This is only one of the flaws of our democracy. The more important one is that our idea of it is limited to the right to vote. Vital though this is, we need to pay attention to the ugly reality that those districts of India which the Naxalites have taken over are usually districts in which exist desperate poverty for the lower castes and unchallenged power and privilege for the upper castes. The situation is so ugly that the thousands of crores that we spend on anti-poverty schemes annually are appropriated by upper caste villagers, often with the collusion of upper caste officials. Only those of low caste who honour and accept their lowly status can share in the spoils. I have been to villages in Bihar in which dalit families are forced to put their thumb impressions on BPL (below poverty line) cards and housing loans that are then snatched from them by upper caste thugs. It is an ugly, dangerous situation and 60 years of democracy have made no difference.

There has been no difference either to the equally ugly reality that we remain a country in which there are civil privileges rather than civil rights because democracy has failed to empower the electorate by providing mass education. It has failed also to provide the average Indian with the fundamental requirements of the 21st century, like clean water, electricity, and reliable public healthcare. It is shameful that the main demands of voters in villages across India at election time continue to be bijli, sadak, pani.

... contd.