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BUDDHA ACADEMY TIKAMGARH (MP) || ☺ || CPCT Admission Open

created Feb 16th 2019, 10:05 by Buddha academy


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378 words
26 completed
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These are difficult, as also unsettling, times. It is not the complexity of issues that confront the world as much as the steady undermining of institutional and knowledge structures that are posing a threat to the world.
 
Across the world, democracy is in obvious retreat, with authoritarian tendencies on the ascendant. Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's Xi Jinping and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan are constantly projected as the faces of authoritarianism, but many democratic leaders reveal a similar authoritarian streak, which adds to democracy's woes. It may be too early to predict the demise of democracy, but the reality is that it is not a good time for democratic institutions, or for those who see democracy as the answer to the world's problems.
 
Examples everywhere
 
Several examples exist worldwide on how decisions today are handed down, rather than being the outcome of discussion and debate. Hallowed international institutions such as the World Bank are facing the heat today for not conforming to the prescriptions of certain powerful members. At the same time, there are enough examples of democracy going awry. Brexit, and the Brexit debate, in the U.K. and Europe is a good example.
 
The US which prides itself as a leading democracy, is setting a bad example today. Under President Donald Trump, arbitrary decision-making has replaced informed debate. His diatribe against what he calls a "ridiculous partisan" investigation against him is an indication. Another is his determination to build a wall to keep out Mexican immigrants, even risking an extended shutdown of the U.S. government.  
Federal fallout
 
Currently, we are witnessing vituperative exchanges between the Prime Minister and some Chief Ministers which involve accusations such as fomenting riots and running extortion rackets. This damages the fabric of democracy. Centre-State relations are already under strain, and face the threat of still greater disruption.
 
Selective interpretation of information is a fallout of such situations. Those in authority deem all information not acceptable to them as nothing but disinformation. Those opposed to the government, on the other hand, insist that the government suffers from a lack of probity. The current sulphurous exchanges between the ruling dispensation and the Opposition over the purchase of Rafale aircraft are an example. The casualty is truth, and the veracity of official facts and statistics.
 
 

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