly, leaving the job undone .
Lord Mountbatten arrived on the scene on the 22nd of Ma rch , 19 47. The communal situat io n was
really bad and rioting had co nt inued . The League had continued with its policy of Direct Action and a policy of civil
disobedience against Congress ministries in some Provinces. Most dange rous ly the otherwise super disciplined services
(Army and the Police) were even beginning to show sig ns of being divided along communal lines . Lord
Mountbatten initially tried to work out a solution along the lines of the Cabinet Mission Plan and engaged in
discussions with all the parties but he became convinced very soon that no solution was possible other than a
partition of the country. Eventually he came out with a pian according to which if the epresentatives of the predomi-
nantly Muslim and Hindu areas of Bengal and Punjab voted for partition, these provinces would be partitioned;
and that the predominantly Muslim district of Ass m should have the option of joining the Muslim Province. The
plan also called for the holding of a referendum in the N.W.F.P to determine the wishes of the people there.
The partition was accepted by all the parties and there was no effort, much le s s agitation,
against it. In a public speech on the 20th of Apr il, . J 947 Nehru said, ' The Muslim League can have Pakistan,
if they wish to have it, but on the condition that they do not take away other parts of India which do not wish to
join Pakistan'.
All this was happening in the midst of communal riots, particularly in the Punjab, N.W.F.P. and the Sind
which were by now being seen by the local populations as going to Pakistan. The rioting was mostly organised and
caused a river of blood on the streets not to mention loss of millions of property which alarmed and caused Mountbatten
to panic. He decided that the only way to stop the bloodshed was to hasten the implementation of the partition plan. He
immediately held talks with all the parties and with the British Government and the Plan was accepted. India and
Pakistan, it was decided would be granted Dominion status in the British Commonwealth of Nations and the date of
transfer of power would be advanced to the I 5th of August, 1947.
The India Independence Bill which was designed to transfer power to the people of India· was intro-
duced in the House of Commons on the 4th of July, 1947 and after being cleared through parliament received the royal
assent on the I 8th of July.

197
Mountbatten flew to Karachi on the 11th of August to inaugurate the Dominion of Pakistan and was back in
New Delhi on the 14th of August. By nightfall that day, the Constituent Assembly met where Nehru delivered his
famous 'Tryst with Dest iny ' speech. So India was born on the 15th of August 19 47. The assembly decided to
request Lord l'viountbatten to serve as the first Governor-General of free India. On the I 5th of August itself he was
sworn in as Governor- General.
So India was left with a Constituent Assembly that was engaged in writing its Constitution. As the
Muslim League was gone, the assembly now became as Austin puts it ·a one-party body in a one party co un
try' . He says the 'assembly was the Congress and the Congress was India'Y The government in charge was also
of the Congress. So the 'Assembly, the Congress, and the Government were, like the points of a triangle, sepa-
rate entities, but, linked by over-lapping membership, they assumed a form infinitely meaningful for lnd ia' 28 •
On the face of it the membership of the Congress was as diverse as India was and tlrere was representation for
all soc ial, economic and political vie ws. But possibly only just for even as they were free to express their views and
there is evider,1ce that they did, the influence of what Austin calls the oligarchy - Nehru, Patel, Azad and Ra-
jendra Prasad, was rather overwhelming. But on balance, in the end , says Austin, the Constitution did express the
'will of the many rather than •the needs of the few' 29 . It is possible that the final form that that will of the many
took, in the end, was substantially shaped by the oligarchy.
This Congress leadership though, to be fair to them, always strained to accommodate as much of the
representation as poss ible , for instance there was a representative even for the Nepalis of India, from no11hern
Bengal. There was a genuine belief in giving representation to everybody and also because they wished to be seen to
be doing so. Gandhi of course was also influential and nominated many names.
Dr. Ambedkar, who came to be known as the father of the constitution was initially elected to the as-
sembly as a member for the Scheduled Castes Federation, but he lost his seat with the partition of Bengal. The Bom-
bay Congress re-elected him at the request of the Congress 'high command'. During the course of the assembly the '
high command ' often instructed a PCC (Provincial Congress Committee) to find a seat for a Cabinet Minister who
was not already a member of the Assembly and needed to be to retain his place in the Cabinet. 30 Nehru ai1d Patel
were basically in charge of inclusions in the assembly and usually when Gandhi made any recommendations, they
were accommodated. There was a conscious effort to pick as many lawyers, constitutional experts and . people expe-
rienced in administration as possible.
Many people who were members of the Constituent Assembly have asserted that there was no
shade of opinion that had not been present. While this may be true on the whole it is questionable what so11
of influence a token presence could have had on the proceedings. In any case three political pai1ies had no
presence in the Constituent Asseembly: the Communist Party,' the Socialist Party and the Hindu. Mahasa-
bha. The Communists in Bengal had elected an Assembly member, but, like Ambedkar and others, he had lost is
seat with Partition; he was not re-elected and attended the first three sessions. There were some representatives in
the assembly however of Forward Block, which is regarded as a Marxist party nowadays but it may not strict-
ly have been so back then. The Socialists were the people in the Congress who were socialist but had split
from the Congress in 1948 to form a separate party because they had felt that the Congress was too close
to big business and was often doing their bidding (of which there is enough credible evidence of course like
the way the Congress and Nehru and Patel had quarrelled with Liaquat Ali Khan over his proposed 'Business
Profits Tax' that they wanted reduced as pressed for by the head of the Birla business empire, Mr. G.D.
Birla 31 ). This group had not joined the assembly under the Cabinet mission Plan in 1946 they had not been
convinced of British sincerity. A year later the leader of the group, Jayaprakash Narain, wrote to Nehru say-
ing that they would like to be invited to the assembly because the circumstances had changed. He recommended
seven names not including h is own. Nehru wrote him back saying that while the persons named would be wel-
come, he cou ld n ' t do much because the election of members was largely a matter for the provinces and there
was a ·strong competition for seats' . Ultimately no socialists were included in the assembly. Nehru kept on givin g,
what must be regarded as excuse , of difficulty in accommodating them. Meanwhile there was a split in the
Socialist Party in 1948 on the issue and the majority view inside that party came to be that the Constituent
Assembly sessions should not be attended even if they are invited and instead the party gave a call for the
dissolution of the assembly because it had not been elected by 'adult suffrage'. This view sounded entirely rea-
sonable of course, one may imagine , because·the Provincial Assemblies had been elected after all by only about
15% of the population who constituted or qualified as the electorate and the provincial assemblies had in turn indi-
rectly elected the members of the Constituent Assembly.

198
 So the Constituent Assembly was full of people writing the Constitution for free India but who
had not been elected directly for the job by a significant majority of the people of India. It alf seems quite
undemocratic now from the vantage point of this day and age but back then was possibly regarded as 11othing
particularly unacceptable or undermining of democratic principles.
Austin says the absence of ' a formal Socialist group meant little , however, for most members
of the Assembly thought of themselyes as Socialists , and with few exceptions the members believed that the
best and perhaps only way to the social and economic goals that India sought was by the road of government
initiative and control of industry and comm erce' 32.
The Hindu Mahasabha , the political organisation of the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak s,angh(RSS)
, was also not represented but there were people in the assembly who were known to have represented them. For
instance , Shayama Prasad Mookerjee, a vice-president of the Mahasabha, was present in the assembly because Nehru
had made him a member of the Cabinet !! and so he got a chance to enter the assembly. There were also people like
M.R. Jayakar who had also entered the assembly courtesy the Congress. In all three former Mahasabha presidents
were members. There wer also Congressmen who were known to be communally minded like Purushottam Das
Tandon and even Patel, who there is much evidence to suggest was at least less than whole heartedly firmly
against Hindu communalists.
The government was of course was almost totally represen t,ed, the same government wh ic h
was continuing as legacy of the British rule, and this Austin calls the crucial third point of the ' t ig ht tr iang le '
that made the constitution for free India. There were fourteen Union Government ministers present and three
ministers of state and one deputy minister.
Another amazing aspect of the working of the assembly is that while the Congr ess vi11ually owned
the pJace, the intlu nce of the lower ranks of the party was very little and tho se from the party that were members of
the assembly had acquired a certain a sense of professional corporateness that granted them an air of elitism and it
would have been regarded presumptuous almost for the ranks and file of the party to participate even with suggest
io ns . The Congress Working Committee did participate in planning the early sessions of the Assembly and later cer-
tain problems of especially grave import such as the language and linguistic provinces issues but that was about all.
Austin says the ' exclus ion of the lo wer ranks of the party from participation in Constitution Assembly affairs is
very evide nt' 33• In fact Austin says that the bulging files of correspondence between the central Congress· Organi-
sation and the Provincial and District Congress Committees that he inspected contained not one ·le tter referring to
constitutional matters.
Not that this disregard of the Congress party organisation not Just in the matter cf the sessions of the
Constituent Assembly but also in the working of the government itself went unchallenged but Nehru won out in the
e nd . Archarya Kriplani resigned from the Presidency of the Congress on this issue saying the Cabinet leaders ' do
not feel that the Government at the centre is a Congress Government .. . ... after August I 5 (1947) they seemed to
make a distinction between congress and the National Government' 34 . Acharya Kriplani had wanted the Working
Committee to have equal or superior status to the Cabinet. Nehru on the other hand had felt as he wrote in a
se.cret note to Kriplani, Gandhi, Prasad, Patel and C. Rajgopalachari that the need for quick action and sometimes se-
crecy precluded consultation with the W.C. as customary procedure and claimed that it was a question of the free-
dom of the Government to shape policies and act up to them within the larger ambit of the general polivy laid
down in the Congress Resolutions .. . It is hardly possible for the Working Committee to consider all of them
(government problems, which he had listed) in any detail or give directions in regard to all of them' .35 Austin be-
lieves ' it was the government wing of the Congress , not the mass party, -that wrote the Constitution ' 36.
The controlling influence of Nehru, Patel and Prasad was huge. The Constituent Assembly had eight
major committees - Ru les , Stee ring , Adv iso ry, Drafting, Union Subjects , Union Constitution, Provincial Const
itut io n, and States - and either Nehru, Patel or Prasad chaired each of the committees and in many cases the other two
or Azad were also present. Apart from these four, the other most influential members, according to Austin were M.A.
Ayyangar, Jairamdas Daulatram, Shankarrao Dea, M rs . Durgabai, Acharya Kriplani. T.T. Krishnamachari, H.C.
Mookerjee, N.M. Rau, and Mohammed Saadulla. These twenty people were from diverse backgrounds and had di-
verse personalities and q uali ficat io ns . The majority, as many as twelve were lawyers and three had been ranking
officials in civil government. Only two were Muslims and one was a Christian and all the rest were Hindus . As many
as nine were Brahmins and while the other seven were not of high caste, there was only one harijan, Dr. Ambedkar.
Only about half of these twenty had been active in the independence movement. While most had congress back-
grounds, and as many as six had been or were Congress presidents, Dr. Ambedkar, had actually been a Congress op-
ponent.

199
 He however decided later that he would join the assembly because (I) he would be in better position to serve the
interests of the government from within the government than from outside and (2) he had been invited by Nehru with-
out any conditions. He had however already publicly said that he saw no point in opposing the government for the
sake of opposition. So it is possible Nehru saw in him somebody who would be seen to be representing the lower
castes and yet would not be a nuisance to h im.37 Mohammad Saadulla was another member of this group who had
been a Congress opponent but then he had been a Muslim League member then and in the changed circumstances
post partition he had chosen to stay back in India instead of going to Pakistan thereby accepting the
basic·Congress thesis.
Of the above group, all were graduates but there was a dominance of lawyers. As many as twelve
were lawyers and three had been ranking officials in civil government. I nterest ingly, only about half were involved in
the independence movement but as many as nine has had held Working Committee ranks and as many as six
were former Congress presidents.
An important contributor to the making of the Constitution had been B.N. Rau who was not
a member of the assembly but held the official position of Constitutional Advisor. He had never really been a
participant in the independence movement but he was a former lawyer and judge and a student of constitutional histo-
ry w_ho had travelled all over the world to research constitutional precedents . He also had experience of im-
plementing the 1935 Government of India Act as a member of the Reforms Office. There were also some other
people who were closely involved and who had had a lot of valuable experience from the days of the Round
Table Conferences to the I 935 Act. These were apart from Ambedkar '- N.M. Rau, V.T. Krishnamachari, K.
M. Panikkar, and K.T. Shah.
But for all the personalities , the most over-whelming infltJence was that of what Austin
called the ' oliga rchy' - Nehru Prasad, Patel and Azad . Austin puts it in the following words :
' Their honour was unquestioned, their wisdom hardly less so. In their God-like atus they may have
been feared ; certainly they were lo ved. An Assembly member was not greatly exaggerating the esteem in which
his colleagues held these men when he said that the government rested ' in the hands of those who (were) ut-
terly incapable of doing any wrong to the peop le ' . The oli garchy 's influence was nearly irresistible. yet the Assem-
bly decided issues democratically after genuine debate, fir it was made up of strong-minded men and the leaders
themselves were peculiarly respo ns ive' .38
While the oligarchy were irresistible on the whole, they did try to promote consensus on most
issues and never really rode rough shod on the rest of the membersh i p. Austin says the 'responsiveness of the oli-
garchy can be seen either as cold-blooded practicality or as showing high moral sense ' . There was a genuine be-
lief on the part of Nehru and Patel that a constitution settled on with the consent of the majority would
grant the maximum amount of stability to the process create a stronger foundation for the new India and
so should be as unanimous as possible.
The opportunity for members to voice their differing opinion and even debate/argue issues was
provided mainly in the Congress Assembly Party rather than the Congress Parliamentary Party interest ingly. The
Congress Parliamentary Party was composed of the members of the Congress in the Constituent Assembly
whereas the Congress Assembly Party which had the same membership was different because it was presid-
ed over by th e President of the Congress Party and it had no committees like the Constituent Assembly had and al-
so the leaders of the Government in the meetings of the Assembly Party like the Prime minister or the Depu-
ty Prime Minister had no official status in these meetings whereas in the Congress Parliamentary Party it
was the leaders of the Government li ke. Nehru and Patel who presided and the tone of the meetings was in
the nature of fixing up the strategy for shepherding the Congress agenda through the Constituent Assem-
bly.
Austin says the ·shadow of the Oligarchy covered the Assembly Party' as well but did not domi-
nate it and the discussions which were held in the afternoons in the Constitution House on Curzon Road in New
Delhi were ' at times heated and acrimo nious' . He says this account of the decision making process in the Assem-
bly of his is based on documentary evidence and on interviews with more than dozen former members that he had.39

Hence the Assembly Party was the 'unofficial private forum that debated every provision of the
Const it ut io n, and in most cases decided its fate before it reached the floor of the House(the Constituent Assembly)'
says Aust in. Even people who were not Congressmen but had been elect on a Congress ticket like Dr. Ambedkar
or Shayama Prasad Mookerjee who was a member of the Hindu Mahasabha could attend meetings of the As-
sembly Party.

200
 When faced with questions or oppos ition , the Oligarchy never tried to use force or bully the opposition
out. The relied on persuasion and explanations instead and managed to win over the members most of the time .
Very rarely however the Oligarchy did adjust or retreat from its position in line with the mood of the Assembly i11
the interest of a workable and lasting agreement.
Sometimes if the opposition was sustained or two groups or factions got formed on a particular issue, the
issue was usually put to a vote. If one side had a huge majority then that view was accepted but if the vote was
close then the issue was usually postponed and negotiations continued in search of a consensus or the matter was left
for free voting in the Constituent Assembly. Free voting meant that no whips were issued to l11e- member-s: AUSftn
sums - up- the-workirrg of the Assembly Patty as follows:
" Democratic decision-making by the members of the Congress Assembly Party and the Oliga rchy 's
refusal to arrogate to itself all wisdom and authority helped to make possible a generally acceptable constitution.
Had the Constitution come from the Constituent Assembly sanctioned by a meagre major ity, opposed by many , it
would have been attacked as untrustworthy of general support and unrepresentative of In dia's best i nterests .
But the Assembly adopted the Constitution, despite some of the members' misgi vings, by acclamation. It
could be presented to the nation as the realization of Nehru 's original aim: it had been drafted with the welfare
of four hundred million Indian's in mind ."40
As has bee mentioned before, the leaders of the national movement where aware of the acute need for ' so-
cial justice' and development. To their credit, while throwing out the British was their principal aim, they were also aware
in that in the end freedom would have no real meaning if it wasn't accompanied by the gradual creation of equal oppor-
tunities for all and the basics of a reasonable material existence. As Austin says, ' two revo l utions, the national and
•
the social, had been running parallel in India since the end of the First World War... ... . .. with independence , the na-
tional revolution would be completed, but the social revolution must go on' 41 Nehru had again and again re-
minded everybody that freedom was not an end in itself, but only a means to an end. The aim being the 'raising of
the people.....to higher levels and hence the general advancement of human ity' 42.
Nehru had at the very beginning declared as follows in the Constituent Assembly:
"The first task of this assembly is to free India through a new constitution to feed the starving people, and to
clothe the naked masses, and give every Indian the fullest opportunity to develop himself according to his capac ity." 43
The feeling among the members in the assembly was that the political revolution would end with inde-
pendence but the social revolution would go on which was meant 'to get India out of the medieval ism based on birth, re-
ligion, custom, and community and reconstruct her social structure on modern foundations of law, individual merit, and
secular education'. The third revolution was an economic one and would be the transition from a primitive rural econ-
omy to a scientific and planned agriculture/industry based economy. It was felt by the leaders at the time that the 'social-
economic revolution' should be so designed as not only to bring about a measure of satisfaction of the fundamental
OP.eds of the common man but should also be used as an instrument to affect a permanent and fundamental change in
the fundamental structure of Indian society.
President Rajendra Prasad had told the members for instance that the government's aim was 'to end pov-
erty and squalor... to abolish distinction and exploitation and to ensure decent conditions of living' and another member
8. Das had told the assembly that it was the Dharma of the Government to remove hunger and render social justice to
every citizen'.44 There was also a realization or apprehension among that if the socio-economic problems are not solved
soon. then as Nehru put it 'our paper constitutions will become useless and purpose less ' 45 • Austin says there was a
feeling that in the ·age of modern communications and Communist revolutions, India could not waste time' 46 • There
was clearly a fear of communist ideology and revolutions taking hold if social justice was not delivered soon. K. San-
thanam expressed the apprehension as follows:
"The choice for India is between rapid evolution and violent revolution... .because the Indian masses can-
not and will not wait for a long time to obtain the satisfaction of their minimum needs" 47 •
The Constitution Assemb ly's task clearly had become to draft a constitution that would serve the ultimate
goal of social revo lutio n. But the question that members faced then was what form of political institutions would foster
or at least allow for a social revolution to happen. It was clear to our founding fathers that without requisite constitution-
al provisions there would be no meaning in planning for or thinking of social betterment. The questions that came up
naturally were what form should the Constitution take. Should it be un itary, federal or completely decentralized?.
Should the nation trust the great leaders- Nehru , Patel, Azad and Patel with despotic powers or should there be a strong
system of checks and balances with a democratic Executive, Legislature, and Judic iary, and the commonly accepted ier-
archy of government administration?. But the major choice was to what political tradition - to the European or the In-
dian should the assembly look for a constitutional pattern. By which of these routes could India most easily attempt to
achieve ' social justice for all its citizens?

