jbp123/hello · Datasets at Hugging Face

instruction stringlengths 1 84	input stringlengths 1 85	output stringlengths 1 83
he National Commission to Review the Working of the	Constitution (NCRWC) was set up by a resolution of the	Government of India in 20001. The 11-member
I. TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE COMMISSION	According to the terms of reference, the commission was required	to examine, in the light of the experience of the past fifty years, as
to how far the existing provisions of the Constitution are capable	of responding to the needs of efficient, smooth and effective	system of governance and socioeconomic development of
modern India and to recommend changes, if any. The terms of	reference clearly specified that the commission should	recommend changes that are required to be made in the
Constitution within the framework of parliamentary democracy and	without interfering with the ‘basic structure’ or ‘basic features’ of	the Constitution.
The commission clarified that its task was to review the working	of the Constitution and not to rewrite it and its function was only	recommendatory and advisory in nature. It was left to the
Parliament to accept or reject any of the recommendations.	The commission had no agenda before it. On its own, it	identified the eleven areas of study and proposed to examine
them. They included the following4 :	1. Strengthening of the institutions of parliamentary democracy	(working of the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary;
their accountability; problems of administrative, social and	economic cost of political instability; exploring the	possibilities of stability within the discipline of parliamentary
democracy).	2. Electoral reforms; standards in political life.	3. Pace of socio-economic change and development under the
Constitution (assurance of social and economic rights: how	fair? how fast? how equal?).	4. Promoting literacy; generating employment; ensuring social
security; alleviation of poverty.	5. Union-State relations.	6. Decentralization and devolution; empowerment and
strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions.	7. Enlargement of Fundamental Rights.	8. Effectuation of Fundamental Duties.
9. Effectuation of Directive Principles and achievement of the	Preambular objectives of the Constitution.	10. Legal control of fiscal and monetary policies; public audit
II. FIFTY YEARS OF WORKING OF THE	CONSTITUTION	The observations made by the Commission on the working of the
Constitution from 1950 to 2000 are as follows5 :	What are our achievements and failures over the 50 years	since Independence? How have each of the three organs of the
State–the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary– redeemed	the constitutional pledge of ushering in a social revolution? Has	the dream of the founding fathers for a life of dignity to the vast
millions through the process of socioeconomic transformation	been realized ? What then is the Balance Sheet?	1. Political Accomplishments
1. India’s democratic base has stabilized as a working federal	polity. With the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments, the	base of democratic debate has widened. There is greater
push towards noncentralisation. General Elections have	been held with regularity; and transfers of power consequent	upon the results of elections have been orderly, peaceful
and democratic.	2. The educational qualifications of the Members of Parliament	and State Legislatures have shown marked improvements.
The Parliament and State Legislatures are increasingly more	representative of the composition of society. More and more	members of the hitherto backward classes are moving up in
the political ladder.	2. Economic Infrastructure–Impressive Performance	1. There has been marked expansion and diversification of
production. New technologies and modern management	techniques are increasingly employed. There are marked	advances in Science, Technology, Medicine, Engineering
and Information Technology.	2. Between 1950–2000, the index of agricultural production	increased from 46.2 to 176.8.
3. Between 1960–2000, wheat production went up from 11	million tonnes to 75.6 million tonnes.	4. Between 1960–2000, rice production went up from 35 million
tonnes to 89.5 million tonnes.	5. Impressive expansion of industrial and service sectors has	taken place.
6. Index of industrial production went up from 7.9 in 1950–51 to	154.7 in 1999–2000.	7. Electricity generation has increased from 5.1 billion KWH in
1950–51 to 480.7 billion KWH in 1999–2000.	8. 6 to 8 per cent annual growth of GNP between 1994–2000	(except in 1997–98) was achieved.
9. Revenues from Information Technology industry have grown	from $ 150 million in 1990 to $ 4 billion in 1999.	10. India’s per capita Net National Product (NNP) in 1999–2000
was more than 2.75 times than what it was in 1951.	3. Social Infrastructure– Achievements	1. Between 1950 to 1998, infant mortality rate have halved to
72 births per 1000 births–down from 146.	2. Life expectancy at birth has grown up from 32 years in	1950–51 to 63 years in 2000.
3. A child born in Kerala today can expect to live longer than a	child born in Washington.	4. Life expectancy of women in Kerala is now 75 years.
