Talk:Democracy in India

Initial Thoughts

I should note that I've noticed a number of issues that need to be addressed that should keep you busy in the meantime. To start, the introduction needs to be greatly expanded. I'd suggest that there be roughly a paragraph, or at least a few sentences, for every section; if not, there should be a concise summary amounting to roughly a paragraph for every header. Beyond that, there needs to be a great deal more deliberation on the actual function of India's democratic institutions. I immediately noticed the fact that there's no discussion of the mobilization of millions of Indian government workers to conduct elections, a key feature of the country's democracy. These are the sorts of details that are needed for an article to meet the GA criteria. To meet more basic criteria, though, there needs to be a much more substantial elaboration of each institution's role in the democratic process. For one, the Election Commission of India should absolutely have its own section, and the health of the nation's democracy explored in far greater detail in each political era. Part of the WP:Balance issue derives from the fact that only the Modi regime is really discussed at length. Even though it has had the most significant track record of contributing to democratic backsliding in recent memory, Indira Gandhi's actions while in office would certainly be expected to be of interest to a historically minded reader as well, as would Nehru and Gandhi's vision for the country's democracy as it formed in the aftermath of Indepence and the Partition, and how that vision diverged from the way that democracy is viewed both in India and globally today.

Why did India become the world's largest democracy while China became the world's largest autocracy? How does and did India maintain the world's largest democracy? How do democratic institutions differ at the local versus regional versus national level? How do these institutions operate in places like Jammu & Kashmir? Do they differ in any fundamental way for minorities? If so, has that always been the case, or is that a recent development? What about for Scheduled Tribes? How has technological, infrastructural, economic, political, and societal development from independence onward impacted the landscape of Indian democracy? Has AI or social media had any significant impact on these trends? If so, how and why? All of these are questions that I would expect to be in an article on Indian democracy matching the GA criteria. I can tell you for a fact that there are sources that discuss these exact issues. I'll go find some of them for you, if you'd like, and send them your way. In the meantime, I'd go looking on Wiley, JSTOR, Oxford, Cambridge, Huma-Num, Stanford Encyclopedia, or any number of Indian humanities research repositories for relevant source material.

Apart from these suggestions, there were a few structural and rhetorical issues I noticed. At times the text felt spliced and disjointed, more like trivia than a coherent prose with a firm line of reasoning. At other moments the text was weighty and tangential, still lacking clear structure or intention. There was a bit of loaded language at times that, while restrained and reasonably in line with the tone taken by the sources consulted, is airing on the side of an NPOV violation. I'd suggest a broad review of the tone used throughout the article as written thus far, and attempts to improve it somewhat, before moving forward with any substantial additions.

Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. I'm greatly looking forward to working with you on this review and bringing this article up to standard. I'll try to post a few sources in the coming days that should help you out. In any event, I wish you the best of luck working with my suggestions until June, and will look out for any word coming from your end. All the best, in any case.

CSGinger14 (talk) 09:06, 21 May 2026 (UTC)

Grading

Please leave section empty

Response by nominator

@CSGinger14: Thanks so much for taking this on! Unfortunately, due to other commitments, I may need a bit more time (perhaps a month or more) to rework the article based on your suggestions. I nominated this for GA about a year ago, and having grown as an editor since then, I can see it needs considerably more work before it's ready for GA status. It might be worth putting the nomination on hold in the meantime while I work on it. Given your interest, though, I'd love for you to be the reviewer when I'm done, if you're open to that? — EarthDude (Talk) 08:08, 22 May 2026 (UTC)

@EarthDude That'd work just fine! I'll plan to touch base with you on June 20. The article will be placed on hold until then, and I'll try to send over some resources, and do a slightly more in depth review prior to that. Let me know if there's anything I can help with in the meantime!

Best,

CSGinger14 (talk) 02:47, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

Hi @EarthDude, just wanted to see how things were coming, anything I can help with? Unfortunately I can only do so much work to improve the article before it becomes a conflict of interest. I'll be more than happy to provide you sourcing though. Please do let me know if you'd find it helpful as a starting point, I'd be happy to help.

All the best,

CSGinger14 (talk) 20:29, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

I'd really appreciate you providing me sources for it! :D — EarthDude (Talk) 02:57, 31 May 2026 (UTC)

• @EarthDude and CSGinger14: It has been a while since someone has edited this page. If further work is being done on this article, would it be better to close this nomination for now and repost it at GAN when it is ready? Z1720 (talk) 02:15, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

  I'm okay with that. — EarthDude (Talk) 02:42, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

  Seems entirely fair. @EarthDude Here are some initial sources to help you get started:

  Books and Essay Collections

  • Tharoor, Shashi (2016). "Democracy, the Press, the Parliamentary System, and the Rule of Law". An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India (PDF). Aleph Book Company. pp. 93-118 – via Internet Archive.
  • Tharoor, Shashi (2016). An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India (PDF). Aleph Book Company – via Internet Archive.
  • Kohli, Atul (2004). "(6) Origins of a Fragmented-Multiclass State and a Sluggish Economy: Colonial India - (7) India's Fragmented-Multiclass State and Protected Industrialization". State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery. Cambridge University Press. pp. 221-288. ISBN 0-521-83670-0.
  • Guha, Ramachandra (2008). India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. London: Picador of Pan Macmillan Ltd. ISBN 978-0-330-50554-3.
  • Das, Gurcharan (2012). "(2) A People But No State". India Grows at Night: A Liberal Case for a Strong State. New Delhi: Penguin Group. pp. 49-74. ISBN 9780670084708.
  • Dalrymple, William (2015-06-22). "The Mutual Genocide of Indian Partition". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2026-06-19.
  • Varshney, Ashutosh (2014). "Battles Half Won: India's Improbable Democracy" (PDF) – via marksetzler.org.
  • Khilnani, Sunil (1997). The Idea of India. Penguin Group. ISBN 0-374-17417-2.
  • Corbridge, Stuart; Harriss, John (2000). Reinventing India: Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and Popular Democracy. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
  • Austin, Granville (1966). The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation (Oxford India Paperback ed.). New Delhi: Oxford University Press (published 1999). ISBN 0195649591.

  Additionally, you should go look into this guy's research / scholarship. He works for the Carnegie Endowment and is one of the West's foremost subject matter experts. Let me know if you need help accessing any of the sources listed. I have excerpts from some of them I can share.

  Journal articles / Free Resources:^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]}

Good luck! Let me know if there's anything I can do!

CSGinger14 (talk) 20:04, 19 June 2026 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for these sources! :D — EarthDude (Talk) 07:24, 20 June 2026 (UTC)