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Towards a Perfect Democracy "Alternatives"


Chapter 9

The Government

Since there shall be no political parties in a Perfect Democracy so it requires that all the members of the first elected Government should deliberate, discuss and set down long term and short term National objectives, for which the Government is to work. In case of differences in opinion of members after discussion about any matter to be included in the National agenda/policy or not, the rule of majority should prevail.

Once the objectives and the targets have been decided in clear terms, everything possible must be done by the Government to achieve it and a close monitoring should be done on it. Not only the members but also the public shall have full right to know what is happening and who is responsible for what.

A similar kind of system shall be introduced for the different area of the States/Country, which shall also operate within the ambit of National agenda but would be more localised. There must not be separate election for the legislative of any smaller area of the State/Country required because the National policies shall prevail in all the areas of a State, even if elections are conducted for different zones/area of a State it shall be for the feedback to the National parliamentary body or for all other purpose but to make legislations.

The power of legislation shall be only with the House of the Parliament of the State. Abolishing of legislative power and separate assemblies for Sub-State units (states, as called presently in India) shall be contested by many political people, they will contest that separate legislative power for Sub-State area is needed, they may contest that in a large Country covering a large area it is the need of the people, they will quote examples of last 50 years, but let us not fall into this mouse trap. There was a need of separate Government and legislation for different Sub-States/area during the times when the communication systems were not good, mode of transportation was not good, it was felt that a region may be neglected, but in the present scenario, when the mankind has progressed in all spheres of life, all facilities are available to all the sections of people. A separate Government for a Zone or a smaller area of a State will only make things complicated and defeat the purpose of a Democratic State.

The single most important thing which a State must do is to increase its efficiency and take technology to every nook and corner of the State and start using the technology. In the last 50 years, this is the thing which have reduced the size of the Globe by many times.

The common people who are much too interested in their day to day life will always find it difficult to obtain information and comply with the national policies on the one hand and the amended policies and laws of a smaller Zone/Sub-State. When the State is undivided and the State Government unbiased, there should be no need of different Zonal election and separate smaller units of legislative assemblies.

It must be understood that the zones and Sub-States are the integral part of the Country and do not have any identity of itself. Anybody who tries to give colour of different kind than the national colour should be discouraged to do so. The Sub-States/zones are formed for the purpose of convenience of governance and for no other purpose, the whole of the Country is to follow the same path in the same fashion, very much like a brigade of the Army troops parading with the same rhythm though it consists of thousands of individual men.

Other elections too, whether in smaller subdivisions or for other public offices should be conducted on a similar pattern.

The structure of the Government shall be controlled by the two Houses of Parliament called the Upper House of Parliament and the Lower House of the Parliament. The Upper House shall consist of the people who have secured the maximum number of votes in their respective constituencies and the Lower House shall consist of people who have polled the second largest number of votes. The votes polled in their local area of both the members of the Lower House and Upper House of the same representative constituency, combinely should be over 60% of the votes polled. Both the Houses shall be having joint sittings also, which shall be at least two every year.

There is nothing wrong with the tenure of the Government being five years, rather convenience demands that it should be five years if not less. The Government shall have the tenure extended till the new Government is voted in, the process of selection of new representatives shall start after the old Parliament has stayed four and a half years in the Government and finalise before the fifth year finishes. The process of selection of the new Parliament shall finish at least one month before the term of the old one finishes, the new parliamentarians must be trained during this period, after the training they are to be sworn in. The old members though voted out but will continue to assist the new members of the corresponding area and department for a period of one month from the date of leaving office.

As mentioned earlier both the Prime Minister and the President should be elected by all the elected members of both the Upper and the Lower House. The contestant for both the offices must be the elected candidates who have declared their intention to contest the office of Prime Minister or President before they contested their constituency election and have secured no less than 50% of votes from their area.

Once a elected member assumes the office of the Prime Minister, in any case, he can not hold the office for more than two terms, and never hold the office for two successive terms. As for the office of the President, no elected member should hold the office for more than one term.

The Government shall be formed by the active participation of both the Houses, Ministers of the Cabinet (who function as the advisors) are to be selected from the Upper House of the Parliament from the representatives who have declared their intention to be a Minister and informed the Prime Minister of their availability, the Council of Ministers shall form the Cabinet of the Prime Minister, taking care of their respective functions and advising the Prime Minister on related subjects apart from the day to day governance. There should be other Ministers assisting the Cabinet Ministers in day to day functioning and taking care of their own respective responsibility assigned.

The Cabinet of the Prime Minister should never exceed 15 Ministers. The size of the Cabinet is to be small so that day to day consultation can take place on one table and under one roof and matters may be resolved without undue complication. No Cabinet Minister should be allowed to deal with more than two Departments and whenever a Minister is dealing with more than one Department, care should be taken that all the Departments are interrelated. The Minister must delegate the charge of all the departments to the Deputy Ministers, who shall be reporting to the Minister on day to day basis. The Assistant Ministers can assist the Deputy Ministers in their functioning. The prime job of the Cabinet Minister shall be supervision and control of the concerned department so that all the policies are directed towards the National objectives. He shall be directly responsible for all happenings in the concerned Department. The Prime Minister must not hold any Department directly but indirectly through the Cabinet he shall be the head of all the Departments.

