DEMOCRATIC GLOOM: AN INSTITUTIONAL FUNCTIONALIST ANALYSIS OF INDIA

Institution-building is a cherished dream as well as a challenge for orderly human living. As conscience-keepers, various institutions in different climes tend to fulfill the aspirations of the members who invest time and energy in the shaping up and survival of such institutions. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors have been at play in the decline and death of many an institution, as history suggests. It is beyond doubt that institutional vibrancy is the bedrock of democracy as a preferred political alternative. Shockingly, a huge cloud of pessimism hovers over the global democratic order. Indian democracy is no exception either. A modest heuristic, in no way critical, an attempt has been made to comprehend the gloom that the Indian democratic polity has been subjected to due to the apathy of the masses, over- ascriptive hunger for power among the elite and the careless abandon of the inept incumbents in various institutions that have bled the system white and betrayed the trust of the masses. The present paper is a tribute to the institutionally embedded spirit of the ones who harbour some degree of trust in the institutional anodyne for human profligacies.