5. India has put in place an extensive system of Public Health	Services and medical network. In 1951, the country had only	725 primary health centers. By 1995, this has increased to
more than 1,50,000.	6. The number of primary schools has increased significantly	between 1951 and 1995 from 2,10,000 to 5,90,000.
7. Nearly 95 per cent of the villages have a primary school	within a walking distance of one kilometer.	4. Political Failures
to keep out criminal, anti-social and undesirable elements	from participating in and even dominating the political scene	and polluting the electoral and parliamentary processes.
2. Though democratic traditions are stabilizing, however,	democracy cannot be said to be an inclusive representative	democracy. The pluralism and diversity of India is not
reflected in and captured by its democratic institutions;	likewise, participation of women in public affairs and	decision-making processes is nowhere near proportionate to
their numbers.	3. The enormity of the costs of elections and electoral	corruption have been having a grievous deleterious effect on
national progress and has led to the degradation of political	processes to detriment of common good.	4. Political parties, which have a fair share of the criminal
elements, handle enormous funds collected ostensibly for	meeting party and electoral expenditure. Money-power and	criminal elements have contributed to pervasive
degeneration of standards in public life and have	criminalized politics. This is reflected in the quality of	governments and of the governing processes.
5. There are no legal instrumentalities or set of law regulating	the conduct of the political parties, legitimacy of fundraising,	audit and account requirements and inner-party democracy.
6. National political parties are more divided on the definition of	‘common national purpose’ than ever before; the noble	purposes of public life have degenerated than ever before
into opportunistic and self-seeking politics of competitive	personal gain.	7. ‘Fraternity’, the noble ideal of brotherhood of man, enshrined
in the Preamble of the Constitution has remained unrealized.	The people of India are more divided amongst themselves	than at the time of the country’s independence.
8. There is increasing criminalization and exploitation of the	political climate and processes and an increasing criminals-	politicians-bureaucratic nexus.
interests and desire for short-time political gains, are unable	even to agree upon broad common national purposes.	5. Economic Failures
1. The richest top quintile of population has 85 per cent of the	income. The poorest quintile has only 1.5 per cent of the	country’s income. The second, the third and the fourth
quintile from top have respectively 8 per cent, 3.5 per cent	and 2 per cent of the income.	2. 260 million people live below the poverty line.
6. Social Failures	1. India’s maternal mortality rate in 1998 was 407 per 100,000	live births. These levels are more than 100 times the levels
found in the West.	2. Some 53 per cent children (almost 60 million) under five	remain malnour-ished–nearly twice the levels reported in
many parts of sub-Saharan Africa.	3. The proportion of low birth weight babies born in India is 33	per cent. It is only 9 per cent in China and South Korea, 6
per cent in Thailand and 8 per cent in Indonesia.	4. India was a signatory to the Alma Ata Declaration in 1978	that assured ‘health for all’ by the year 2000. Only 42 per
cent of the children between 12–23 months are fully	immunized - 37 per cent in rural areas and 61 per cent in	urban areas. The coverage is shockingly low in Bihar - 11
per cent and in Rajasthan - 17 per cent.	5. While per capita daily consumption of cereals has improved	only marginally from 400 gms in 1950 to about 440 gms in
2000, the per capita pulses (protein intake) have over the 50	years decreased.	6. The promise of social revolution has remained unredeemed.
There are 270 million Scheduled Castes and Scheduled	Tribes and the measures for their welfare and uplift have not	been implemented with sincerity.
taken to bring them to the level of the “core-mainstream”.	8. Population control measures in the northern States have not	succeeded. Fertility rates in Uttar Pradesh indicate that the
State is almost a century behind Kerala.	7. Administrative Failures	1. Corruption, insensitivity and inefficiency of administration
have resulted in extralegal systems and parallel economies	and even parallel governments. Bureaucratic corruption,	which cause frustration in people in their daily lives, has
pushed more and more people into extralegal systems. The	mal-administration has resulted in a lack of faith in and	disenchantment with institutions of democracy.
2. There is an increasing non-accountability. Corruption has	been pervasive. Public interest has suffered.	3. Constitutional protection for the Services under Article 311
has largely been exploited by dishonest officials to protect	themselves from the consequences of their wrong-doings.	8. Gender Justice and Equality– Failures
1. The regional disparities in life expectancy is indicated by the	fact that a woman born in Kerala can expect to live 18 years	longer than one born in Madhya Pradesh.
2. In most countries life expectancy among women exceeds	that of men by about 5 years. In all but a few countries of the	world, there are typically 1005 women for every 1000 men.
