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Current Presidential Election and its Impact on 21st Century India–Part 1

P.S. This part of my blog is completely unrelated to my previous blog but it would be better if you read that.

For the election which took yesterday lots of dirty mud slinging took place between the concerned parties.

Parties took the decision of election not based on judgment and out of respect of there duties towards the people but their loyalty to their respective parties.

Before I start lets first understand the authority of the President and its power with regards Indian Administration.  After declaration of Indian Independence a Constitution was made based on the general consensus by the Drafting Committee. This constitution took salient aspects from almost all major constitution of the world they also included a lots existing norm of English Law. The end product was one of the largest and extensive constitution of its time.  It is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world, containing 448 articles in 24 parts, 12 schedules and 97 amendments. The Constitution declares India to be a “Sovereign”, “Socialist, “Secular”, “Democratic”, “Republic”, assuring its citizens of Justice, Equality, and Liberty, and Endeavours to promote fraternity among them.The words "Socialist" and "Secular" were added to the definition in 1976 by constitutional amendment. On the January 26, 1950, Constitution of India came into force replacing the Government of India Act of 1935 as the governing document of India.

As per the Constitution of India – “There shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People.”

The President of India is the head of state of the Republic of India. The President is the formal head of the legislature, executive and judiciary branches of Indian Democracy and is the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The powers to pardon and clemency are vested with the President of India. As a President he has a “Council of Minister” to aid and advise the President, in exercise of his function as a President and act in accordance with such advice. President as the Executive head of the country can discharge the Council of Ministers under special circumstances

Under the above scenario It seems that with all the powers vested to him he is the supremo of the country, but the real power lies in the hands of the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister who is  nominated by the Members of House of the People but appointed by the President based on advice by the House.

Election of President

Now the President is elected by the Electoral college consisting of

• the elected members of both Houses of Parliament; and
  
• the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States.

Term of the President

The President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office:
Provided that—
(a) the President may, by writing under his hand addressed to the Vice-President, resign his office;
(b) the President may, for violation of the Constitution, be removed from office by impeachment in the manner provided in article 61;
(c) the President shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his term, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office.
(2) Any resignation addressed to the Vice-President under clause (a) of the proviso to clause (1) shall forthwith be communicated by him to the Speaker of the House of the People.

The Presidential election to be held in 2012, will be the fourteenth of such elections to the office of the President. The earlier elections to this office were held in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007. Now lets us have a brief about the past presidents before we move any further:

• Dr. Rajendra Prasad -   Term of Office:  January 26, 1950 to May 13, 1962

Rajendra Prasad was an Indian politician and educator. He was one of the architects of the Indian Republic, having served as the president of the Constituent Assembly and later as the first president of independent India. During the independence movement, he left his practice of law and joined the Congress Party, playing a prominent role in the Indian Independence Movement. Before serving as the president of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the constitution, he had served as Minister of Food and Agriculture in the year 1946 in the Interim national Government.

• Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan  -Term of Office: May 13  1962 to May 13, 1967

One of India's most influential scholars of comparative religion and philosophy, Radhakrishnan is thought of as having built a bridge between the East and the West by showing that the philosophical systems of each tradition are comprehensible within the terms of the other. He wrote authoritative exegeses of India's religious and philosophical literature for the English speaking world. His academic appointments included the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta (1921–1931) and Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics at Oxford University (1936–1952). He was knighted in 1931 but ceased to use the title "Sir" after India attained independence.

