Need to review present political system: Hegde

Democracy is one of the best political system in the world. Unfortunately, there are instances of political system failing to become voice of the people in the country. There is a need to review the political system in the country, said former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde.

He was speaking at an interaction with the students during first edition of St Aloysius Pre-University Model United Nations (SAPMUN) 2019 held at Loyola Hall of the college on Sunday.

Parliament session

Hegde said in 2014, Parliament Sessions were held only for 14 days.

However, it failed to discuss the problems faced by the people in the country. Nearly Rs 10 crore is spent on each day of the Parliament session. Between 2004-09, out of 543 Parliamentarians, only 175 of them had actively taken part in the discussions in the Parliament, he said.

Is the participation of a handful of Parliamentarians in the debate sufficient to look into the problems faced by the entire country? he asked.

Youth should imbibe humantarian values in their lives by respecting the rights of other individuals, former Lokayukta said.

The real democracy will be implemented only when people with humanitarian values and respect for others enter politics, Hegde added.

When country gained Independence, there were discussions on what kind of political system should be adopted and finally democracy was adopted.

At the same time there were discussions on education qualification to contest elections. Many had opposed the idea to fix education qualification to contest the election as about 80% of the population at the time of Independence was illiterate. Now, the political system has deteriorated in the country, he lamented.

The United Nations had responded to the global problems and has worked for the welfare of the victims of world war.

‘UN not democractic’

However, all the countries do not have representation in United Nations. Hence, United Nations is not democratic in real sense, he felt.

SAPMUN was an educational simulation activity based on the working model of the United Nations that aimed at fostering a diplomatic zeal among the students of high school, pre-university and undergraduate level by providing them a platform to discuss and role-play as the delegates of different nations.