Men outnumber women only in societies where women are	specifically and systematically discriminated. In India, there	are only 933 women for every 1000 men. This is the
phenomenon about ‘missing’ women.	3. Overall representation of women in public services is just 4.9	per cent.
4. Political participation of women indicates that in 1952 there	were only 22 women in Lok Sabha against 499 seats (4.41	per cent). In 1991, this increased to 49 seats as against 544
5. Between 1995–2000, out of 503 judges of the High Court,	only 15 were women.	9. Judicial System–Failures
1. Judicial system has not been able to meet even the modest	expectations of the society. Its delays and costs are	frustrating, its processes slow and uncertain.
2. People are pushed to seek recourse to extra-legal methods	for relief.	3. Trial system both on the civil and criminal side has utterly
broken down.	On an overall assessment, there are more failures than	success stories, making the inference inescapable that the fifty
III. AREAS OF CONCERN: COMMISSION’S	PERCEPTION	The following are the important areas of concern according to the
perception of the Commission6 :	1. There is a fundamental breach of the constitutional faith on	the part of Governments and their method of governance
lies in the neglect of the people who are the ultimate source	of all political authority. Public servants and institutions are	not alive to the basic imperative that they are servants of the
people meant to serve them. The dignity of the individual	enshrined in the Constitution has remained an unredeemed	pledge. There is, thus, a loss of faith in the Governments
and governance. Citizens see their Governments besieged	by uncontrollable events and are losing faith in institutions.	Society is unable to cope up with current events.
2. The foremost area of concern is the present nature of the	Indian State and its inability to anticipate and provide for the	great global forces of change ushered in by the pace of
scientific and technological developments.	3. The next and equally important dimension is the increasing	cost of government and fiscal deficits which are alarming. In
1947, there was a deficit of ₹2 crores in the revenue budget;	in 1997–98, it became ₹88,937 crores; in 2001–02, it is	about ₹1,16,000 crores (4.8 per cent of GDP). India is on its
way to a debt-trap.	4. There is pervasive impurity of the political climate and of	political activity. Criminalisation of politics, politicalcorruption
and the politician-criminal-bureaucratic nexus have reached	unprecedented levels needing strong systemic changes.	5. Issues of national integrity and security have not received
adequate and thoughtful attention. Mechanisms for the	assessment of early warning symptoms of social unrest are	absent. Mechanisms for adequate and immediate state
responses to emergencies and disaster management are	wholly inadequate. Administration, as a system for	anticipating coming events and planning responses in
advance, has failed. It has become un-coordinated and	directionless amalgam of different departments often with	over-lapping and even mutually conflicting jurisdictions,
powers and responsibilities which merely acts as a reaction	to problems. There are no clear-cut standards or basis for	fixing responsibilities.
6. Though India’s overall record and experience as a working	democracy (despite many centrifugal forces) are worthy to	mention and though the bases of democratic debate have
widened with the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments,	the working of the institutions of parliamentary democracy,	however, have thrown-up serious fault-lines, which might, if
unattended, prove destructive of the basic democratic	values.	7. There is pervasive misuse of the electoral process and the
electoral system is unable to prevent the entry of persons	with criminal record into the portal of law-making institutions.	8. The Parliament and the State Legislatures, owing to the
inherent weakness of the electoral system, have failed to	acquire adequate representative character. The 13th Lok	Sabha represents only 27.9 per cent of the total electorate
and the Legislature of U.P. represents only 22.2 per cent of	electorate respectively.	9. The increasing instability of the elected governments is
attributable to opportunistic politics and unprincipled	defections. The economic and administrative costs of	political instability are unaf-fordably high and their impact on
the polity is not clearly comprehended and realized. Though	just four Prime Ministers ruled the country for 40 years out of	the 54 years of independence and one political party alone
was in power for 45 years, however, 1989 onwards the	country saw five General Elections to the Lok Sabha. Costs	of this political instability are simply colossal.
10. The state of the Indian economy is disturbing. The economy	is gradually sinking into a debt-trap. Economic, fiscal and	monetary policies, coupled with administrative inefficiency,
rule and hoodlum out-fits. Black-money, parallel economy	and even parallel governments are the overarching	economic and social realities. Legitimate governments will,
in due course, find it increasingly difficult to confront them. In	course of time these illegal criminal out-fits will dictate terms	to the legitimate governments.

