Law Breakers Are Our Law Makers

According to reports on  17th Lok sabha elections in India, 232 of 542 MPs (which is 42.80%) are with criminal cases. Out of this 157 (which is 29%) are with serious criminal cases such as Extortion, Kidnapping, Murders. Not only this in State Assemblies 1610 out of 3980 MLAs have criminal cases on them. Out of which 1047 have serious criminal cases. 60 MPs and 754 MLAs are Illiterate to 10th pass. This thing must be stopped, isn't it? But, to our surprise 24% of Parliament leaders had criminal cases in 2004  and the percentage increased to 43% in 2019. It is deeply concerning to see rise in number of politicians with criminal cases and links to gangsters in India.  As India is Representative Democracy, this erodes public trust in elected representatives.

Moreover, many politicians have links with gangsters. The presence of criminal cases and links with gangsters among politicians is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. It undermines the credibility of the political system.

Is it acceptable if  somebody kidnaps a person, kills people, snatches your property from you, torture's your family   and tomorrow the same person makes rules for you to follow? If your answer is "NO" then, go on reading further. As of now India is mostly rural country and people's psyche believes that only powerful people can represent them, be it criminals. Also most of the people are scared, of their candidates.  According to a report if we compare a criminal and non-criminal candidates, then a criminal candidate is more likely to win the elections. If not power then what is it called?

Another important concern is something called 'Freebies'. Are you familiar to this word? Well, if yes then it is good for you. But if not, here is a story for you about what happened in a village during elections:

Elections were approaching. The village had total of 510 people. To everyone's surprise, there were only two candidates. One was a rich person and other had almost 50 people in his  family. So, the second candidate thought that he would win easily with little effort. Little did he know, that everybody was eager for freebie. The rich candidate distributed free clothes, accessories and some basic food materials to every individual in the village including his opponent's family of 49. When the results were declared the first candidate received only one vote, which was his own. 

Freebies are a problem in our country as people often prioritize receiving free goods over supporting development initiatives. This behaviour indicates selfish mindset that often hinders progress. It is easy for our MPs and MLAs to distribute free items as many of them are wealthy. As of today 477 MPs and 3100 MLAs are crorepati. The freebies strategy does not promote true progress and can lead to cycle of dependency. 

Another important concern to India's democratic progress is salary  of MLAs which is decided with lack of logic.  How well do we pay our MLA? You may think that at least PM's salary will be more that the MLAs  but to our surprise this is a misconception. MLA's salary has different components which consists of - Basic Salary + Constituency allowance + Conveyance allowance + Telephone allowance + Secretary allowance = Formula to become a crorepati. For an example a normal MLA in Telangana gets Rs 2,50,000 per month whereas Prime Minister gets Rs 2,50,000 per month.  These salaries are adjusted periodically with inflation.

In conclusion, the presence of criminal cases, lack of formal education, links with gangsters among politicians, the use of freebies to influence the voters and the illogical salaries of elected representatives are some major concerns in India's democracy, isn't it? It is high time for us to start addressing  these concerns and take measures to ensure that its democracy remains representative, fair and free from corruption.

Ask yourself a question - What do you feel after knowing the numbers?

Key Takeaways : 

- Presence of criminal cases on our representatives

- Illiteracy among our representatives

- Links with gangsters of our MPs and MLAs

- The use of freebies to influence voters 

- Salary of our representatives