Dilemma of Participation of Middle Class in Indian Democracy

Abstract

Indian electorate consists of a heterogeneous mix of classes, castes, regions, linguistic and religious groups. In this set of multifarious sub-groups, continuously striving for their due shares in the developmental process and democratic system, the existence of the middle class is likely to thoroughly get diluted, whether it be in the political manifestos and government schemes. On the other hand, it is alleged that this class itself does not actively participate either in democracy or developmental process. This article aims to examine whether this impugned class is actually demotivated to participate or in general dormant in the matters of democracy. An analysis of research papers, reports and articles has been done to examine this dilemma along with analysing the reasons and dynamics of this dormancy from multiple perspectives. The article concludes that there is a rise of a ‘New middle-class’ in the present era which seeks to actively take part in democracy and in the course of time, a considerable number of people from the middle class have started voting prudently, ignoring the mere short-term benefits or social divisions which earlier used to be the prime guiding forces for them. Therefore, the article prompts plausible policy and legislative decisions on matters such as health, education and employment, which will persuade the middle class to actively engage and create an inclusive democracy.

Introduction

Whenever there are talks about class, only the two ends of the spectrum are highlighted. Even when Marx and Engels discussed the class-conflict, only the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat were mentioned, ignoring the existence of a middle ground. ‘A healthy middle class is necessary to have a healthy political democracy. A society made up of the rich and the poor has no mediating group either politically or economically’ (Thurow, 1984). Indian democracy has an amalgamated electorate and political parties with the aim of achieving a majority. Rather than going by the philosophy that each vote matters, their philosophy is that the majority matters. As they find it difficult to appease the wide spectrum of voters, they look for targeting specific sets of voters who are likely to vote collectively. To study the dilemma of participation of middle class in Indian democracy, the following methodology can be adopted: doctrinal analysis of academic articles, books and other sources which will provide an understanding of the existing research and theories related to the topic. This will provide information on the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of the middle class towards democracy, as well as the barriers they face in participating in the political process, in line with existing government schemes and their impact on them.

This process will help in identifying patterns, themes and trends related to the participation of the middle class in Indian democracy and also in understanding the factors that influence their level of participation and the reasons for their lack of involvement in political processes. Further, case studies of specific instances where the middle class has been involved in the political process, or where they have been excluded from participating, can further contribute to a more in-depth understanding of the issues and challenges faced by the middle class in Indian democracy.

Middle Class: Ignored or a Dormant Facet?

While observing the patterns of voting, we find that in India usually the poor people exercise their franchise more than the middle class; members of the ‘lower castes’ are more active than upper castes, rural areas participate more than urban areas (Singh, 2014). The statistics of the National Election Survey of 2019 conducted by the Lokniti indicate that the middle-class amounts to almost 22% of the Indian Electorate and middle-class turnout was almost 70% (Lokniti, 2019). Yet, this class is not the focus of any of the political parties. The idea of bulk and collective vote infatuates the parties so much that their manifestos fail to focus on the middle class which is comparatively a smaller sector but could be beneficial in achieving their mandate.

Middle class is defined by more than just income (Misra, 2021). A set of attitudes, values, religious, and educational and occupational choices, all play a role as well. People in the middle class are characterised by seeking reasonably well-paying jobs in governments and corporate companies to have a secure retirement and to ensure their family’s healthcare and educational needs. Middle class is not usually pursued by the political parties in the form of an economically demarcated class like the lower class but rather is considered to be divided into religions, castes, gender, regions and so on. Their pattern of voting is highly influenced by individual’s caste and religious ideology. Therefore, to woo this class, the parties do not feel the need to use any other specific tactics. Actions of the middle class are based on protecting their own interests and social privileges rather than voting collectively, and therefore, they have never been a priority for the parties. The lack of collectivism and unity stems due to existence of sub-divisions within the middle class either breaking the class into further economic fragments or on religious and caste bases. Therefore, political parties do not pay attention to the educational or the occupational characteristics of the class and exploit the caste or religion-based collectivism to gain votes of the middle class.

