What percent democracy?

The four pillars of our democracy are, as you know, Legislature, Judiciary, Executive and Press. 

The Executive carry out orders sent down from Legislature, i.e. from the ministers. They have very little freedom, though they are not expected to carry out illegal orders. Disobedience has a severe price which no on  wants to pay. Many orders are not given on file and yet, these are to be obeyed. 

The Press, also called the Fourth Estate, is expected to be a guardian of democracy. But what picture do we see nowadays? Every newspaper is alligned with some political party. It does not take a very intelligent reader to observe this. So the reporting is biased, coloured, not reflecting the true state of affairs.

The Legislature are in a dominant position. They make the laws and wield enormous influence over various sectors of society. The unbridled power breeds corruption. Common man is far away from this and suffers silently, waiting for next election. In the absence of checks and balances, utter lawlessness prevails and the State and its people bleed.

The Judiciary has been trying its best to preserve the tenets of our Constitution. They are the only pillar which is fighting to keep democracy alive. But they have their limitations and Legislature, more often than not, has the last laugh.

One wonders then, how much real democracy is at work? What percentage? Is their any mechanism to collect data on this so that it can be monitored? As far as I know, there is no such monitoring system in place.

Ravindra Shenolikar