201
 The two approaches that came up; one was the Euro-American constitutional tradition which wouid mean
that India would continue in the direction India had taken in the colonial period. Or assembly members could be persuad-
ed to find a system built on the lines of the village panchayat. Each village and it's panchayat would constitute an unit
which would indirectly elect a super structure above it to govern them in the ' q andhi an' way. As Austin puts its 'in either
case the ,onstitution must be democrat ic ; th re was to be no return to the Indian precedent of a despot with his durbar;
nor wm1ld the Assembly have Europe 's totalitarianisms or the Soviet system' 48
Of the alternatives, the village based system most excited those believed that ' Ind ia lives in her
villages ' and so must draw on the cultural peculiarities• and strengths of village commun ities . Gandhi was the
strongest proponent of this line but he was not nai"ve to believe that everything was perfect in the village scheme
of things. Nevertheless he hoped that the villages could reformed - medica lly, economically , and social. He believed
that it was only in the simplfcity of village life far removed from the artificialities of an urban industrial society
that man could be motivated best to live up to his highest poten tial and to practice right moral conduct which
according to him was the meaning of civilized l"ving. Austin describes the guardian scheme of things in the
following words:
' The village was therefore was Gandhi's unit of social organ izatio n. It's panchayats and its cottage indus-
tries would provide government and consumer goods; its farms, food. Resting on this village base would be a stateless,
classless society where prime ministers and governments would be unnecessary. Gandhi's incompletely formulated views
on government became to some extent systematized in two ways: by Gandhi himself in his suggestion for a Congress
constitution, and by disciples who desired to commend them to the Constituent Assemb ly49 •
Gandhi had submitted two plans, one in January 1946 and other in 1948 for the consideration of those
who were in charge of revising the congress constitution but there is no reason to doubt that Gandhi's prescription for
India would have been any different for as has already been mentioned above the Congress was India and India
was Congress. . The second plan was actually presented on the day of his assassination and is referred to as his
Testament and is also more comprehensive. It called for the dismantling of the Congress Party as a ' propaganda
vehicle and parliamentary mach ine ' and turning it into a social service organization based on a nationwide net-
work of panchayats. Each village pachayat would form a unit and two such panchayats would constitute a working
party with an elected le ader. Fifty leaders would elect a second grade leader, who would co-ordinate their efforts and
who would also be available for national serv ice . Second-grade leader's would elect a national chief to 'regulate
and, and older groups'.
But the Congress party's constitution committee under the influence of its Working Committee, did
.
not accept Gandhi' s suggestions, believing that the Congress could neither forego its political role nor become so ut-
terly decentralized. The congress constitution committee had as its members Sitaramayya, Tandon. Narendra
Dev, Diwakar, S.K. Patil , S.M. Ghose and Jugal Kishore who was the convenor. Of these people all excepting
Narendra Dev were members of the Constituent Assemb ly. The constitution committee presented its first' draft to the
AICC, which accepted it in April I 948; the annual congress approved the constitution at Jaipur in December . The com-
mittee however for the first time in its draft accepted the idea of 'Primary Congress f'anchayats' in a village or a group of
villages as the basic organizational unit of the party.50 Also some amount of decentralization was introduced for instance
Panchayat members elected delegates to the annual Congress; within each province these delegates comprised the Provin-
cial Congress Committees, and they in turn elected the AICC. But Austin says the decentralization was carried forward so
far and no more and ' the party's central command maintained its unifying control over party affairs... ………the powerful
Working Committee was choseo by the President, who was elected by the delegates and not by a smaller body such as the
AICC, and it as difficult for any other group in the party successfully to challenge the President and his Working com-
mittee. The need for a tightly control led party structure was felt ver.y strongly- as the congress made clear in a party cir-
cular in 1947 as follows :
"If India' s destiny is to be fulfilled nd it is to take its place in the comity of nations, then its unity is essen-
tial, and there is no other organisation morfitted was difficult for this difficult task than the Congress.....lndia req
u ires -fo r its gradual and orderly olitical, social, and economic all round progress, one big political party, large
enough to guarantee a stable Qvernment, and strong enough organizationally to maintain its hold and influence over
the peop le . Such a party of course must have a program of radical change aiming at social justice and eradication
of exploitation in all its forms" 51.
While the, members were agreed for the need for a strong Constitution for the Congress Party they
were obviously less than equally convinced on the need for such a ' strong' constitution for the nation as well.

202
 Maybe because the Gandhian faithful were strongly for the Gandhian model being adopted. One major Gan-
dhian follower. Shr ima n Narayan Agarwal even published a Gandhian constitution for free India and which had
Gandh i ' s blessings probably and which was based on the principle that violence logically leads to centralization
and non-violence to decentra li zatio n. Economic and political decentralization would result, the Gandhians believed,
in self-sufficient, said governing village communities which would be ' models of non-violent organizatio n ' . In
the draft constitution proposed by Agarwal, the primary unit was to be the village panchayat, whose members would
be elected by the adults of the village. The panchayat would control chowkidars (watchmen), patwaris (land records
keepers) and police and schools. The panchayat would also assess and collect land review, supervise co-operative farm-
ing, irrigation and interest rates as well as village and khadi industr ies . Above the village panchayat there would be a
hierarchy of indirectly elected bod ies . The panchayat heads would elect a taluka or district panchayat over them who
would only have advisory powers over them. Members from district and municipal panchayats would make up the pro-
vincial bunc h, which woµld elect a president to serve as the head of the provincial government. Presidents of pro-
vincial panchayats would comprise the All India Panchayat. whose President would be the head of state and of the
government, which would be ministerial in c haracter . Among the responsibilities of provincial panchayats would be
transport. i rr ig ation, natural resources. and a co-operative· bank . The national panchayat would be responsible for such
things says defence, currency. customs, the running of key industries of national importance, and the coordination
of provincial economic development plans.
Austin comments on and explains the spirit of the Gandhian alternative eloquently as follows:-
Gandhi believed that the achievement of social justice as the common lot must proceed from a character
reformation of each individual. from the heart and mind of each Indian outward into socit:ty as a whole. The impetus
for reform must not come downward from government, and a reformed society would need no government to regulate or
control it. Yet Gandhians recognised that the right a constitution. to create a state, was to sacrifice some of this ideal. To
keep this sacrifice to the minimum, thereby preserving as much of the ideal as possible, Gandhians like Agarwal com-
promised by advocating as minimal -a ' state' as possible. ' The state that governs best , governs the least', they preached;
·keep government o the minimum, and what you must have, decentralize'. A beneficial by-produft of this minimal gov-
ernment , said Agarwal in his constitution. would be to increase the ind ividua l ' s responsibility for his own welfare.
And Agarwal, like other Gandhians, hoped that cl ' Gandhi an' constitution would do away with
the need for that great evil of modern societies, political parties . ' T he very large measure of local self- government'
in his constitution. he said. would give rise to no 'regular and rigid political parties'. He meant. pres uma bly,
that national political parties would find no place in a society so compa11mentalized by decentralization: the r:e
would be no all-India issues to provide cement necessary for the existence.
Equally a Gandhian' constitution would return India to a primarily rurul society with its base in agricul-
ture, eschewing all but the most essential industrialization. The result of this, Gandhi and his followers belie
ved , would be to 'elevate the moral being' of Indians, whereas to follow the lead of European and American civilization
urban, mechanized, highly politic al, based on the exploitation of man by man) would be to ' propagate immorality'.
The ideal o a revived village life with benevolent panchayats and decentralized government bringing de-
mocracy to the grass-roots level appealed to assembly members. Yet when considering the political tradition to
embody in the constitution they had to ask themselves several questions concerning the Gandhian alte rnat ive: (a)
Was the nature of man different in rural than from in urban society: would man become a moral being in one and
not in the other? (b) Was it possible in 1947 to change India back to a primarily agricultural, village nation?
(c) Did the state bear the responsibility for the welfare of its citizens: if it did. could it fulfill the responsibility
under a decentralized constitution?(d) Did the villagers have - as they must' have with a decentralized constitu-
tion and indirect government - the initiative to remake their way of life?.5
It is a maz ing that the _Gandhians were stressing on concepts like de-centralization and a bottom
up approach as opposed to a top down approach when such things were rather out of fashion worldwide much
in the way that they are terribly fashionabte now. To be fair India has only now begun to realize the benefits of '
empowering the grassroots' via decentralization_when Gandhi was !alking about it long back probably not so much
out of a strategic line of thinking but more out of a deep passion and appreciation of the efficiencies of our vil-
lage based national life.
However the problem with this approach was that it mainly presumed India to be a 'single economy
count ry' 53 as Austin puts it, centered around the village economy. But India was really beginning to be a mod-
ern industrial developing country by this time. The leadership of.Nehru's style wished to lead India along that robust
and glorious course of material prosperity and technological strengths even as they weren't unappreciative of the
Gandhian thesis about the central place of importance of the village societies . Also it is important to remember
that by this time even as most western powers were supposed to be laissez-faire, they were really tilting somewhat to
the left and the role of the state was on the increase with regards to the welfare of the peop le . Also of course no
Euro-American constitution had been created with the aim of creating a single economy country which is what the
Gandhian alternative was essentially advocating in the end.

203
 Austin says ' faced with this choice assembly members had to decide whether traditional or nontradi-
tional institutions would best thing about a social revolution so profound as to alter fundamentally the structure of Indi-
an society.........they had to decide what type of constitution would bring India the unity, stab ili ty, and economic gains
prerequisite for such a change. '. . . ... and, basic to ,hese two decisions , members of the Assembly had to choose a
constitution that, while promoting these aims , would be acceptable to those does they represented, the 400
millions of lndia' 54 .
In the end India chose to have a centralized parliamentary federal constitution but the decision was
not made in a day and the debate went on for about two long years beginning in July 1946 when the Congress Experts
Committee on the Constituent Assembly started meeting, to the debate on the Draft Constitution of 19 48. Ultimately
the Gandhian idea of placing panchayats at the heart of our democracy was not accepted in the end and was instead
given a place merely in the Directive Principles. Also the idea of indirect elections was also not adopted. Accord-
ing to Austin, the fact that the deqates we:-it on for so long does not mean that 'there was. genuine contest be-
tween the two major alterna: ives ' 55
•
Most members were deeply influenced by the Gandhian village model ·but for them at the birth of a
free India to have a decentralized indirect government was too much of a risky and utopian idea to adopt. Also of
course, the oligarchy, were looking to lead India in a particular manner which would not have been possible in
the_Gandh ia n model. Clearly Gandhi's death and the fact that there was no tall leader in the Gandhi camp after his
death to carry on his ideas and turn them into a movement couldn ' t have been a huge source of huge worry or con-
cern for free India's leaders like Nehru and Patel.
Austin also makes the point that the situation in the country _or ' the compulsion of events ' as he calls
them helped the cause of a centralized parliamentary constitution. There weren't only communal riots raging all over
the country and lawlessness that had to be dealt w"ith a firm hand centrally with the help of central forces like the
Army there was also a situation of impending severe food shortages and famine that was being dealt with centrally
by the government with the help of the competent and ex·p er ie nced Indian Civil Service officers, a legacy of
the British. In such a situation the consequences during crises of not having a strong center with adequate powers to
deal with the situation was all too clear to everybody .
It was the Congress Expert!' Committee under the chairmanship of Nehru 50 , believes Austin, on the
basis of his interviews with various members of the committee and Congressmen and assembly members, that ' set
India on the road to her present constitution'. The committee working within the framework of the 1935 Act made
suggestions that Austin says decided to ' ignore the Gandhian approach ' . The committee recommended in W/;!ry gen-
eral terms that the constitution be a loose federation based on institutions of parliamentary government. The recom-
mendations also had Nehru's Objectives Resolu tion which called for a dedication to the goal of social revolution
without specifying how it might be achieved .
When the Constitution Assembly convened on the 9th of December, 1946 because the Muslim League
was boycotting the sensitive issues like federalism were not taken up and the objectives resolution was debated in-
stead. Since the resolution nether mentioned panchayats nor indirect government it was clear to everybody from the
start that the assembly was not contemplating adopting a Gandhian const itution . Amaz in gly nobody raised the mat-
ter either and there wa·s no debate. In the debate on the reso lut io n, the evidence perused by Austin suggests, ' there
was neither criticism of the omission of panchayat government nor was the subject mentioned ... .... members spoke
of de moc racy, socialism, and the responsibilities of le gislatures , but not of the necessity for an ' Ind ia n ' form of
governme nt' 57. Over the next seven months in the debates in the various committees, the minutes of which are
availabte for study by scholars, there is no mention of panchayats , indirect government or of a Gandhian consti-
tution reports Austin and while the question of decentralization when discussed was considered' in the con-
text of Euro-American constitution & precedents , in the context of unitary versus federal government or tight
versus loose federalim, a Gandhian constitution ' seems not to have been given a moments thou g ht' accord-
ing to Aust in 58 .

The word panchayat had not been in the draft constitution even once . It had been finalized upon
by the Drafting Committee who had worked for months on the first draft produced by the Constitutional Adviser,
B.N. Rau . The draft constitution had been based on borrowed provisions from Eurnpean and American constitutions
and the Government of India Act of 1935 . The reaction to the lack of importance to the village attracted critic is
ms . Rajendra Prasad demanded the making of the constitution be such that it ' beg i n(s ) with the village and go up
to the Centre' because the village ' has been and will ever continue to be our unit in this count ry' . He also proposed
that there be aduh franchise only up to the Panchayat levels and the members of the panchayats be then be the
electoral college for electing representatives to the Provincial governments and the Central government. There was of
course widespread support for panchayats but not at the costof direct parliamentary government based on adult fran-
chise and federalism.

204
 So the amendments to the draft constitution that were submitted were for instance for the develop-
ment of panchayats as a form of local self-government, as schools of democ racy, as instruments for the uplift of the
villages and for giving the villagers some fina nc i.a l resources and a ministrative autonomy. None of the amend-
ments , according to Austin asked for making panchayats the 'base for an indirect system of governme nt' or were for ' the
decentralization of a Gandhian const it ut ion ' and very interestin ly were all to the non-justiciable Directive Principles
of State Po lic y. Austin sums up the enthusiasm for developing panchayats among the assembly members as follows :
These criticisms (of no mention of panchayats) were at once a realistic appraisal of one method by
which the village revival aspect of the social revolution had to be carried out and a romantic chorus of regret that the
Draft had made not even a bow towards ' the heart of India ' , the village. To a lesser degree these criticisms expressed the
a dislike for the amount of power given to the central governme nt; they revealed a fear of over-centralization rather
than approval of extensive decentralization... ... ..yet pro-pancha yat as these speeches (in favor of panchayats in the
assembly) were they did not constitut rejection of parliamentary government in favor of a Gandhian constitution. None
of the critics, for example attacked the Draft in detail or offered alternative schemes....... the critics also supported other
aspects of the Draft Constitution that were negations of a Gandhian government system; e.g ., centralized plann ing ,
great- power status for Ind ia, expropriation of property, the development of heavy industry and so on.' 59
The trend worldwide was of course universal adult suffrage and the assembly members were deeply
conscious of that. They realized that India needed to have a direct parliamentary system to be a respectable democrac y
among the nations of the world. But they were also anxious that meaningful social development at the v ill age le ve l,
without which social justice would remain an empty promise was not poss ible a great deal of focus on the· panchaya t.
But they wanted administrative powers for the panchayat so that it may implement with efficiency what the policy
make rs at the center dream up. Austin believes the demand for greater power of the panchayat was not political,
but administ rative, and admi ni,strat ive ly, but not politically, their demand cold be met... .. ...seen thus on two
levels, the problem of panchayats, of village development and renascence, could be solved by providing for a degree
of administrative decentralization below the level of the provincial governments, while politically, Indian cooperative
federalism operated from the provincial government upwards... .. .India in this way could have both panchayats and a
direct, parliamentary constitution in which the villager was connected by the electoral process to the provincial and
national governme nts ' 60.