As humans we create more and more sub-divisions within a category, creating smaller circles within the existing ones and the similar trend is present withinthe Indian middle class too. Therefore, the lower middle class, the middle-middle class and the upper middle class were the further concentric circles created within this class. Due to this division, it becomes difficult to determine on what aspect the participation of this class as a whole depends. Thus, rather than finding the specific interests of these sub-divisions, parties find it easier to accommodate them in already existent categories. At times, the lower middle class gets itself covered by the schemes of lower income group and the upper-middle class does not feel the need to get schemes of monetary benefit but rather focus on areas such as education and employment opportunities and business developments. The middle-middle class remains to be the least benefited with low-moderate paying jobs trying to add each penny into their savings with almost no schemes for their advantage.

The general aim of the parties is to gain votes from the lower income groups but the parties cannot entirely cater to the middle-class group as well. As a result, the parties have set up and marked their sub-categories within the class and their method to potentially woo them. The Congress party targets the ‘lower-middle class’ sections who have moved out of poverty but have not reached the middle classes yet or targets the affluent end. Middle classes from the marginalised sections are aligned with the Bahujan Samaj Party, but the middle and upper-middle class are majorly inclined towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (Sridharan, 2020). The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) arose with the aim to function for the ‘aamjanta’, and the middle class. The roots of the party were a fight against corruption through the demand of Lokpal Bill and it canvassed to cater to all the basic needs of the middle class, whether be it education or transport or healthcare and so on. The appeal of the AAP to the middle class further motivated the BJP to recognise this stratum as an economic class and it attempted to bring in middle class faces in their campaign. E. Sridharan, ‘the Metro-man’, recently joined the BJP and is presented as an icon for the middle class. Presently, AAP is drafting and implementing policies which cater to the middle class too, but the tax payers are aggrieved with the freebies policy of AAP. The policy of giving out things for free mainly focuses on low-income sector and a major section of middle class is left out. The distribution of wealth is indeed essential but policies should be drafted which have a long-term impact on making the citizens self-sufficient, economically as well as socially. For rapid electoral gains, parties focus on just giving short-term benefits for appeasement, and again since middle class lacks unity, they remain aloof from the advantages and consider themselves betrayed by political parties which are gaining such political advantages at the cost of tax-payers’ money.

Majorly, the parties still target the sub-divisions within the middle-class-based on castes and religions and not economic policies to benefit the class as a whole. Both the BJP and the Congress party have attempted to lure these voters through their manifestos by promising lower income tax rates, improved compliance, reduced unemployment and working towards good governance, among other things. However, unless these good intentions are implemented on the ground level, these promises are unlikely to entice this group of people for a long term (Singh, 2019).

There is a dormancy in participation by the middle class as the representation in leadership of this class is a bare minimum. This is also due to the fact that there is a lack of unison within this class itself as it has never been represented as a whole. Further, even if a leader standing from the middle class enters politics, he/she soon drowns in the typical behaviour of self-seeking politicians to sustain themselves in the field. That leadership gets involved in the aims of the party and dilutes his personal ideology. To survive in the political atmosphere, he/she soon gets motivated by his personal interests and indulges into practices which shift them in a higher economic bracket, thereby bringing the issue of representation of the impugned class to square one. Individual candidates from the middle-class stand as well but ultimately in search of a mandate they either lose or join a party or work in isolation not being able to do much for the class.