The Cabinet shall be in continuous sitting under one roof on one table. The Cabinet shall sit together for atleast three full working days every week to discuss and decide the matters of day to day importance, the information and proposals to be presented to the Prime Minister and the President, the matters regarding different Departments and the proposals which are to be presented to the House. The cabinet Ministers must take care that they do not fix any field work or field meetings during those days when the Cabinet is to sit together.

The Assistant Ministers and Deputy Ministers for a particular Ministry shall be selected by the respective Minister in the Council of Ministers from the Lower House or the Upper House of the Parliament. The Cabinet Minister shall be fully competent to remove any of the Deputy or the Assistant Minister.

The selection of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet shall be the exclusive right of the Prime Minister and he shall be selecting the Ministers as per his assessment, he shall have the right to drop any Minister at any time without giving any explanation, however the Deputy Minister and the Assistant Ministers, assisting the Cabinet Ministers shall be selected with the active participation of the Cabinet, which shall suggest the names to the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister may act upon the advise or reject the name suggesting some other name. However the Prime Minister must get the approval of the House by a simple majority for his Cabinet and the Deputy Ministers.

Both the Houses of the Parliament would have power to propose the removal of any of the Cabinet Minister, Deputy Minister, Assistant Minister, Prime Minister, President or the dissolution of the Cabinet. Any House can bring a proposal for removal of any Minister and if it is supported by 50% members of that House, who vote in that manner, the Prime Minister shall have no other option but to remove the Minister. However for the removal of the Prime Minister, the President and the dissolution of the Cabinet the same motion must be adopted by both the Houses of Parliament and the proposal should be endorsed by over 50% of the total members of both the House, both jointly and independently.

It is important that the Prime Minister remain in the office only during the pleasure of both the Houses of Parliament, any of the House if not satisfied with the functioning of a Prime Minister may move a vote of no confidence, signed by 33% of the members and ask the Prime Minister to prove the trust of the House. In the case the Prime Minister fails to obtain a simple majority vote of confidence, the Government shall not fall but only the Prime Minister is to be changed, and a new Prime Minister to be elected by following the same procedure.

The Prime Minister shall be the head of the Parliament whereas the President shall be acting as the head of the State and shall perform the function of supreme supervisor of the Government and shall be coordinating or shall be a chain between the elected representatives and all the divisions of the Government i.e. the legislative, the Executive and the judiciary. The President shall be elected by the members of both the Houses, elected from the members of the Upper House who have declared their intention to contest the election of the President office before the election from his area and have secured a minimum of 50% votes in his constituency.

The President, in any case, can not hold the office for more than one terms, the term being five years or the term of the Parliament. The President shall not be eligible for re-election.

Both the Prime Minister and the President shall remain in power till the time the House which voted for them, stays in existence, immaterial of the term served by the Prime Minister or the President.

In a perfect democractic state it is advisable that there shall be a Council of Advisors which shall be a permanent body consisting of all the former Presidents, Prime Ministers, the last three Chief Justice of Supreme Court, the last three Chairman of the Chief Executive Body, the last three Chairman of the Defence Executive Body and the last head of the Supervisory Body for elections, after leaving their office provided they do not hold any other public office or a office of profit and are not removed from their office for the reason that they did not enjoy the trust of the House. The Council of Advisors shall elect from itself a Chairman to chair all the proceedings and meetings. In the event any of the above member is above 75 years of age and due to health constrains is incapable of attending the Council regularly, he may not be a regular member of the Council of Advisor but the Council can take the benefit of his/her experience and such a member can be invited for consultation or asked for consultation, whenever the Council so desires.

The Council of the Advisors can advise the Government, the Prime Minister and the President on its own or when asked for advise. The Government shall not be bound to act on the advise but due consideration must be given. The members of the Council of Advisors can participate in the proceedings of any of the House after intimating the President, but can not vote on the floor of the House. The Council of Advisors shall also be looking into any criminal or any other allegation against any member and suggesting a course of action. It shall also have counselling functions in case of any dispute or tie on any matter of debate.

Any member of the Council of Advisors could be removed by 60% majority of any of the voting House, both the Upper and the Lower House shall have the power to recommend removal of any of the member of the Council of Advisors if they feel that the Council member is acting in contradiction to the National interest or setting a wrong example.

Whenever a House proposes to remove a Council member from its seat and 60% of the members vote for it, it must be referred to the other House and a simple majority of the other House must vote in favour of it, to effect the removal of the Council member.

For effective and impartial governance in a Perfect Democracy there should be three entirely independent divisions of a Government, legislative, Executive and Judiciary.

 


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