Only those who can deliver should rule

Only those who can deliver should rule

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those
who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

In a political system when we say “Only those who can deliver should
rule ​”, there are some questions that comes to our mind that are: 
1. What is to be delivered?
2. Who can deliver?
3. Who will check the delivery?
4. Who should rule? 
These questions carry different perspectives as the answers to each one
of them can be different for different persons. So, without thinking of
arriving at a consensus, we should examine different aspects of each of
the questions separately.

What is to be delivered?

● Priorities are different for different people.
➔Our society contains a vast number of people having different 
interests and needs. Different people have different needs and
we can't fulfill the needs of each one of them.  
➔Despite of all this, there are some common needs that the
people and the society share that are education, food, health,
etc.  
● A society needs what it doesn't have. 
➔For example, an underdeveloped country will want their
basic needs to be fulfilled. Similarly, a developing country
will have different needs than a developed one.  
➔ India is a developing country. We first need our basic
necessities to be fulfilled and than only going for further
development.  
● Any society or government has only a limited number of
resources,​ so they have to prioritize “what is to be delivered”​ . The
government has to establish a balance between the conflicting
demands of the present and the future. In other words, they have to
fulfill the demands of the present sustainably. 

Who can deliver?

● There is a general consensus among people that the highest
executive is solely responsible for the delivery of governance.  
➔The governor, president, prime minister, chief minister, etc
constitute the top executive class. For example, if there are
problems or issues in any state, the people only blames the
chief minister or the ruling party who is in power in the state. 
➔The highest authority or executive bears all the blame in case
of failure of governance or delivery and gets all the credit in
case of its success.  
● However, ​in reality, there are a number of institutions present
between a common man and the top executive. 
➔People have to understand that no matter how good or
proactive the top executive is, he can't deliver unless he gets
support from the institutions. He can only deliver if there is a
well functioning bureaucracy.  
➔But, this doesn't devalue the importance of the top executive.
The leader should be proactive, enthusiastic, passionate and
dutiful for a proper functioning of the democracy. It is the
leader who directs and controls the institutions. So, if the
leader is corrupt, he will also corrupt the institutions. 
● People themselves are another important key in the delivery of
governance.​  Their participation is very important in the delivery of
governance. 
● Another important player in the delivery of governance are the
watchdogs ​  like judiciary, ombudsman. They keep the institutions
responsive to the citizens and make sure that they work for them.
They also ensure equal treatment for all. 
● So, for delivery of a good governance, the following order should
function properly and proactively: 
         Judiciary → Leader → Institutions → People

Who will judge the delivery?


● In a democratic system, people themselves are the sole judge to
decide ​  whether the delivery of governance is good or bad.  
➔People give their judgement or opinion through elections or
protests. If a MLA, MP or executive does a good job in their
respective areas, people vote for them in the next elections. If
not, they face lot of protests and criticism and are shown the
door in the next elections.  
● Other indicators that indicate the performance of the governance
are economic data like GDP growth, unemployment rate, literacy
rate, etc. 
Who should rule?

The answer to this question is simply the one who is eligible and able to
deliver should rule.  
● Some people argue that there should be certain academic
qualifications ​ that needs to be possessed by the person contesting
elections.  
➔Recently, Rajasthan government brought a law that specified
the criteria of minimum educational qualification for the
candidates participating in elections. Later, it was removed in
the wake of protests.  
➔While, this is right that the elected representatives should be
literate as they need to communicate and are responsible for
the delivery of good governance, but it is not implemented in
a proper way.  
➔The implementation should be in a way such that the
deserving person gets the time to attain certain level of
qualifications needed to contest elections, if possible. 
● Some also suggests that people with certain experience in politics
should only be eligible ​ for contesting elections. People argue that
novices can't deliver well. This is not exactly true as younger
generation has previously performed better than the experienced
ones. 
● So, there needs to be a mixture of youth and experience ​  for a
better delivery of governance. 

In a democracy, the point of contact or key person of delivery is the MP
or MLA.​  People elect MPs and MLAs who are responsible for selecting
the top executive. So, people should elect their MPs and MLAs wisely. 
Thus, we conclude that the top executive is important but the focus
should be on strengthening of the institutions.​ A good leader can only
lead to the development of their society till the time they rule. But, if the
institutions are strengthened then it enables consistent and longer flow of
delivery of good governance. People's participation and awareness is
also important ​ so that they choose their representatives wisely. We must
remember:

“Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the
people.”
    



                                                                                            Essay by SANJIT RAJ