The Rise of the Middle Class

The middle class is not wooed by the parties that much but the class is trying to make its presence felt by taking entry into the local governance structures in view of representation in democracy. The urge to be involved in decision-making can be seen through participation in middle-class neighbourhood associations and residents’ welfare associations along with other parallel structures (Singh, 2014). Middle-class groups with informal networks in the state’s upper echelons, whether in bureaucracy or political establishment, prefer to operate from outside of formal politics. The young generation within the class uses media and digital technology to mobilise like-minded groups in the civil society. The middle class indulges in protests to show their participation in democracy, and variety of policy concerns such as corruption or maybe petrol prices, prices of onions or crime against women and so on. By remaining outside the domain of official politics, the middle class hopes that protests will impact the public policy. In regard to the petrol prices, there were many protests but ultimately when the BJP saw itself losing the mandate in the local elections of various states, the prices were lowered. However, these protests have a short-term impact and the parties are back to meeting up their motives rather than creation of good governance policies. Dissatisfaction with the quality of governance and public service delivery has motivated the middle-classgroups to gain more direct control over the distribution of public resources by transitioning from civil society action to political parties (India in Transition, 2016). This stratum has already entered the formal sectors within democracy in the form of civil servants and has now debuted in the political arena with parties which are giving some consideration to the significance of the middle class.

The middle class ‘not voting collectively’ and political parties ‘not offering schemes’ for middle class, both these statements act as a cause and an effect. In other words, since the middle class feels ignored, they are dormant in their participation majorly but also since they are dormant in the representation aspect, they are ignored by the policies of the parties. The bare-minimum participation of this sector in representation further distances it from favourable policies. This vicious cycle continues ultimately leading to the alienation of the middle class in terms of benefits and not being heard in this democratic system.

Pocket-bolstering Schemes: A Stratagem to Enticethe Middle Class?

The middle class has seen the rise of a ‘New middle class’, which has become more aware and aims to actively participate in democracy. In course of time,a considerable number of people from middle class vote prudently and for mere short-term benefits or social divisions and are not the guiding forces. Some aspectsof development and schemes stimulate these people to participate and vote fora particular party (Fernandes, 2009), but these so-called enticing schemes fail to address their class or their concerns. The middle class has a general discontent and disappointment while voting as there is an impression that neither their vote is valued nor are any policies drafted in their favour.

Middle class lead to an increase in domestic demand and the consumption accounts for approximately 55% of GDP (Saxena, 2010). The middle class is a strong and vigorous engine of economic expansion. It provides a solid foundation for productive investment and is a key factor in promoting other social processes that boost growth (Roy, 2018). Indian middle class or the service sector is a large contributor to the income tax but is discontented because of inadequate public services and their savings getting eroded by inflation almost every other year (Mohapatra, 2021). The basic demands of the middle class are not met and the budget of almost every year is a reflection of the same. There are generally no tax benefits for the service sector in spite of them contributing to the earnings by the governments from the income tax they pay. Presently, being affected by pandemics and the increase in taxes on various commodities, the budgets of the middle-class households have got further effected. Governments want to boost up consumption in the times of the pandemic but the salaried class has either lost their jobs or has seen salary cuts with no relief in income tax, thus, raising questions in regard to how to spend when a bare minimum is left. This class just continues its struggle to maintain its bare-minimum status of being middle while dealing with inflation.

Transport

A person of middle-income focuses on maintaining a balance between his budget and daily needs, all within his salary. The aspect of developing schemes which are pocket-friendly would be enticing to increase the participation of middle class and attract their vote share. Any relief in spending would motivate them to consider a leader as an option. Transport is one of the most basic needs and any reduction in fuel prices or existence of a good public transport system would be beneficial for the middle-salaried class. Apart from the metropolitan cities, there are very few cities and towns which have a proper public transport system. In most cities, two-wheelers comprise more than 70% of total motor vehicles (NITI Aayog 2020). According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), up to 73% of the people preferto use public transportation provided it satisfies high service quality standards. About 22% stated they would continue to utilise personal transportation, while the remainder said they would switch to cabs or shared mobility. Around 38% favour public transportation for connectedness, 23% for cost-effectiveness, 23% for sustainability and 16% to avoid traffic. This is a clear signal to policymakers that there will be a tremendous movement towards public transportation (CSE India, 2020). The National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) was launched by the Central government’s Ministry of Urban Development in 2006 with the objective to make all facilities accessible in a way that are safe, affordable, quick, comfortable and sustainable. By giving public transportation greater road space, enhancing traffic performance, limiting the increase of private vehicles and advancing car and fuel technology to lower air pollution, this policy sought to address congestion issues. Even if the NUTP favours integration of land use and transportation, it only touches on its broad implications. The NUTP is criticised for remaining silent on how state and Central leadership may assist local governments in integrating land use and transportation in urban development (Verma et al., 2021).

