FLAIR TALK Magazine - September 2015

In this issue

Whither thou Democracy?

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people”, a phrase which aptly describes the system’s fundamentals. When we adopted the Constitution, we proclaimed ourselves to be a democratic nation and as a basic principle of democracy, the will of majority dominates the system. However, the two-tier democratic system of India has become a problem for the ruling Government, which has a thumping single party majority in Lok Sabha but lacks the same in Rajya Sabha. Consequently, the business which is done in the lower house often fails to bear fruits in the upper house. Notwithstanding this deadlock, the opposition in lower house has decided to completely block the lower house’s functioning by using the very tactics which the ruling party had once used when the things were other way round. Several questions come to our minds: Whether absolute majority is a good thing after all, or is merely power in the wrong hands? Whether the oppositions in our country only mean to oppose everything the Government does, without application of minds? Whether there should be judicial control over functioning of legislatures, be it the conduct of proceedings or so-called immunity of the members? These and many more questions are discussed by the Albuquerque couple – Dr Olav and Mrs Deborah in our cover story on the occasion of International Day of Democracy.

The new face in Bollywood, who became infamous for his alleged involvement in another actor’s suicide case, Sooraj Pancholi, discusses his turmoil, his jail time, his faith and his mentor in this month’s ‘Celeb Overruled’.