he National Commission to Review the Working of the

Constitution (NCRWC) was set up by a resolution of the

Government of India in 20001. The 11-member

I. TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE COMMISSION

According to the terms of reference, the commission was required

to examine, in the light of the experience of the past fifty years, as

to how far the existing provisions of the Constitution are capable

of responding to the needs of efficient, smooth and effective

system of governance and socioeconomic development of

modern India and to recommend changes, if any. The terms of

reference clearly specified that the commission should

recommend changes that are required to be made in the

Constitution within the framework of parliamentary democracy and

without interfering with the ‘basic structure’ or ‘basic features’ of

the Constitution.

The commission clarified that its task was to review the working

of the Constitution and not to rewrite it and its function was only

recommendatory and advisory in nature. It was left to the

Parliament to accept or reject any of the recommendations.

The commission had no agenda before it. On its own, it

identified the eleven areas of study and proposed to examine

them. They included the following4 :

1. Strengthening of the institutions of parliamentary democracy

(working of the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary;

their accountability; problems of administrative, social and

economic cost of political instability; exploring the

possibilities of stability within the discipline of parliamentary

democracy).

2. Electoral reforms; standards in political life.

3. Pace of socio-economic change and development under the

Constitution (assurance of social and economic rights: how

fair? how fast? how equal?).

4. Promoting literacy; generating employment; ensuring social

security; alleviation of poverty.

5. Union-State relations.

6. Decentralization and devolution; empowerment and

strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions.

7. Enlargement of Fundamental Rights.

8. Effectuation of Fundamental Duties.

9. Effectuation of Directive Principles and achievement of the

Preambular objectives of the Constitution.

10. Legal control of fiscal and monetary policies; public audit

II. FIFTY YEARS OF WORKING OF THE

CONSTITUTION

The observations made by the Commission on the working of the

Constitution from 1950 to 2000 are as follows5 :

What are our achievements and failures over the 50 years

since Independence? How have each of the three organs of the

State–the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary– redeemed

the constitutional pledge of ushering in a social revolution? Has

the dream of the founding fathers for a life of dignity to the vast

millions through the process of socioeconomic transformation

been realized ? What then is the Balance Sheet?

1. Political Accomplishments

1. India’s democratic base has stabilized as a working federal

polity. With the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments, the

base of democratic debate has widened. There is greater

push towards noncentralisation. General Elections have

been held with regularity; and transfers of power consequent

upon the results of elections have been orderly, peaceful

and democratic.

2. The educational qualifications of the Members of Parliament

and State Legislatures have shown marked improvements.

The Parliament and State Legislatures are increasingly more

representative of the composition of society. More and more

members of the hitherto backward classes are moving up in

the political ladder.

2. Economic Infrastructure–Impressive Performance

1. There has been marked expansion and diversification of

production. New technologies and modern management

techniques are increasingly employed. There are marked

advances in Science, Technology, Medicine, Engineering

and Information Technology.

2. Between 1950–2000, the index of agricultural production

increased from 46.2 to 176.8.

3. Between 1960–2000, wheat production went up from 11

million tonnes to 75.6 million tonnes.

4. Between 1960–2000, rice production went up from 35 million

tonnes to 89.5 million tonnes.

5. Impressive expansion of industrial and service sectors has

taken place.

6. Index of industrial production went up from 7.9 in 1950–51 to

154.7 in 1999–2000.

7. Electricity generation has increased from 5.1 billion KWH in

1950–51 to 480.7 billion KWH in 1999–2000.

8. 6 to 8 per cent annual growth of GNP between 1994–2000

(except in 1997–98) was achieved.

9. Revenues from Information Technology industry have grown

from $ 150 million in 1990 to $ 4 billion in 1999.

10. India’s per capita Net National Product (NNP) in 1999–2000

was more than 2.75 times than what it was in 1951.

3. Social Infrastructure– Achievements

1. Between 1950 to 1998, infant mortality rate have halved to

72 births per 1000 births–down from 146.

2. Life expectancy at birth has grown up from 32 years in

1950–51 to 63 years in 2000.

3. A child born in Kerala today can expect to live longer than a

child born in Washington.

4. Life expectancy of women in Kerala is now 75 years.

5. India has put in place an extensive system of Public Health

Services and medical network. In 1951, the country had only

725 primary health centers. By 1995, this has increased to

more than 1,50,000.

