Pseudo-Democracy is the bane of our times

Democracy has happened in several countries of the world in the 20th century and is continuing to flourish in the 21st. Conducting periodic elections to legislative bodies is recognized as a civilised method of dealing with the voices from different segments of the society.

However as the phenomenon of democracy has spread globally, we find that the elections are conducted only for namesake and the true spirit of democracy is missing in matters of governance at the local, state, national and international levels.

In a democratic setup (governance of the people, by the people and for the people) we would expect the local people to give priority to local issues, whatever be the state, national or international compulsions. For example 'good health' may be a priority and given a choice the people would ensure - good shelter, food and water supply; basic education including hygiene; and adequate income through meaningful employment. They would ensure that their village/town is well connected by roads and would see to it that they have adequate preventive and curative health services available to round up their 'health' needs.

Such a methodical people-driven approach is possible from the local upto the national/international level provided true democracy is operating. But what we have now is a rather primitive form of democracy based on political parties which has resulted in the true voice of the people being suppressed and instead the middlemen - the political parties and their leaders ruling the roost. The result has been that non-issues occupy the centre stage in political debates. For example the need to improve the growth rate (of GDP) to say 6,8 or 10% is repeatedly emphasised for getting rid of poverty and investments invited from all over the world to start more industries (more industries = more jobs = more wealth). This top-down approach is supported by the IMF/World bank. But even after decades the villages and towns are languishing with lack of basic needs for 'good health'.

This cycle of wrong priorities failing to fulfill the real needs of the people and instead aggravating the living conditions of people around cities where the industries tend to get concentrated and deprivation in villages/towns from where the people tend to migrate in search of job opportunities, continues...