Despite the global recession, the number of Indian billionaires has nearly doubled in just a year. Political science and democratic theorists have long held that the more unequal distribution of wealth, the harder it is to sustain democratic government. Indeed, the Guardian writes that .00001% of India’s population account for a full quarter of its GDP. This news, then, would demonstrate that India’s democratic traditions are not particularly strong.
800 million people in India live on less than 50 cents a day. Read that again: 800 million people in India live on less than 50 cents a day. India’s central government has historically been less effective in enacting widespread social change than other democracies, simply given the sheer scale of the country. Moreover, Indian political campaigns are much more local and regional in focus than national. (Which makes sense, because historically there is no singular Indian nation.) And corruption is endemic in the country. Professor Abhijet Sen is quoted—in the Guardian article linked above—as saying, “You have to be a millionaire to contest even local elections.”
India has frequently been labeled, along with China, one of the next great world powers. I find this doubtful for a few reasons: one is the obvious inequality in growth, which is both a cause and effect of the complete failure of government to incorporate its poorest citizens into the country with necessary infrastructure. Furthermore, the modern Indian state is already a domestic empire—Gujaratis, Bengalis, Tamils, Punjabis, etc, etc already compose a multi-ethnic state, which hinders any potential national political consensus. Any power projection beyond its own borders is thus highly unlikely.
India calls itself the world’s largest democracy. But elections themselves are not the only requirement to sustain democratic traditions. The Indian business elite may be major players in the next 100 years. But the poor farmer in rural Uttar Pradesh, or the recent migrants to Mumbai, will likely be shut out of any growth.
