Page 55 - Mann ki Baat June 2022 - English

necessary for responsible leaders
to constantly invoke its existence?
Why, is it necessary for the
Prime Minister to attend global
summits and create alliance of
democracies? What more needs
to be done?
The answer in a word is plenty.
Democracy has conferred rights on
people, some of these have even
been codified in the Constitution.
Yet it is one thing to confer a right,
it is something altogether different
for these rights to be availed of by
the people.
In India, the awareness of what
democracy means has been
poverty and low voter turnout.
growing over the past 75 years of
The battle here is to improve the
independence. A small indicator
quality of democracy by making
is the growing percentage of
every citizen a stakeholder in
people who are queueing up
the decisions that flow from
to vote. Another indicator is
the Practitioners of democracy.
the visible improvements in
By enlarging the welfare net
the election system and the
and ensuring its efficient and
attempts over the years to rid it
of distortions. Yet, despite these honest delivery to the intended
endeavours, democracy hasn’t beneficiaries, the Prime Minister
touched every citizen equally. has given millions of hitherto
deprived people a tangible
How can it? To internalise
stake in the system — whether it
democracy, it is necessary to
is in the form of housing, access
have a stake in the system.
to drinking water and toilets,
Unfortunately, millions of our
availability of cooking gas and
citizens are still grounded in dire
free rations during a time of
poverty. Being poor doesn’t imply
intense distress.
a lack of awareness. In India, it is
the poor who turn out to vote in the To raise people from subsistence
largest numbers, unlike in the so- levels, gives them dignity and
called advanced democracies, accords them a stake in the
where there does not seem to system. That is when they can
be a direct corelation between truly avail of democracy.
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