Page 607 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition
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petty disputes in compliance with the third tier. The local system of the
country is very large, and the number is growing every day.
Women Participation: The Indian democracy, though regarded as a
patriarchal one, has taken numerous steps to initiate and accelerate
women participation at various levels. At the Centre as well as the State
and the local level, women participation in decision-making has
increased manifold over the years. Because of its development in
women participation, the Indian democracy is competing well with its
Asian counterparts. Undoubtedly, women participation is to be enhanced
more with the feature of women security.
Secularism: Indian secularism is not about the dictionary meaning, it is
about the profusion of various cultures and religions. The essence of
Indian democracy is secularism with diversity. Indian secularism is
better than its Western counterparts as it allows its citizens the freedom
to dress up and function peacefully as they want.
At first observation, it might look quite excellent, but with the passage of
time, we lie in the decade where a democratic nation like India is all decayed.
Indeed, Indian democracy is all flawed now. We do have positive points to
term us democratic, but in a broad sense, we have lost the democratic India
that was planned by the fathers of the country. There are many reasons for the
downgrade:
The rise of conservative ideologies: The primary reason for the
downfall of Indian Democracy is the constant rise of conservative
ideologies over the years. The country, which on paper is regarded as
democratic, is merely democratic. The increase of a few communities
and groups has successfully led to the domination of others. Hence,
killing the essence of democracy completely.
Partially-free media: Freedom of speech and the freedom granted to
press and media has declined in recent years. Are we getting back to the
times of the Vernacular Press Act? Not that strict, but the Indian press