• Dr. Zakir Husain - Term of Office: May 13, 1967 to May 03,  1969

Hussain, then only 23, was among the small group of students and teachers who founded a National Muslim University, first founded in Aligarh on Friday 29 October 1920 then shifted to Karol Bagh, New Delhi in 1925, then after shifted again on 1 March 1935 in Jamia Nagar, New Delhi and named it Jamia Millia Islamia (a central university). He subsequently went to Germany to obtain a PhD from the Frederick William University of Berlin in Economics. While in Germany, Hussain was instrumental in bringing out the anthology of arguably the greatest Urdu poet Mirza Assadullah Khan "Ghalib" (1797–1868). He returned to India to head the Jamia Millia Islamia which was facing closure in 1927. He continued in that position for the next twenty-one years providing academic and managerial leadership to an institution that was intimately involved with India's struggle for freedom from the British Rule and experimented with value-based education. After serving as the Governor of Bihar from 1957 to 1962, and as the second Vice President of India from 1962 to 1967, Hussain was elected President of India on 13 May 1967. In his inaugural speech he said, “ The whole of India was his home and all its people were his family.”

• Varahagiri Venkata Giri – Term of Office: May 03, 1969 to July 20, 1969 and August 24, 1969 to August 24, 1974

He was heavily involved in the labour movement, becoming general secretary and then president of the All-India Railwaymen's Federation and twice serving as president of the All-India Trade Union Congress. The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE) was founded in 1957 by a distinguished group of academicians and public men engaged in promoting the study of labour and industrial relations. The team was headed by Shri Giri. He served successfully as governor of Uttar Pradesh (1957–1960), Kerala (1960–1965) and Mysore (1965–1967). He was elected as the third Vice President of India in 1967. Giri became acting president of India in 1969 upon the death in office of Zakir Hussain and decided to run for that position in the ensuing election. The Congress Party Official leadership led by Kamraj chose to support Neelam Sanjiva Reddy for the position, but he was able to prevail anyway being the chosen candidate for Indira Gandhi who controlled the government, serving until 1974.He received India's highest civilian decoration, the Bharat Ratna, in 1975.He was a prolific writer and a good orator. He has written books on 'Industrial Relations' and 'Labour problems in Indian Industry'.

• Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed – Term of Office: August 24, 1974 to February 11, 1977

He met Jawaharlal Nehru in England in 1925. He joined the Indian National Congress and actively participated in the Indian freedom movement. In 1942 he was arrested in the Quit India movement and sentenced to 3 1/2 years' imprisonment. After Independence he was elected to the Rajya Sabha (1952–1953) and thereafter became Advocate-General of the Government of Assam. He was elected on Congress ticket to the Assam Legislative Assembly on two terms (1957–1962) and (1962–1967). He was picked for the presidency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974. He is known to have issued the proclamation of emergency by signing the papers at midnight after a meeting with Indira Gandhi the same day. He used his constitutional authority as head of state to allow her to rule by decree once Emergency in India was proclaimed in 1975. He is well known among Indian diplomats for his visit to Sudan in 1975 where the whole town showed up to see him. He was the second Indian president to die in office, on 11 February 1977.

• Neelam Sanjiva Reddy – Term of Office: July 25, 1977 to July 25, 1982

Shri Reddy was a veteran statesman and administrator. He held many eminent positions in public life both before and after independence. Shri Reddy became the first Chief Minister to the new State of Andhra Pradesh which was formed following the reorganization of the States in October, 1956. In 1959, he resigned the Chief Ministership to take over the Presidentship of the Indian National Congress. On the expiry of his term of office in March, 1962, he again became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. In February 1964, he voluntarily resigned the office of Chief Minister in order to set high standards of public life. Shri Reddy resigned the Speakership of the Lok Sabha on the 19th July, 1969 to contest the Presidential election on the basis of his nomination as a nominee of the Congress filed by Shrimati Indira Gandhi. It is now common knowledge that after filing this nomination Shrimati Indira Gandhi subsequently organized his defeat in the elections by unethical means. Shri Reddy was unanimously elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha on March 26, 1977. He relinquished this office on July 13, 1977 to file his nomination for the Presidentship of the Indian Union.
In all 37 candidates filed their nominations. On scrutiny, the Returning Officer rejected the nominations filed by 36 candidates. Thus only one validly nominated candidate remained in the field, namely, Shri Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. Neither the preparation nor publication of the list of contesting candidates for taking the poll therefore became necessary. After 3.00 p.m. on the last date fixed for withdrawal of candidatures, viz., July 21, 1977, the Returning Officer declared the result of election under section 8(1) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 and Shri Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was declared elected unopposed. This was the first time when a candidate was declared elected to the highest office of the president of India without a contest.

