Defending Institutions to Defend Democracy
MUMBAI: On 27th February 2019, Asia Society India Centre, hosted Yashwant Sinha, Former Finance Minister, Kumar Ketkar, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (INC), M Damodaran, Former Chief of SEBI and Chairman of Indigo Airlines and Chintan Chandrachud, legal scholar practicing with Quinn Emmanuel London (via video conferencing) for a discussion on the independence of institutions moderated by Rama Bijapurkar, Management Consultant. This programme was the second in the India Elections Series, discussing the themes of governance, leadership, and institutions in the run-up to the General Elections.
To start the programme, Rama adopted a slightly different approach by opening the floor to a few questions to understand the pulse of the room. During this, questions on the Election Commission’s autonomy and how Institutions must safeguard themselves from interference came up.
Going first, Mr. Sinha gave examples of aggrandizement of the executive and the interim budget, where the government has set wrong precedents. He spoke about how such actions were harming our democracy and the duties of civil society when it comes to protecting our institutions. To this, Rama retorted asking if it is complacency on the part of the opposition to pass on the buck to civil society.
The panel then moved on to the role of media, and if it still has the potential to be the torchbearer of accountability that it once was. Kumar Ketkar remarked that journalism and media have turned dangerous today, with media only advising and not educating itself any longer.
M Damodaran began by addressing Mr. Sinha’s point of aggrandizement by the executive, and further elaborated on how the legislature has turned silent, which is allowing the executive to encroach into its functioning. Chintan also stressed on the theoretical aspects of separation of power, put in place to prevent concentration of power and enhance efficiency owing to institutional competencies. He cited the examples of the Judiciary, BCCI and the RBI, to highlight the fact that institutions take decades to build their sovereignty and their significance to democracy is real.
Closing the conversation, Rama posed to the panel, the question of how civil society can effect change and hold its government accountable for its actions. The panel collectively felt that the Parliament must be more vigilant, and that society must frame and prioritize its questions better, as all issues cannot be solved overnight. Functional autonomy and accountability to Parliament via a select committee, demanding transparency from the executive and respecting dissenting opinions must be the norm and practice of discourse in a democracy.
Watch the complete programme here: https://asiasociety.org/video/why-institutions-are-essential-defending-…
As reported by Charmi Mehta, Programme Development Intern, Asia Society India Centre.