6. The number of primary schools has increased significantly

between 1951 and 1995 from 2,10,000 to 5,90,000.

7. Nearly 95 per cent of the villages have a primary school

within a walking distance of one kilometer.

4. Political Failures

to keep out criminal, anti-social and undesirable elements

from participating in and even dominating the political scene

and polluting the electoral and parliamentary processes.

2. Though democratic traditions are stabilizing, however,

democracy cannot be said to be an inclusive representative

democracy. The pluralism and diversity of India is not

reflected in and captured by its democratic institutions;

likewise, participation of women in public affairs and

decision-making processes is nowhere near proportionate to

their numbers.

3. The enormity of the costs of elections and electoral

corruption have been having a grievous deleterious effect on

national progress and has led to the degradation of political

processes to detriment of common good.

4. Political parties, which have a fair share of the criminal

elements, handle enormous funds collected ostensibly for

meeting party and electoral expenditure. Money-power and

criminal elements have contributed to pervasive

degeneration of standards in public life and have

criminalized politics. This is reflected in the quality of

governments and of the governing processes.

5. There are no legal instrumentalities or set of law regulating

the conduct of the political parties, legitimacy of fundraising,

audit and account requirements and inner-party democracy.

6. National political parties are more divided on the definition of

‘common national purpose’ than ever before; the noble

purposes of public life have degenerated than ever before

into opportunistic and self-seeking politics of competitive

personal gain.

7. ‘Fraternity’, the noble ideal of brotherhood of man, enshrined

in the Preamble of the Constitution has remained unrealized.

The people of India are more divided amongst themselves

than at the time of the country’s independence.

8. There is increasing criminalization and exploitation of the

political climate and processes and an increasing criminals-

politicians-bureaucratic nexus.

interests and desire for short-time political gains, are unable

even to agree upon broad common national purposes.

5. Economic Failures

1. The richest top quintile of population has 85 per cent of the

income. The poorest quintile has only 1.5 per cent of the

country’s income. The second, the third and the fourth

quintile from top have respectively 8 per cent, 3.5 per cent

and 2 per cent of the income.

2. 260 million people live below the poverty line.

6. Social Failures

1. India’s maternal mortality rate in 1998 was 407 per 100,000

live births. These levels are more than 100 times the levels

found in the West.

2. Some 53 per cent children (almost 60 million) under five

remain malnour-ished–nearly twice the levels reported in

many parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

3. The proportion of low birth weight babies born in India is 33

per cent. It is only 9 per cent in China and South Korea, 6

per cent in Thailand and 8 per cent in Indonesia.

4. India was a signatory to the Alma Ata Declaration in 1978

that assured ‘health for all’ by the year 2000. Only 42 per

cent of the children between 12–23 months are fully

immunized - 37 per cent in rural areas and 61 per cent in

urban areas. The coverage is shockingly low in Bihar - 11

per cent and in Rajasthan - 17 per cent.

5. While per capita daily consumption of cereals has improved

only marginally from 400 gms in 1950 to about 440 gms in

2000, the per capita pulses (protein intake) have over the 50

years decreased.

6. The promise of social revolution has remained unredeemed.

There are 270 million Scheduled Castes and Scheduled

Tribes and the measures for their welfare and uplift have not

been implemented with sincerity.

taken to bring them to the level of the “core-mainstream”.

8. Population control measures in the northern States have not

succeeded. Fertility rates in Uttar Pradesh indicate that the

State is almost a century behind Kerala.

7. Administrative Failures

1. Corruption, insensitivity and inefficiency of administration

have resulted in extralegal systems and parallel economies

and even parallel governments. Bureaucratic corruption,

which cause frustration in people in their daily lives, has

pushed more and more people into extralegal systems. The

mal-administration has resulted in a lack of faith in and

disenchantment with institutions of democracy.

2. There is an increasing non-accountability. Corruption has

been pervasive. Public interest has suffered.

3. Constitutional protection for the Services under Article 311

has largely been exploited by dishonest officials to protect

themselves from the consequences of their wrong-doings.

8. Gender Justice and Equality– Failures

1. The regional disparities in life expectancy is indicated by the

fact that a woman born in Kerala can expect to live 18 years

longer than one born in Madhya Pradesh.

2. In most countries life expectancy among women exceeds

that of men by about 5 years. In all but a few countries of the

world, there are typically 1005 women for every 1000 men.

