India boasts about being the world’s largest democracy – that denotes a rule by, of and for the people. By certain parameters, the US is the world’s “oldest” modern democracy. Similar systems existed elsewhere in the distant past; the term itself having originated from Greece. Democracy, as a concept is set against the system of oligarchy, wherein a small group of people control the affairs of the nation. The ground reality, beyond public protestations, is that a small segment of the population, the elite, control the governance or administrative apparatus in democracies too. This even as an African-American finally rose to become the President of the United States as much as some leaders from ordinary families rose to be Prime Ministers and Presidents here. Overall, these nations are run on the whims and aspirations of the elite. The result: the cause of the underlings is largely sidestepped and the claim of “equal opportunities” remains a myth or mirage.
Note the point noticed and raised by a parliamentary committee on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, during the present sitting of Parliament, that members from the SC and ST communities are being denied the opportunity to rise up to senior or board level positions in public sector undertakings. The panel, for example, cited the situations in State Bank of India – the nation’s largest banking institution – and the Power Grid Corporation. The discrimination of the disadvantaged sections/communities is, rather, all-pervasive and this happens across states and at the apex in New Delhi, including all central government establishments. Vested interests at the top of such entities ensure as much. The SC-ST populations had undergone generations of side-lining from the social mainstream even as the nation, by the strength of the Indian Constitution framed by a Dalit, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, had ensured reservations for them in parliament, legislatures and government. It is common knowledge that they are systematically denied chances to rise to senior positions in government entities across the board – and this, “Under the rule of the people, by the people and for the people.”
India is, as is also the case with the Western societies, a deeply racial nation in its basic character. There were times when the elite in Delhi granted no space to the people from certain regions/races/ communities to be in the lead positions. If it was the stranglehold of Brahmins in the past, today an elite segment spanning others too have turned situations to their advantage and merit is hardly a criterion in appointments to senior levels of the governance systems. Muslims too face such serious odds. A nation that does not recognize merit and inclusiveness is doing a disservice to itself.
