Therefore, while we watch in appreciation the first experience of RTR in India’s deepening grassroots institutions and applaud the maturing of Indian democracy, we should be circumspect in its replication at the state legislature and parliamentary levels. Rushing to prescribe it as the wonder drug for India’s democratic ills and an ailing electoral system may cause more harm than good. First, partisanship in Indian politics is becoming too fractious and cantankerous for democratic comfort, which could reduce RTR to a flawed exercise. Second, with elections in India becoming a 24/7 affair, due to the addition of local bodies elections to the already delinked Lok Sabha and legislative assembly elections, RTR will not only add to the electoral volume but it will also operate with the prevailing electoral malpractices.

Finally, RTR is no solution to the political anomalies visible in representative institutions; it is only an instrument to plug occasional leakage in the democratic system. It must, however, be celebrated as “just a beginning”, and also as “a just beginning”.

The writer is Ford Foundation Professor, Centre for Dalit and Minorities Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia drmehra@vsnl.com