Democratic Governance and Citizen Participation in Contemporary India

Abstract

Democracy in India is no longer measured through the frequency of the elections but how good governance is and to what extent the decisions that affect the lives of ordinary citizens are influenced by them. This paper seeks to explore the link between democratic governance and citizen participation in India in the modern times from secondary data available with the Election Commission of India, the Economist Intelligence Unit, Freedom House and scholarly literature published. It explains how participation is treated constitutionally and institutionally, examines the long-term trends in the level of voter participation, positions India on some of the democracy indicators, and looks at the functioning of participative mechanisms like the Panchayati Raj institutions, the Right to Information Act, social audits etc. The paper argues that India has made strides to enhance its electoral participation, especially by women and historically marginalised communities; electoral participation between elections is uneven; issues regarding institutional autonomy, civic space and access to information colour the picture in India. It finds that this participation will lead to responsive governance only if it is backed by transparency in institutions, empowerment of local institutions and an informed population.