Presently, the petrol prices are at peak and there are chances of further hikes due to the tensed international relations. Apart from the major metropolitan cities, the governments have always struggled to provide a dependable public transport system. The initiation of the metro projects under the Smart City Project 2015 at several places would indeed be a relief (Aijaz, 2021). Besides, development of roads and flyovers to cut down travel time will also facilitate an easier life and can be considered as a welcome step. Easy, comfortable, convenient and rapid travel are the features which aids this class while travelling to workplace.

Health

India’s government spending on health at 1.5% of GDP is among the lowest in the world. Indian households spent ₹320,211 crore (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, 2018) on their health issues and any support from the governmentwill entice the middle-income group. The recently launched Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) aims to improve health insurance penetration, but it leaves out a major portion of the Indian middle class bereft of any health insurance coverage (Sensharma, 2019). The health insurance schemes in the Indian market do not cater to the middle class, as the government-subsidised insurance is for lower income group and the private voluntary health insurance is for high-income groups (NITI Aayog, 2021). The middle class has to resort to insurance policies but these are very heavy on their pockets and there are many unknown riders which ultimately leave then deprived of the benefits. The government can regulate health insurance premiums and ensure that policies are affordable and provide adequate coverage.

Most of the government hospitals lack adequate facilities and infrastructure and fail to entirely cater to this class to their satisfaction. These hospitals are already overcrowded and the waiting time there further makes the impugned class avoid visiting, since time is indeed a valuable resource for this class. The private hospitals become the only resort but they also hand such a huge bill that itdisbalances the planned budget of the middle class to a great extent. The Economic Times survey on budget priorities had 40% respondents pushing for health and education to be the main focus of the budget (Anand, 2022).

Education

Education has anyways not been a priority for the governments since it is considered not to be linked to the vote-bank but policies in regard to education would indeed woo this class. Education is a sector where middle-class families invest a huge sum out of their budgets. A considerable number of middle-class families send their children to private schools which takes a toll on their budgets. The existing governmental policies pertaining to school education do not cater to the middle class. The Right to Education Act 2009 states that every kid betweenthe ages of six and fourteen has the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school. All private schools must reserve 25% of their seats for children from economically disadvantaged sectors under the Act. In order to give all children, especially girls and those from underprivileged backgrounds, access to school, and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was also started in the year 2001 for them. There is no discussion on subsidising education for the middle class in any policy. Several states’ government schools still do not offer high-quality education.

National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 came with a promise of equitable and inclusive education along with setting up of State School Standards Authority (SSSA) but since the matter of education lies in the Concurrent List in the 7th Schedule of the Constitution, many states are yet to decide to implement the NEP. The ray of hope for the betterment of education at the government-school level which could support the middle class has been clouded by the state–centre and party politics controversies. So the quandary of choosing quality education at a private school or saving finances still persists for this class. Employability of the children is also a major concern while choosing a college for higher education. Higher education is quite costly in India, especially if students opt for professional courses offering placements. Government colleges also do not provide subsidised education for this class and the seats are not proportionate to the competition. Merit-based scholarships are also available to certain economic bands. Ultimately, the spending on higher education disbalances the middle-class budgets.

Employment

For the middle class, decent salary, optimum working hours and job stability are the basic considerations, which can be met through steady employment opportunities and jobs-related schemes. There have been hardly any government schemes to create jobs for middle-income groups as most of the schemes target the lower income groups. Policies like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana majorly benefit the rural sector. Initiatives such as production-linked incentive scheme, changes in the micro, small and medium enterprises sector, and Atmanirbhar Bharat have been initiated but they are in general for the business sector and not class-specific.

