Challenges to Democracy

Why this chapter matters for UPSC: "Challenges to Democracy" was Chapter 8, the last chapter, of Democratic Politics II in the 2020-21 edition. NCERT's rationalisation removed it, and the current book (Reprint 2026-27) ends with Chapter 5, "Outcomes of Democracy". This page keeps the dropped chapter, labelled as such, because its questions have not left the syllabus. GS2 asked about electoral reforms "with particular reference to 'one nation – one election' principle" (Mains 2024), about the reforms the Election Commission proposed in 2016 "to enhance the quality of democracy in India" (Mains 2017), and whether simultaneous elections would reduce a government's accountability (Mains 2017). The chapter gives those answers a method: name the kind of challenge first, then judge a reform by what it will do in practice and who will carry it out.

Contemporary hook: India's 2024 general election had 97.98 crore registered electors and 64.64 crore votes polled (Election Commission data, PIB, 26 December 2024). The same election shows NCERT's challenges at work. ADR's analysis of winners' affidavits found that 251 of the 543 new MPs (46%) had declared criminal cases and 504 (93%) were crorepatis. The Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme on 15 February 2024. The women's reservation law (the 106th Amendment) came into force on 16 April 2026, but no seat is reserved until a delimitation that must follow the first Census after that date, and Census 2027 has a reference date of 1 March 2027.

🧠 First Principles — Read This First

No rival, but many challenges. NCERT opens with a paradox: democracy is the dominant form of government in the world, yet "The promise of democracy is far from realised anywhere in the world. Democracy does not have a challenger, but that does not mean that it does not face any challenges."

A challenge is a problem that can be solved. "A challenge is not just any problem." NCERT keeps the word for difficulties "which are significant and which can be overcome", and adds: "A challenge is a difficulty that carries within it an opportunity for progress. Once we overcome a challenge we go up to a higher level than before."

There is no single recipe. Different countries face different challenges, so the same reforms cannot suit all of them. NCERT's image is a car: "We cannot prescribe a procedure for car repair without knowing which model the car is, what the defect is and what tools are available". So instead of a list of reforms it offers four guidelines for judging any reform.

Reform is done by citizens more than by laws. Laws help, but "democratic reforms are to be carried out mainly by political activists, parties, movements and politically conscious citizens".

You write the last definition. The chapter ends by asking students to write their own definition of a good democracy, and then says why: "A good democracy is what we think it is and what we wish to make it."

PART 1 — Quick Reference

Table 1: NCERT's three challenges

Source: NCERT, Democratic Politics II, Class X, ch. 8 "Challenges to Democracy", 2020-21 edition (reprint January 2020), p. 2 of the chapter file, as archived by the Wayback Machine on 9 October 2021.

Table 2: NCERT's fourteen cases ("Case and context")

NCERT gives each case as a prompt and leaves the description of the challenge to the student. The second column is one possible reading, not NCERT's answer.

Source: NCERT, ch. 8, 2020-21 edition, pp. 4-5. NCERT's Bolivia row says Morales "becomes Prime Minister"; Bolivia has a President, not a Prime Minister, and Evo Morales was inaugurated as President on 22 January 2006 (NPR, 22 January 2006). The readings in the second column are this site's.

Table 3: NCERT's four guidelines for political reform

Source: NCERT, ch. 8, 2020-21 edition, p. 8.

Table 4: NCERT's two cases for reform

Source: NCERT, ch. 8, 2020-21 edition, p. 9. NCERT gives no year for the survey or for the "Rs one crore" figure, so neither can be dated.

Table 5: India's election record and reforms (checked October 2026)

Source: as named in each row; full references are under Sources. ADR's figures are as declared by candidates in their affidavits; a declared case is not a conviction.

PART 2 — Concepts & Narrative

Thinking about challenges

The chapter is a capstone. It asks three questions (what challenges democracy faces in India and elsewhere, what can be done to reform democratic politics, and how democracy can become more democratic in practice and outcomes) and then says plainly: "This chapter does not answer these questions." It only suggests how to approach them, and invites the student to come up with a reading of the challenges, a recipe for overcoming them and "your own definition of democracy".

NCERT recalls that the Class IX book tracked the expansion of democracy all over the world, and that democracy now faces no serious rival.

The three challenges are tied to the stage a country is at. A country without democratic government faces the foundational challenge: bringing down the non-democratic regime, keeping the military out of government, and building a sovereign and functional state. Most established democracies face expansion, which NCERT spells out as greater power to local governments, the federal principle in all units, the inclusion of women and minorities, and fewer decisions outside democratic control. NCERT places India here, together with the US. Deepening is faced by every democracy, in different forms, because people expect different things from democracy in different societies. In general it means strengthening the institutions that give people participation and control, and reducing the hold of the rich and powerful on government decisions.

