The modern conception of democracy owes much to the classical Athenian model practiced about 2500 years ago. The Athenian citizen was required to participate in legislative assemblies that met once in about ten days and acted as a sovereign authority of the city. Pericles, the Athenian Statesman and General, in his funeral oration said proudly of Athens:

Another factor, which was emphasized at that time, was fellow feeling. When asked what city was best to live in, Solan, the Athenian Law giver, replied 'that city in which those who are not wronged, no less than those who are wronged, exert themselves to punish the wrongdoers'.

From these two we can derive the two essential traits for a living democracy. 1) An interest in general politics or more precisely a striving for public interest. 2) Consideration for other people particularly (or their needs, views and well being.

Unfortunately, there has been a gradual decline in respect of the above traits on the part of the citizens of the Republic of India. There is growing disenchantment with general politics, matched by a growing indifference towards public interest which can be seen in the declining trend in voter participation in elections. There has also been erosion in fellow feeling.

Our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru laid great stress on the activity and the cooperation that the people in general give to government and observed that the essential thing in a democracy was to 'develop a psychology of work and cooperation among the people'. He said in January 1949, 'Today if we are suffering from anything in India it is absence of that right psychology.'

Fifty-two years later, the present Prime Minster Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, writing in January 2001 in his musings called for 'a new partnership between the Government and the people in consonance with the true spirit of democracy '. In particular he emphasized 'the habit of looking to the government for a solution to every problem must give way to a new democratic attitude of fully participating in the governments efforts and maximizing the scope of nongovernmental efforts.'

Both the first and the present Prime Ministers call for greater participation by the people in governance. What happened between 1949 and 2001? As Dr Manmohan Singh observed in his Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture in 1996, during the last fifty years 'the politics of patronage and pursuit of excessive populism have given rise to all-pervasive feelings of dependence and passivity among the people.'

Thus the first challenge to a living democracy in India is a paternalistic and patronizing form of governance with the Government acting as a patron and treating the people as clients.

More than 150 years ago, Tocqueville surveying and studying American Democracy raised the question, 'What sort of despotism do democratic nations have to fear?' and found the answer in an immense and tutelary power over the people 'which is absolute, minute, regular, provident and mild like the authority of the parent' who seeks to keep the people 'in perpetual childhood'. Tocqueville went on to describe this power:

In a living democracy the people will not be such a flock of timid animals.

Another challenge to the living democracy, particularly at the present time, is the growing consumerism among the people. Consumerism leads to a lack of concern for general well being, and confining one's attention merely to one's own rights and activities of consumption and not for the'duties appropriate for being a citizen. It further leads to withdrawal from the community and loss of public awareness and civic consciousness.

The typical modern-day consumer is one who drives a fast car with closed tinted windows and a Walkman in his ears. The community is not visible or audible to him and he is also not available to the community. When more and more people withdraw themselves into their own narrow concerns, it becomes easier for despotism to emerge and control each one of them and mould them into a flock.

A third challenge to living democracy is the emergence of fundamentalism arising out of caste, creed and religion. Such fundamentalism thrives on emphasizing the differences among the people and thus dividing them. It leads to exclusion of others as aliens on the basis of birth or blood and leads to acute intolerance, fanaticism and inhuman treatment of fellow human beings. Unfortunately, in addition to fundamentalism, based on birth and blood, we have in our country fundamentalism of other groups based on trade, profession or political preferences. As Kenneth Boulding observed, 'the fact that an individual is serving some group, which is greater than himself blinds him to the fact that his group is only a part of the whole' and as a result such groups ignore and injure the interest of the whole when, in their view, the interests of the small group are threatened.

These three challenges, namely, paternalism of government, consumerism of the market and fundamentalism of the group all pose a serious threat to our democracy. 'I will look after all of ybu for all your needs. You need not bother about anything', says the Patron Government. 'You need to look after only yourself, says Consumerism. 'You need to look after only your group and not others', says group Fundamentalism. These challenges can be met only if we all cultivate citizenship traits, namely, an interest in public welfare and consideration for our fellow citizens.

Creating citizenhood has been seen as a remedy for many social and political ills. Rousseau who lamented, 'we have physicists, geometers, chemists, astronomers, poets, musicians, and painters. We no longer have citizens', exhorted people: 'Create citizens and you have everything you need; without them you will have nothing but debased slaves from the rulers of the state downwards.'

Who will create citizens and how will they be created? Going by past experience we cannot expect the political parties to do that, for they are more interested in emphasizing the differences among the people. Nor can we expect the bureaucracy to do this for they prefer to treat people as mere petitioners rather than as sovereign citizens.

In a lecture titled'Public Spirit — Ideal and Practical' delivered on 16 February 1908 at Adyar, Dr Annie Besant succinctly pointed out: 'Remember always, that in your own hands lies your redemption. No government can redeem you, however sympathetic; no speaker can redeem you however eloquent. A nation's liberty, a nation's happiness must grow out of the brains and the hearts of her own people," and unless rooted in these they have no possibility of life.'

Creating citizens is thus a work for the citizens only. They have to create, first, the space for themselves to meet, discuss, deliberate and decide issues as citizens. Today,' there are well-established places where one can meet on the basis of one's religion, caste, trade, profession, or political affiliation. But there is no such place to meet as citizens. This has to be created by citizens themselves in their own locality where they all can meet face to face and speak to one another on issues which concern them. Such a Citizen Centre formed by citizens of the locality can function as an Information Centre, Discussion Centre, Discourse Centre, Guidance Centre, Monitoring Centre and Action Centre as well.

As Aristotle observed, the great fundamental political question is 'How ought we to order our life together?' This is the stuff politics is made of and in such politics people are the prime movers deciding issues through deliberations. But unfortunately, politics in recent years has a bad name. It has almost come to imply securing a position of power somehow and enriching oneself through the abuse of that power. Hence, people loathe the very word 'polities'. But in a living democracy, now, as it was in Athens 2500 years ago, people should be well informed on general politics and they cannot shy away from this task.

A vibrant and vigorous democracy cannot be created by mere acts of Parliament either. Acts and rules are necessary but not sufficient. 'Act' as a noun is easy to pass; 'act' as a verb is more

difficult. But it is the little daily acts of millions of citizens, which give meaning and power to the Acts passed by the Parliament. If all of us just take one small step every day in the direction towards which we want this country to move, the country will automatically move in that direction. If we want a vibrant, vigorous, living democracy in this country we should all daily take small steps which show our concern for public interest and our concern and consideration for our fellow citizens.

The famous American consumer activist, Ralph Nader observed:

In present day India we have more than a billion people. But, how many citizens do we have amongst us?

When he was asked what he did for pleasure, Nader replied 'trying to make a democracy work better — what could be more pleasurable and how many countries in the world can you do that in these days'?

This pleasure is there for everyone in our country. Are we ready and eager to avail it? If so, we will certainly have a living and vibrant democracy.