The middle class, to a great extent, relies on government jobs as well. But unfortunately, government is planning to cut down the government jobs either by privatising or withdrawing their financial support, thus leading the middle-income groups in further distress. The government recently privatised the national air carrier Air India and are planning to sell out Pavan Hans, Bharat Petroleum and Shipping Corporation. The government has also planned to disengage some of the very important sectoral autonomous institutions under different ministries such as the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, and Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, and a few others under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and some others. Such policies are going to negatively affect the pristine environment and forestry sector and also people who relied on the job security while joining along with shutting down their job opportunities and income, thus leaving the affected middle-class in further distress. Moreover, there is a great likelihood that this prime sector, which is a great contributor to sustainability and SDGs, may be captured by the corporate sector of industry for their own materialistic gains and due to lack of government funds, the very purpose of creation of such institutions may be jeopardised.

Salaried jobs are an important source of income for the middle class. According to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data, there were around8.7 crore salaried employees in the country in 2019. This amounted to around 22% of the entire employed population. By November 2020, the figure had plummeted to around 6.8 crore. That means that out of every 100 employees who were paid regularly last year, 21 were laid off (Chakravarty, 2020). People faced pay cuts even if they did not lose their employment. Their pay cheques were sometimes late by weeks or more. As a result, the middle class had to spend a significant portion of their savings on daily expenses. If the middle class does not have a job and needs to rely on savings to get by, it is clear that they will not be able to spend on big purchases affecting the country’s industrial scenario.

Therefore, the participation of the middle class in democracy will be influenced by their inclusivity while drafting the schemes, especially on the aspects which support the pockets of this middle-income group. While governing the state, a particular stratum should not be left devoid of beneficial policies just because of a lesser share in the electorate and lack of unity in becoming avote bank.

Conclusion

The middle-class electoral turnout is not very low; yet, the class is disappointed in general as their felt needs are not met to their expectations. Even if middle-class issues are given heed, it is only during the election time to woo the public and as soon as the party comes into power, the issues get dissolved or given limited acknowledgement. The inadequate representation of this class in the political arena is another issue due to which the schemes in their favour are very limited and the demands of this class are not met. Presently, the leaders in politics are either from familial aristocratic backgrounds or rise as a symbol of the marginalised class, thus leaving the middle class to their fate. Therefore, the dormancy and the ignorance of this class have a cause–effect relationship which is ultimately leaving this class bereft of any advantages.

Since the middle class is majorly alienated from electoral politics, they struggle for their representation in form of mobilising the civil society (Chakrabarti, 2016). The ‘New middle class’ is also inclined towards taking part in decision-making as well and so is bidding for the democratic representative positions. The parties have acknowledged the middle-income sectors and hence started to give them positions. But simultaneously, certain leaders try to wane the ideas of the educated middle class, who have genuine policy suggestions. This educated stratum is allowed to vent their ideas in the form of thinktanks giving suggestions. Eventually, these recommendations are viewed with a lens tinted with their political mandate rather than the sight of welfare.

The Indian economic policy has been largely focused on the poor and not to end the poverty. The onus of strong and functionally impactful democracy lies in the way the issues of middle-class population are addressed (Lahiri, 2014). However, the participation of the middle class in democracy is half-hearted as the welfare state does not draft policies for the benefit of this section. In view of the human capital and opinion-shaping nature, the middle class has the potential to make greater electoral impact (Sridharan, 2014). The parties should not ignore this class while drafting their manifestos just because their electoral vote share is lesser. Hence, based on the doctrinal analysis, it can be recommended for policy-makers and civil society organisations to promote greater participation of the middle class in Indian democracy through improving access to information about various government schemes in different sectors, increasing awareness and education about the political process, and creating more opportunities for engagement and participation through social media opinion forums and digitally engaging opinion spaces through mobile apps.

With the gradual increase in representation from this class along with the rise of the ‘New middle class’, there is hope for more inclusivity in this sector while making welfare policies, leading to their active and enthusiastic democratic participation.