Indian politics

The Republican Indian union is called the biggest democracy in the world. Despite much poverty and religious conflicts in the country, the Indian state was able to create a democratic system in 1947. Today they have elections every five years, a market economy and civil rights.

The executive power, which includes the government, the management and the police, has the responsibility to ensure the execution of the laws in India.

1. At the top of the government is the president, who is the head of the state and symbolises Indian culture and the state. Since 1947 there have been eleven presidents with seven Hindus, three Muslims and one Sikh. Since 2002 the president has been a Muslim, who was chosen by a parliament of representatives of the different Indian states. He will be president for five years until the next election.

The prime minister of India is normally the highest candidate from the different parties. It is his job to lead the minister-council and to perform important transactions for the government. The prime minister is also able to dissolve the parliament and to announce new elections, if there are problems, which cannot be solved in another democratic way, like voting boycotts by parties and opposition alliances.

The arms and legs of the states are represented by the police and the army, who are responsible for the security in and out of the country. The army is an apolitical organisation and, as opposite to other countries like Afghanistan, is just used to solving problems in the country, for example to protect demonstrations or to fight against extremism.

India has an effective and loyal army, but there are many problems with the police, who are responsible for the security in the different states of India. The Indian police seem to be corrupt and inefficient, so there is not much trust in the police by the public.

2. The second power is called the legislative (the lawmaking) power, which includes the national and the state parliaments. The Indian national parliament includes, like the German ”Bundestag” about 550 politicians in different parties, chosen by the Indian people. There are 28 states in India and every state, depending on its size, sends representatives to the national parliament.

3. The representatives are members of different parties and if a party gets more votes from the Indian people, it can send more representatives to the state and national parliament. It is the job of the parliament to vote in new laws and reforms and to represent the Indian people in politics. The politicians are, in contrast to Germany, in contact with their people and they have the functionality of being direct contact persons.

4. The third and last power is the judicative power. The Indian judicative is almost a copy of the British system, which was integrated during the British occupation. At the top of the Indian judicative power is the Supreme Court, which is the keeper of the Indian law. It has more influence than any other court in the different states and has to ensure that all parts of the Indian state perform the correct job.

The Indian people vote in a new state parliament every 5 years. In about 543 voting districts all over India, every Indian citizen over the age of 18 can vote for a party, which represents his/her ideology. The current vote participation is about 60% of all Indian citizens, who are eligible to vote. This is very curious, because India has a rate of illiteracy, which is about 40%, but there are even more people (in %), who vote for parliament, than in the United States. Indian elections are very expensive and complicated, because there are about 700 million voters, 200 different parties and about 2400 non-party politicians. All in all and to secure the voting-right of every single person, the Indian state opens about 700 voting sites in the whole country. The voters vote electronically with special machines, because of the big corruption rate and the enormous extent of elections. Because of the high crime rate the Indian state is shifting the different elections, so that the election for the national parliament takes place during two weeks or more.

Also electioneering is hard to manage, because there is a high rate of illegal money and corruption. The Indian state has therefore set a limit for the maximal expenditure of the parties.

After sixty years of freedom and democracy, the Indian system is well established. The three powers, the executive, legislative and judicative check each other and with this method they cement democracy. Also a critical report by the media in India supports civil rights and freedom.

The integration of minorities is a success in India. New states have been founded and language-learning-groups established. Despite many problems with women's rights, corruption, overpopulation, poverty and crime, the Indian people have a high level of trust in the state and its reforms. India stands as a model for many other Asian countries and the future generally seems to bring improvement to the problems in India.

Sources:

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

http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Indianpoliticalsystem.html

http://www.indianembassy.org/dydemo/political.htm

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

http://www.tradechakra.com/india-political-system