Photo by Dave Gill. Source: Creative Commons
A potential solution lies in examining Bhutan’s creation of the Bhutan Democratic Dialogue.
The early-November air pollution crisis over large parts of Northern India, including the capital city Delhi, has starkly highlighted the deficiencies in India’s economic growth — which has taken place at the cost of environmental protection. Although the severe air pollution was caused by the localised burning of crop residues by farmers in agricultural states surrounding Delhi, poor urban air quality is a year-round feature in most Indian cities, and has a significant impact on public health. According to a study released in October by The Lancet Commission on pollution and health, 524,680 people in India had died prematurely in 2015 due to air pollution.
The response to the air pollution crisis has also glaringly exposed deficiencies in India’s governance model, with a blame game over the deteriorating air quality in Delhi ensuing between political parties that govern in different states and at a national level. Although some partisan bickering is expected in any democracy, this confrontation inhibited an effective response to a public health emergency, and demonstrates India’s underdeveloped democratic norms.
A potential solution for this partisan division lies in examining Bhutan’s creation of the Bhutan Democratic Dialogue (BDD), a multiparty platform for dialogue between political parties. Created in April 2015, the BDD aims to bridge partisan and ideological faultlines in order to improve governance, and consequently socio-economic outcomes for its citizens. In creating such a forum, Bhutan’s monarchy and policymakers recognised the need to foster constructive dialogue between political parties, and to develop common positions over national priorities. According to Sonam Jatso, the BDD’s Chairman, “Democracy is not a perfect system; it could get really messy. It’s sometimes discouraging when we look at the ugly conduct of some democracies in different parts of the world.”
In March 2012, SS Ahluwalia, then a Rajya Sabha (Upper House) MP, lamented the lack of a national agenda among national political parties in India and the failure to agree even 10 common priorities between the BJP and Congress. He highlighted deep divisions over ideology, policies and thinking between the two parties, which were manifesting themselves in a fractured society. This need for inter-party cooperation and common positions on national priority issues was the main driver behind the creation of the BDD in Bhutan.
The naysayers may argue that Parliament’s role is to fulfill this function in a democracy. In theory, yes, Parliament provides a platform for different political parties to articulate their policy ideas and co-operate over legislations. However, in practice, India’s Parliament has steadily disintegrated into another forum for partisan bickering following the live telecast of parliament sessions, with political parties frequently concerned over one-upmanship, rather than a constructive dialogue on national priorities.
The aim of a new democracy dialogue should be to provide a platform for parties to negotiate common positions in areas such as urban air pollution, health and education, employment creation and agricultural transformation in a non-partisan and private setting. These are all important national priorities that require long-term planning and an alignment of policies at the state and national level. In India, these areas are often overlooked by policymakers intent on pursuing economic growth and providing short-term welfare measures to boost their electoral prospects.
The BDD in Bhutan functions under the guidance of a council which comprises of representatives of political parties and the Election Commission. In order to address India’s more bitter partisanship, any democracy dialogue will only be effective if it is chaired by an independent council with an equal representation of ruling, opposition and regional parties that govern at a state level. A democracy dialogue can provide a platform for policymakers to share their experiences of effective policies that have been implemented in different states. It would also provide a degree of policy continuity between successive national governments.
Indian policymakers would do well to put India’s national interests ahead of their party interests, by drawing upon the BDD’s mission of ‘Bhutanese First’. It is perhaps time to start putting ‘India first’, ahead of the BJP or Congress.