A recent poll among over 5,000 young people on who would make a good prime minister, more than half suggested a presidential form of government. Surely, this must have emanated from the sad experiences of horse trading in Parliament over policy debates, including whimsical partners walking out and walking in. This reinforces the point that the Westminster model of democracy is unsuitable for a stable government in India.

It is not only the coalition system but the concomitant pork barrel politics, when the ruling alliance is in minority, that increases uncertainty and impacts national interest and growth. Faced with a similar situation, Sri Lanka moved from a Westminster model to a French-style semi-presidential system in 1978. Read More

Jyothi Shankaran

    Jyothi’s last role was as Senior Editor with the business news channel Bloomberg TV India. He also worked as News Editor at business-standard.com, the online version of the business newspaper Business Standard. Jyothi is a chemical engineer from the Regional Engineering College, Srinagar.