Different contexts, different challenges

NCERT sends the student back over the cases met in the Class IX and Class X books (Table 2) and a page of cartoons, and asks two things of each: describe the challenge, and place it in one of the three categories.

Most cases can be read in more than one way, and NCERT intends that. South Africa's case is about a minority's concessions, which is expansion, but also about whether the successors to a founding leader keep his compromises, which is deepening. Nepal's row moves from foundational (ending the monarchy) to expansion (a constitution for a diverse society).

Different types of challenges

NCERT then asks the student to sort the challenges in two ways. First by sphere, the "sites" of democratic politics: constitutional design; democratic rights; working of institutions; elections; federalism and decentralisation; accommodation of diversity; political organisations; and any other category the student needs. Second by type: foundational, expansion and deepening, with at least one Indian example for each. Last, the student lists the five challenges India should address first, in order of priority, with an example and a reason for each.

The exercise is the chapter's real method. It moves from a long list of complaints to a short, ordered list of problems, each placed in a sphere and a category. That is also the structure of a good Mains answer on "challenges to Indian democracy".

Thinking about political reforms

Every challenge points to a reform, because a challenge is by definition something that can be overcome. NCERT calls all such proposals "democracy reform" or "political reform". It refuses to give a list of them: "there cannot be any such list". Countries face different challenges, a national list would miss problems that belong to the State or local level ("the real challenge of reforms may not lie at the national level"), and any list would date. So it gives four guidelines (Table 3).

Guideline 1: law has limits. "It is very tempting to think of legal ways of reforming politics", NCERT says, and "this temptation needs to be resisted." The cricket analogy makes the point: changing the LBW rule cut negative batting, but nobody expects to improve cricket mainly by changing its rules.

Guideline 2: watch the results. "Any legal change must carefully look at what results it will have on politics." NCERT's example of a law that misfired is the rule in many States that barred people with more than two children from contesting panchayat elections. It kept many poor people and women out of local democracy, which was not its purpose. NCERT generalises: "Generally, laws that seek to ban something are not very successful in politics. Laws that give political actors incentives to do good things have more chances of working. The best laws are those which empower people to carry out democratic reforms." Its model is the Right to Information Act, which lets people find out what is happening in government and act as watchdogs of democracy, adding to the existing laws that ban corruption.

Guideline 3: practice before law. Since reform comes mainly through political practice, the main focus should be on strengthening democratic practice. NCERT refers back to its chapter on political parties: "the most important concern should be to increase and improve the quality of political participation by ordinary citizens".

Guideline 4: who will do it? "Any proposal for political reforms should think not only about what is a good solution but also about who will implement it and how." NCERT is blunt: "It is not very wise to think that the legislatures will pass legislations that go against the interest of all the political parties and MPs." Reforms that rely on democratic movements, citizens' organisations and the media have better chances.

Two cases for reform

NCERT then hands the student two challenges and a menu of options (Table 4), with a rule: none of the options is right or wrong, a mix is allowed, and the student must give reasons.

The guidelines can be used to test each option. In the doctors' case, compulsory residence and surprise raids are bans and policing, which guideline 2 doubts; a panchayat-written report read out in the Gram Sabha gives villagers power over the service they receive, the kind of empowering measure guideline 2 prefers; splitting the State changes the map without touching the incentive. In the funding case, public and audited accounts empower citizens; state funding changes incentives but has to be designed so that it does not simply add to the money in politics; tax-exempt small donations widen the base of funding. Under guideline 4, each option also needs an answer to who would pass it.

Reforming politics: Rose and Madam Lyngdoh

The chapter's dialogue makes the same argument as the guidelines, in the voice of a student and her teacher. Rose likes a Canadian cartoon in which 98% of Canadians want all their politicians locked in the trunk of a car and thrown into Niagara Falls, and blames "mean politicians" for corruption, defection, casteism, communal violence and criminality. Madam Lyngdoh asks: "Do you think our problems will be solved if we get rid of our politicians?" Those who replace them may do the same things.

Two of her points carry the chapter. First, the corruption of politicians is more visible than that of officials, contractors or other professionals: "The corruption of the politician is more visible and we get the impression that all politicians are corrupt." Second, a law alone does not change practice. When Rose asks for strict laws against appeals to caste and community, the teacher replies that "there is already a law banning any appeal to caste and religion in politics", which politicians find ways around: "Laws can have little impact unless people resist attempts to mislead and divide people in the name of caste and religion." This is guideline 1 in a classroom.