According to Austin one of the major reasons why iri the end the Constituent Assembly did no
accept to any appreciable extent the ·Gand hi an view of society was because the Congress had never really been
Gandhian !!. Nehru himself told Gandhi as much in a letter where he said that the Congress had ' never considered'
the Gandhian prescriptions and 'much less adopted it' 61 • Gandhi may have profoundly influenced the leaders
of the freedom movement and indeed gave the national struggle the massive mass appeal it finally came to have.
but the conviction in the rank and file of the Congress Party and the members of the Constituent Assembly
in the adoptability of his prescriptions wasn't remotely ever there to translate into actual provisions in the
constitution itself. Throughout the freedom struggle while the masses were being attracted or wooed on the
Gandhian appeal, the actual demands and negotiations with the British being carried out by the leaders like Nehru
were along the lines of demanding for India a fully responsible self-government in the nature of a parliamentary
democracy and as Austin points out many ' had participated in the modified forms of representatiye govern-
ment that the British had introduced'. The Commonwealth of India Bill and the Nehru Report in the twen-
ties and the Sapru Report of 1945, had all proposed a parliamentary system for free India. The Congress's
demand through the thirties was for a constituent assembly created by adult suffrage. Nehru had in fact made it
plain in November of 1945 that he would like to see the new constitution to 'lay the greatest emphasis on State
activities , such as planning, industrial development, relief of unemp lo yment, nationalisation of key industries,
etc' 62 • Gandhi had always. known that his views had no real support and appreciation in the assembly. For
instance he wrote in the Harijan magazine in 1946 as follows :

'Congressmen themselves are not of one mind even on the contents of independence. I do not know
how many swear by non-violence or the charka (spinning wheel) or, believing in decentralisation regard the village
as the nu cleus . I know on the contrary that many would have India become a first-class military power and wish
for India to have a strong centre and build the whole structure round it.' 63

205
 Indians, it has to be kept in mind had a very lengthy and on the whole successful experience with repre-
sentative government during the colonial period. Hence it is not surprising according to commentators like Austin that In-
dians favoured a parliamentary constitution when they became totally free and had to adopt a constitution to govern them-
selves. Some assembly members like K.M. Munshi had asked why should the assembly and the nation 'turn its back' on a
hund1'ed· years old tradition (by 1947) of parliamentary government practiced during the British rule . India had thus by
this time a large number of people practiced and experienced in the processes of representative government not to mention
the even larger number that due to their travels and education abroad had become intellectually aware and developed a
commitment towards the liberal democratic tradition. The electorate of course had all through been only a tiny minority
relatively, of less than one-fourth of the population.
Austin believes the final choice of Indi a's constitutional decisions were also influenced by the preference
for socialism, intellectually and emotionally, that most assembly members had. He comments on this as follows :
' Althoug h they (the socialists) ranged from Marxists through Gandhian socialists to conservative capital-
ists. each with his own definition of 'socialism', nearly everyone in the assembly was Fabian and Laski-ite enough to be-
lieve that ' socialis m is everyday politics for social regener ation ' , and that ' democrat ic constitutions are ... inseparably
associated with the drive towards economic equali ty' M . But the commitment to socialism was not to be at the remotest
expense of democracy even if its meaningfulness was thereby comprom ise d. S, o only the communists would have been
less than fully happy with this interpretation when the Congress Socialist Party declared in a reso l ut io n. in 1947 that
' there could be no Soc iali s m without democracy ' .
A lot of the reasons for the final choice was due to Nehru's own socialist convic tio ns . Aust i n ' s inter-
pretation of the progression of Nehr u ' s socialist leanings and his account of the extent and causes for the
adoption of socialist principle is as follows:
" Nehru had been interested by Fabianism when at Cambridge, and his studies of Marx and his trip
to Europe - including Russia - during 1926-27 had greatly influenced h im. Mrs . Besant, one of the original
Fabians, as well as a theosoph is t, had been a close friend of the Nehru family. Yet over the years leading to the Con-
stituent Assembly he changed from a Marxist or: a Laski-style socialist to an empirical gradualist . This must not be
taken to mean that Nehru had forsaken socialist ideals. It means that he strove after his ideals in a less doctr i naire,
in a more empirical fashion. By 1945, the real problems for Nehru were 'problems of individual and social life ' ; he
had no time for the fine points of doctr ine . ' T hough he is a professed socialis t' , wrote a close colleague of Nehru
in 1946, ' h is activities are largely guided by ideals of democracy and economic betterment of the masses'. This
practical, secular approach to In dia's social needs had become - perhaps without their knowing it - the attitude of
many Indians. It was certainly true of the rank and file of Assembly members and, to a lesser extent, of the oligar-
chy as well. Prasad, Pate l, and Azad - who was apparently less conservative than the other two - understood as well
as did Nehru that Indi a's survival ·de pended on improving the lot of her people. And although Prasad and Patel had
on occasion opposed Nehru on ' soc ialis t' issues, both of them had won fame in the Congress by leading peasant satya-
graha for better economic conditions - Prasad at Champaran and Patel at Bardoli .. . .. .. .. .. .. .One may speculate
that it was principally Pate l ' s conservative influence that kept the Constitution from having a greater socialist content
than it has; perhaps it wa in deference to his wishes that Nehru omitted the word 'socialism' from the Objectives
Resolution. Patel probably did have a moderating influence on Neh ru, but we have very little evidence for it in the
document of the framing per io d. Nehru was equally aware of Ind ia's social and political rea lities , and it is very
doubted whether he wanted the Constitution to commit India's government - which he would head for an indetermi-
nate period - irrevocably and in detail to an particular course. The difference between Nehru and the other three
members of the Oligarchy was one of approach, not of basic belie f. Nehru felt an emotional and intellectual obligation
to attack Ind ia ' s social problems. Patel, Prasad and Azad, somewhat more conservative than Nehru, were committed
only to effective government. Yet the attitudes of all four were rooted in a humanitarian out loo k. If the good of the
many demanded the sacrifice of the few - as irt zamindari- abolition - it would be done.
There fore, rather than the common image of a realistic Patel holding back a rampant , ' soc ialis t'
Nehru , the Constituent Assembly more likely watched Nehru and Patel, in cooperation with other members with practi-
cal experience in government, dampening the zeal of the impetuous, very Laski-ite Assembly members who were more
interested in state control and immediate, drastic reforms than in democratic processes and efficiency.
What was of greatest importance to most Assembly members , however, was , 0t that soc.ialis m be em-
bodied in the Constitution, but that a democratic constitution with a socialist bias be framed so as t allow the nation in
the future to become as socialist as its citizens desired or as its needs demanded . Being. in general. imbued with the
goals. the humanitarian bases, and some of the techniques of social democratic thought. such was the type of consti-
tution that Constituent Assembly members created."65

206
 The constitution in the end far from having socialistic provis ions like the ' right to work ' did not even
have the provision for 'right to education ' in it.
Another major factor for the choice of constitution that was. made in the end was the prevailing sit-
uation in the years of the Constituent Assemb ly. The communal rio ts, which went on for more than a year.
the food scarcity and the near famine like situatio n, the problem of integrating states some of whom were totally
host ile , the Telangana Communist Revolt in Andhra Pradesh of I 948 and he invasion of Kashmir by the tribal army
put together by the new Pakistani rulers under the le ader s h i p of Jinnah were all proble ms 'that required
strong, unified and powerful central leadership. There was no doubt in anybody' s mind that without a centralised
constitution that would grant unity and stability to the centre and the nation problems like foreign invasions could
not be confronted. Also there was a belief that ' economic progress particularly of modern agriculture and industry,
transport and communications would require central planning. Nehru had actually gone so far as to say that the
·scope of the Centre, even though limited, inevitably grows, because it cannot exist othe rw ise' 66 . Also the great need
for a strict commitment to the idea of federalism and a system of strong provincial autonomy vanished with the crea-
tion of Pakistan and the exit of the Muslim League.

The choice of adult suffrage in the constitution was a major decision because it was against the Gandhian
principle of treating the village as the unit and proceeding there from rather than by treating each individual as the
unit. The choice of adult suffrage was regarded by assembly members and by Nehru as in itself a goal of the social
revolution because while it wasn't an econnmic goal it was an empowering revo l utio n. Adult suffrage provided a voice
and a measure of power to the millions who had previously no reach of even the most remote kind to the policy mak-
ing top and had to rely on the whim of others for even a vague representation of their i nte rests . It was also felt that
direct elections would bring the consciousness of national life to individuals in the remote villages. This was an im-
po11ant goal because as has been pointed out by the author at the very beginning, India had never been one natio n .
The expectation was that direct elections would open up a new channel of communication, which would in turn al-
low new allegiances to develop which would be national in character rather than local thus creating an alternative to
the caste and other local loyalties that undermined national uni ty. Nehru had written for instance that an assembly
elected on adult franchise would 'represent the people as a whole and would be far more interested in the economic
and social problems of the masses than in the petty communal issues which affect small grou ps' .67 There had also
been a realisation that the Congress had been demanding adult suffrage since the 1920s and rejecting it after being in a
position to adopt it would be a betrayal to the millions who had been part of the Congress movement and would
hence be politically da ngerous. There were also some members like Ayyar who had felt that any alternative to adult suf-
frage may not be feas ible . He commented in the assembly for instance that 'the only alternative to adult suffrage was
some kind of indirect election based upon village community or local bodies and by constituting them into electoral col-
leges.. . ....That was not found feasible..... ...The-assembly has adopted the principle o.f adult franchise with an abundant
faith in the common man and the ultimate success of democratic rule, and in the fu11 belief that the introduction of demo-
cratic government ob the basis of adult suffrage will bring enlightenment and promote the well-be ing , the standard of
life, the co'lnfort. and the decent living of the common mn ' .68 Others like Pannikar called accepting adult suffrage
like accepting the ' fu lles t implication of democracy'. The only people who vocally opposed direct elections on the ba-
sis of adult suffrage in the constituent assembly were a Gandhian called Ramnarayan Singh and the muslims who feared
that simple majority rule would overwhelm their community. Also outside the assembly political forces like the Dravi-
da Munetra Kazagham(DMK) were opposed because they were demanding autonomy and if possible independence for
Tamil speaking areas.
Austin brilliantly analyses and comments on the adoption of adult suffrage as a step in the sociaf revolu-
tion as follo ws:
' Economic progress -making available to the masses better food, clothing, and shelter - was itself,
of course an objective of the social revolution. As a prerequisite it was also a means, for material progress
would help to free the mass of Indians from centuries of mental and psychological stagnation and pass iv ity. A cen-
tralised constitution might make this achievement possible, but the process at best would be a long one. And would ma-
terial gain, national unity, and government stability by themselves foster ·a fundamental alteration in the structure of
Indian society', the most basic goal of the social revolution ? Was there not a gong, a single note, whose reverberations
might awaken - or at least stir- sleeping India?.
There was: direct election by adult suffr age.'69

207
 The Fundamental R ights and the Directive Principles of State Policy are arguably the most important part
of the const,itut io n. As has been pointed out at the very beg i nnin g, culturally and historically, a written defined bill
of rights for the individual was alien to the Indian political and cultural tradition until the arrival of the British. Peo-
ple only had rights that accrued to them by the force of custom and that to if the whim of the feudal or monarchical
ruler permitted the enjoyment of those rights. Of course the rights if any that were available have never been in writ-
ten form and with no appeal to a justice system to enforce them.
It had always been realised by the assembly members that defining rights and enforcing them would
be the central dream of the social justice revolution. Austin comments that the Indian constitution is ' first and foremost
a social document' and that ' the majority of its provisions are either aimed at furthering the goal of the social revolu-
tion or attempt to foster this revo _l ut io n by establishing the conditions necessary for its achievement' . He there-
fore concludes that the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles are the ·conscience of the Const itutio n ' and
they were included in the constitution with the ' hope and expectation that one day the tree of true liberty would
bloom in In d ia' .70
The rights in the Indian Constitution are divided into seven parts; the Right of Equali ty, the Right of
Freedom, the Right Against Exploitation, the Rights to Freedom of Religion, Cultural and Educational Rig hts , the
Right to Property, and the Right to Constitutional Remed ies . All the rights were designed to be enforceable by indi-
viduals by moving the courts. The rights protect individuals and minority groups from arbitrary and prejudicial state
action but three of the articles are designed to protect the individual against the actions of other private citizens - articles
17, I 5(2) and 23. Art. 17 was designed for the abolition of untouchability, Art. 15(2) to prevent anybody from being
barred from the use of shops, restaurants, wells, roads, and other public places on account of his religion, race, caste,
sex, or place of birth and Art.23 to prevent beggar or forced labour which altho 1gh it had been practiced by the state was
more commonly a problem of exploitation of poor peasants and bonded labourers by rich land lords.
Thus the state had both negative and positive obligations - not to interfere with citizens liberties and to
fulfil its positive obligations to protect the citizens rights from encroachment by society, like for, instance untouch
abilit y, which arguably still persists in remote I11dian villages in parts of the country.
Austin comments that the Fundamental Rights were thus ' to foster social revolution by creating a society
egalitarian to the extent that all citizens were to be equally free from coercion or restriction by the state, or by society
privately; liberty was no longer to be the privilege of the few'.71
It can be questioned why in spite of having a professed commitment to social revolution and indeed to
socialism, why the members were so eager to protect private property and ensure adequat@ provisions for compensation
in case of expropriation. Could not the absolute right to property itself be simply abolished - as in socialist systems??.
Similarly, it is not clear why a secular nation needed to have a fundamental right incorporated in the constitution that would
guarantee the right to practice and propagate religion so explicitly and in ·so many words.
The Directive Principles of State Policy, was a clearer statement of the aims of the social revolution but
being made non justiciable where nothing more than mere directives in the nature of advisory precepts with no re-
course to enforcement for the peopl if the state ignored it. The Directive Principles echo the Preamble in many ways
and contain rather socialistic advices like for the state to always strive to provide means of livelihood to the people, the
operation of the economic system and the use of material resources of the country in such a way that it serves the
common good rather than the good of a few, the state to strive to look after the health of workers and children is not
abused and the provision for compulsory primary education. The Principles also in general seek to get the state to
raise the level of nutrition and the general· standard of living of the -people. Interestingly some provisions like the pro-
vision of compulsory education could have been dealt with differently with the right to education being made a
fundameotal right but was not done for whatever reason.
ln the years since independence, the evidence does not suggest that successive governments have cared for
the provisi9ns of the Directive Princ i ples . But Aust i1n took a very positive view of the Directive Principles in the
sixties when he carried out his seminal work on the Const itut io n. He saw the directives as ' obli gatio ns ' on· the
state and concluded that ' the members of the Constituent Assembly made it the responsibility of future Indian govern-
ments to find a middle way between individual liberty and the public good, between preserving the property and
the privilege of the few and bestowing benefits on the many in order to liberate the power of all men equally for contribu-
tions to the common good'.
Historically the demand for fundamental rights through the years of the freedom struggle broadened in
character from being merely a demand for equal treatment vis-a-vis white British residents in India in the initial years to
equal treatment for all Indian even at the hands of other Indians and from the state.

208
The leaders of the national movement trained as they were in the western liberal tradition which regarded all men as created
equal and having the same rights before law and the state and towards each other under a democratic set up , realised that
caste and occupational discrimination and untouchability were as reprehensible as colonial and racial discrimination. So
they had incorporated the reforms on these fronts as well by the twent ies . A series of Congress resolutions adopted be-
tween 1917 and 1919 repeated the demand for civil rights and equality of status with Englishmen.
One major development historically was the Commonwealth of India Bill of 1925 which had been drafted
by Mrs Anne Besant and which seven fundamental rig hts . The rights being individual liberty, freedom of conscience, free
expression of opin io n, free assembly, and equality before the law. Also there was a demand that there be no 'discrimi-
nation on the grounds only of sex'. Other provisions were for free elementary education as soo11 as the government
could make the necessary arrangements and for the equal right to all persons of the use of ' roads. courts of justice. an_d
all other places of business or resort dedicated to the pub lic ' . Thus were seen for the first time several provisions that
Austin comments presaged several of the Fundamental Rights and one of the Directive Principles.
The next major development was the Congress resolution of 1927 which empowered the Working Commit-
tee to set up a committee ' to draft a Swaraj Constitution for India on the basis of a declaration of rig hts ' . Austin
comments on the significance of this thus:
' That a declaration of rights had assumed such importance was not surprising: India was a land of communi-
ties, of minorities, racial, religious, linguistic, social, and caste. For India to become a state, these minorities had to
agree to be governed both at the centre and in the provinces by fellow Indians- members, perhaps. of another minority - and
not by a mediator third power, the British. On both psychological and political grounds, therefore, the demand for written
rights - since rights would provide tangible safeguards against oppression - proved overwhelming. ' The commun ity, so to
say, is a federal process '. Laski wrote. And Indians believed that in their ' federatio n of minorities' a declaration of rights
was as necessary as it had been for the Americans when they established the first federal const it ut ion.' 72
The draft constitution that the committee came out with under the chairmanship of Motilal Nehru is known
as the ' Ne hru Repo rt' . The membership of the committee was designed to represent the views of Muslims. Hindu Brah-
minical orthodoxy, non-brahmins, labour, and the Liberals. The report declared:
'It is obvious that our first care should be to have our Fundamental Rights guaranteed in a manner which
will not permit their withdrawal under any circumstances.....Another reason why great importance attaches to a Declaration
of Rights is the unfortunate existence of communal differences in the country. Certain safeguards are neces sary to create
and establish a sense of security among those who look J.1pon each other with distrust and suspicion. We could not better
secure the full enjoyment of religious and communal rights to all communities than by including them among the
basic principles of the Const itut ion." 73 The rights of the Nehru Report were a close prec ursor, according to Aust i n,
of the Fundamental Rights of the Constitution. Ten of the Nineteen sub-clauses re-appear, materially unchanged, and three
of the Nehru Rights are included in the Directive principles. The Nehru Report was also very keen in terms of the pro-
visions to ensure protection to minorities. There was an explicit wish expressed that the provisions for the free profes-
sion and practice of religion was included explicitly to prevent ' one community domineering over another'.74
In I 931 the Congress demanded in what came to be known as the famous Karachi Resolution that
the government nqt only to respect the fundamental rights but also that it take it upon itself to provide people with the
economic and social conditions in which their fu11damental rights would have meaning.
Thus the obligation of the state was to be both negative in terms of not transgressing on people’s
fundamental rights but also positive. Austin calls the Resolution of Fundamental Rights and Economic and social
Change adopted by the Congress at Karachi in March 1931 both a 'declaration of rights and a humanitarian social-
ist manifesto.. . . .. . ....The Karachi Resolution, as it came to be ca lle d, meant that the social revolution would have
a vital share in shaping Ind ia ' s future constitution, and the provisions did in fact become the spiritual, and in
some cases the direct antecedents of the Directive Principles' .75 The resolution also had a dis inctly profuse social-
ist edge to it . For instance it stated that ' in order to end the exploitation of the masses , political freedom must in-
clude the real economic freedom of the starving mi llions ' and that the state was obliged to safeguard 'the interests
workers' ensuring that legislation is passed to ensure for them by law a living wage, healthy conditio ns , limited hours
of labour, and protection from 'the economic consequences of old age, sickness, and unemp lo yment ' . The resolu-
tion also called for the state to ' own or control key industries and serv ices , mineral reso urces, railways, waterways,
shipping and other means of public transport' and called for the reform of the system of land tenure , revenue, and rent.
There were also some clauses that reflected the Gandhian favourites - demand for reduced military expenditure, an
upper ceiling of five hundred rupees for civil servants salaries, abolition of salt dttty, prohibition on liquor, and a de-
mand for protection against the import of cloth materials from outside India. Austin says these demands had ' a ring of a
tactical programme for the Independence Movement. .. .... these subjects had, indeed , been at the centre of the Civil
Disobedience Movement of the previous years ' .76 The resolution also had four totally new provisio ns : the State
should confer no capital pun is hment , franchise should be on the basis of adult suffrage, there should be no capital
punishment, and all citizens should have the right to freedom of movement throughout India.
209
 The thrust of the resolution was socialistic for quite apart from the welfare of workers and of the peo-
ple generally the primary responsibility for social reform was placed on the State;
The next major development was in 1945 when Sir Taj Bahadur Sapru published the Sapru Report. The
report significantly apart from suggesting provisions for fundamental rights in a constitutional scheme for India. ad-
dressed the issue of minority rights in the highly charged political scene caused due to the demand of a separate state of
Pakistan by the Muslim League. The report said that 'what the Const it ut io n demands and expects is perfect equali-
ty between one section of the community and another in the matter of political and civic rights, equality of lib-
erty and security in the enjoyment of the freedom of re li gio n, wors hip , and the pursuit of the ordinary ap-
plication of life’77.

