USA is one of the oldest and wealthiest democracies while India is currently the largest democracy in the world. But look at the fate or similarity in one hugely-infamous feature of these two democracies. In both these countries, the Parliament is supposed to be the supreme authority in conducting and supervising the day-to-day functioning of their governments by enacting legislations and passing annual budgets every now and then. They are in fact the watch-dogs of their rulers and the spokespersons of the citizens they represent for a fixed tenure either by direct or indirect elections.
The parliamentarians or these law makers are notorious for two things: 1) Too much of or total dependence on donations from rich individuals or corporate entities to fight elections and get into the Parliament.2) they collect illegal fees and gifts for raising questions or abstaining from the house to protect the concerned parties from embarrassment or collect funds in the name of their charities or their political parties.
The working of democracies for 234 years in USA and 63 years in India has failed to devise a method by which these law makers can be spared from the ignominy of collecting money from rich donors. The Fair Elections Now Act that would allow qualified candidates public subsidies to compete free from lobbyist-designed bundles from influential donors is still pending for consideration and passing in the Capitol Hill at Washington D.C. India is still to contemplate such a measure and place a piece of similar bill on the anvil for consideration in the near future. Looking to the mood and movement of our representatives in New Delhi at the moment we can hardly expect such a gesture soon.
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