Democracy and republic: India as a democratic republic

Detail

1. Two different ideas: democracy and republic

• Democracy comes from two Greek words: demos (people) and kratos (rule). It means rule by the people.
• People choose their government through free and fair elections.

• The question it answers: who chooses the rulers?

• Republic: a country where the head of state is elected, either directly or indirectly. The head of state does not get the office by birth, as a king or queen does.

• In a republic the rulers are limited by a constitution or by laws.

• The question it answers: how does the head of state get the office, and are the rulers bound by law?

• The two ideas are separate. A country can be one, both or neither.

	Democracy	Not a democracy
Republic	India, USA, France	People's Republic of China, North Korea (republics in name only)
Not a republic	UK, Canada, Sweden, Japan, Norway (each has a monarch)	Absolute monarchies

• "Every democracy is a republic" is FALSE.
• The UK, Canada, Sweden, Japan and Norway are democracies. People elect their parliaments.

• But each has a hereditary monarch as head of state (a monarch gets the throne by birth). So none of them is a republic.

• The opposite statement is also false. China and North Korea call themselves republics, but people cannot freely choose their rulers there.

• India is both. People elect the government, and the head of state, the President, is elected.

2. India became a republic, not a copy of Britain

• India has been a republic since 26 January 1950, the day the Constitution came fully into force. (The Preamble's words "sovereign … democratic republic" are covered under preamble-philosophy.)
• India took the parliamentary system from Britain, but not the British monarchy. India's head of state is elected, not born into the office.
• How the President is elected (Arts. 54–55):
• Article 54: an electoral college (a special group of voters chosen for one election) elects the President. It has:
  • the elected members of both Houses of Parliament, and
  • the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States. Here "State" includes the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union territory of Puducherry [2].
• So nominated members of Parliament and members of state Legislative Councils do not vote. Only elected members are in the electoral college [2].
• Article 55: the different states should have the same scale of representation "as far as practicable" (as far as possible). How many votes each MP and MLA has depends on a formula based on the state's population [3].
• Voting uses proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (voters rank the candidates in order of choice) and is by secret ballot [3].
• The President is therefore elected indirectly: by the people's representatives, not by the people themselves. (Full detail is under union-executive.)

3. George Washington: an early example of commitment to a republic

• In 1782, after the American War of Independence, Washington refused an offer to become king.
• In 1789 he became the first President of the USA, an elected office.
• Lesson: a republic depends on leaders accepting that power comes from the people and the constitution, not from birth.

4. A republic protects the rights of all

• A majority wins elections in a democracy. But a republic also makes sure that the majority cannot take away the fundamental rights of anyone.
• Dominance of the majority: the majority pursues only its own interests and ignores or harms the rights of minorities.
• The rule of law stops this. The rule of law means everyone, including rulers and majorities, is bound by the same law, and the law protects every person's rights.
• The same idea guides the republics of India, France and the USA.

Case (a): Niyamgiri hills and the Dongria Kondh

• The Dongria Kondh are a tribal community. They live in the Niyamgiri hills of Odisha and treat the hills as sacred.
• Vedanta, a company, wanted to mine bauxite (the ore used to make aluminium) in these hills.
• Steps in the dispute:
• In Orissa Mining Corporation v. MoEF (2013) the Supreme Court did not decide the question itself. It sent the decision to the gram sabhas (village assemblies of all adult voters in a village) under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA).
• All 12 gram sabhas rejected the mining.

• The views of a small tribal community, given through its own village assemblies, were respected over a large commercial project.

• Other legal protections for tribal land:

• Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, under Article 244(1): special rules for the administration and control of Scheduled Areas (notified tribal areas) [7].
• PESA Act, 1996 (Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act): gives gram sabhas in Scheduled Areas power over local resources.
• Samatha v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1997): the Supreme Court held that the government should not give land in Scheduled Areas to non-tribals as mining leases [8].

Case (b): the RWA delivery ban

• A Resident Welfare Association (RWA) voted by majority to ban all deliveries after 9 pm.
• What happened:
• An elderly resident collapsed, and the urgent help the resident needed could not come in.

• The RWA then exempted food and medicine from the ban.

• Lesson: even a small, democratic body can hurt a weaker member if majority vote is the only rule. Basic needs and rights must stay protected.

5. Rule of law vs rule by law

• Rule of law: the law is above everyone. Rulers are bound by it in the same way as citizens. (The full principle is covered under democracy-forms-outcomes.)
• Rule by law: rulers use law as a tool to control people but do not accept that the law binds them.

	Rule of law	Rule by law
Who is bound by law?	Everyone, including rulers	Mostly the people, not the rulers
Role of courts	Can check rulers	Rulers try to escape court checks
Fits with	Republic, constitutionalism	Authoritarian rule

Classic Indian example: the 39th Amendment (1975)

• Background: in June 1975 the Allahabad High Court ruled against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in an election case filed by Raj Narain. It set aside her win from Rae Bareli and barred her from politics for six years [6].
• The 39th Amendment (1975), while her appeal was pending:
• It added Article 329A. This article placed disputes about the election of the Prime Minister (and the Speaker) outside the ordinary courts [4][5].

• In effect, the law was changed to protect the ruler's own election.

• The Supreme Court's response, Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain (1975):

• The Court struck down Article 329A(4) [4].

• Reason: it violated the basic structure (the core features of the Constitution that even an amendment cannot destroy). It took away the courts' power to decide election disputes, which breaks separation of powers (each organ of government keeps its own work) and free and fair elections [4].

• Later: the 44th Amendment Act, 1978 removed Article 329A completely [4].

Prelims Hooks

• "Every democracy is a republic": false. The UK, Canada, Sweden, Japan and Norway are democracies with monarchs.
• China and North Korea are republics but not democracies.
• Article 54: the President's electoral college has elected MPs and elected MLAs of states, including Delhi and Puducherry [2]. Nominated members and MLCs are not included.
• Article 55: the President is elected by proportional representation by single transferable vote and secret ballot [3].
• India has been a republic since 26 January 1950.
• Washington refused a crown in 1782 and became President in 1789.
• Orissa Mining Corporation v. MoEF (2013) sent the Niyamgiri decision to gram sabhas under FRA 2006. All 12 said no.
• Samatha (1997): no mining leases to non-tribals in Fifth Schedule areas [8]. Fifth Schedule = Article 244(1) [7].
• 39th Amendment (1975) added Art. 329A, which put the PM's and Speaker's election beyond the ordinary courts. Clause (4) was struck down in Raj Narain (1975), and the article was removed by the 44th Amendment (1978) [4].

Mains Points

• A democracy is more than majority rule. Elections give power to the majority. The republican protections (a written Constitution, fundamental rights, judicial review) stop "dominance of the majority". Niyamgiri and the RWA case show this at the national and local levels.
• Indirect election of the President (Arts. 54–55) keeps India a republic and avoids a rival centre of power to the Prime Minister. A directly elected President could claim a separate public mandate and clash with the Cabinet, which answers to the Lok Sabha.
• Rule of law vs rule by law: the 39th Amendment shows how a constitutional amendment can be misused to protect a ruler. Raj Narain (1975) and the 44th Amendment (1978) show that the courts and later Parliaments can correct such misuse. This is a strong GS-II example of the basic structure doctrine in action.
• Local self-rule as a protector of rights: FRA 2006, PESA 1996, the Fifth Schedule and Samatha (1997) give tribal communities a say over their land. The tension between mining and development on one side and tribal consent and ecology on the other is still an active debate.