• Giani Zail Singh – Term of Office: July 25 1982 to July 25, 1987

A veteran politician and a member of Congress Party, his term was marked by the “Operation Blue Star”, the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He was the Chief Minister of the Punjab state in 1972 and the Minister of Home Affairs in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet  in 1980. His election as President is one of the most controversial. In 1982 he was unanimously nominated to serve as the President. Nonetheless, some in the media felt that the president had been chosen for being an Indira loyalist rather than an eminent person. “If my leader had said I should pick up a broom and be a sweeper, I would have done that. She chose me to be President,” Singh was quoted to have said after his election.

• Ramaswamy Venkataraman – Term of Office: July 25, 1987 to July 25, 1992

A lawyer by qualification, participated actively in the India’s freedom movement from British subjugation. He in his political career he held many post starting being elected Member of Parliament of the free India. In 1980, Venkataraman was re-elected to the Lok Sabha and was appointed Union Minister of Finance in the Government headed by  Indira Gandhi. He was later appointed Union Minister of Defence, here he is credited for initiating India's missile programme, he shifted A P J Abdul Kalam from space programme to the missile programme, and consolidated the entire missile system, naming it as Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. Later he was to serve as Vice-President of India and then as a President of India starting 1987, where he has the unique distinction of working with four prime ministers, and appointing three of them: V P Singh, Chandra Shekhar and P V Narasimha Rao, during his five-year term, which saw the advent of coalition politics in India.

• Shankar Dayal Sharma – Term of Office: July 25, 1992 to July 25, 1997

Succeeding the long line of political veterans before him, he became the ninth President of India. prior to his presidency he was the Vice President of India under R. Venkatraman. He was also the Chief Minister of Princely state of Bhopal till it merger with other princely states to form Madhya Pradesh. He was Cabinet Minister (1956–1967), holding the portfolios of Education, Law, Public Works, Industry and Commerce, National Resources and Separate Revenue. He was the President of the Indian National Congress in 1972-1974 and returned to government as Union Minister for Communications from 1974 to 1977. He received 66% of the votes in the electoral college, defeating George Gilbert Swell. During his last year as President, it was his responsibility to swear in three prime ministers. He choose not run for a second term as President.

• Kocheril Raman Narayanan – Term of office July 25, 1997 to July 25, 1997

He was the first Dalit and a Malayali to be the President of India. A veteran diplomat who joined Indian Foreign Services on  the request of Nehru. He is regarded as an Independent and assertive President who set and enlarged the scope India's President. He is described as the Working President, who scoured the Indian Constitution to find the solution to issues like hung parliament during his term in Office something between the “Executive President” who has direct power and “Rubber Stamp” who endorses government decision without asking question. Reflecting on his Presidency, K. R. Narayanan said:
"As the President of India, I had lots of experiences that were full of pain and helplessness. There were occasions when I could do nothing for people and for the nation. These experiences have pained me a lot. They have depressed me a lot. I have agonised because of the limitations of power. Power and the helplessness surrounding it are a peculiar tragedy, in fact."

Introduction of Regional Politics in India

During and post Independence some other stuff got highlighted in India, creation of state based on the linguistic values Gujarat was created because of struggle between gujratis and marathis. Some states are still getting created based on the caste, vernacular language, and in the name of development. If we look at the basic structure of these states hardly anything has changed since there creation e.g. Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand. Some states are still squabbling among each other like Maharashtra and Karnataka for Belgaum. In West Bengal, Gorkhas Nepali speaking people are asking for creation of new state Gorkhaland.

So let us understand the creation of the States in India before we go forward to Indian politics.