Fundamental Rights
It is interesting to pause and reflect
• that while the various drafts and redrafts of the Constitution that
had been undertaken throughout the freedom struggle had all had° written fundamental rig hts , our legal tradition under
the British of Dicey etc was very much against written rig hts . The British view had been that a written proclama-
tion of fundamental rights in a constitution as Dicey put it ' gives of itself but slight security that the right has more
than a nominal existence'78. Even Laski ' s view, considering the strong socialis t persuasion of the assembly was
that 'it is the proud spirit of citizens, less the letter of the law, that is their right's most real safeguard' 79
But the Indian freedom movement had demanded written fundamental rights from their colonial masters
throughout the freedom struggle as a safeguard against racial discrimination and for the Congress to reject the need for
written fundamental rights would have surprised the Indian people and created questions and suspicions in their minds.
The Congress leadership knew this and acco1ding to Austin were eager to demonstrate' its good intensions.
Also the decade of the 1940) saw a worldwide movement towards human rights . Interna-
tional deve lo pment s like the At lant ic- Charter, the United Nations Charter, and the activities of the United Na-
tions Human Rights Comniission were not unknown to the assembly members who it may be presumed wished to
keep in step with the latest progressive trends worldwide.
The Constitution had of course both positive rights and negative rights. One of the major impe-
tuses for the negative rights was the background of the minorities agitati'on with over a section of them feeling
that they would not be safe in Hindu majority India. Indeed some of them had decided to break up India and
have a Pakistan on this pl a. It was the overwhelming and clear understanding in the assembly that I there was no
way that minorities can be assured of a safe and equal life in a free India without a justiciable set of written funda-
mental rights. The impetus for the positive rig hts , according to Austin 'came largely from the social revolution find re-
flected the social consciousness that had increasingly characterized the twentieth century both in India and
abroad......By 1947 it was a commonly accepted belief that the state bore a major responsibility for the welfare
of its citizens.. . .. ...Nehru the Indian. Socialists, and the very winds of social and- political thought had brought
to India the ideas of Marx. T.H. Green, Laski, the Webbs, and many others.......Theexpression of such ideas
had begun before the end of the nineteenth century with the views of Swami Vivekananda, and continued with
those of R.C. Dutt, and M. Visveswaraya, among others' 80.
But Austin says that sustained 'by theory though the members of the assembly may have been, they
were actuated by the facts of the situation around them' and which ultimately led to the Directive Principles of
State Policy which put the obligation for the welfare of the people on the state thereby firmly rejecting the free
market capitalist view of a hands off state governing a lazes faire society . Austin comments on the growth of the
Directive Principles as follows :
'Most members believed that the type of ' socialis m' India should have was not theirs to decide
(nor is the issue yet settled), but it was clear to them that 'the utility of a state has to be judged from its effect on
the common man's welfare, and that the Constitution must establish the state's obligations beyond doubt. This was
the purpose of the Directive principles of State Polic y.
The content of the Directive Principles · was also to some extent a product of anti-colonial revo-
lution. As the negative rights expressed a desire for civil liberty in reaction to the political subservience experienced
under an imperial regime, so the positive rights represented the casting off of the economic inferiority of
colonial status. In the minds of colonial or recently ex-colonial peoples in the m id-twent ie h century, colonialism is
associated with capitalism, with the domination of indigenous economic life by foreign capitalists, along with
tb
native capitalists who have sided with the colonial government in order safeguard their property and to increa-
setheir privileges. Political independen e is associated, by newly independent peoples, if not with socialism, at
least with the freedom to determine themselves the status of private property within their own country and their
country's economic orie ntation . Such was the case in India. Notwithstanding the number of India capitalists who
had contributed to the Congress , the popular image was that of British capitalists exploiting a subject people
and Indian monied interests siding with the British for self-protection. Nor was this image unfounded.

210
 The Directive Principles were a declaration of economic in depe ndence , a declaration that the privilege
of the colonial era had ended, that the Indian people (throughout the democratic institutions of the Gonstitution) had
assumed economic as well as political control of the country, and that Indian capitalists should not inherit the empire
of British colonialists.' 81
The drafting of the fundamental rights was given in the assembly to the Fundamental Rights Sub- com-
mittee, which included two women, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Hansa Mehta, and Archa1ya Kdplani, Minoo Masani,
K.T. Shah, A.K. Ayyar, K.M. Munshi, Sardar Harna111.Singh, Maulana Azad, B.R. Ambedkar , J. Daulatram, and
K.M. Pannikar - who was appointed to the committee to represent the Princely States.
The initial list of rights were drawn up by expe11s like B.N. Rau and were based on precedents from
rest of the world particularly from countries like Ireland with whom there were some similarities of situatio ns .
The committee had no disagreement on principles but only on the techniques of incorporating the rights and on the
extent of the rights in that whether and how much should the rights be conditional and infringe personal liberty .in
the interest of governmental stability and the public peace . The rights to freedom and against untouchability were
adopted with only slight argument over the wording of the proviso to the Right of Freedom of Association. Pro-
visions were adopted to give protection against double jeopardy, ex-post facto la ws, etc. The committee was clear
though that the fundamental rights while protecti11g individual freedom, were not to prevent state intervention in the
interests of the socfal revolution. For instance it had always been felt that the right to free practice of one's religion
would have to be one of the most important of the fundamental rights given· the sensitivities of the minori-
ties and the extremely religiously ordered nature of Indian society. But Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur pointed out in the '
sub-committee meetings that allowing free practice of religion would make it impossible to act against religio-social
evils like the devdasi (temple prostitution) system, purdah, sati (burning to death widows upon the death of their
husbands), and widow re-marriage since they may be construed by some as part of the free practice of religion.
Ayyar, another committee member supported the argument pointing out how the British parliament also had re-
fused to insert any provision in the I 935 Act that might interfere with social reform. So the Rights Sub-
Committee decided to restrict the scope of free practice by putting in the words that the right freely to practice re-
ligion should 'not prevent the state from making laws providing for social welfare and reform', which was the
form in which the provision finally went into the Constitution.
Another important right in principle that the committee was r ady to incorporate was the provision of
equality before the law but Ayyar objected to it because he fel·t it would make it difficult to pass laws for instance differ-
entiating between men and women factory workers designed to offer women special protection and also might make it
difficult to pass laws for treating children and adults differently in criminal courts. So Ayyar suggested the drafting ploy
of replacing the phrase equality before the law with the phrase that ·no person should be denied the equal protection of
the law' which is what the final form the provision took in the constitution.
There was also some conflict between individual liberty and the state's responsibility in the provision con-
cerning forced labour. While there had always been great revulsion among Congrt:ss members against practices like beg-
gar (a form of forced labour that was particularly prevalent in the United Provinces, the original geographical form
of what is nowadays called the U.P.) and against trafficking in human beings for prostitution for instance, which could
be constitutionally tackled by a provision eliminating forced labour, there was a realization among some of the com-
mittee members that a blanket ban would probably make military or social conscription unconstitutional as well. Some
members like the two women, Mehta and Rajkumari Kaur, wen against conscription and so opposed compulsion in
any form. But Ambedkar, Munshi and Ayyar were against writing into the Constitution a clause prohibiting military con-
scription as it would be a dangerous provision to have on th.e book in times of war. After stll the argument was all fun-
damental rights lie on the bedrock· of national security as Ayyar pointed out. Other members like K.T. Shah wanted so-
cial conscription and weren't against military conscription . A member of the sub-committee Alladi Krishnaswami
made the point that while India might choose not to have conscription it was another matter not have constitutional re-
cou.rs e to it. Again and again the provision allowing for conscription failed the vote because five members steadfastly
kept voting against the provision the two women and Kriplani, Masani and Jairamdas Dau latram. Finally a sub-
committee consisting of Pant , Rajgopalachari. Munshi and Ambedkar drafted a provision in which it was said that noth-
ing in the forced labour clause would 'prevent the State from imposing compulsory service for public purposes'. It is not
clear how but this is the form in -whic h the provision finally entered the Constitution.
Nehru and our main leaders were very keen as has been mentioned above to fully assure minorities their way
of life in independent Ind ia. So apart from the right to freedom of religion mentioned above, other provisions were also
included under the head of Cultural and Educational Rights to offer protection to the culture , scripts (like Urdu), their
own educational institutions like madarsas etc . Minority groups of all k inds- Budhists , Jains, Christians, Sanatanists,
Shia Muslims, Harijans, Kumaonis. linguistic groups, and so on had besieged the assembly with letters and representa-
tions asking for special considerations to their problems.

211
 Based on their views elicited from a questionnaire sent to them the Fundamental rights sub-Committee
had drafted the minority rights and sent them to the Minorities Sub-Committee under the Chairmanship of H.C. Mooker-
jee, a Christian who sent back remarks suggesting some changes which wer e not really change of substance but which
the Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee studied and tinay incorporated several of these suggested changes. The qu stion
of language however became a sticky issue and was postponed.
The most overwhelming agreement among members of the assembly had always been and that with
the least reservations or qualifications, on the issue of adult suffrage or uni versal franchise. The right to vote had al-
ways been considered fundamental even though there .were some members who had doubts about enfranchising the
masses. Adult suffrage was provided for in Article 326 of Part XV of the Constitution on elections.
The fundamental rights had been made justiciable but to provide for le gal method s by wh ich
_they . could be secured the English device of prerogative writs, or directions in the form of writs was adopted. It
was done by allowing for a right to constitutional remedies as favoured by Ambedkar , Munsh i, and Ayyar. Munsh i.
in his draft constitution had included two clauses relating to prerogative writs; one laid down that every citizen had the
right to move for a writ of right, and the second named these rights as habeas corpus, mandamus , prohibition, and
certiorari. Ayyar had suggested that all High Courts and Supreme Court should have the right to issue writs of habeas
corpus which was accepted. Austin comme nts that ' allthou gh ordinary remedies exist for the protection of rights,
the prerogative writs have put teeth in the Fundamental Rights provisions... ..the writs have become popular for the
y are commo n ly be l ie ved to be ' the corner-stone of freedom and li berty' and he says that ' the impetus that this bel
ie f had given towards the achievemen t of the social revolution has, one expects, been very great' 8 .
The assembly members as has been mentioned above while wanting written fundame ntal rights and
rights that were justiciable also of course realised that rights could not be absolute if the governme nt had to func-
tion and the mandate of social revolution carried out. But: i n the dec is ions conce rn i ng the form and acceptance of
the restrictions on the rights that the most debate and argum e nt arose. The consens us however was that the best form
of imposing restrictions would be to attach provis os to the rights and by providing for the rights to be suspended in
certain circumstances . There were i nternational e xample s pointed out by experts like for instance of America where
while the US Constitut ion had laid do wn the civil rights in a general fashion the scope of the rights had been nar-
rowed dow n and expanded by judgements of the Supreme . Court. Ayyar had pointed out that post World War I c
onstituti ons had attempted to expand the rights and define them more precisely with provisos by ' co111pend io us ly
seeking to incorporate the effects of the American dec isio ns ' . Hence the assembly had to choose between incorporat-
ing suitable provisos from the very beginning or allow the courts to do it i radu ally. The assembly members on the
whole gradually favoured the device of limiting the rights by suspendin g them.
On the need to restrict some rights there was ready and widespread agreement. On othe r, mo re basic
rights like that of speech, assembly, association, and movement , agreement proved s li ght ly conte ntiou s. While eve-
rybody was agreed that the freedom of religion had to be subject to the state's abili ty to pass social reform legislation
and the right to equality should not come in the way of passing special legisl ation for the protection of women and
children , there was some difficulty in members accepting the attachmen ts of conditions to the right to freedom in the
interest of tate secud ty, or ' publi c order and morality' . In the end however there were restrictions placed on the
rights of assemb ly, the right to bear arms, and secrecy of correspondence . But when Munshi suggested that both
the provinci al and central governments be given the power to suspend these rights to freedom i11 times of emergency
there was oppos ition from most of the members who said that this would make the rights il\us ory. It is interesting to
note that all these deliberations among assembly members was going on amidst violent communal riots partic ularly
in the Punj ab, N.W.F.P. , Bengal and Assam. Delhi had more than a week of all night curfew and to stop the rivers
of blood from flow in g, Gandhi and Jinnah for all their mutual animosity towards each othe r, had to issue joint ap-
peals for peace. This had moved some members into suppo rting emergency suspensions of the rights who would not
have otherwise supported such conditio ns . Ayyar for in s tanc e remarked referring to the violence that tbe ' recent
happenings in different parts of In dia have conv in ced me more than ever that all Fundamental Rights guaranteed
under the Constitution must be subject to pub li c o rder, security, and safety, though such a provision may to
some extent neu tralise the effect of the rights guaranteed 'under the Const itut io n ' . He also suggested in a letter
to assembly member s that if the rights were not made li ble to suspension in times of emergency then the words ' se-
curity and defence of the state or national security' be added to the already existing provison.

As a consequeRce of the prevailing environment the right to bear ann _was removed from consideration
even though a member S.P. Mookerjee had demanded such a right. Patel who was in charge of internal security in the
country at this time vehemently opposed the retention of this right saying that ' in the present state of our society
(this) will be a dangerous thing'. Another issue was the addition of the phrase must not promote class or commu-
nal hatred' in the proviso to the free speech clause.

212
The Fundamental , Rights Sub-Committee rejected this for two reasons. One, because it was pointed out that com-
munal hatred could be prevented under the existing Penal Code. Second, the members felt that the preaching of
class hatred could not be prohibited in the constitution because the courts might then use such a provision to prevent
speeches, common in a socialist age calling for the removal of class distinctions and the reform of the social structure
of society. The com'mittee, however, added a clause to the proviso making punishable the utterance of seditious, ob-
scene, and libellous matter. Two other rights were also removed. One was the clause providing for secrecy of corre-
spondence and the other for the security of individuals and homes from unreasonable searches and seizures and from
searches without warrant. Influential members like Ayyar, Pant, Rajagopalachari, B.N. Rau and Patel had severely at-
tacked the provision allowing for secrecy of correspondence on the plea that it would only aid spies and criminals and
would upset the working of the Indian Evidence Act of 1892.
When the advisory committee placed the matter before the assembly a week later, there was a mixerd
response and much drama followed. Austin who has researched the deliberations thoroughly gives the following ac-
count of the developments leading to the adoption of the conditionality provisos in his book: ' In the Assembly a
week later, the provisos received a mrxed reception. Their supporters explained that they were to prevent the misuse
of the rights by subv rsive groups and were nothing more than the embodiment of precedent as._it had been estab-
lished by case law. The more common view was that the provisos so circumscribed the rights that they no longer
had any meaning. As one member put it, -the rights had been framed 'from the point of view of a police constable'.
The resistance to the provisos so evident on the floor of the House during the first two qays of the s ssion came to a
head in the Congress Assembly Party meeting held on the evening of 29 April. That day had been one of 'Panic and
Fear in Delhi City' ; the streets and bazaars had been deso late, the coffee houses empty; wives had opened their doors
slowly and fearfully before admitting their husbands returning from work. Yet in the eyening the members _of the As-
sembly Party resolved to omit all the provisos to the rights to freedom, leaving them qualified only by the condi-
tions that the rights be exercised subject to public order and morality and subject to exception in grave emergency.
The Drafting Committe.e during its deliberations of late 1947 and 1948 turned its back on the will of
the Assembly and revived the provisos in an even more intricate form, making the rights of free speech, assembly, as-
sociatio n, movement, etc., subject to public order, morality, health, decency, and public interest . Furthermore, in the
case of speech, the utterance must not be seditious, slanderous, or undermine the authority of the state. The mecha-
nism for suspending all the fundamental rights in emergencies had also been expanded. According to the Emergency
Provisions in Part XI of the Draft Constitution, executive action could be taken even in contravention of the rights to
freedom of Article 13, and the President of the Republic was allowed to· suspend the ri_ght to constitutional reme-
dies both during the emergency and for an additional period of six months.
These changes, and the arbitrary manner of their making, aro1,1sed the ire of the Assembly, ...,d the
members strongly attacked the provisos during the deoate on the Draft Constitution in the autumn of 1948. In re-
ply Ambedkar gave the classic defence of the provisos . The rights of the American Constitution are not absolute, he
said: in support of every exception to the Fundamental Rights set out in the Draft Constitution, one can refer to at least
one judgement of the U.S. Supreme Court'. The purpose of the provisos, Ambedkar continued, was to prevent end-
less litig tion arid the Supreme Court having to rescue Parliament. The provisos permit the state 'directly to impose
limitations on the Fundamental Rights. There is really no difference· in the result', he said. But the attack persis ted.
The rank and file of the Assembly were not to be diddled again. Thakur Das Bhargava led the final assault, mov-
ing an amendment that would put a ' soul ' back in Article 13 by inserting the word 'reasonable' before 're-
strictions' in the various provisos . The pressure on the · floor and in the Assembly Party had been so great that the
leadership capitulated. The Oligarchy agreed to sanction the amendment , and when Bhargava moved it, Ambedkar -
chairman of the Drafting Committee - accepted it, and the assembly adopted it. Liberty had scored a triumph over bu-
reaucracy's desire for maximum secur ity: Thus the Constitution placed a major restriction on the scope of legislative
competence, for the judges may review tho;; reasonable ness of restrictions placed upon rights and thus have ' muta-
tis mutandis the same power in relation to Article 19 (of the Constitutio n, Article 13 of the Draft) which American
judges enjoy generally under the due- process-of-law clause' .

For some unexplained reasons, the qualifying of the restrictions in the provisos by the word ' reasonab
le ' was not done in the case of freedom of speech. This oversight - if such it was - was remedied a year later when
the first amendment to the Constitution laid down that the right to freedom of speech should not prevent, among oth-
er things, ' the State from making any law, insofar as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercises of the
right by the said sub-clause in the interests of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public
order ' , etc.

