Democracy inherently is supposed to be representative. But is our democracy truly so? Does it really mirror or social milieu?
Whenever the Parliament session commences MPs arrive in filmi style in expensive cars, most costing over a million rupee.
Out of our population of 1200 million, 430 million people live below the poverty line. (As per Tendulkar Committee Report) Of the balance 200 million families, less than 100 million own two-wheelers. Only a lucky group of 15 million families own four-wheelers. When it comes to vehicles costing Rs.10 million and more, the number is only two million, i.e. less than one percent of our burgeoning population.
This implies that our Members of Parliamnent come from this miniscule strata of society which constitutes less than one percent of our population. Exceptions only prove the point. So, where is our democracy headed, if indeeed it is a democracy? It's true that in many legislatures around the world, it is the financially better off that make it. But in our case the disparity and the figures are far too stark and have yet gone un-noticed.
In our first Parliamnet there where many members who arrived on bi-cycles. Many of them products of our freedom movement. One knows that India has since moved on. But our democracy seems to have moved away, far to away, from its people.
