Substantive Democracy

♤ Believers of this form of democracy highlighted that elections and universal adult franchise are not sufficient conditions for democracy. Democracy has to be situated in the society and has to be taken out from institutional mode.

♤ The rise of identity politics – dalits, OBCs, women, tribal, ethnicity and environment – have necessitated the focus on substantive democracy. This is viewed both as a challenge to the nation-state and as an increase in the democratic content of the country.

♤ With the introduction of 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, the decentralization has been democratized and the scope of democracy has expanded to include the women, OBCs and dalits at the grass root level.

♤ This is an attempt to change ‘top – bottom’ to ‘bottom – top’ democracy.