213
 The assembly's next task, so far as the Fundamental Rights were conce rned , was to consider again lim-
iting the rights by suspending them in times of emergency. The· debate on the two relevant articles of the Draft
Constitution took place in August 1949 at the time of the major debate on the Emergency Provisions. The first of the
two provisions, which laid down that while a Proclamation of Emergency was in force, nothing in the seven-freedoms
article should restrict state action, was passed with a minor change, only three voices raised in ·disse nt. To the
critics, whose general point was that sufficient limitations on the rights already existed, Ambedkar replied that the
article did not suspend the rights ; it only made certain state actions permissible.
The Assemb ly's reaction to article 280, which would have allowed the right to constitutional remedies
(including habeas corpus) to be suspended . not only during the period of emergency , but for six months thereafter, was
both sharp and effective. The objections had built up to such a point that. within an hour of the debate being opened,
Ambedkar asked that the article be held over pending further considerations by the Drafting Committee. When the arti-
cle was reintroduced sixteen days later, it had been greatly modified in response to the various criticisms. The new ver-
sion did not allow the blanket suspension of the right to constitutional remedies, but only the suspension of recourse to
the courts for the enforcement of any right specifically named in a presidential order issued under a Proclamation of
Emergency. Furthermore, such an order should last only during the declared period of emergency, or for a shorter time
; it could apply to parts as well as to the whole of the coun try; and every presidential order made under the article must
be laid ' as soon as may be' before Parliament. The new version appears to have had the tacit rank and file despite the
assurances of A.K . Ayyar that the President would not act ' i n a spirit of vanda lis m' and the arguments of Ambedkar
and others that the whole article had its source , if not its equivale nt, in the power of the American Congress to suspend
the right to take such action. This provision continues to be disliked and feared a decade and a half later. There is , how-
ever. little evidence that under it the Government has worked injustice on the people of India.' 83
The need to give the constitution a socialist edge if not written principles guaranteeing as much was in
the minds of many of the leaders particularly Nehru and one way of doing that was the Directive Principles. These were
principles of state policy that were put in but unfortunately not made justiciable due to the pressure of the right wing
lobby who were immediately alarme-d that fundamental rights of property etc would be infringed upon. It is interest-
ing that even though there were almost no communist leaders in the assembly and even the Congress Socialists stal-
warts were out there was any consideration for such sentiments . This s ws just how much the historical and contem-
porary pressure of the times existed to tilt proceedings however moderately or slightly and in however flawed a man-
ner towards the socialist direction. Many of the prominent personalities in the assembly like,. Munshi, Ambedkar and
Shah were disappointed with the lack of legal teeth of the directives. Munshi had had proposed for instance
ri¢ft5 like ' Rights of Workers ' and 'Social Rig hts ' but was upset with the non-justiciable nature of the directives.
but Austin says, ' in the end, supported them in the belief that half a loaf was better that none' 84. Mun-
shi later wrote: ' Even the non-justiciable rights have to be announced in order to form the basis of protest against ar-
bitrary legislation. They are a body of doctrines to which public opinion can rally ' 85 • There were members like
K.T. Shah and indeed Ambedkar himself who had proposed quite advanced socialist rights and precepts including
state ownership and monopoly of many industries and were afraid that a mere directive would only take the form
.in the end of a list of pious wishes' and future generations would find ways of not bothering for them. But in
the end partly due to the stance of the oligarchy it was decided that actual policy of that nature should be left to the
legislature for legislations in the future for the sake of ·economic democracy '.
Also there were interesting matters like a uniform civil code which some members, particularly
women like Amrit Kaur and Mrs. Mehta under the leadership of Minoa Masani had demanded as a fundamental right
but Nehru was deeply worried that it would alienate Muslims and Sikhs and in the context of the communal clash-
es and the partition would be explosive. So in the end it was retained as a directive principle.
Of the criticisms of the draft principles there Were basically two sorts. One, that the principles did not
go far enough to help establish socialism and the other that the Gandhian principles and thoughts based on exploiting
the simple rural Hindu culture had been forgotten. But nevertheless partly as a concession to Gandhian sentiments,
promotion of cottage industries was added as a principle.
Improvement of agriculture and animal husbandry techniques was also added along with a prohibition
of cow slaughter. The need to focus on agriculture both for economic and socio-cultural reasons was obvious but the
cow-slaughter clause was added partly under pressure from Hindu communalists who had been campaigning for it for
man decades and had raised a slogan that cow slaughter would be banned in independent I ndi a. In general ' Hindu
sentiment' predominated in the assembly says Austin and such provisions are therefore not ·surprising. There were
people in the assembly, possibly even Nehru who found the reference to cow killing less than proper but Austin says
they 'bent with the wind' in· the assembly.

214
 A principle for prohibition of alcoholic drinks was much easier to handle for the assembly as both Hin-
dus relying on Gandhi's teaching and Muslims deriving their authority from the Koran could support it and of course in
general the Indian middle classes did tend to see drinking as a taboo to some extent. There was also a strong social an-
gle to this move. Many poor workers in industrial estates had taken to drinking their sorrows away and would often
blow all their incomes on drink. So this move became an urgency of sorts. It is interesting that some liberal members
were there though (even in times as those) who opposed this move and cited the case of America where it had failed.
Some provinces realising that the major source of taxation for them would be liquor excise had also opposed a total
prohibition clause.
As for the major criticism of the Directive Principles that it did not go far enough in promoting a so-
cialist soc ie ty, Austin comments as follows:
'The second major cr itic is m, as has been sa id, of the Draft Principles when they were introduced in
the assembl y was that they did not go far enough in encouraging a socialist society. The several dozen amendments
submitted in this vein called for the nationalisation of various industries, and phrases such as ' socialist order' and ' so-
cialist economy ' were common. One amendment read that 'the profit motive in production (should be) entirely elimi-
nated in due course of time'. Another was aimed at giving ' the workers in the fields and factories effective control of
the administrative machinery of the State' . Most of these amendments were voted down in assembly Party meetings or
were withdrawn by their initiators. Those S!tbstantive amendments reaching the Assembly floor were not adopted be-
cause the majority of members held with the Oligarchy that the Principles should be kept general, leaving ' enough
room for people of different ways of thinking' to reach the goal of economic democracy.
Due process in a fundamental principle of any constitution and· its famous statement is available from
the fifth amendment of the American Constitution:
' ... nor shall any person. '.. be deprived of life. li berty, or property without due process of law; nor
shall private property be taken for public use without just compens ation' .
The constitution makers in our case were of course all for due process but they had also realised that so-
cial and/or socialistic reform would mean or could mean for instance depriving big zamindars of some of their
property or in some situations placing restrictions on enjoyment of the fundamental right of life and liberty by en-
gaging in preventive detent io n. So there had arisen a conflict that had to be resolved.
Even though historically _there had been no express use of the wording of due process. either in
the Nehru report or in the Karachi Resolution and the 1935 Government of India Act had no mention of personal li
berty, both the 1935 Act and the Congress Experts Committee report had provided for compensation to be paid for
property taken from any property owner. So when the due process clause was proposed by the Fundamental Rights
Sub-Committee there was much concern not only among the members of the assembly but also the advisors and oth-
ers. B.N. Rau had the follow i ng wa rned for the assembly:
'The Courts, manned by an irremovable judiciary not so sensitive to public needs in the social or eco-
nomic sphere as the representatives of a periodically elected legislature, will. in effect, have a veto on legisla-
tion exerc isable at any time and at the instance· of any li tigant ' 86 • Rau had pointed out that during the past fif-
ty years forty percent of the legislation before the U.S Supreme Court had centred around due process and due
process comes to mean only what the courts say it mean s. He made the point that to include due process 1n the
Constitution would could open to litigation tenancy and property laws as well as laws concerning debt, money-
lenders, and minimum wages. He was clear that a due process clause would be a bar against some beneficial social
le gisl ation . He advised a middle course and adoption of the strategy of the Irish Constitution, which provided that
the exercise of ce1tain rights ' be regulated by the principles of social j ustice' .
Ultimately the worry over due process was particularly in relation to the fear that many assembly mem-
bers. some themselves zamindars. had that they would lose their land and no or i nadequat e compensation would be
paid. They wished to have legal guarantees that a compensation wotild be paid and that it would be ' just' . Interest-
ingly big business did not exercise the assembly member s at all that same way as zamindars did. Some members
were apprehensive that foreign capital would shun India if there was any provision for the state to take over proper-
ty but Nehru had buried that worry early by proposing that all foreign entry be governed by special agreements. Also
Nehru had suggested that compensation should not be in cash and should be in bonds bu·tm any members insisted
on full or part cash compensation. Patel had been particularly eager to see that a compensation clause be there.
He had sa id: ' .. no one should be discriminated against in the eyes of the law and compensation in all cases should
be made jus tic iable ' . Patel in the end could not be ' moved ' by Nehru beyond a point according to Austin and that
was reason why a compromise had to be struck. Patel of course had not been the on ly stalwart opposing on the expro-
priation and compensation issues. Another important member and member of the cabinet Mathai even threatened
to resign if the provision for adequate compensation was not made.

215
 Just as the issue of due process and property, concerned members of the assembly in terms of just com-
pensation, -personal liberty and due process basically became an issue on the possibility of future governments using
the policy of preventive detention undemocratically and in a draconian fashion . Most members of the assembly with
the exception of Patel and Mathai and others like him had supported Nehru on property expropriation and com-
pensation issues but few members found it difficult to accept provisions that would make preventive detention possible
. Austin comments on the sensitivities of the mood prevailing on this issue thus:
'None 'Would have disputed that stable government and peaceful conditions throughout the coun try
were necessary for the achievement of the social revolution. But many thought that individual literacy should not be
imperilled even for such ends, and to save what they could they fought the issue into the final days of the Assemb
ly. The harsh provisions of the Constitution, while bestowing great authority on the state. were at the same time, how-
ever, framed to give the individual some protection from the vagaries of state detention laws. It must be remembered,
too, that while lndia has preventive detention, it has allowed Communists to govern a state and to sit in Parliament. Yet
in the United States. where according to the Constitution there is more individual liberty than in India, the Communist
Party is an illegal organisation. Had India not once been a colony, the members of her Constituent Assembly might or
might not have provided for preventive detention in the Constitution. But the British had practiced preventive detention
in India for many years - openly since 1818. It would appear that, along with representative government. preventive
detention was also a legacy of the empire of which Britain was so proud' 87 .
Most of the freedom fighter members of the assembly including the Oligarchy had at one time or the
other during British rule been detained under preventive detention laws as had been thousands of Congressmen and
possibly almost all socialists and communists. So the disappointment, even horror that was there at the proposal of
curtailing due process in detention can be imagined. B.N. Rau, who had drafted the initial Draft Constitution had
initially included a due process clause governing personal liberty but later when he visited the United States and
other countries to talk to constitutional experts, he was told by the legendary Justice Felix Frankfurter for in-
stance that too great a reliance on due process as a protection against legislative oversight or misbehaviour might
weaken the democratic process. Rau had himself not been totally unaware of putting too much faith in judicial power.
He had pointed out for instance that the Harvard Law School's great constitut\onal lawy r, James Bradley Thayer
has 'drawn attention to the dangers of attempting to find in the Supreme Court - instead of in the lessons of expe-
rience - a safeguard against the mistakes of the representatives of the people'. So later he proposed an amend-
ment which he said was 'designed to secure that when a law is made by the State in the discharge of one of the
fundamental duties imposed upon it by th Constitution and happens to conflict with one of the fundamental
rights guaranteed to the individual, the former should prevail over the latter: in other words, the general right
should prevail over the individual right' 88 • Later he suggested that the due process clause be eliminated when
the Drafting Committee did not accept his amendment and that the phrase ' accord i ng to the procedure es-
tab1ished by law' be adopted instead.
The gotiations over what is acceptable by way of provisions for preventive detention wellt on till the last
days of the assembly. Ultimately it was a move from Ambedkar that settled the matter. It has to be remembered that the
assembly functioned under a situation of chaos and mayhem, which was the consequence of the partition of India and
maintaining law and order particularly·to he home minister Patel was of prime importance who felt a genuine need for
preventive detention possibly. In September of 1949. Ambedkar proposed a new Art icle·1 SA to be added to the origi-
nal Article 15 which was designed to enable preventiv detention. This new Art 15 A provided for any arrested person to
be brought before a magistrate within twenty-four hours of his arrest, informed of the.nature of the accusation. and de-
tained further only on the authority of the magistrate. It further provided that the arrested person should denied counsel.
Unfortunately he also provided that these provisions were not to apply to those who had been detained under express
preventive detention laws but an individual so held could not be detained longer than three months unless an Advisory
Board consisting of High Court judges, or persons qualified to be judges , suppo rted. further detention, and unless laws
permitting grater periods of detention were in existence. Parliament could QY law prescribe, according to Ambedkar's
article: the circumstances under whi h and the class or classes of cases in which a person who is arrested under any law
providing for preventive detention may be dete mined for a period longer than three months and also the maximum pe-
riod for which any such person may be detained. Ambedkar while introducing A11icle 15 A in the Assembly had noted
that Article 15 had been violently criticized by the Indian public and he like many others in the assembly were 'greatly
dissatisfied with the wording of the Article ...........we are therefore now. by introducing Art,icle ISA, if I may say
so. compensation forwhat was done then in passing Article 15.... . .(the new article) certainly saves a great deal which
had been lost by ,he non-introduction of the words'..due process of law... those who are fi hting for the protection of
individual freedom ought to congratulate themselves that it has been possible to introduce this clause ' . Some powers
. Ambedkar betie ved. had to be kept due to the ' present circumstances in the country' .89

216
 Even after this amendment, the controversies were not settled until the November of I 949 when T.T. Krish-
namachari moved an amendment in the assembly on the lines of the views of the Home Ministry, i. e . that there should be
no interference with Executive action in detention cases. The amendment which the Oligarchy supported by remaining silent
gave power to the parliament to prescribe the maximum period of detention, the class of cases in which a person could be de-
tained for longer than three months without any opinion of an Advisory Board and the power to lay down the procedures to be
followed by an Advisory Board. Summing up the final acceptance of the amendments Austin comments as follows :
' Patel had won a vic tory. The authority of the courts i·n cases of personal Iiberty had been lessened and the
individual had lost another of the remaining vestiges of the protection of due prc..-:ess. This particular aspect of personal free-
dom had been whittled down until on paper, at least, it was nearly non-e xis tent. And although assembly members had re-
sisted this, in the end they pinned their faith upon the mercy of the Legislature and the good character of their le aders'90 .
The Constituent Assembly had wished to have the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles as the
principal constitutional instrument in bringing about the great reforms of the social revo l ution . After all a bill of written
rights is to create individual liberty which is the soul of democracy in many ways. Austin argues that 'it appears that (in In-
dia) the Fundamental Rights have both created a new equality that had been absent in traditional Indian (largely Hindu) so-
ciety and have helped to preserve individual li berty' 91 • He further points to the fact that the absence of comments on rights in
India is noteworthy and the fact that the denial of rights makes news and not the reverse and the number of cases that are
brought before the High Courts and the Supreme Courts all point to the decision to have written rights as having been excel-
lent. He says 'in a politically under developed country like India. which also lacks the rapid communication necessary to the
formation and expression of public opinion. it may be that written rights come close to being a necessity' 92 • He com-
mented thus many decades back but it seems the experience of the past decades has borne out the truth.- in his com-
ments entirely.
Austin is also very positive about the Directive Principles but other commentators like Dr. Whare have been
sceptical. Initially in the first few decades of India 's existence the Directive Pl'inciples did serve as a moral pressure on the gov-
ernment to keep up with a momentum of continuous legislative changes but it arguable what real purpose they serve now not
being justiciable when their socialist tilt has come to be totally ignored.

The Executive
When B.N. Rau, who had prepared the initial draft of the Constitution sent a questionnaire to the assembly mem-
bers in mid-March of 19 47,·he received only two replies . This shows how little members were exercised on question of the
executive as opposed to questions of fundamental rights, personal liberty and the directive principles which seems to have
hogged most of their mind space and emotions. Neve rthe less , there was an implicit assumption it seems that since India had
chosen to be a democ racy, there would have to be democratic institutions to express the democracy in terms of direct responsi-
ble government. So the indirect systems of Gandhi and his followers was never under consideration in the minds of the as-
sembly members . Also leaders like Nehru and others it may be imagined were aware of the changing world around them
and for India to emer asa strong. nation with rapid strides in indus trial, agricultural and social development. They would have
also clearly· seen the need for a centralized cabinet form of government, which India was also used to from the British colonial
experience_.-1.trln..re'of I 947, during the meetings of the UCC(Union Constitution Committee) under the chairmanship of Pa-
tel it was decided that India should have a ' parliamen tary system of constitution, the British type of constitution , with
which we are famili ar' 93- this formally set India upon the path of parliamentary government , it can be safely assumed ,
f,rom the historical evidence.
The British was of course a monarchy - a constitutional monarchy. So in the Indian scheme of things a post
of a President was conceived to perform that role . Nehru had explained that the President was to
have no ' real ' powers but his office would have ' great authority and dignity' . It was also decided that 'the presi-
dent should not be elected by direct adult franchise since that would look odd and instead, he would be elected by the mem-
bers of the legislatures at the center and in the states.
As far as the formation of ministries was concerned there was a demand from minorities particularly Muslim
leaders that ministry formation should be on the basis of proportional representation to the minorities. But Nehru and Munshi
immediately rejected this as they felt it would be a sort of a fragmentation of the united operation of the ministry and that that
would make the ministry 'feehle' as Nehru put it.
Later the issue of providing for minority representation and indeed representation for scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes (not yet called as such obviously) received support from stalwarts like Ambedkar and Jagjivan Ram but it
was defeated again and again in committees.

217
 While deciding on the shape of the executive the members had some legitimate fears. The fear
was that the Executive might become too strong and start ignoring the Legislature and start taking arbitrary action
without any sense of it's accountability and responsibility to the Legisl ature . Assembly members represent ing mi-
norities and even leaders like Ambedkar who also represented the untouchables and harij ans , were particular-
ly keen to have some sort of limit of executive power. As a method of doing this Ambedkar proposed an Advisory
Board. Obviously this would have been contrary to the situation in Britain where there was no similar advisory
board as proposed by him. But Ambedkar in his pamphlet on States and Minorities and how to secure their free-
dom had written that the application of the British parliamentary system to India will mean that the cabinet will be
formed by the majority party and while in England this would trans late_into a political majority, in India 'the majori-
ty is a communal majority... ..no matter what social and political programs it may have, the majority will retain its
character of being a communal majority' 94 • He had further made the point that the majority under the British
system was under no obligation to bring representatives of the minority community into the cabinet and this was
'full of menace to the li fe, li berty, and pursuit of happiness of minorities in general and the Untouchables in particu-
lar.. ..It would make the majority community a governing class and the minority community a subject race' 95.
Ambedkar 's views and his proposals for an Advisory Board was fina lly rejected by the Drafting Committee.
Much more than Ambedkar 's proposal for an Advisory Board in the form of a supervisory coun-
cil that will supervise the cabinet and the executive , the proposal that was seriously considered was whether the
conventions of the cabinet government as practiced in England be included in written form or they should be just
left to the leaders by relying on their sense of honesty and their grounding in the traditional behav io r of her political
ins titutions . Some members who were most keen to have a system as close to the British system as possible rec-
ommended that the relationship i n Britain between the monarch and the cabinet should be replica ted with the Presi-
dent being in the role of the monarch in India. They would have been happy to have written conventions en-
suring this. Rau in his initial draft did try to write into the constitution at least some of the conven tions . He
wrote in his draft a provision for instance that the cabinet was collectively responsible to the House of People, a
major convention of parliamentary government. The Drafting Committee had also proposed that the President
would have two terms of tenure maximum and would open parliament every year like the monarch does in
Britain .
Even though it had become clear in the debates in the Assembly that the President would really be
like a figurehead, Prasad who was the most likely candidate to be the first president wrote to B.N. Rau in
April 1948 less than two months after the draft constitution was published saying that he did not find any provi-
sion ' laying it down in so many terms' that the President of the Union was bound to accept and act upon the ad-
vice of his ministers. He wished to know if the President was bound I all cases to accept the advice of his min-
isters. He also had questions on the exact powers of the governor and the president in assenting to bi lls . Austin
believes that despite ' the honesty of his mot ives, it may have been Prasad 's in qu irie s to Rau that led the Draft-
ing Committee during the suinmer of 1948 to recommend including in the Constitution an Instrument of In-
structions definitely limiting the President's powers'96.
.
Something may have happened behind the scenes but Ambedkar later had to propose the withdrawa1
of the proposed instrument of accession himself. Much explanation was not provided for the decision but Ambedkar
told the Assembly that the members of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the government
'know their functions. their limitations, and their duties....The executive is bound to obey the legislature without any
kind of compulsory obligation laid down in the Const itut io n"n . Upon this statement a member of the assembly
H.V. Kamath asked him if in .any particular case the President does not act according to the advice of his minis-
ters, will that tantamount to a violation of the Constitution and will he then be liable to impeachment.
Ambedkar replied that there is ' not the slightest doubt ' that he would be98• Austin believes that 'one is forced to
deduce that Ambedkar and the members of the Drafting Committee, perhaps under pressure from Nehru or Patel,
had come to the conclusion that the written provisions of a non-justicianle instrument of instruction and the tacit
conventions of cabinet government had equal value; both were legally unenforceable, but both provided a mecha-
nism by which the legislature could control the Execut ive; and of the tow, conventions were the tidiest and the sim-
plest way of limiting Executive authority''l'I. He also says Amebedkar 's categorical statement to Karnath had '
qu ie ted most fears' .