1.     Jammu and Kashmir was created by the acceptance king of Kashmir as being part of India.

2.     Himanchal Pradesh was part of India

3.     Punjab was created by dividing the Punjab between India and Pakistan with Muslim dominated in Pakistan and Punjabi dominated in India

4.     Haryana is was created for Jats

5.     Delhi was created as Union Territory initially but later on converted to state for better management.

6.     Rajasthan for Marwari or Rajasthani speaking people.

7.     Uttar Pradesh for Hindi dominant Northern Province

8.     Madhya Pradesh from Gwalior estates and other Princely states of Central Province

9.     Gujarat for Gujratis from Maharastra

10. Bihar for Maithli and Magahi speaking people.

11. Jharkhand from Bihar for mainly Tribal of Bihar in the development.

12. Uttarakhand for Garhwali speaking community of Uttar Pradesh in the name of development.

13. Assam was created for Assamese now struggling with demand of Bodoland for Bodo tribe

14. Manipur for Manipuri people

15. Meghalaya was created for Khasi, Pnar

16. Nagaland for Naga peoples of Eastern India

17. Tripura for Bengali speaking peoples of Eastern India

18. Sikkim became part of India in 1975 after King of Sikkim agreed to be part of India

19. Arunachal Pradesh for people of Tibetan – Burmese origin

20. Maharashtra was created for Marathis

21. Orissa now Odisha was created for Oriya speaking people

22. Chattishgarh was created for Chattisgarhi speaking people from Madhya Pradesh

23. Karnataka for Kannada speaking majority

24. Mizoram for Mizo people

25. Goa became part of India in 1965 after India invaded and claimed it as its territory

26. Andhra Pradesh for Telgu speaking people

27. Tamil Nadu for tamils

28. Kerala for Malayalam speaking people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_and_territories_of_India#Pre-1956

Now if we look carefully we will observe most of the states were created as people failed to recognise one language as a common language. This federal structure of country had it sets of own advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages for creation of states based on language

1.     People can communicate with the administration in their own language

2.     Local representatives of the state to manage and share their point of view with Central Government.

3.     Growth of Local culture

Disadvantage of creation based on language.

1.     People get isolated as not able to speak the vernacular language

2.     Growth of culture gets hindered due to non adaptation of new methods and techniques

3.     Hindrances in the national level decisions due to lack of trust.

Gradually states are demanding greater autonomy and becoming less tolerant towards the growth and becoming dependent on the Central Leadership for money.

If we look presently to what’s happening in Europe we will be able to understand the condition and impact of regional politics on grand scale. 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union

Regional players playing greater role in States management leads to fragmentation at the top. Regional leaders start demanding greater power which leads to misuse of power. They are becoming the locus of society, in present scenario regional players are arm twisting the state to work in their favour. People also start voting not in name of the development but in the name of Caste, language, religion, and freebies post poll. Some parties in regional area are such that they have one man show party revolves around them and so does the policies they make.

India Pre Independence - 1966

Please refer my previous two posts before continuing.

 These social elites were the sons of Maharajas, Divans, Brahmins, and Jamindars (Landlords), who unlike their ancestors were not taught in Gurukuls but the European Schools. Thus the whole elite and non-elite divide of became much more prominent leading to widespread division of society based on caste and creed. So English became the primary language of Indians who thought that knowing English will cool.

Then the Indian struggle of Independence happened which was very much results of British sharing their knowledge with the society, as the British thought that they are going to rule India for a longer period. So they introduced telegraph, Railways, telephones and others, thus making India communicate with other part of the country not in months but days and hours. This revolution was largely responsible for the establishment of various parties across India by elites of liberal thoughts and Indian National Congress (INC) was formed. This was the turning point for India which British did not anticipated hoping that it was just another group of the individuals who were having just another tea party. As the INC grows so the various sections of society joined it to get rid of British Rule. Division of the country based on caste and creed was still there but people like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi tried to remove the division by bringing them to the mainstay.

