Question

Essay on government in 500 words

Answer 1

A democratic nation is one where the citizens have the right to elect their government. It is sometimes also said to be the “rule of the majority”. Several countries around the world run democratic government but India takes pride in being the largest democracy.

History of Democracy in India

India had been ruled by several rulers from Mughals to Mauryas. Each of them had their own style of governing the people. It was only after the country got independence from the colonial rule of the Britishers in 1947 that it became a democratic nation. It was then that the people of India, who had suffered tyranny at the hands of the British, attained the right to vote and elect their government for the first time.

Democratic Principles of India

Sovereign

Sovereign refers to an entity that is free from the control of any foreign power. The citizens of India enjoy sovereign power to elect their ministers.

Socialist

Socialist means providing social and economic equality to all the citizens of India irrespective of their caste, colour, creed, gender and religion.

Secular

Secular means the freedom to practice the religion of one’s choice. There is no official state religion in the country.

Democratic

This means the government of India is elected by its citizens. The right to vote is given to all the Indian citizens without any discrimination.

Republic

The head of the country is not a hereditary king or queen. He is elected by an electoral college.

The Working of Democracy in India

Every citizen of India, above the age of 18 years, has the right to vote. The Constitution does not discriminate anyone on the basis of their caste, colour, creed, gender, religion or education.

There are seven national parties in the country namely, Indian National Congress (INC), Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India -Marxist (CPI-M), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Besides these, there are a number of regional parties that fight the elections to state legislatures. Elections are held periodically and people exercise their right to vote to elect their representatives. The government is continually making efforts to encourage more and more people to use their right to vote to choose good governance.

Democracy in India is not merely about giving people the right to vote but ensuring equality in all the spheres of life.

Hindrances in the Working of Democracy in India

While the elections have been happening at the right time and a systematic approach is followed to conduct the same ever since the concept of democracy came into being in India there are many hindrances in the smooth functioning of democracy in the country. These include illiteracy, gender discrimination, poverty, cultural disparity, political influence, caste-ism and communalism. All these factors adversely affect democracy in India.

Conclusion

While democracy in India has been appreciated worldwide, there are still miles to go. Factors such as illiteracy, poverty, gender discrimination and communalism that impact the working of democracy in India need to be eradicated in order to allow the citizens to enjoy democracy in true sense.

Answer 2

"The purpose of government," as Thomas Jefferson said, "is to allow for the preservation of life and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.19 (Note the use of the words "allow" and "pursuit.") Government cannot give life, it cannot give liberty, and it cannot give happiness; it can only take such things away. Liberty, or freedom, is a topic which arises in any discussion concerning government; and it arises, not because government can contribute to freedom, in any way, but rather because government invariably, due to its very nature, encroaches on freedom. Government is to be treated as a trained guard dog, to be led out into the crowd by its handlers under strict control and sharp command. Usually the mere presence of Government power is enough to remind people to leave the liberty of others alone so that each person, unfettered in any way except by proper law, through individual choice, might create wealth; and to use it or preserve it, as they should choose. Only the individual, each in his own way, can create wealth; and by individuals doing this does the wealth of the nation come about. Wealth thus comes about because people have the freedom to choose, in every instance, what they individually calculate is best for them; the trillions of individual decisions that freely occur every day in our economy is what keeps us all going. To maintain an environment in which exchanges between people, within the law, voluntarily occur: this, -- if the goal is to increase the store of wealth in the country -- is the sole function of government. It is there to punish the citizen who encroaches on the freedom of another, government's role is as a referee, it must stay clear of the play; it must leave the business of creating wealth to those who can do it, to those that can only do it, to those outside of government. Government cannot create wealth it can only destroy it.