218
 The Legislature

The right to vote in the times of the British was limited by property, educat io nal, and other qualifications to
approximately 15 per cent of the country's populatiQn and the .electorate of the nation was split into thirteen communal and
functional categories. Each such category had ·it's own representatives who had reserved seats in parliamentary bodies . So
the members of the Constituent assembly naturally wisht:d to create a united political and social structure for the nation
where there would be universal adult suffrage on the basis of one man one vote without ·any distinction or discrimination
who would directly elect a popular government responsible to them .
However on the question of a second chamber there was some debate . Ultimately it was settled according to a
formula that Ambedkar proposed according to which one half of the seats in Legislative Councils should be filled by direct
election from special electorates in territorial constituencies, electorates consisting of mun ici pal, dis trict , and othe·r local
governing bodies and of university graduates and high school teachers. One third of the members, he proposed would be
elected according to proportional representation by the members of the lower houses from outside their own number, and the
final one- sixth of the membership was to be nominated by the Governor. This proposal finally became Article 171 of the
Constitution.
The need for a second chamber had been felt basically drawing from the experience worldw ide. Rau, who had
been entrusted with preparing the first draft, had explained that second chambers were regarded as an essential element of
federal constitutions but for states to have second chambers as well would be more the exception rather than the ru le . He
had cited four reasons for second chambers traditionally existing worldwide: one, tradition , secon d, the desire of proper-
tied and other interests to protect themse)ves from the majority, third, the desire held even by those who were committed to
democ racy to have a second chamber which would serve as a check on hasty legisl ation , and fourth, the need to provide
representation for interests difficult to include in lower houses. The arguments against second chambers, which Rau had
pointed ou_t as well, were that they were undemocratic and needlessly slowed down the democratic process.
The members ultimately in debating the need for and the form that second chambers should take were exer-
cised over two _issues . One that any second chamber should only be a debating chamber at best which can at the most ' ho ld
dignified debates on important issues and to delay legislation which might be the outcome of passions of the moment' 100 as
N.G Ayyangar put it. So there was an opinion that a second chamber might serve as a ' good check upon democratic outbursts'
and would introduce ' an element of sobriety and second thought ' but there were also members who felt that a second cham-
ber only 'safeguarded the interests of the propertied-classes and vested i nterests', the classes that ' buttressed and bolstered up
British ru le ' and would act as ' clo gs in the wheel of progress' .
Finally the' second chamber was given less powers in the states that in the center, in fact no powers at all
and the some additional powers were given to the Governor in states to act as a check on hasty legislation. The time
for which the second chamber could debate a bill particularly a money bill was limited and the limits were more severe
for second chambers of states.
Professor Morris Jones ·has commented .that whatever 'uncertainty there may have been on the purpose of an
Upper House, there was at no stage any doubt that the House of the People would be the more powerfu l' 101
On the general form that the provisions for the legislative .s tructure of India that the assembly members
agreed on and decided took, Austin comments as follows:
'The members of the Constituent Assembly could only set the stage for the development of India's political life.
They could not themselves knit up the raveled sleeve of national unity. But they had removed the constitutional barriers to
political (and therefore social) union and amity that had existed since the introduction of separate electorates in 1909 and in
fact, since the introduction of functional representation in municipal c.ouncils in 1885. Whether Indians could prove that their
country possessed the fundamental unity they claimed for it was a question for the future' 102 . He sums up saying:

'The goals of the Constituent Assembly when drafting the Legislative provisions of the Constitution were to
bring popular,...opinion into the hafls of government and, by the method of bringing it there, to show Indians that although
they were many peoples, they were but one nation' 103.

The Judiciary
Excepting Fundamental Rights no other aspect of he drafting of the Constitution of India attracted as much
attention as the provisions relating to the judiciary. That was because it wus the overwhelming feeling in the judiciary that the
fundamental rights and the freedom that Indians longed for in colonial times and which the principal promise of freedom in
many ways would be guaranteed and protected by the Judiciary. So the judiciary was to be an arm of the social revol'ution.
Also of course for the first time the courts would interpret and administer laws that were created by Indians for Indians and
would not be alien impositions designed to bolster and aid the colonial control of a nation .

219
 The subjects that pre-occupied assembly members more th;m any other with respect to the judiciary were the
issue of the independence of the courts, the powers of the Supreme Court and judicial review. The assembly members were
very clear from the beginning that the judiciary should be aboye reproach, free from coercion and from· political influence .
A natural extension of this would be judicial review, which the members felt would be an essential power for the courts of a
free India. Also of course as the final legal authority for interpreting the c nstitution the Supreme Court attracted much at-
tention. The courts subordinate to the Supreme Court attracted less attention but it was decided that the court system would
be united and in a straight hierarchy and the High Courts were given the authority to issue writs in cases of infringement
of fundamental rights. The Supreme Court, it was accepted would have original jurisdiction in all federal disputes between
states and the states and the center. It was also given broad appellate jurisdiction so thal'any civil or criminal case was made
capable of being appealed to it if an interpretation of the Constitution was involved and if certain other qualifications were
met like a certificate from the High Court that it was a fit case for appeal or the supreme Court granted special leave to ap-
peal. It was also decided that the president may refer any mater to th·e Supreme Court for advice.
In the course of the assembly there were apprehensions expressed that the Supreme Court may come in the
way of the 'social revolution'. So it was also a concern of the assembly that the powers of the court should not be too extend-
ed. However the many legal experts in the assembly were clear that the powers of the court to the extent that the assembly
wished to grant shou Id· be written and not left to conventions or judicial decisions. Munshi for instance had submitted a
memorandum making the point that w 1ile the right of judicial review was necessary for the Supreme Court to safeguard
fundame_n tal rights and for it to ensure that due· process has been observed, judicial review should have a more di-
rect basis in the
Constitution than ,simp ly 'due process'. He had also proposed that the Supreme Court should have the right
to examine the constitutionality of legisla tio n. Ayyar, another legal stalwart in the Assembly had been eager to point out
that the right of judicial review does not flow necessarily from a written constitution. So it was decided that the basis for
the right of judicial review should be written into the constitution itself. But it had been also made clear that for
som·e matters there would be no right of rev ie w. The power of review where property and personal liberty were
concerned was curbed and also in the matters of Emergency Provisions the where the Executive had the authority to deny
for uncertain periods the right to issue prerogative writs, the Supreme Court was to have almost no right of review.
The anxie tie s that the assembly members had with respect to making the Supreme Court too powerful were expressed by
Ayyar for instance in the following words:
' While there can be no two opinions on the need for the maintenance of judicial independence, both for
the safeguarding of individual liberty and the proper working of the Constitution, it is also necessary to keep in view
one important princi ple . The doctrine of independence is not to be raised to the level of a dogma so as to enable
the Judiciary to function as a kind of super-Legislature or super-Executive.
The Judiciary is there to interpret the Constitution or adjudicate upon the rights between the parties con-
cerned. As has been pointed out recently in a leading decision of the Supreme Court (of the United States). he Judiciary as
much as the Congress and the faecutive, is depending for its proper functioning upon the cooperation of the other two' 104 .
The courts had been earlier kept out of inte ference in preventive detent io n, on the ini tiative of Patel more
than anybody else who as the Home Minister was dealing with the communal riot situation. He had also opposed the in-
clusion in the Constitution of rights to secrecy ·of correspondence and to inviolability of an in dividua l ' s person and
home . Austin comments that ' desp ite the restrictions plac d upon it, the Judic iary in India has wide powers... ... The
members of the Constituent Assembly believed that in some areas of the social revolu tion , the Legislative branch of the
government should be supreme; in these areas they could not bring themse lves to trust the judges, whose function was to
be limited to interpreting the law as written. Assembly members would have agreed, however, that but for these exceptions
it was the duty of the Judiciary itself to ' keep the charter of government current with the times and not allow it to become
archaic or out of tune with the needs of the day ' 105 .
Federalism
India given its great variations of peoples and regions had to be constituted into a federal union . But the
federal unions that India could draw from like America or Australia or Canada were totally different. India had her won
landscape of many different languages, provinces and religions and lngian federalism had to be organized differently.
The major aspects of lnd i·an Federafism as designed that became important were the distribution of powers between the
Center and the States. the Centre 's emergency powers , the distribution of revenues, national plann ing, the creation of
states on linguistic lines and the integration of the former Princely States. It is important to understand that the Con-
stituent Assembly was meeting in the midst of historic and tragic happenin gs. There was blood o·n the streets and com-
munal rioting of unprecedented proportions. The cabinet members who were also members of the assembly had the dual
task of maintaining law and order outside and cbntributin g to the assembly inside.

220
It is entirely understandable then that the ir experie nces outside particularly of Patel who was the Home Minister in charge
of law and order influenced their stance inside the assembly and shaped the positions that they took. So even though al-
lowing for functional space to states and local administrations while essentially preserving a certain central command for
rapid development was im portant , Austin says an ' equa lly forceful influence towards centralization was the national pre-
occupation with communalism in the years from the late twenties until Partition ... ....For Indians , the emotionally
charged, the politically significant, issue , other than independence , was community r!ghts and status. 'States rights ' issues
were secondary and never assumed the importance that they ,lrad in America and Australia' 106. Nehru and Patel in
particular among othc,rs were probably particularly aware that a strong government was needed to deal with communal
frenzies like fhe one that they were witness to outside in the streets from the assembly . They must have seen that the
tasks of carrying out the transfer of power and the administrative tasks arising as a result of the partition and the job of
resettling the refugees not to mention the central coordination that would be nee ded to control the food crisis that was
rapidly developing and generally to save the econo my would all require a strong center and hence . to that extent their
federal instinct to whatever extent it existed in the first place was presumably marred.

While many members did point out again and again how the mai.ntenance and indeed the law and order of the
country would come into question and how the economic potential of the country could only be maximized if there was a
strong center which could take decisions for the country as a whole, Austin says whittling down the power of states in the
federal set up that was designed only became possible because India was a one party situation with no oppos itio n. He com-
ments:
' This task was made much easier, of course, by the existence of a powerful political party with nationwide au-
thority and by the absence of strong regional or provincially based political parties. Had these existed, they would have com-
plicated the achievement of a harmoniously working federal system. Nor did the Provincial Congress Committees assume the
role of protectors of provincial ' rights' . Files of communications exchanged between the Provincial Congress Committees
and the Congress high command contain no mention of the work of the Constituent Assembly. The local Congress Commit-
tees were not only too busy mending political fences in preparation for forthcoming elections, but the centers of power had
shifted from them to the provincial gove rnments . It was the leaders of these governments, as we shall see, who would nego-
tiate with the Union leaders - both groups being in the Assembly - concerning the shape of the federal structure. Finally, Parti-
tion had its effect. By piuviding an example of the dangers inherent in separatism, it served to unite Indians. And by re-
moving the greatest body of separatist fervour from India it left no real barrier to the creation of a cooperative federa-
tion' 107 .
The provisions laying down the distribution of powers between the center and the states are in Part XI of
the Constitution, entitled 'Relations Between the U11ion and the States'. This section of he constitution is divided into two
chapters, Legislative Relations, which defines the List system for legislative powers and Administ01tive Relations.
Apart from this there are provisions throughout the Constitution, which affects the distribution of powers. The powers of a
national Emergency are all with the Union and are separately mentioned in the Constitution. Also the fact that lndi would
have a single unitary judicial system, one Election Commission with nationwide authority and the fact that the Rajya Sabha
would have limited authority and the amending process, according to Austin are provisions 'all of which weight the scales
of power in favour of the Union' 108.
While three lists were created for legislation, one for the center, one for the states and a concurrent lis t, re-
siduary powers for legislation was left with the union or center. A provision was made that in cases where a law enacted by a
state legislature was repugnant to a law enacted by the Union Parliament, the state law would be void. Such a heavy tilt in fa-
vour of the center had disappointed and ev.en angered many members but the Union Powers committee of which Nehru
was the chairman took a position of overwhelming tilt for the !-loion. N.G. Ayyangar, also a member of the committee had
explained the position of the committee thus:
' The committee came to the conclusion that we should make the Centre in this country as strong -as possible
consistent with leaving a fairly wide range of su,bjects to the Provinces in which they would have the utmost freedom to
order things as they liked.' 109
Most cabinet ministers wanted to have the center reign supreme in their departments or areas. Jagjivan Ram
wanted in labour, Daulatram in agriculture and the hugely respected stalwart Maulana Azad wanted in education 'central
guidance if not central control' so that 'the intelligentsia of the country will be thinking on similar li nes ' 110 • Some provin-
cial chiefs like Pant of UP had argued that too much central power would impair the sense of responsibility of provincial gov-
ernments . B.G. Khair, the premier of Bombay had shown his irritation of making the center all powerful, by suggesting that
if a centrist attitude was to prevail so much there might not as well there be any concurrent list at all.

221
 An Art. 226 was introduced 'Yhich gave the Parliament the power with approval of a two-thirds majori-
ty in the Rajya Sabha to legislate on any matter in the State List. Dr. Amebedkar had described this article as an In-
dia!" innovation to make federal government less rigid and flexible and to empower the center to legislate on exclu-
sively state subjects in normal times (not merely in emergencies) if it became so necessa ry•as a matter of national
concern. This article came under great criticism and attack and the Hindustan Times in an editorial called it a death
blow to provincial autonomy. Austin says that the origins of the provisions (of Art. 226) lay more in a desire to ef-
fect social change and economic gains than solely in the wish to make the federal structure more flex ible' 111.
The Chapter II of Part IX of the constitution governed administrative relations between the union and
the states and the articles in this chapter. Just eleven days before the completion of the constitution in November of
1949 Dr. Ambedkar had introduced an article in this chapter, which became the basis for the President's Rule articles
that still are a huge source of debate in federal Ind ia. This article laid down that if a unit of the union failed to give ef-
fect to, or comply with, the directions given by the Union Executive, the President could declare that the government
of the unit was not being carried on in accordance with the Constitution, and the President could under the Emergency
Provisions assume any of the functions of the unit government. Understandably this article and later similar other
·President's Ru le ' articles came under heavy attack from members . Pandit Kunzru and Thankur Das Bhargav were
the most vociferous in their criticism and said that they were dismayed by the ' drast ic power ' of the article and sug-
gested that the Drafting Committee had exceeded its authority by introducing the provision when the drafting was so
nearly completed.
Even more so in the Emergency Provisions were the powers drastic. Austin says the effect that Ind ia's '
pecu li ar situation had on the shape of her federal system is nowhere more apparent than in the Emergency provisions
of the Constitution, by which the distribution of powers can be so drastically altered that the Constitution bec112 omes
unitary rather than federal'.
The Emer gency Provisions of the Constitution are contained in the nine articles of Part XVIll. These
provisions for the period of the emergency for all purposes only left the union goverl"ment in charge with all the autho
rity. Hence arguably, the provisions as they were designed, meant that for the duration of the emergency India would
cease to be a federal democracy . The emergency provisions came in for a lot of attack. But interestingly none of the
ranking members led by the oligarchy opposed on the floor the clearly draconian and almost dictatorial and somewhat
dangerous provisions. Clearly they wished to hav such provisions for whatever reasons. Of the members who con-
demned the provis io ns , H.V. Karnath put it most strongly. He told the assembly that there was a·danger that these
provisions could even lead to ' the end of democracy in India and a Hitler like takeover by the Union government
could happen in the future 113 . P.S. Deshmukh expressed the view that such vast powers on the President was both
impractical and un-deferal because it placed too great a burden upon Parliament and gave the President.authority
to over ride ' at his own sweet will the provisions of the Constitution itself' 114. Pandit Kunzru caustically argued
that the ' central government will have the power to intervene to protect the electors against themse lves ' and ar-
gued that the power to redress bad government should rest with the electors and they should be made to feet the irre-
sponsibilities . 115
One central aspect of federalism is that the provinces or units of the federation should each have its
own exclus ive sources of revenue to meet the needs of performing its own exclusive funct io ns . In the Indian case
this became a matter of no consideration at all. Those state representatives who called for financial autonomy did
so out of pride and a desire to assume greater responsibilities than out of a sense of a right as participants in the
birth of a federation. The result was that the finance provisions made the union government almost the paymaster
of the states. Even though it was provided that the states would only le vy, collect and spend tax revenues raised
from taxing land such as land revenue , land succession taxes, agric u ltura l estate duties and excise duties on alco-
holic drinks and narcotics, and this would have meant some sources of revem.!e, it was clearly realized by all mem-
bers that the collection from these heads for the states would be tin y. One reason why the power to le vy, and
distribute most taxes and grab an overwhelmingly large share of the taxes was granted to the center so easily was the
unstable and weak financi al situation of the nation taking birth in the midst of the departing British and the chaos of
partition and a food cr isi s accompan ie d with starvat io n of unprecedented proportions. The other reason was the
need for a social reYolution that was uppermost in the m in ds of the assembly me mb ers, which clearly meant that d
is tribut io n of re venue s would have to be based on ' need ' (with a proport io nately larger share going to poorer
states) rather than on the capacity to raise taxes. Now who will fix need?. It was decided that the union government
would appoint finance commissions from time to time that would fix need. But who would appoint the finance
commissions and its members. Obvious l-y the center really ultimately, even though the President may be ritually in-
volved technically and the commissions would be quasi- judicial bodies. So the power of the union to distribute taxes
was overwhelming. The main problem with the Constitution ' s finance provisions was that while it prescribes how
taxes may be levied and collected it did not prescribe how the proceeds should be distributed.

