November Activity – Time Travel with Indian Democracy – Information Handout for the Students
Indian Democracy
In the ancient Indian village republics, all citizens assembled and decided issues of governance. People exercised their power directly in matters of the state. This kind of polity is called ‘Direct Popular Democracy.’ In this case, both legal and political sovereignty was vested in the people. With a gradual increase in the size of the population, it became difficult to have direct democracy.
Presently, direct democracy is visible only at the Gram level in India. All decisions at the village level are taken by all the villagers together. Gram Sabha is headed by elected members. However, decisions on the development projects are taken openly by villagers.
There are three essential elements of democracy:
- Freedom to citizens
- Respect for human rights
- Holding free, fair and regular elections
- Protection and effective realisation of human rights
15th September is celebrated as the International Democracy Day!
To understand how democracy works at the national and international levels, we should understand how it works at the local level. Therefore, we will now read how democracy works at the village level.
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