Redefining democracy

The chapter returns to the definition the Class IX book began with: democracy as a form of government in which the rulers are elected by the people, with four qualifications:

• "the rulers elected by the people must take all the major decisions";
• "elections must offer a choice and fair opportunity to the people to change the current rulers";
• "this choice and opportunity should be available to all the people on an equal basis"; and
• the exercise of this choice must lead to a government limited by the basic rules of the constitution and by citizens' rights.

NCERT explains why it started with this minimal definition: it is clear, and it separates democratic from non-democratic regimes. The two books then went further, without contradicting it: democratic rights beyond the vote, including social and economic rights; power sharing as the spirit of democracy; respect for the minority voice, not the brute rule of the majority; the end of discrimination by caste, religion and gender; and the outcomes a democracy can be expected to deliver. "We have moved from the definition of democracy to the description of a good democracy."

Where this chapter's ideas sit in the current book

The rationalised book has no chapter on challenges, but the ideas survive in two places. Chapter 4, "Political Parties" (page 06 of this book), keeps a section on "Challenges to political parties" with "four problem areas": lack of internal democracy, dynastic succession, the role of money and muscle power, and the lack of a meaningful choice for voters. It is followed by "How can parties be reformed?", which covers the anti-defection law, the Supreme Court's order on candidates' affidavits and the Election Commission's orders to parties. Chapter 5, "Outcomes of Democracy" (page 07), ends on NCERT's line that democracy's "examination never gets over", the same open-ended view on which this chapter closes.

PART 3 — UPSC Integration

Frames for Mains Answers

1. "One Nation, One Election." Status first: the Kovind committee submitted its report on 14 March 2024 and recommended a two-step approach (Lok Sabha and Assemblies first, then municipalities and panchayats); the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill is with a Joint Parliamentary Committee and has not been passed. Then NCERT's guideline 2: what results would it have on politics? Weigh lower cost and time against the accountability concern of the 2017 question. Guideline 4: who would implement it, and with what consensus?

2. "Electoral reforms to enhance the quality of democracy." Sort reforms by NCERT's challenges. Expansion: women's reservation (in force, not yet operating), women candidates (152 constituencies with none in 2024). Deepening: money (electoral bonds struck down; expenditure ceilings), criminal records (46% of 2024 winners declared cases), NOTA. Then apply guideline 1: which reforms are laws, and which need changes in practice?

3. "Law or practice?" NCERT's cricket analogy and Rose's dialogue: the ban on caste appeals exists but is evaded. The two-child panchayat rule shows how a well-meant ban can shut out the poor and women. The Right to Information Act shows the opposite, a law that empowers citizens. Conclude that the best reforms change incentives and empower citizens.

4. "What kind of challenges does Indian democracy face?" NCERT's answer: expansion and deepening, not the foundational challenge. Use the sphere table (constitutional design, rights, institutions, elections, federalism, diversity, political organisations) with one dated example each, and end with NCERT's point that a good democracy is what citizens decide to make it.

Exam Strategy

Prelims fact-traps:

• NCERT's three challenges are foundational, expansion and deepening. "Broadening" is not one of them.
• NCERT places India and the US among the countries facing the challenge of expansion; deepening is faced by every democracy.
• NCERT gives four guidelines for political reform, not five.
• The 61st Amendment Act lowering the voting age to 18 is of 1988; it came into force on 28 March 1989.
• 96.88 crore was the final electoral roll as on 8 February 2024; 97.98 crore is the electorate reported for the 2024 election.
• The 106th Amendment is in force (16 April 2026); the reservation for women operates only after the post-Census delimitation, and then for 15 years.
• NOTA came from the Supreme Court's judgment in PUCL v Union of India (27 September 2013), not from an Act of Parliament.
• Electoral bonds were struck down under Article 19(1)(a) (voters' right to information) on 15 February 2024.
• Bolivia has a President: NCERT's "Prime Minister" for Morales is wrong.

Practice Questions

This chapter has no NCERT exercise section; its activities are in-text. Practice (UPSC-pattern, not past papers): questions 1-6.

1. In NCERT's classification, the challenge of "bringing down the existing non-democratic regime, keeping military away from controlling government and establishing a sovereign and functional state" is called the:
(a) foundational challenge
(b) challenge of expansion
(c) challenge of deepening
(d) challenge of consolidation

Answer: (a). Expansion applies democratic principles to more regions, groups and institutions; deepening strengthens existing institutions and practices.

