Meaning

Democracy is a form of government in which all citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal (and more or less direct) participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law. It can also encompass social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political self-determination. The term comes from the Greek: (d mokrata) "rule of the people",[1] which was coined from (dmos) "people" and (Kratos) "power", in the middle of the 5th-4th century BC to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states, notably Athens following a popular uprising in 508 BC.[2] According to some theories of democracy, popular sovereignty is the founding principle of such a system.[3] However, the democratic principle has also been expressed as "the freedom to call something into being which did not exist before, which was not given and which therefore, strictly speaking, could not be known."[4] This type of freedom, which is connected to human "natality," or the capacity to begin anew, sees democracy as "not only a political system [but] an ideal, an aspiration, really, intimately connected to and dependent upon a picture of what it is to be humanof what it is a human should be to be fully human."[5] While there is no specific, universally accepted definition of 'democracy',[6] equality and freedom have both been identified as important characteristics of democracy since ancient times.[7] These principles are reflected in all citizens being equal before the law and having equal access to legislative processes. For example, in a representative democracy, every vote has equal weight, no unreasonable restrictions can apply to anyone seeking to become a representative, and the freedom of its citizens is secured by legitimized rights and liberties which are generally protected by a constitution.[8][9] There are several varieties of democracy, some of which provide better representation and more freedom for their citizens than others.[10][11] However, if any democracy is not structured so as to prohibit the government from excluding the people from the legislative process, or any branch of government from altering the separation of powers in its own favor, then a branch of the system can accumulate too much power and destroy the democracy.[12][13][14] Representative Democracy, Consensus Democracy, and Deliberative Democracy are all major examples of attempts at a form of government that is both practical and responsive to the needs and desires of citizens.

Best form

Though there are remarkable formal and institutional differencies between the systems of Direct, Presidential and Parliamentary Democracy, there are more or less successful examples for any of these systems.
The biggest virtue of Democracy is that it is government by the people for the people. The government represents the views of the people who elect them and can throw them out if the government does things that the people do not like. Unlike other forms of government democracy is about the little man, everyone rather than the elite that are often disconnected from how everyone else lives their lives.

Major challenges faced by democracy:

ILLITERACY PROBLEM It is a country where the population will reach one billion people by the next century, while only one-third of them will be able to read. Due to various social and economic problems India's education program continues to be undercut. Of the biggest victims of the educational system are those living in rural areas. The attitudes of the children and teachers also affect the quality of the schools. Allocation of government funds and the conditions of the destitute rural schools contribute to the low quality of education by rural children. While there are many rural area school systems which are operating in poor conditions there is one in particular whose schools outperform most other rural schools and also those located in wealthy areas of India. Consequently, Kerala, a rural state of India remains a puzzle to many educators. Its illiteracy rate does not follow the trend of most rural schools. Many children living in rural areas receive a level of education which is very poor. Overall enrollment in primary and middle schools are very low. Fifty percent of children living in these areas leave school before the fifth grade (Tefft, 12) These children leave school for variety of reasons: some leave because of lack of interest; most leave so that they can work in the fields, where the hours are long and the pay is low. A large percent of the dropouts are females. Forced by their parents, most girls perform chores and tend the family at home. These are some of the reasons why sixty percent of all females in India are illiterate, a figure much higher than those of males. OVERPOPULATION India is the second most populated country on this planet and is on it's way to being number one within the next fifty years. The government is very concerned about the size of India's population and has focused tremendous amounts of energy into combating India's growth. They feel

