Revision summary
Early elite democracy gave way to wider caste-class entry. Mandal and panchayat reservation recast who holds office. Media made a national simultaneous public. Disharmony of equality versus honour continues. Majoritarian pressure tests the constitutional profile.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
India’s democratic profile has changed from an elite Congress system toward deeper caste-class entry, stronger states, and a louder media-public. The Constitution’s equality creed still meets ranked society.
Body
Who enters
- Adult franchise and Mandal made OBC and Dalit blocs central, which Kothari called the democratisation of caste.
- Women in panchayats changed the face of local office, still often proxied by kin.
How it works
- Coalition and then national-party dominance altered federal bargaining.
- Television and phones made a simultaneous public, an opportunity structure for movements.
- Beteille’s disharmony remains: votes of equals, honour of unequals.
Worry
- Majoritarian mobilisation and shrinking dissent change the quality of the profile, not only the census of voters.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD E[Elite early democracy] --> C[Caste class deepening] C --> M[Media simultaneous public] D[Disharmonic honour] --> C
Conclusion
The democratic profile is more socially representative than in the 1950s and more mediatised. Whether it stays constitutional depends on minority security and open contest, not only on turnout.
Quick related
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Same topic · past papers
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2020 · Q5(e) · Sociology GS 2 · 10 marks
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