The higher civil services of India in which the Indian administrative service is the senior body, are recruited through stiff competitive examination. so the principle of merit obtains in recruitment, modified by the operation of reservations - although subsequent promotion is based very largely on seniority. the IAS is an all India service and the practice of allocating large numbers of outsiders to a state cadre is intended to secure a higher level of impartiality.
India's first past the post electoral system, creates a situation whereby a small swing in the percentage of votes can produce a large swing in seats, thereby encouraging brinkmanship behaviour among politicians. parties tend to gamble that their opponents might be decimated in the next election; they do not assume that will be negotiating with the same party leaders in a few years, as would be the case in a more stable proportional representation system. the intentions of the coalition partners are often not to establish a stable cabinet that can facilitate good governance. coalitions are formed with very short term goals in mind positioning themselves to be ready for the next election and to be in power long enough to reap some patronage benefits from that as well.
President Narayanan and his predecessor Shankar Dayal Sharma, did much to ensure that the use of article 356 of the Constitution, authorising president rule, has come closer to the position Dr BR ambedkar intended for it - "a matter of last resort". more generally and most importantly, these two presidents found constitutional grounds and appropriate occasions to act independently of the union executive in the public interest.
Acknowldegement : Excerpted from the Routledge Handbook of South Asian Politics.
India's first past the post electoral system, creates a situation whereby a small swing in the percentage of votes can produce a large swing in seats, thereby encouraging brinkmanship behaviour among politicians. parties tend to gamble that their opponents might be decimated in the next election; they do not assume that will be negotiating with the same party leaders in a few years, as would be the case in a more stable proportional representation system. the intentions of the coalition partners are often not to establish a stable cabinet that can facilitate good governance. coalitions are formed with very short term goals in mind positioning themselves to be ready for the next election and to be in power long enough to reap some patronage benefits from that as well.
President Narayanan and his predecessor Shankar Dayal Sharma, did much to ensure that the use of article 356 of the Constitution, authorising president rule, has come closer to the position Dr BR ambedkar intended for it - "a matter of last resort". more generally and most importantly, these two presidents found constitutional grounds and appropriate occasions to act independently of the union executive in the public interest.
Acknowldegement : Excerpted from the Routledge Handbook of South Asian Politics.
No comments:
Post a Comment