this is the best way to deal with India's high poverty rate (35%). However, the methods that the government has taken on curbing growth rates has raised some concerns. Greg Bokan's page will give an in-depth look at several of controversies that have developed around India's population controlpolicies, and their effectiveness. In effect, India is like a nation of bonded labourers with no recourse. The exploitation of this nation is inevitable given the circumstances however unfair it may appear to be. It is unfair that 20 percent of the world's population consumes 80 percent of the world's resources. It is unfair that India with 16 percent of the global population uses only 3 percent of its resources. But who is responsible for this imbalance and who are we going to complain to? Unfortunately, we have no one to thank but ourselves for the situation that we find ourselves in. ENERGY CRISIS India has a total installed capacity of about 100,000 MW of which, roughly 70% comes from Thermal Power Plants. There are three types of generation techniques under the head Thermal: Coal Based Gas Based Diesel Based The next biggest contributor to thermal power supply is Hydro Power Plants, accounting for nearly 25% of the overall production. Nuclear and wind based power plants in addendum account for a dismal 2.5% and 1.5% respectively. As can be seen in the pie chart, coal-based power plants have a share of about 60% and are the biggest contributors to the power supply in India. THE CRISIS: According to a report filed by the Ministry of power with the Prime Ministers office (as an SOS call), out of the total 75 coal based power plants in the country: 22 had less than 7 days stocks left 6 had less than 4 days stocks left (Against a mandatory requirement of 15 days) and could shut anytime (just

as NTPC had already shut down one of its unit in Orissa due to coal shortage). Therefore, almost 50% of the coal-based power plants were experiencing critically short supplies. The seriousness of the situation can be ascertained from the wordings of the report, which says the situation is ALARMING and needs to be redressed on WAR FOOTINGS. So, it is clear that we do have a crisis at hand. So, what is the government doing about the coal shortage? Well, to meet the immediate demand the government has asked the plants to import coal (NTPC has already imported 3.2 MT to sustain its operation.) It is projected that to meet the shortfall between demand and supply, 12MT of coal will have to be imported every year for the next 2-3 years and figure could rise to 40MT by 2007 if the linked mines are not developed on war footings. However, the proposition is a costly one as the price of coal is quite high in the international market. Due to this, the cost of production of electricity would go up by 10 to 15 paise per unit. **Is there really a shortage of coal? You will be surprised to look at the facts! Coal Mining in India was started in the year 1774 in the eastern part of the country in the State. AGRICULTURAL CHALLENGES: Problems faced by Indian Agriculturist

1. Lack of education and awareness about opportunities. 2. Lack of Market Knowledge and Marketing skills. 3. Lack of professionalism and small land holding. 4. Absence of innovative financing for agriculture. 5. Agriculture has become un-viable due to over supply because new

hybrids are giving excellent yield but due to over supply, the price realization is very low. 6. Cost of transport to market, electricity for water pump, cost of fertilizers, cost of living is going up several times but the selling price of agriculture produce is stagnating due to over supply and record productions. 7. Lack of reliable Agriculture publication and media to provide latest and reliable localized data. N THNX U HAVE TOLD ONE USER TO CHOOSE MY ANS AS BEST ANS.

Suggestions
1]democracy succeeds in a country where people are not suffering
from poverty too much because poverty keeps people uneducated, backward and timid. in India poverty is overwhelming and perhaps never ending. most of the people of India is poor, uneducated.in globalization, these people become more poor. 2]according to H.B.mayo "a democracy is unique in recognizing the political expression of such conflict as legitimate and in providing for their peaceful adjustment through the negotiation for politics, as an alternative to their settlement by force of fiat." in other word democracy prospers in peaceful environment. it will be successful where the settlement of conflict is peaceful. in India, where Muslim terrorism is in its height, it is impossible to use democracy because the conflict of terrorism can't be settled peacefully. 3]for smooth working of democracy a free fearless and independent press is necessary, who can criticize govt. when the later is taking a wrong decision.in India there is no FREE PRESS.most of the channels are either owned by govt. or funded and supported by govt. 4] according to barker, social homogeneity and national homogeneity are two things necessary for success of democracy. this means there should be ONE SOCIETY AND ONE CULTURE in a country where democracy is successful. but in India, there are 28 different culture and belief system. in Europe there is one culture that is christian culture. that's why democracy becomes a success there. but the situation is not same in India. 5]in a democratic govt., the opposition criticize the ruling party when the later makes a wrong decision. but in India, whenever the ruling party takes a decision, the opposition criticize it no matter whether the decision is good or bad. 6] last but not the least, PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE A BELIEF IN DEMOCRACY AND THEY SHOULD KNOW WHAT DEMOCRACY IS. in india few people know what democracy is and most people don't believe in democracy.