Is it time to overhaul the Constitution?

We are a democracy, and the definition of a democracy and minor issues aside, it is a type of governance in which all eligible citizens have a more or less equal say in the decisions that affect their lives and the democratic process is meant to ensure that.

The Constitution states that India is a representative and parliamentary democracy which is supposed to ensure that all her citizens’ needs are represented by the people they elect as their representatives. But that ideal is far from reality.

From Raja to Kalmadi, Yeddyurappa to Rajasekhara Reddy, Mayawati to Ashok Chavan, our elected representatives have clearly demonstrated their inability and unwillingness to address public needs that they are bound to serve and deliver.

Benjamin Franklin once wrote “In free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns." 

But the fact is that the government; both the ruling party and the opposition, are failing us miserably as our servants.

Today’s India is dealing with slumping growth, large scale poverty, lack of infrastructure, out of control inflation and rampant corruption. All these issues are the responsibilities of our government that is repeatedly failing us in doing its job. While the Reserve Bank is desperately hiking interest rates to control inflation, the Members of Parliament, besides dodging scandals, have literally not taken a single concrete step to help this country in the last six months.
 
I live in Mumbai, and every day I leave work at six to realize that the road leading to my house connects to another road that bottlenecks into a one lane stretch. A stretch that is suddenly opened up to trucks exactly when people are going home, causing traffic to jam up for hours at a stretch. Right outside where I live is an open sewage ‘river’ about thirty feet wide, a monster slum, and a huge chemical factory but real estate prices exceed fifteen thousand a square foot.

While I pay my taxes dutifully to this very government, I read about how contractors are given my money for ‘building’ a water tank that was already built in the seventies. As part of my work, I discover how 300 crores worth of food is being pilfered from the Maharashtra Food Corporation every year, and, it kills me to know that I pay for this theft when food prices go up.
 
Rahul Gandhi has openly stated that only 10 paisa out of every rupee the Centre sends to the states, actually reaches the common man, but somehow no government has taken the initiative to ensure sufficient policing systems to track developmental money.

Estimates indicate that over 7,280,000 crores (over 54,000 rupees  per Indian) is stashed away as black money abroad, and only recently, did the emboldened Supreme Court ask why the names of those who have stashed this "mindboggling" amount of money illegally in foreign banks, have not been revealed.

Villagers keep giving signed requests to their representatives for basic amenities like roads, electricity, and water, only to be ignored. Politicians such as Padamsinh Bajirao Patil have never been in judicial custody for more than a week and released on bail for a surety of a pitiful two lakhs, despite being accused for murder and attempted murder.

A democratic government only holds legitimacy when it reflects the will of its people and upholds their fundamental rights. All our gut wrenching challenges indicate that we as a country do not have a single legitimate government.

While a waiter requires a bachelor’s degree to work in a decent hotel or restaurant, the Constitution empowers illiterate politicians (the list is endless) who cannot sign their names to make policy decisions.

The Constitution provides enough loopholes for the government to pass acts such as TADA, ASFPA, and POTA, which we all know were abused time and time again.

It is this same Constitution that even today, allows the government to extend the usage of 1971 national census population figures for the statewise distribution of parliamentary seats despite the huge shift in demographics.

We need to remember that the Constitution is over 60-years-old and was drafted during a time when India was new to the idea of freedom. It comes from a time when politicians were expected to adhere to the highest moral standards and were people who fought for our independence.

The commonly used phrases "security of state", "public order" and "morality" represent completely different issues today than they did then. The meaning of phrases like "reasonable restrictions" and "the interest of public order” were never explicitly defined, and, we just saw the government try to exploit these words by trying to preemptively detain Anna Hazare and kill his movement.

The freedom of press (the same press that is facilitating change) has not been included in the right to freedom, and we know for a fact, that the press is absolutely necessary to drive public opinion and to make the freedom of expression more achievable and legitimate for all of us.

Constitutional amendments require a special majority of both houses of Parliament. For passage, an amendment requires the approval of two-thirds of the members of the house. Any amendment or legislation that is not in the interest of these politicians, would never pass and, therein lies the biggest problem with our system.

We need a grassroots upheaval of the masses to force these politicians to become more accountable and respectful of the people they serve. We need to overhaul our Constitution to ensure that we have a real say in the decisions that affect our lives and we need to do it sooner than later.