Democracy is kinda dying- Part 1- Parliament session.

Democracy is kinda dying. This is not just restricted to India, but the whole world. As the rise of Authoritarian leaders is getting more popular, I suggest that you should understand what role media plays in it. The article written earlier was taken down due to a glitch, and I will post it today so please see it. I also recommend you see the documentary: The Social Dilemma. Okay, getting back on track, Coronavirus has expedited the process of democracies ageing for countries like Belarus, and Hungary. In this article though, I would like to focus on my home country- India.

Before we get into this article, it is important to understand what democracy actually means.

According to https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/democracy/index.html this is what democracy means:

• Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms

• Freedom of association

• Freedom of expression and opinion

• Access to power and its exercise in accordance with the rule of law

• The holding of periodic free and fair elections by universal suffrage and by secret ballot as the expression of the will of the people

• A pluralistic system of political parties and organizations

• The separation of powers

• The independence of the judiciary

• Transparency and accountability in public administration

• Free, independent and pluralistic media

On paper, India is the worlds largest democracy. The problem is that as and when you start looking at the pointers above, it doesn't seem like that. Right from transparency: PM cares, to a fair trial, to the independence of the judiciary, and to the control over the media, we now know otherwise. The most recent example of the death of democracy was seen in the disturbing and undemocratic parliament session this week. In the sessions, a total of 25 bills were passed with little debate, review or opposition as half of the upper house sat empty.

So the media must have shown you something along these lines:

* An opposition member shoving and tearing the rulebook in front of the deputy chairman*.

They didn't tell you why they did this. Somewhat due to the censoring of the mics during the session, hence democracy- who is she?

Okay so here is what happened:

Two bills were passed through voice vote. Voice vote is literally what you think it means. It means voting through voice. Whoever is louder- or well whoever the chair thinks is louder and in this case the two farmers bills were passed using voice vote. People know this system is flawed, hence any member of parliament can challenge voice vote and call for a division vote.

What happened though, was that the two farmers bills were passed by voice vote and the request for a special committee was denied, hence, the opposition caused a big scene. The Deputy chair though didn't listen hence this was an act of threat to democracy. The protesting resulted in the mics getting cut off, and the suspension of 8 MP's.

After this happened, 25 bills were passed as the Rajya Sabha sat empty. This was because the opposition was either busy protesting, or was suspended. This reflects on how democracy in the parliament has also been dying in recent years.

Is the parliament flawed?

I don't condemn as to what happened in the parliament that day. All this article aims to express is that this was a clear reflection of undemocratic behaviour in today's India.

Thanks for reading. Glitch is not yet fixed. I am working on it. Follow on Instagram for exclusives.