Political Scenario in India

India is heading for the 2014 General Election, which will decide which party is going to get the clear majority in the Parliament. As a part of preparation for the big political battle, all the parties seem to be ready with their campaigning strategy and issues. The recently rally by Congress in New Delhi and JD(U) in Patna are the best set example that parties have already geared up for the battle 2014. There are many issues like corruption, inflation, subsidies on LPG, and hike in Petrol prices – which could put voters in puzzles to decide their right candidates to send to the Parliament.

The year 2012 was full high voltage political activities, since the beginning of the year the ‘Jan Lokpal Bill’ has been in the news. The nation has witnessed the campaign of Hanna Hazare and Ramdev over the bill. However, there were many rounds of talks between the civil society members and UPA government to finalize the issues, but the result was same.

Arvind Kejriwal, the most active member of India Against Corruption, became to more limelight by raising issues of corruption reportedly against Salman Kurshide’s trust and BJP President, Nitin Gadkari’s companies. Kejriwal is going to a political party that likely to be ready to face 2014 general election. He has been quite successful getting the fame as a leader, as he is well known across the country for his campaign and issues which he highlighted.

Major political parties – Congress and BJP, both will work hard to reach voters for the 2014 general elections. Allegations… everywhere, in every news stories are there since the general election is near round the corner. This time the allegations of corruption, petrol, cap on LPG cylinder, inflation, etc., are going to change the political scenario in the country. And those are not good sign for major political parties in India like Congress and BJP.

It is not wrong to say that in the changing scenario of politics, major parties may not get the full majority to form the government. In such case the chances of ‘Third Front’ in India. Allies from UPA and NDA might support the idea of Third Front to form a government. And the fact is that, voters are going to choose their leaders in the forthcoming election, but this the big criteria would be the election issues, unlike the Roti, Kapda Aur Makan.

Politics in India takes place within the framework of a federal Westminster-style Parliamentary democratic constitutional republic, in which the President of India is head of state and the Prime Minister of India is the head of government. Nominally executive power is exercised by the President and is independent of the legislature. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Federal and state elections generally take place within a multi-party system, although this is not enshrined in law. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature, the highest national court being the Supreme Court of India. India is the world’s largest democracy in terms of citizenry. India is a nation that is characterized as a “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic”. Like the United States, India has had a federal form of government since it adopted its constitution. However, the central government in India has greater power in relation to its states, and its central government is patterned after the British parliamentary system.

The national government has the power to dismiss state governments under specific constitutional clauses or in case no majority party or coalition is able to form a government. The central government can also impose direct federal rule known as president’s rule (or central rule). Locally, the Panchayati Raj system has several administrative functions and authorities. For most of the years since independence, the federal government has been guided by the Indian National Congress (INC). The two largest political parties have been the INC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Although the two parties have dominated Indian politics, regional parties also exist. From 1950 to 1990, barring two brief periods, the INC enjoyed a parliamentary majority. The INC was out of power between 1977 and 1980, when the Janata Party won the election due to public discontent with the corruption (promulgation of Emergency with stringent forces) of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In 1989, a Janata Dal-led National Front coalition, in alliance with the Left Front coalition, won the elections but managed to stay in power for only two years.

Central and State Governments
The central government exercises its broad administrative powers in the name of the President, whose duties are largely ceremonial. The president and vice president are elected indirectly for 5-year terms by a special electoral college. The vice president assumes the office of president in case of the death or resignation of the incumbent president. The constitution designates the governance of India under two branches, namely: the executive branch and the legislative branch. Real national executive power is centered in the Council of Ministers, led by the Prime Minister of India. The President appoints the Prime Minister, who is designated by legislators of the political party or coalition commanding a parliamentary majority. The President then appoints subordinate ministers on the advice of the Prime Minister. In reality, the President has no discretion on the question of whom to appoint as Prime Minister except when no political party or coalition of parties gains a majority in the Lok Sabha. Once the Prime Minister has been appointed, the President has no discretion on any other matter whatsoever, including the appointment of ministers. But all Central Government decisions are nominally taken in his/her name. Legislative branch

The constitution designates the Parliament of India as the legislative branch to oversee the operation of the government. India’s bicameral parliament consists of the Rajya Sabha(Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People or Council of Ministers). State Government

States in India have their own elected governments, whereas Union Territories are governed by an administrator appointed by the president. Some of the state legislatures are bicameral, patterned after the two houses of the national parliament. The states’ chief ministers are responsible to the legislatures in the same way the prime minister is responsible to parliament. Each state has a presidentially appointed governor who may assume certain broad powers when directed by the central government. The central government exerts greater control over the union territories than over the States, although some territories have gained more power to administer their own affairs. Local state governments in India have less autonomy compared to their counterparts in the United States, Africa and Australia.

Judicial branch
India’s independent judicial system began under the British, and its concepts and procedures resemble those of Common Law countries. The constitution designates the Supreme Court, the High Courts and the lower courts as the authority to resolve disputes among the people as well as the disputes related to the people and the government. The constitution through its articles relating to the judicial system provides a way to question the laws of the government, if the common man finds the laws as unsuitable for any community in India.

Local governance
On April 24, 1993, the Constitutional (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 came into force to provide constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj institutions. This Act was extended to Panchayats in the tribal areas of eight States, namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan from 24 December 1996. The Act aims to provide 3-tier system of Panchayati Raj for all States having population of over 2 million, to hold Panchayat elections regularly every 5 years, to provide reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Women, to appoint State Finance Commission to make recommendations as regards the financial powers of the Panchayats and to constitute District Planning Committee to prepare draft development plan for the district. Role of political partiesor other political parties see List of political parties in India. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in India. As with any other democracy, political parties represent different sections among the Indian society and regions, and their core values play a major role in the politics of India.