222
 Financial self-sufficiency and autonomy, at least partial, of the constituting units in a federation is argua-
bly one of the main defining characteristics but in the case of the Indian federation this was not to be. Rather a central-
ized process at the center and clearly influenced by the political power at the center would fix first the need and then
distribute the revenues according to it's best judgment. This naturally raised apprehensions among the states and every
state was eager to point out it's own need over other states. Austin comments on this as follow:
' The attitude in the Assembly towards the financial provisions- the necessary reliance of the provisions on
the Union, which they feared might be niggardly when distributing revenues, the provinces' suspicions of each other, and
the belief in the principle of 'need' - were quaintly, although inadvertently. summed up by. President Prasad. Address-
ing the House... Prasad said that there was 'a considerable feeling in the provinces that their sources of revenue have
been curtailed....(and) that the distribution of the income tax is not such as to give them satisfaction. I desire to ask the
Finance Minister to bear this in mind.....so that it may not be said that the policy of the Government of India is such as to
give more to those who have much and to take away from those who have little.'116
Assembly members, some anyway, were accepting of the non-federalist nature of the finance provisions
and in fact a prominent member, K. Santhanam went on to comment that the finance provi3ions are such that India
may be described 'as a Federation in which paramountcy of powers which the British Government had over the Indian
States have been taken over by the Union Government and applied to all it's uni ts' 117 Ambedkar after describing •
the
provisions as 'better than any financial system that I know of' had conceded that it had the defect that 'the provinces
are very largely dependent for their resources upon grants made to them by the Centre' 118 .
Austin though believes that in the brand of 'cooperative federalism' that India chose, the center is not all
that powerful because it is dependent on the states for implementation of programs. lje comments as follow:
' The states need Union funds, but the Union without the cooperation of the states could not long exist.
The state governments may often be instruments of union_(nation al) policy, but without their help the Union could not
give effect to its programme . The ·tow therefore are mutually dependent.. . ' 119 •
A major aspect of federalism in India is centralized planning . There is evidence to suggest that na-
tional planning was originally never seen as an aspect of federalism but more as a necessity for the 'social revolu
tion' . The Congress had established a national Planning Committee in 1937 and Nehru had been its chairman. The
Congress party during its negations under ttie Cabinet Mission Plan had also made it clear that the central govern-
ment would be responsible for national planning . Also Indian big business and financial interests who had pub-
lished the famous so called 'Bombay Plan' in 1945 were in favour of central planning. Yet, says Austin, 'time has
shown that, along with the dominant-party political situatio n, planning has been a strong unifying force within
Indian federalism.
With the onset of independence and the creation of a new constitution where the largesse of the center
would be important old demands for a reorganization of provinces on linguistic lines had gathered pace. The root of the
idea had been very much in the history of the Congress party itself. The party in 1920 had organized its ad_ministrative
structure on the basis of linguistic units at the Nagpur Congress and would attack the boundaries drawn by the British
mainly on the ground that they had ignored linguistic and cultur.al realities . The Nehru report had recommended pro-
vincial redistribution in which the ' main considerations must necessarily be the wishes of the people and the linguistic
unity of the area concerned' 120 . So'w hen after independence the oligarchy in parti6ular and other leaders took the
stand that no immediate reorganization it set off some tension, conflict and debate between assembly members. As a
result of this lash :what was achieved finally by those who wanted a reorganisation was that an Article 3 was introduced
i·n the constitution which enables the formation of new states by Parliament subject to some conditions being fulfilled
liked assent from the legislatures of the states concerned, etc.

The major reason for the demand for linguistic reorganization was competition for the centre's attention. As an
assembly member K.M. Panikkar wrote: 'it can not be emphasized too much that regional feeling in India has not been in
relation to the Centre except perhaps to a small degree in the State of Madras, but in a sense of rivalry to other regions. All
are claimants for the patronage and bounty of the Centre' 121 .

The oligarchy and many of the prominent leaders were against any immediate reorganization because it
would upset they feared their planned social revolut io n. Some were afraid thl!t separatist feelings would find encourage-
me nt . P.S. Deshmukh went so far as to suggest that since the linguistic reorganization issue was arousing such bitter
passions it would be safer to drop the federal Draft Constitution altogether and adot a new unitary constitution. Azad
had also cautioned that 'the only way of maintaining Indian solidarity' was 'to give a commanding position to the
Centre in the new constitutional set up' 122 .

223
 The supporters of reorganization on the other hand led by Pattabhi Sitarammaya. tne stalwart Congress
leader from Andina (Andhra Pradesh had not been created as yet) made the point that they were not separatist at all
but merely wanted' ' constructive consolidation' of the country.
Austin says, partly due to policies of the Congress itself, each 'linguistic group believed that independence
should bring the fulfillment of its particular wishes, and after the War focused its hopes on the Constituent As-
sembly.. . ... .The resistance of the Oligarchy, however, as well as their own conflicting
claims, frustrated the desires of the various groups - and continued to do so until the formation of Andhra in
19531 and States reorganization in 1956' 123 .
A committee had been constituted comprising of Nehru, Patel and Sitaramayya and they submitted
their report in April I 949 saying that they felt that 'the present is not an opportune moment for the formation of
new provinces'. Yet they also declared that 'If public sentiment is insistent and overwhe lm ing, we, as democrats
, have to submit to it. but subject to certain limitations in regard to the good of India as a whole... ..' 124 .
The saga of the integration of the Princely States is long and not really relevant from the point of
the view of the Constitution beyond a point because it was a separate ministry under Patel that negotiated and car-
ried out the political negotiations ·and manipulations to shepherd them int0 the Indian un io n. Ultimately almost all
states sent representatives to the assembly and it was some· of the individual representatives, mostly lawyers, who
made notable contributions to the workin g of the Constituent Assemb ly. The spirit that ultimately prevailed in gath-
ering the Princely States under the flag of the union can be best summed up with the foHowing comment that
Patel had once made to the assembly:
' Unlike the scheme of 1935, our new Constitution is not an alliance between democracies and dynasties, but a
real Union of the Indian people based on the basic concept of the sovereignty of the people.125

The Amendment Provisions

While India would be a federation was settled, a cooperative federation, there arose the question of how
much shou ld-the constitution be flexible or rigid in terms of amendability. Thee were members who believed that the
constitution should not be capable of being amended rnch since that would take away its sanctity and dignity
and there were those believed that since the members of the Constituent Assembly were not directly elected b.y
universa l adult suffrage they should not have the right to create a constitution that would bound later parliaments hat
would be produced by elections. Ultimately a compromise solution was found as with most other issue in the
creation of the provisions of India's const itut io n but with ,a lot less debate, and acrimony and conflicts of
opinions and views than some of the orh i..:r is s ue like ': property expropriation and compensation and person-
al liberty and preventive detention or the language . issue which of course split the assembly down the middle.
B.N. Rau, who prepared the initial draft and Nehru were for easy amendments. But Ambedkar and
some others wished to have curbs on amendments that would be progressively higher depending on the nature of the
provisions sought to be ame nded . B.N. Rau had been of the opinion that since difficult questions like minority rights
and li ngu istic provinces and language issue were tending to persis t, wisdom lay ' i n making the constitution flexi-
ble' 126 . He had consulted many experts worldwide during his tours and the opinion he got was that it shou ld be
_
possible to amend the constitution easily at least in the first few years to allow enough opportunity to successive
elected parliaments to settle the provisions as per the wishes of the people. He had pointed out in a letter to
Prasad that ' we must avoid the anom aly, that a Constituent Assembly not e lec ted by adult suffrage, can draft a
Constitution by s imple majority, but a Parliament elected by adult suffrage, canno t amend it except by special ma-
jorities followed, in some cases by special ratification' 127 • Rau had made the suggestion citing Irish President
De Valera's advice that for at least five years it should be possible to amend the constitution by a simple majority
which was also Nehru line of thinkin g. There were other leaders like H:V. Karnath supporting the view that there
should be wariness about amending powers. He had com men t as follows:
' I understand that amendment is not to be taken li ghtly because the Constituent Assembly of any
country is superior in constitutional status to any future Parliament of that country. But the Constituent Assembly has
been create d by indirect election from commun al electorates and from a very restricted franchise; hence, this As-
sembly canno t be deemed to be superior in constitutional status to a future Parliament' . Mahavir Tyag-i, another
member supported Karnath saying that the Constitution that was being produced would be a 'Congress Constitu-
tio n' and he nce there should be ample scope for amendment later on.
Ambedkar was one of those who wished to have the amending process subject to qualifications and
curbs. He had told the assembly:

224
 ' We cannot forget the fact that while we have in a large number of cases invaded provincial autonomy, we
still intend , and have as a matter of fact seen to it, that the federal structure if the Constitution remains fundamentally unal-
tered. To amend the provisions laying down the dis tribution . of powe rs and of revenue without permitting the provinces
or the States to have any voice is in my judgement altogether nullifying the fundamentals of the Constitution' 128.
So ultimately a compromise was reached and the· amend ing process was made separate fbr three different
categories of provisio ns. Certain provisions could be amended by a simple majority and some others would need a two-
thirds majority and for a third category the rule was made hey needed in addition to be ratified by the legislatures of at le
ast half the states. Austin comments on the final form that the amending provisions shou ld take as follows:
"The provisions for amendment were quite evidently a comp romise between the view that Parliament
should be empowered to ame rid any part of the Constitu tio n and the more traditional concept of amendment in federat
ions . Yet why was the comp romise between such disparate viewpoints reached with apparently so little difficulty? Primar-
ily, it seems, because the mem bers of the Constituent Assembly realized that their efforts were subje ct to error and that
therefore, except where it was necessary to safeguard certain institutions (such as the Judiciary and the federal system), the
constitution should be easily amended. Moreover , the members , in gene ral. acknow le dged the force behind the argu-
ments for entrenchment and thought that as both views were reasonab le , and because each was strongly supported, they
should be accommodated. There was no necessary contradictio n between easy and difficult amendment; the two techniques
could be applied to se"parate pa1ts of the constitution. It must not be assumed , however , that by making parts of the
Constitution relatively easy to amend, the Assembly favoured parliamentary sovere ignty. The members believed· that
the Assembly had superior status and that its product should be the supreme law of the land ' 129 .

The Language Problem

India had achievecl' independence from the Britis h but In dians realized that even to talk to each other
they had to rely on the language that the British had left them, English. They did not speak each others language.
So they needed a language to promote unity, national pride and simil ar·politic al and psychological objectives. So the
need was for a language that Indians could use to also communicate apa11 from in English and which would also
serve as a symbol of national pride; The choice nat ura l ly fell to Hindi or to Hindustani which was a more common-
ly used tongue and was a mixture of Hindi and Urdu words because it was accepted that the most percentage of the
population, roughly 45 per cent at least understood these languages. Unfortunately this choice could have and should
have settled the issue but did not because there arose a whole lobby of Hindi extremists with maqy among them
owing allegiance to a Hindu communal agenda who wished to have a certain domination of Hindi in its purest
Sanskritised form established and to stamp out both Regional Languages and English from officialdom.
Gandhi himself had initially built the case for the leaders of the national movement to sto p communi-
cating with each other and the masses in English and instead adopt Hindi. He had said in 1918:
‘It is my humble but firm opinion that unless we give Hindi its national status and the provincial lan-
guages their due place in the life of the people, all. talk of Swaraj is use less’ 130. All leaders of the national movement
were comfortable with this view. But none of them could have imagined that at the Constituent Assembly a strong Hin-
di lobby would develop. The Nehru Report had said that they were 'strongly of the opinion that every effort should be
made to make Hin dustan i the common language of the whole of India as it is today of half of it' . But the report
regarded regional languages as necessary for achieving national democracy. The report suggested that since culture
depends on language, ' It becomes essential therefore to conduct the business and politics of the country in a language
which is understood by the masses. So far as the provinces are conce rned , this must be in the provincial lan-
guages....Provincial languages will have to be encour aged' 131.
The main point on which the Hindi lobby took an extreme position was on the role of the Regional Lan-
guages and Eng lis h. The Hindi lobby basically constituted of Hindi speaking members from the northern provinces
and north-central provinces . They declared that Hindu should be the national language not only because it was inher-
ently superior but they wanted English to be replaced as the second language of the provinces . They also wanted that
since Hindi should be the sole official lar.gu age within a sort definite time frame and English eliminated. Hence they
were basically for imposition of Hind: on non- Hindi speakers. It is possible some of them thought that such a policy
would grant Hindi speakers like themselves from the middle and upper classes an advantage in securing employment
to powerful official and administrative posts. This lobby also wanted Hindi to be purged of influences from Urdu and
English words and a policy which said that a reference to Sanskrit would be made for new words and terms.
The moderates in opposition to the Hindi lobby who ultimately came to be led by Nehru and Pa-
tel were for accepting Hindi as the ' offic ial' language of the union since the largest number of Indians spoke
it, but they felt it should be the first among equals with other regional languages having national status as
well. Their view had been similar to Gandh i 's who hap defined the n: tion al language that India should have ,
Hindustani as follows in an article in Harijansevak:

225
 ' This Hindustani should be neither Sanskritized Hindi now Persianised Urdu but a happy com bi-
nation of both. It should also freely admit words wherever necessary from the different• regional languages and
also assimilate words from foreign languages , provided that they can mix well and easily with our national
language. Thus our national language must develop into a rich and powerful instrument capable of expressing
the whole gamut of human thoughts and feelings. To confine oneself exclus ive ly to Hindi or Urdu would be a
crime against intelligence and the spirit of patriotism' 132
The Congress leadership had preferred Hindustani as the language of the Inde pende nc e Movement be-
cause it helped in bridging the communal gulf between Hind us and Mus l ims . Hindustani drew its vocabulary from
both Sanskrit and Arabic-Persian roots and could be written in both the Devnagari and Urdu scr ipts. Muslims it was
accepted tend to use more Urdu words and Hindus more words of Sanskrit origin.
But the Hindi extremists led increasingly by people like Purshottam Das Tandon wanted that Urdu
should be immediately done away with and gradua lly, as soon as possible, after English was ousted, the speakers
of regional languages should be converted to Hindi. On this fundamental disagreement Gandhi resigned from the Hindi
Sahitya Sammelan.because it only preached Hindi in the Devnagari script saying 'my definition of Rashtra Bhasha
(national language) includes a knowledge of both Hindi and Urdu and both the Nagari and Urdu scripts. Only
thus can a happy fusion of Hindi and Urdu take place' 133.
After the Congress Assembly Party in a meeting had rejected Hindustani and had demanded its re-
placement by Hindi, Gandhi had written just two weeks later in 1947:
' The Congress has always kept a broad vision ... The omens of today seem to point to the contrary.
During the crisis the Congress must stand firm like a rock. It dare not give way on the question of the in-
guafranca for India. It cannot be Persianised Urdu or Sanskriti ed Hindi. It must be a beautiful blend of the two
simple forms written in either script' 134 .
But the congress had to give way and Gandhi of <'"Urse was killed by a man who had origins in the
same communal movement whose members and/or sympathizers were clearly for stamping out Urdu and were at the
forefront of the demand for hindi. Actually the partition of India made the congress leadership wary of pressing the
case for Hindustani too r'nuch for it had become a bad word and came to be associated with Muslims and Muslim cul-
ture somehow who had gone away to form Pakistan. As K. Santhanam wrote in an article in the Hindustan Times: 'If
there had been no Partition, Hindustani without doubt would have been the national language but the anger against the
Muslims turned against Urdu . Assembly members felt that the Muslims having caused the division of the country, the
whole issue of national language must be reviewed afresh' 135.
The lead against Hindustani was taken by a group of leaders, some of whom at least were people
under a Hindu communalist influence. As Nehru commented: 'Scratch a separatist in language and you will in-
variably find that he is a communalist and very often a political reactionary'. The Hindi extrem is t . at any point
did not more than just about half of the assembly supporting them But they were prepared to ignore the other
half who were against a puritanical Hindi imposition. As Austin puts it:

' ...the Hindi-wallahs, who nevertheless were prepar.ed to ignore the major concepts of consensus and
accommodatio n in order to force their will upon the assembly and the nation. Their intolerance and cohesiven e ss
never faltered. What were the bonds or similarities of background, if any, that impelled these extrem ists to pursue this
course in concert?. They all were, of course, Hindi speakers. lthough three of the group (Tandon among them)· had at-
tended Christian mission schools, which might have increased their dislike of English and its alien culture, the majority
had received a university education at the famous hindu institutions of Allahabad and Benares. None had been edu-
cated outside India or outs ide Hindi areas. Few of these men, if any, could be called orthodox Hindus... .. . But sever-
al were rev iva li sts.. ..and envisaged a new India in terms of the glories of ancient Hindu kingdoms.. Tando-n also·
led the opposition to the Hindu code Bill. G.S Gupta had for many years been a member of the fund amentalis
t Arya Samaj. And dr. Raghuvira ran for Parliament in 1962 on the ticket of the communal Jan Sangh PartyOthers
among the extremists, however , like Algurai Shastr i, V.D. Tripathi, and S.L. Saxena were quite secular in outlook and
had socialist political views . Although each of these men would have claimed that he was not.anti-Muslim, there can
be little doubt that their attitudes were at least tinged with communal ism. There would be little other reason to attempt
to purge Hindustani of words of Arabic and Persian origin. Only on the language ques ion did these men act as a group,
so presumably religious conservatism was not the unifying force - although such sentiments must not be entirely dis-
counted. The extremis ts attitude towards English and the regional languages supported this view. The principal motive,
then, was apparently a narrow nationalism generating its own fervor and tolerating no deviation from its own vision of
what was truly Ind ian 136.

226
 The representatives from non-Hindi speaking regions with the_ exception of the South had at first, at
least some of them side .with the Hindi group but when the Hindi extremists pressed even for the adoption of Hindi
numerals and a banning of International numerals, even they moved away. Ultimately because of its fanatic
stand 0 11 the numerals issue, the Hindi fanatics lost the support of many Ma rat hi , Gujarat i, Bengali and even Bi-
hari assembly members.
The South was of course deeply disturbed and apprehensive of the attempted Hindi domination. There were
even separatist voices rising in the south and the unity itself of the Indian nation was coming under quest ion . T. T.
Krishnamachari from Madras told the assembly;
'I would, Sir, convey a warning on behalf of the people of the south for the reason that there are already el-
ements in South India who want separation and it is up to us to tax the m'lximum strength we have to keeping those
elements down, and my honourable friends in U.P. do not help us in any way by flogging their idea of 'Hindi - lmpe-
rialsm' to the maximum extent poss ible' 137.
But the Hindi group was adamant that even if they were winning votes on language issues by a ma-
jority of just one single vote as they did a few times at different le vels , the Assembly Party or the Assembly itself,
that should be enough because as Seth Govind Das put it:
' We have accepted democracy and democracy can only function when majority opinion is honoured. If we
differ on any issue, that can only be decided by votes . Whatever decision is arrived at by the majority must be ac-
cepted by the minority respectfully and without any bitterness ' 138 . He asserted that India had had one cultural tradi-
tion for thousands of years and it is ' . ... in order to maintain this tradition that we want one language and one script
for the whole country. We do not want it to be said that there are two cultures here' 139.
Nehru and Az.ad gradually came to adopt the leadership of the moderate group . Az.ad pointed out why he
though English was impo rtant. He told the Assembly:
'The Union of the North and South has been made possibly o ly through the medium of English . If today we
give up Englis h, then this linguistic relationship will cease to exist'.
Nehru attacked what h_e called the 'tome of authoritarianism' in the spe_eches of the Hindi extremists and
bluntly made it plain to them that they could to force a language on the people. He said that while he accepted
that no nation could become great on the basis of a foreign language and English usage would have to be used, for
the moment it was the most important language in reality. He said India must choose a language that was the ' lan-
guage of the people' and not 'of a learned coterie' and Hindustani was the people ' s language tha\ represented the
composite culture of India. He attacked the narrow minded approach of the Hindi group in the following words:
' We stand on the tH'reshoid of a new age (Nehru said) .. . What sort of India do we want? Do we want a mod-
ern India - with its roots steeped in the past.....in so far as it inspires us - do we want a modern India with modem
science and all the rest of it, or do we want to live in some ancient age, in some other age which has no relation to
the present? You have to choose .between the two. It is a question of approach. You have to choose whether you
look forward or backward' 140 .
The language question could not be decided for three long years during which there were many formu-
lae proposed and rejected and many votes taken and retaken but the acrimony continued and no generally acceptable so-
lution was found. This issue strained the decision making process of the Constituent Assembly like no other. Ultimately,
the solution that was adopted in 1949 was in the nature of what Austin describes as a 'half-h arted comp romise'.
It was arrived at as consequence of five amendments to the so called Mushi Ayyangar formula, all of which basical-
ly concessions to the Hindi extremists. The formula had earlier provided that Hindi (not Hindustani) would be the offi-
cial language of the union with Devnagari scr ipt, International numerals would be used and English would be used for
union affairs for fifteen years and in the Supreme and High Courts. But now the compromise that was reached was
that after fifteen years Parliament could legislate on the use of Devnagari numerals as well as on the continued use of
English. And it was also now acce_pted that Hindi could be used in the proceedings of a High Court with the sanction
of the President. Also the earlier provision of the formula that authoritative versions of Bills, Acts and Ordinances
etc would be published in English was now diluted. The compromise that was now reached was that Bills, Acts, Or-
dinances etc could be issued in the official language of a State (read Hindi for alJ, no rthern and some central States) if
an official English translation was pub lis hed . [t had been already there in the formula that for new words in
Hindi, Sanskrit couid be the source . Now it was decided to include Sanskrit in the Schedule Vlll of the constitu-
tion where some of the prominent regional languages had been listed. Austin believes that Indian had very little lin-
guistic nationalism to begin with partly because that the Congress had not particularly promoted it (at all but the most
local levels English was used inside the party for its functioning) and .more than half the members of the assembly voted
for the Munshi-Ayyangar formula 'because it did not make ine·1itable the de facto adoption of an Indian tongue as the
national language' 141 • He sums up the problems of reconciliation in the decision for a national language that the
Constituent Assembly faced as follows:

227
 ' India's problem has been and is, rather, one of sub-national sentiment and sub-national competition,
which often take the form of linguistic rivalries. In the Assembly, these rivalries had not assumed their present propor-
tions or many of their present guises; they were expressed as resistance to the linguistic chauvinism of another sub-
national group. the Hindi speakers - whv 1,;ame, unfortunately, to be represented by a group of extremis ts' 141 .

