Commentary/Dilip Thakore

Universal adult franchise was a mistake

On the eve of the forty-seventh anniversary of the nation's Republic Day, the mood of the citizenry was sombre to the point of being sullen.

Two score and seven yeas ago a constituent assembly comprising men of great intellect, learning, acumen and insight bestowed the Constitution of India upon an eager and expectant citizenry.

This Constitution, the product of scholarly debates unmatched since then, is perhaps the finest document of its kind and in ringing tones articulated the high hopes and aspirations of a nation which promised to emerge as a dignified an accomplished player on the world stage.

Four decades later the noble dreams of the founding fathers of the Constitution seem to have been transformed into vain and unattainable dreams.

The Republic of India is listed among the 20 poorest nations in the world; half the population is wholly illiterate; Indian society is a seething cauldron of caste and communal turmoil; all over the country the infrastructure is on the point of imminent collapse; government and the bureaucracy is unremittingly corrupt, and the shadow of chronic political instability and anarchy looms large over the Republic.

Even as I write, blueprints are being drawn up to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of India's Independence Day on August 15. Almost every organisation of weight and significance is planning a big blast for this milestone occasion.

But surely the time of the nation's establishment and intellectual community between Republic Day and Independence Day would be better spent in contemplating amendments to the Constitution which could usher in a second Republic - a new society which would work more assiduously to fulfill the eminently attainable dreams of the noble authors of the Constitution.

Because the plain truth is that in the fiftieth year of its existence as an independent democracy, India has little cause for celebration or self-congratulation.

The challenge of planning for a new, more equitable second Republic is formidable. Perhaps more formidable than the challenge confronting the members of the Constituent Assembly which debated and drafted the Constitution of the First Republic.

The population of the nation has trebled from 300 million half a century ago to over 900 million now. Today the number of the abjectly poor outnumbered the entire population of the nation when it began its march on the freedom road. And virtually every sector of the economy is plagued with endemic shortages as the nation struggles to cope with the demands of its huge and growing population.

So where should the process of mid-course correction which would lead to national reconstruction in the age of a second republic begin?

Quite obviously at the beginning; at the source and charter of the first republic - the Constitution.

In retrospect it is quite clear half a century later that the basic premise of the Constitution - universal adult franchise - was a mistake. That the majority of the elected representatives of the people are petty, casteist, communal and corrupt to the core to boot, is proof enough that conferment of the right to vote without qualification was a fundamental error.

Unable to comprehend the basic grammar of the nation building the great illiterate and barely-literate majority is electing divisive, anti-national representatives to the councils of government with increasing frequency.

I'm fully aware of the grave import of any proposal to abridge the right of universal adult franchise conferred upon the people of India by the founding fathers of the Constitution. Like the great majority of liberals, I have hitherto been in the vanguard of those who have consistently lauded the native wisdom of independent India's largely illiterate electorate.

But more rigorous analysis reveals that this is a sentimental and emotional rather than an accurate, conclusion. As is becoming increasingly apparent, the vast majority of voters elect unworthy representatives espousing regressive caste and communal particularism, especially to councils of local government which are assuming growing importance within the fast liberalising Indian economy.

It is also becoming increasingly apparent that ill-educated, myopic and particularised elected representatives are unable to discharge their primary functions of legislation and governance with even minimal competence.

The great majority of people's representatives are petty businessmen, if not small-time crooks, hell-bent upon utilising public office for private profit. Citizens from within the nation's educated middle class, heirs of those who wrested freedom from imperial rule five decades ago, are disqualified by virtue of their probity and learning from entering the councils of government. This explains why all over the country things are falling apart and even localised centres struggle to hold.

Moreover contrary to popular belief, the imposition of reasonable restriction upon the right to vote offers a unique opportunity to set right the greatest failure of successive administrations in New Delhi and the states in post-Independence India: the failure to eradicate mass illiteracy.

Post-modern development economists almost unanimously agree that there is a vital nexus between mass literacy and national development. The rapid growth and development of the economies of Southeast Asia-South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and latterly China - is increasingly being attributed to the success of national governments in this region in eradicating mass illiteracy.

Therefore the imposition of a reasonable educational restriction upon citizens entitled to vote in Lok Sabha, state assembly and municipal elections will not only serve to improve the quality of the nation's elected representatives, but will also give incentives to illiterates at the base of the social pyramid to educate themselves and break out of the vicious circle of illiteracy, high reproduction and poverty.

The nation and the intelligentsia, in particular, need to debate whether a constitutional amendment restricting adult franchise to citizens who have completed primary schooling (up to standard VIII) would be reasonable.

I believe that with almost all citizens having become accustomed to electing their representatives to public office, the imposition of such a restriction on electoral franchise is certain to give a tremendous boost to the nation's hitherto ineffectual literacy drive. And in the short run it will improve the quality of the nation's elected representatives.

While making this radical proposal, I am wholly conscious of its gravity. Universal adult franchise is a basic tenet of the Constitution and interference with this perhaps the only asset of the poor and marginalised, is likely to outrage liberal and intellectual opinion. But drastic situations demand bold and courageous - even drastic -solutions.

As the nation enters the fiftieth year of its Independence - an independence which has proved illusory for the overwhelming majority of its people - there is need to usher in a second republic.

A society in which the educated middle class which led the freedom movement can re-enter the political arena and lead its citizens out of chaos towards meaningful freedom. Surely this proposal is worthy of a national debate in this milestone year of this potentially great nation!

Dilip Thakore is the founder-editor of Business India and Business World and former eidtor of Debonair.