Both the executive branch and the legislative branch of the government are run by the representatives of the political parties who have been elected through the elections. Through the electoral process, the people of India choose which representative and which political party should run the government. Through the elections any party may gain simple majority in the lower house. Coalitions are formed by the political parties, in case no single party gains a simple majority in the lower house. Unless a party or a coalition have a majority in the lower house, a government cannot be formed by that party or the coalition. Indian state governments led by various political parties as of March 2009. India has a multi-party system, where there are a number of national as well as regional parties. A regional party may gain a majority and rule a particular state. If a party is represented in more than 4 states, it would be labelled a national party. Out of the 64 years of India’s independence, India has been ruled by the Indian National Congress (INC) for 51 of those years. The party enjoyed a parliamentary majority save for two brief periods during the 1970s and late 1980s.

This rule was interrupted between 1977 to 1980, when the Janata Party coalition won the election owing to public discontent with the controversial state of emergency declared by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The Janata Dal won elections in 1989, but its government managed to hold on to power for only two years. Between 1996 and 1998, there was a period of political flux with the government being formed first by the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) followed by a left-leaning United Front coalition. In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance with smaller regional parties, and became the first non-INC and coalition government to complete a full five-year term. The 2004 Indian elections saw the INC winning the largest number of seats to form a government leading the United Progressive Alliance, and supported by left-parties and those opposed to the BJP. Social issues

The lack of homogeneity in the Indian population causes division between different sections of the people based on religion, region, language, caste and race. This has led to the rise of political parties with agendas catering to one or a mix of these groups. Some parties openly profess their focus on a particular group; for example, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s focus on theDravidian population, and the Shiv Sena’s pro-Marathi agenda. Some other parties claim to be universal in nature, but tend to draw support from particular sections of the population. For example, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (translated as National People’s Party) has a vote bank among the Yadav and Muslim population of Bihar and the All India Trinamool Congress does not have any significant support outside West Bengal. The Bharatiya Janata Party, the party with the second largest number of MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha, has an image of being pro-Hindu.

Such support from particular sections of the population affects the agenda and policies of such parties, and call into question their claims of being universal representatives. The Congress may be viewed as the most secular party with a national agenda; however, it also practices votebank politics to gain the support of minorities, especially Muslims, through appeasement and pseudo-secularist strategies. Many political parties are involved in caste-, religion- or language-based politics, which effects India’s growth and progress. The narrow focus and votebank politics of most parties, even in the central government and central legislature, sidelines national issues such as economic welfare and national security. Moreover, internal security is also threatened as incidences of political parties instigating and leading violence between two opposing groups of people is a frequent occurrence. Economic issues

Economic issues like poverty, unemployment, development are main issues that influence politics. Garibi hatao (eradicate poverty) has been a slogan of the Indian National Congress for a long time. The well known Bharatiya Janata Party encourages a free market economy. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) vehemently supports left-wing politics like land-for-all, right to work and strongly opposes neo-liberal policies such as globalization, capitalism and privatization. As a noteworthy case, the manifesto of the Samajwadi Party, the third largest party in the 15th Lok Sabha, for the 2009 general elections promised to reduce the use of computers upon being elected. Law and order

Terrorism, Naxalism, religious violence and caste-related violence are important issues that affect the political environment of the Indian nation. Stringent anti-terror legislation such as TADA, POTA and MCOCA have received much political attention, both in favour and opposed. Law and order issues such as action against organized crime are not issues that affect the outcomes of elections. On the other hand, there is a criminal–politician nexus. Many elected legislators have criminal cases against them. In July 2008, the Washington Times reported that nearly a fourth of the 540 Indian Parliament members faced criminal charges, “including human trafficking, immigration rackets, embezzlement, rape and even murder”.

1.2 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

1.3 SCOPE OF STUDY

For the intention to complete the research project the researcher has focused on Mumbai city on the impact of politics for the research purpose only 100 people of different areas.

1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

i)FORMATION OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
In most markets, a fall in the price of the product tends to make purchase more attractive to consumers. But in markets like used car markets, where the buyer knows less about the quality of the good than the seller does, the lower the prices prevailing, the more reluctant are owners of satisfactory cars to sell. Thus, lower prices signal lower average quality of the cars available for purchase, and so a fall in price can actually make purchase less attractive. Since Akerlof ’s (1970) Nobel Prize winning work on these so-called “lemons” markets, economists have been aware that private information can severely limit the number of sales and sometimes shut down markets altogether. This theoretical work has had tremendous influence among economists, but there has been little empirical work to substantiate and quantify it. In Akerlof’s analysis, all of the transactions take place at one time.

We plan to set up a model in which consumers decide each year whether to buy a car and of what kind, or if they already have a car, whether to sell it and, perhaps, buy a new or used car. Preliminary research suggests that, when looked at this way, the trade-inhibiting effects of private information are less severe (although still present). The market for used cars will never be completely shut down because the consumers who are most enthusiastic about cars will want to sell their fairly new and defect-free cars in order to buy new models. The results of the research should be able to provide estimates of how serious the information problems are in used car market.

ii) HYPOTHESIS
A hypothesis (from Greek ὑπόθεσις; plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for an observable phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning “to put under” or “to suppose.” For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. In this case, the following hypothesis are to be studied.