India’s Polity: The Political System in India

Before we talk about India’s polity, it is important if we deliberate on the word ‘Governance’. “The government, at the Centre as it has emerged following the 2014 Lok Sabha, is formed by the National Democratic Alliance led by the majority Bhartiya Janata Party. “The governing mantra of the new government has been Minimum government, maximum governance. “These words are, really, significant and need to be delibrated on. Certainly ‘governance’ does not merely mean government, but is less of a government, less of officialdom, less of red-tapeism, lesser laws, lesser authoritative under typed rules, but at the same time does not mean absence of either authority or government. “The governance, on the other hand, means an orderly peaceful life established on the principles of equity, rule of law, tolerance, efficiency and all-round development attained through transparent and open institutions and processes such as accountable ministers, responsible public services independent judiciary, free press fair elections and vibrant civil society, while the Prime Minister Narendra Modi includes limited role of the state to be a facilitator and Gandhian Swaraj with decentralized, self-organising, self-regulated with people’s particulers.

“The empharis on ‘minimum government’ indiates that the government does the minimum not in terms of specifically some specified functions but in terms of overseeing of what is being done, that the government’s role is minimum in so far as it facilitates’it neither controls nor even coordinates, that it prescribes rules in the form of laws and legislations only to see that they are faithfully followed. “The minimum government does not obstruct but promotes and encourages to attain the good of the people. “The minimum government means less of rules, less of files, a system which is self-regulating. “The emphasis on ‘maximum governance’ indirected that the self evolving system regulated on its own, than the implementation is effectively done, that the results are assurely attained and those who participate in any execution (politics including) are honest, efficient and responsible. Maximum governance means action and not mere theoretical formulations. It is an end through the means of minimum government. “The object of maximum governance is the happiness of the people’their over all development based on democratic values.

“The United Nations refers to certain attributes of governance: primacy of the rule of law, a concensus-oriented decision- making affirm road, efficiency and effectiveness, transparency and objectivity in functioning, responsiveness and responsibilities to the governed, equitable and inclusive, accountable and citizen-driven encouraging participation in the process of governance. When we talk of India’s polity, we refer to the political system which prevails in India. In this sense, India’s polity deals with the government at the national, provincial and local levels with functionaries: constitutional, extra-constitutional and statutory. To these aspects of India’s administration, we deal here with:

The Government at the National Level

India’s political system, at the national level, is summed up as the Union Government or what may be, loosely, referred to, as the central government. “The executive wing of the Union Government consists of the President; the Vice-President, the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at its head along with the administrative institutions. “The legislative wing of the Union Government consists of the Parliament which is bicameral: the House of the People (the Lok Sabha) and the Council of States. (“The Rajya Sabha)'” The two Houses work through their functionaries and a host of committees. “The judicial wing of the Union Government is called the Supreme Court of India.