Conclusion
Granville Austin. the most respected political commentator on the Indian constitution who has been re-
{
ferred to most extensively in this article called the Indian constitution a ' successful constitution' writing in the mid-
sixties. There is little doubt he would have held on to that judgement even now after more than fifty years of testing
that it has been now put through. After all the major test of a constitution, he has himself stressed again and again,
is how long it lasts. But he would also agree probably that without tbe many amendments (some clearly unnecessary
and even done in a Ill ,-democratic spirit of megalomaniac partic ularly during the years around the -e mergency called
under Indira Gandhi) and indeed the many landmark Supreme Court judgements preventing an alteration of the basic
structure of the constitution (and its many other actions upholding its right of judicial review and demonstrating judi-
cial activism the Constitution of India as drawn out by the Constituent assembly would not have survived the test
of time.
Austin says that India made two ' origin al contributions' to the process of constitution making in the
Constituent Assembly. These he calls the ' Decision Making by Consensus' and 'The Principle of Accommodation' . He
brilliantly points to the role that consensus played in the Assembly as follows:
' Consensus, as has been briefly noted earlier, is a manner of making d_ec isio ns by unanimity or
near un an im ity. of elevating the means by which a decision is made to an importance perhaps even higher than that of
the decision itself. It is a recognition that majority rule may not be a successful way to decide political conflicts in
which human emotions are very deeply involved, that, in some situations, it may be politically un wise , if not morally
unjust, for fifty-two persons to impose their will on forty-eight. It is a realization, to continue the arithmetic , that a
decision would have more moral and political force if, say, ninety of the one hundred persons agreed to it. Assembly
leaders understood this well and bent their energies towards this goal in the hope and expectation that the constitu-
tion, framed by consensus, would work effectively and thus prove durable.. . ... .. .Consensus has deep roots in India.
Village panchayats traditionally reached decisions in this way, and even if the process was in practice often manipu-
lated by the more powerful members the ideal was still there - as it continues to be today.' 143
On major area where consensus was slowly and strenuously worked was in the provisions for a federal
structure . The details of the provisions were worked out in negotiations that went on from mid 1947 to November of
1949 and representatives from the provinces and the union and every otl. r concerned party was included in the various
committees and sub-committees to make the process as consultative and consensual as possible. In the end the details
that were evolved were such as would meet with broad approval of both the center and the provinces.
Another issue that required c nflict resolution like no other and finally was a compromise of com,ensus
was the language iss ue . The final shape of the Munshi- Ayyangar formula after amendments, it can be imagined left
neither side happy and clearly reflects a failure of the Assembly but that fact that in the end a deal was struck and
a compromise reached reflects a triumph of the spirit of compromise .
If the process o'fseeking consensus and unanimity did not lead to a chaos and unmanageable acrimony
that was in great measure due to the fact that there was a strong charismatic leadership reflected most prominently by
the ' Oligarchy' who were helped by extremely capable experts like B:N. Rau and Dr. Ambedkar . But the Ol-
igarchy and the top leadership in general never imposed rdndomly but instead relied on persuasion. Nehru and Patel
would from time to time call members who were straying too far from the emerging consensus and would give them
long reasoned explanations to bring them on side. Patel would even use his morning walks in Lodi Gardens for this pur-
pose. And Nehru and Patel would reso lve their own differences with each other by directly talking to each other. They
would meet in the evenings on most days and would often resolve issues on wpich they had differed during the day.
Sometimes when they could not resolve and re on. opposite sides of the debate like they did on property questions, a
debate would generally develop and would go on but always in the end a consensus would be reached .
Even outs ide this small circle, the thousands of letters that were received from individuals and the repre-
sentat ions that were received from occupational circles like lawyers and judges and businessmen and chambers of
commerce were all at some level taken on board and kept in mind by the committees, it can be imagined.
But interestingly, the process of consensus was never given a constitutional sanction by incorporating
clam es in the constitution that would directly make the arrival of consensus a necessity in the legislative process or oth-
erw ise . Austin believes this may have been because the m.:.'llbers were aware or felt that a modern government
cannot be run by consensus . Also he says it would have beer. extremely difficult to draft any such clause. Taken all
in all, he says, ' it was best to wait upon the individual occasion to decide whether consensus should be sought, and
then to rely, as had been done in the Assemb ly, on good will and good sense ' 144 .
228
 The second of India's original contribution to constitution making according to Austin is
' accommodation ' . He defines it as the 'ability to reconc ile , to harmonize , and to make work without changing their
content, apparently incompatible concepts - at least concepts that appear conflicting to non-Ind ian, and especially to
the European or American observer ' . He further comments:
' In dians can accommodate such apparently conflicting principles by seeing them at different levels
of value , or, if you will, in compartments not watertight , but sufficiently separate so that a concept can operate freely
within its won sphere and not conflict with another operating in a separate sphere. Accommodation is not compromise.
Accommodation is a belief or an attitude : comp romis e is a techn ique . To compromise is to settle an issue by mutual
concess io n, each party giving up the portion ' of its desired end that conflicts with the interests of the other parties. It is
the search for a mutually agreeable middle way. The provisions of the language chapter of the Constitution are a com-
promise. With accommodation, concepts and viewpoints, although seemingly incompa tible , stand intact. They are not
whittled away by comp romise , but are worked simult aneously' 145.
He says an American or English constitutional lawyer would say that a constitution can either be fed-
eral or unitary but the Indian constitution is both depending on the circumstance s. For instance even though India is a
constitutional republic , it decided in 1949 to be member of the British Commonwealth that has a monarch at its he
ad. India was thus the first nation , he says ' to reconc 1ie the incompatibles of republicanism and monarchy' 146.
The whole idea of seeking consensus is also an application of the principle of accommod ation. A rule of
the majority - that is a decision taken by vote - and a decision taken via consensus are conflic tin g concepts. The Constit-
uent Assembly tried to reach consensus on every issue but if it couldn' t be reached, a vote was taken . On important is-
sues however , a consensu s was always worked out.
The Panchayat issue was also worked out by the Constituent Assembly on the principle of conse nsu s.
Some members had wanted Gandhian styled indirect government with a major role for the Pancha yats as opposed
direct adult suffrage. The first thin g the assembly did was to separate the two is sues and then accept that decentralization
was needed while ensuring a strong central government. So they worked out an accommodation whereby both princ
iple s, of a strong central government and of decentralization would operate at differe t le vels . The relationship between
the union and the states would be governed by the principle of centralization but below the level of state governments
decentralizatior. would prevail with the state legislatures deciding the extent of it.
The most important feat of accommodation however is the constitution itself, drawing so heavily as,
it does. from western even BF-itish trad itio ns, from that very same colonial power from whom freedom was
won. How was the need to feel and create an Indian identity to be reconciled with this fact? . Austin comments on this
as follows :
Feeling deeply the importance of being Indian, how could the members of the Constituent Assembly be
satisfied with a Constitution whose political principles , and very provisions, were almost entirely European or American
in origin? . The majority of members could do so for the astoundingly simple reason that they saw no incompatibility be-
tween the two ' 147 .
Another important achievement was that the framers of the Indian Constitution derived so heavily from
constitutions worldwide particularly from the west, but the selection of principles and their modification was done with
great skill and sense. Austin comments that an appraisal 'of the Assemb ly's work must consider both the skillfulness with
which it selected the provisions it borrowed and the quality of its modifications. for in each lay the possibility of creative-
ness and originality, success and failure. And it has turned out , the assembly successfully played the alchemist, turning
foreign metals into Indian coin' 148.
The two conventional criticisms of the constitution is that it does not reflect the fundamental spirit of In-
dia and its own genius of polity and the other that it is too comp lic ated. It may be argued that at the national govern-
ment level Indian has never had its own model other than monarchist ones, most recently during Mughal times. So there
was no question of an Indian spirit at the national level. At the village level there was the Panchayat model and there is
enough evidence that the members of the Constituent Assembly were alive to its strengths.
Sir Ivor Jennings has argued that the Indian constitution was made into a long and complicated
document. Austin says the constitution was long and compIicated but it hasn't proven to be rigi d.14 9 There were
reasons for the inclusion of so many details and it was also a natural fall out of seeking and achieving wide-
spread consensus.

229
 SUGGESTED READINGS:

I . Granville Austin, The Indian Constitution - Cornerstone of a Nation , New Delhi, Oxfurd University Press , New Delhi,
1966 .
2. Wave/I - The Viceroy · Journal ( Ed. by Penderel Moon), Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1973 .
ENDNOTES
1 M.V. Pylee, ' ConstitutionaiGovernment in India', Asia Publishing House , Bombay, 196 5, p. 47.

2 Ibid. , see pages 47-127 for full narration of the chain of events.
3 Ibid. , quoted in pages 59-60.
4 Ibid. , quoted in p. 67.
5 Sri Ram Sharma , A Constitutional History of India (1765-1948), K1.rnatak Publishing House , Bombay, 1949 , p. 121.
(> [bid.
7 M.V. Pylee , ' Constit1ft ional Government in India' , Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 196 5, p. 68.
8 Ibid., p. 69.
9 Ibid., p. 71.
10 Ibid ., p. 74.
11 Ibid. Quoted in p.. 74.
12 Ibid. Quoted in P,.· 75.
13 Ibid., p. 75.
14 Ibid., p. 89.
'
15 Ibid., 89.
lb Ibid. , p.98.
11 Ibid., p.99.
18 ibid.
19
Ibid. p. 101.
20 Ibid. , p. 116.
! I Ibid. . p. 117.
22 Wave// - The Viceroys Journal (Ed. by Penderel Moon), Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1973
13 Wave/I - The Viceroys Journal (Ed. by Penderel Moon), Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1973, pp. 156-157.
24 Quoted in M.V. Pylee, 'Constitutional Government in India', Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 19 65, p. 129.
Wave/I - The Viceroy'.\· Journal (Ed. by Penderel Moon), Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1973, pp. Appendix
25

VII I , pp. 493-496.

26 M.V. Pylee, ' Constitutional Government in India', Asia Publishing House , Bombay, 1965, p. 13 2.
27Granville Aust in , ' The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a nation ', Oxford University Press, New Delh i, I 966,
pp. 8-9.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid. , p. 13 , see Footnote 44
Ji There is reference to this, for instance in Lord Wave ll ' s journals (Wave// - The Viceroy '.\· Journal . Ed. by Penderel

Moon , Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1973)

230
32 Granville Austin. ' The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a natio n' , Qxford University Press- , New Delhi. 1966,
pp. 14-15.
33 Ibid. , p. 16 .
34 Ibid.. see footnote on p. 17.
H Ib id.
36 Ibid .
37Dr. Ambedkar later thought that his joining had endured safeguards for Harijans in the Constitution which they oth-
erwise would have not got.
38
Granville Austin, 'The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a nation' , Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1966, pp.
21-22.
39 Ibid. , pp. 22-25.
40 Ibid. . p. 25.
41 Ibid. , p. 26
41 Nehru , ' Unity of Ind ia' , 19 38, p. 11.
43 CAD 11, 3, 316
44 CAD V, 1 , 2. & CAD V, II , 367 ·
45 CAD II, 1, 317-18
46 Granville Aust i n, ' The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nat io n' , Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1966:

pp. 27. .
47 The Hindutan Time, Magazine Section, I 7 thAugust 1947

231
 48 Granville Aust in , ' The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation', Oxford University Press, New
Delh i, 1966 , pp. 28
49
ibid.
5() Constitution of the Indian National Congress, 1948, p. I .
51 AICC, congress Bullet in , No.5 of 7 November 1947, p. I 7
5 Gran v ille Austin, ' The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation', Oxford University Press, New
Delhi. 1966 , pp. 31
,, ibid., p. 32.
,. ibid.
55 ibid.
56 The other members were Asaf Ali , Munshi, N.G. Ayangar, K.T: Shah, K. Santhanam(all assembly mem-

bers), Humayun Kabir and D.R. Gadgil(who was interviewed by Aust in) . Patel, although not a member
attended many committee meetings.
57 Granville Aust i n, ' T he Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nat io n' , Oxford University Press, New
Delhi , 1966 , p. 33.
58 ibid. p. 34
59 ibid.' p. 36-37.
60 ibid. , p.37-38 .
61 A Bunch of Old Letters, p. 509 .
6
Ra u, Indian Constitution, p. xxx iv.
6
> Harijan, 28 July 19 46.
<>4 Granville Austin, ' The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation', Oxford University Press, New Del-
hi, 1966 , p. 41.
65 ibid. ' pp. 42-43.
66 Ibid. quoted in p. 45.
67 Nehru , Unity of India, p.23. Nehru wrote these words in 1938 about a. constituent assembly but there
is no doubt he would apply the same thought process to a legislature as well.
68
CAD XI, 9 , 83 5.
69 Granville Austin, ' The ludian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation', Oxford University Press, New
Delh i, 1966, p. 46.
70 ibid. p. 51.
71
ibid.
7
ibid. p. 54.
73 All Parties Confe rence , Report of a Committee to Determine Principles of the Constitution for India,
the Nehru Re port, pp.89-90
74
Ibid., p. 29.
75
Granville Aust in , ' The Indian Const it ut io n: Cornerstone of a Nation', Oxford University Press, New
Delhi, 1966 , p. 56.
10
Ibid.
77 Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and others, Constitutional Proposals of tf,e Sapru Committee.
78 Dice y, Law of the Constitution, p. 207 .
7
Q Laski, Grammar of Politics, p. I 04.
80 Granville Aust i n, ' The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation', Oxford University Press, New
Delhi , I 966, p. 59.

232
 , Ibid.. -pp. 60-61 .
82 Ibid.. p. 68.

83 Ibid. , pp. 72-75.

84 Ibid., p. 78.

85 ibid. {quot, in)

• . 80 ibid.. p. 8i (quoted in )

87 ibid, p. lo:.

88 ibid, pp. I 03-4.

89 ibid., pp. 11-12 (quotea in)

90 ibid.
91
ibid ., p. 114.
Q2 ibid.

93 ibid.. p.120 (Patel's description of the meeting in CAD IV quoted in)

94 ibid., p. 131.
95 ibid.
% ibid., p. 137.
97 ibid., p. 138 (cited in)
98 ibid.
w ibid., p. 139.
100 ibid•. p. 159 (quoted in)

101 Morris-Jones, Parliament, p.90.

102 Granville Austin, 'The Indian Constitutio n: Cornerstone of a Nation', Oxford University Press, New Del-
hi, 1966, p. l 02.
103 ibid. , p. 163.

io,c Ibid., p. 174.

105 ibid., p. 175.

106 ibid., p. 189.

10 7
ibid.' p. 193.
IOS ibid. , p. 19 4.
ibid.' p. 197.
I()<)

IIU ibid. , p. 20).

111 ibid. , p. 202.

II ibid . , p. 207.

113 ibid. , p. 241 (quoted in )

114 ibid. (quoted in)

115 ibid. (quoted in)

1 10
ibid. , p. 224.
117 K. Santhanam, ' Union-State Relations in In dia', p.13.

118 CAD X, 9, 339.(cited in 116 above at p. 234)

119
Granville Austin, 'The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nat ion' , Oxford University Press, New
Delhi, 1966, p.' 234.
120 Nehru Report, p. 61 .

233
 12' Panikkar. The Foundations of New India, p. 242.
111 Granville Aust i n, ' The Indian Constitution: Corner stone of a Nat io n' . Oxford University Press, New

Delhi , 1966, p. 239.

123 ibid., p. 240.
124 ibid., p. 242.
. 125 CAD X, 5, 164 ( ibid. , p. 254 - quoted in).

1 2b ibid., p. 261 (quoted i n).

127
i bid.
1 2R Ibid., p. 263 (quoted in).
: 2Q ibid., p. 264.
i :io Ibid., p. 270.
131 ibid. , p. 271.
132 Ib id. , p. 272 (quoted in).

rn i bid., p. 273 (quoted i n).

134 Gandhi in Harijan, 10th of August 19 47.
135 The Hindustan Times, 17th July, 1947.
136 Granville Austin. ' The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation', Oxford University Press , New

Delhi, 1966, p. 284.

137 Ibid ., p. 283 (quoted in).
138 ibid.. p. 302 (quoted i n).
n 9
i bid., pp. 302-3 (quoted in).
: o4 i bid., p. 304 (quoted in from CAD IX, 33, p. 14I 6).
141 Ibid.. p. 306.
142 ibid.
11 -' Ib id., p. 311.
144 Ibid., p. 317.
145 ibid.. pp. 317-18.
146 Ibid., p. 319 .
147 ibid., p. 320.
•
4
l R ibid., p. 321.
149 Ibid. , p. 326.

234
NOTES