In 1947 it was decided that the country will be divided into two parts India and Pakistan. This was a result of failure on the INC of not being able to integrate the Muslims in the party, who formed the All India Muslim League which was another party with the elites at the helm of politics. So on 14^th August 1947 Pakistan declared itself as independent and India chose 15^th August 1947 as date of Independence. This was turning point for the country which was still not prepared for the freedom and responsibility as the country was still being ruled by elites, economy being controlled by the major industrial houses in Bombay, in few words highly fragmented society. No major Industry in the country hardly any readily available resource which can serve the country in a large way. India was largely dependent on Imports of goods, food grains as long years of being ruled by British made it almost bankrupt.

After Independence Indian policy was being a neutral country during Cold War, but leaning on Russia (then USSR) for support. Indian Govt maintained a 5 year plan scheme in which policies of development were decided at the beginning of 5 yr and to be implemented in 5 yrs. First plan was mainly to develop Indian Agri sector which was highly impacted by the partition. Second 5 yr plan concentrated on the development of Heavy Industries which can employ large no of people. Third plan focussed on the development of Agri sector which was still struggling to stand on its feet. During this period on China attacked India which exposed its border. This period also exposed India to high inflation as the country was controlled by the merchants who were hoarding food grains and selling at higher price. Due to this price instability, lower class and middle class where highly impacted. The money was available only the elites as the opened banks and accepted money from public and invested in their own companies. People were not able to open bank accounts as the banks were in metro and mostly in urban areas. Education was still not much of a priority 

Politics and India - Widening gap in the Society

Before continuing please refer my previous post.

As the time progressed the individuals from different castes became restrictive and wary of sharing the knowledge beyond there own castes, siblings, and sons. This restrictive sharing of knowledge resulted in fragmentation of the society. Thus the caste system was born in which some where oppressors and some oppressed.

During that time another change was taking place that is curbs on the freedom of Indian women who before that period were free to participate in the debates, rule the state, and marry the person of her choice regardless of caste and creed. Women evolved from being an active participant to being only housewife with less or no say in daily duties.

One thing which cannot be missed is that unlike all the other countries of the world Indian civilization was most open to all school of thoughts and chooses what it want and absorbs it and leaving the unwanted out. All major religions are followed in India Buddhism, Christianity, Muslim, Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrian, and Jewish. For all those who don’t know Hinduism is not a religion its school of thought which is opens to all, except that some individuals think that it’s exclusive and chose to close their mind.

Then the Europeans came who brought with them the new ideas, spreading the European renaissances effect to Indian culture. The European influence impacted India in a way unlike others as the European mindset was that its knowledge base is superior and they are only traders, they isolated themselves in their class and among there peoples only. The British started exploiting people in order to support the Industrial revolution going on in England. British system led to unequal division of labour and money in the society, thus creating elites who were controlling more than their share of already debilitating Indian economy. 

India is a country with lots of diversity, with a population of more than a billion people, more than 1652 languages. Culture so diverse that at one end we feel proud of ourselves with being one of the oldest civilizations in the world going back 30000 yrs. On other hand discrimination within the society based on religion, linguistic values, caste and etc makes us feel not so good.

If you look at the very fabric of our culture you will observe that the changes which took place since Independence is remarkable for good and not so good factors.

Today we will go from the politics of ancient India to the modern India.

During the time of Vedas the Indian society was divided in various sections based on the division of work assigned to that particular community. Like the people who where good hunters where expected to hunt and feed the community along with that the where also supposed to feed and protect, so they became “Khatriyas”. Some people where intelligent and well verse with the various aspects of life so they chose to do research and develop new things, teach, so they become “Brahmans”. So people where good traders and the used to breed cattle’s, farming etc. so they became Vaishyas. Now some people where good in doing hard labour, so they became “Shudras”. Why I am saying this as it is the premise of the development of community system in India. Which unless understood will not clarify certain points.

During the ancient times people from any community could choose to do any anything a son of Brahmins where not said Brahmins if they were not learned intellectuals, they would not be khatriyas if they are cowards, and likewise. People where identified based on the level and quality of work they do. History of Indian civilisation is full of such examples where people choose what they want to do and did that.