History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c96.s2.29

v7.c96.s2.29

These words of René Guenon refer to conditions in European countries in most of which there has been almost cent per cent literacy for some decades. Parliamentary democracy assumes that voters understand the policies and programmes of different parties and cast their votes accordingly. It presupposes some education, intelligence, respect for the rule of law, tolerance, a sense of brotherhood for at least one's countrymen, and a more or less homogeneous society. But when, as in India at present, the vast majority of voters are illiterate, the state of things becomes far worse. We can and must tolerate democracy in India as a first step towards better days, though at present it is a mere shell and is ridiculed by some unsympathetic foreigners.²⁶³⁹ The census of 1961 discloses that literacy which was only 16.6 percent in 1951 is 23.7 percent in 1961. Dean Inge in 'Christian Ethics' (1930) remarks about politics in England where almost all voters are literate 'our politics are so corrupt that many would welcome a dictatorship.' (p. 385). About the U S A, a recent work 'Corruption in Washington' by Blair Bolles (Gollancz, London, 1960), which makes rather dismal reading, indicates the terrible moral predicament of the honest man in power caught between public responsibility and loyalty to his friends and associates. In our country also ministers and officials must be in a similar predicament, particularly when there exist numerous rules and regulations about permits and licenses galore.