what mean by institution design of constitution
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We are living in troubled times. There is so much of corruption at the official level. The political class as a whole is at a crossroads with its credibility itself at stake. There is rather loose and irresponsible talk of censorship in the air. In the midst of political loose talk on quotas, and quotas within quotas, large sections of the minorities continue to live rather deprived lives. The Dalit Bahujan movement seems to have become too symbolic and personality-oriented. There is discontent among the middle class and the business class seems to have become sullen and gloomy. The proposed new law on disability stumbling at several procedural hurdles and the Women’s Reservation as well as the Lokpal bills have become symbols of our constitutional and political ineptitude. Our engagement with poverty has been limited to some obnoxious numbers given by the Planning Commission.
In such a cynical atmosphere, it is easy to attribute all our failings to the Constitution and the institutional design it has given us. The question is: is such an assessment justified? I think the answer is mostly in the negative.
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The aim of this article is not to suggest that the Indian constitution has been perfect or that its institutional structure needs no reform whatsoever. Quite the contrary, there is a lot that needs to be done. In a democracy, the politics of presence is very important. In that regard, Indian women, disabled and various other sections are conspicuous by their absence in the formal structures of power. The vast tribal belt of the country where governmental and constitutional machineries haven’t made much of a mark in non-coercive forms is another problem. We may have to find a way where it will be possible to ensure some kind of a synergy of our constitutional structures with traditional forms of governance that exist among these communities without them proving exploitative to the marginalised within the marginalised. We need to look at ways by which the relatively newly added third tier of constitutional units of administration, local self-government institutions, can be made more effective.
In such a cynical atmosphere, it is easy to attribute all our failings to the Constitution and the institutional design it has given us. The question is: is such an assessment justified? I think the answer is mostly in the negative.
.....
The aim of this article is not to suggest that the Indian constitution has been perfect or that its institutional structure needs no reform whatsoever. Quite the contrary, there is a lot that needs to be done. In a democracy, the politics of presence is very important. In that regard, Indian women, disabled and various other sections are conspicuous by their absence in the formal structures of power. The vast tribal belt of the country where governmental and constitutional machineries haven’t made much of a mark in non-coercive forms is another problem. We may have to find a way where it will be possible to ensure some kind of a synergy of our constitutional structures with traditional forms of governance that exist among these communities without them proving exploitative to the marginalised within the marginalised. We need to look at ways by which the relatively newly added third tier of constitutional units of administration, local self-government institutions, can be made more effective.
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