Men outnumber women only in societies where women are

specifically and systematically discriminated. In India, there

are only 933 women for every 1000 men. This is the

phenomenon about ‘missing’ women.

3. Overall representation of women in public services is just 4.9

per cent.

4. Political participation of women indicates that in 1952 there

were only 22 women in Lok Sabha against 499 seats (4.41

per cent). In 1991, this increased to 49 seats as against 544

5. Between 1995–2000, out of 503 judges of the High Court,

only 15 were women.

9. Judicial System–Failures

1. Judicial system has not been able to meet even the modest

expectations of the society. Its delays and costs are

frustrating, its processes slow and uncertain.

2. People are pushed to seek recourse to extra-legal methods

for relief.

3. Trial system both on the civil and criminal side has utterly

broken down.

On an overall assessment, there are more failures than

success stories, making the inference inescapable that the fifty

III. AREAS OF CONCERN: COMMISSION’S

PERCEPTION

The following are the important areas of concern according to the

perception of the Commission6 :

1. There is a fundamental breach of the constitutional faith on

the part of Governments and their method of governance

lies in the neglect of the people who are the ultimate source

of all political authority. Public servants and institutions are

not alive to the basic imperative that they are servants of the

people meant to serve them. The dignity of the individual

enshrined in the Constitution has remained an unredeemed

pledge. There is, thus, a loss of faith in the Governments

and governance. Citizens see their Governments besieged

by uncontrollable events and are losing faith in institutions.

Society is unable to cope up with current events.

2. The foremost area of concern is the present nature of the

Indian State and its inability to anticipate and provide for the

great global forces of change ushered in by the pace of

scientific and technological developments.

3. The next and equally important dimension is the increasing

cost of government and fiscal deficits which are alarming. In

1947, there was a deficit of ₹2 crores in the revenue budget;

in 1997–98, it became ₹88,937 crores; in 2001–02, it is

about ₹1,16,000 crores (4.8 per cent of GDP). India is on its

way to a debt-trap.

4. There is pervasive impurity of the political climate and of

political activity. Criminalisation of politics, politicalcorruption

and the politician-criminal-bureaucratic nexus have reached

unprecedented levels needing strong systemic changes.

5. Issues of national integrity and security have not received

adequate and thoughtful attention. Mechanisms for the

assessment of early warning symptoms of social unrest are

absent. Mechanisms for adequate and immediate state

responses to emergencies and disaster management are

wholly inadequate. Administration, as a system for

anticipating coming events and planning responses in

advance, has failed. It has become un-coordinated and

directionless amalgam of different departments often with

over-lapping and even mutually conflicting jurisdictions,

powers and responsibilities which merely acts as a reaction

to problems. There are no clear-cut standards or basis for

fixing responsibilities.

6. Though India’s overall record and experience as a working

democracy (despite many centrifugal forces) are worthy to

mention and though the bases of democratic debate have

widened with the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments,

the working of the institutions of parliamentary democracy,

however, have thrown-up serious fault-lines, which might, if

unattended, prove destructive of the basic democratic

values.

7. There is pervasive misuse of the electoral process and the

electoral system is unable to prevent the entry of persons

with criminal record into the portal of law-making institutions.

8. The Parliament and the State Legislatures, owing to the

inherent weakness of the electoral system, have failed to

acquire adequate representative character. The 13th Lok

Sabha represents only 27.9 per cent of the total electorate

and the Legislature of U.P. represents only 22.2 per cent of

electorate respectively.

9. The increasing instability of the elected governments is

attributable to opportunistic politics and unprincipled

defections. The economic and administrative costs of

political instability are unaf-fordably high and their impact on

the polity is not clearly comprehended and realized. Though

just four Prime Ministers ruled the country for 40 years out of

the 54 years of independence and one political party alone

was in power for 45 years, however, 1989 onwards the

country saw five General Elections to the Lok Sabha. Costs

of this political instability are simply colossal.

10. The state of the Indian economy is disturbing. The economy

is gradually sinking into a debt-trap. Economic, fiscal and

monetary policies, coupled with administrative inefficiency,

rule and hoodlum out-fits. Black-money, parallel economy

and even parallel governments are the overarching

economic and social realities. Legitimate governments will,

in due course, find it increasingly difficult to confront them. In

course of time these illegal criminal out-fits will dictate terms

to the legitimate governments.