2. Consider the following statements about NCERT's guidelines for political reform:
1. Legal-constitutional changes by themselves can overcome challenges to democracy.
2. Laws that give political actors incentives to do good things have more chances of working than laws that ban things.
3. The Right to Information Act is an example of a law that empowers people.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (b). NCERT says "legal-constitutional changes by themselves cannot overcome challenges to democracy".

3. With reference to the "None of the Above" (NOTA) option, consider the following statements:
1. It was introduced following the Supreme Court's judgment in PUCL v Union of India in September 2013.
2. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, NOTA received more than 2% of the votes polled.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: (a). NOTA received 0.99% of the votes in 2024 (1.06% in 2019).

4. With reference to the electoral bond scheme, consider the following statements:
1. It was struck down by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court on 15 February 2024.
2. The Court held that it violated voters' right to information under Article 19(1)(a).
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: (c). The judgment in Association for Democratic Reforms v Union of India was unanimous, in two opinions.

5. Consider the following statements about the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023:
1. It came into force on 16 April 2026.
2. Seats for women were reserved in the 2024 Lok Sabha election under it.
3. The reservation takes effect after a delimitation based on the first Census taken after the Act's commencement.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (b). The 2024 election was held before the Act came into force, and Article 334A ties the reservation to a post-Census delimitation.

6. "Legal-constitutional changes by themselves cannot overcome challenges to democracy." Examine this statement with reference to electoral reforms in India. (150 words)

NCERT's in-text activities: describe the challenge in each cartoon and in each of the fourteen cases, and place it in a category; sort the challenges by sphere and by type, with one Indian example for each; list the five challenges India should address first, with reasons; choose and defend a reform for doctors' absenteeism and for political funding, and frame one more problem of your own; write your own definition of good democracy in not more than 50 words.

📦 Revision Capsule

Sources

• NCERT, Democratic Politics II, Textbook in Political Science for Class X, ch. 8 "Challenges to Democracy", 2020-21 edition (file jess408.pdf in the whole-book zip), as archived on 9 October 2021 — Wayback Machine.
• NCERT, Democratic Politics II, ch. 4 "Political Parties", Reprint 2026-27 — ncert.nic.in PDF; ch. 5 "Outcomes of Democracy", Reprint 2026-27 — ncert.nic.in PDF.
• Election Commission of India, final electoral roll 2024, PIB, 9 February 2024 — PIB 2005189.
• Election Commission of India data on the 2024 general election, PIB, 26 December 2024 — PIB 2088064.
• Association for Democratic Reforms, analysis of the winners of Lok Sabha 2024 — adrindia.org.
• Election Commission of India, Press Note No. ECI/PN/02/2022 on enhanced limits of candidates' election expenditure, 6 January 2022 — ceodelhi.gov.in PDF.
• Constitution of India, Article 326 and Article 334A — legislative.gov.in.
• Ministry of Law and Justice, The Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, Gazette of India, 28 September 2023; notification S.O. 1922(E), 16 April 2026 (Gazette of India).
• Supreme Court of India, People's Union for Civil Liberties v Union of India, judgment of 27 September 2013 — Indian Kanoon.
• Supreme Court of India, Association for Democratic Reforms v Union of India (electoral bonds), judgment of 15 February 2024, 2024 INSC 113.
• PIB, release on the report of the High-Level Committee on One Nation, One Election, 14 March 2024 — PIB 2014497.
• PRS Legislative Research, The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 — prsindia.org.
• News On AIR, "Lok Sabha extends tenure of JPC on One Nation, One Election", 29 July 2026 — newsonair.gov.in.
• Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Sashakt Panchayat-Netri Abhiyan, PIB, 11 March 2026 — PIB 2238655.
• PIB, "Census 2027: India's First Digital Enumeration Exercise", 25 April 2026 — static.pib.gov.in PDF.
• International Court of Justice, Press Release 2010/25, advisory opinion on Kosovo's declaration of independence, 22 July 2010 — icj-cij.org.
• Al Jazeera, on Saudi women driving as the ban was lifted, 24 June 2018 — aljazeera.com; on Nepal's new Prime Minister being sworn in, 27 March 2026 — aljazeera.com.
• US Department of State, Background Note: Nepal (archived), on the Constituent Assembly's first session of 28 May 2008 — 2009-2017.state.gov.
• UN News, "Secretary-General congratulates first President of Nepal", 22 July 2008 — news.un.org.
• The Kathmandu Post, on the promulgation of Nepal's Constitution, 21 September 2015 — kathmandupost.com.
• NPR, on Evo Morales's inauguration as President of Bolivia, 22 January 2006 — npr.org.