Progressive states in the country are undermining the importance of the democratic system, while several underdeveloped ones remain at crossroads, Pushpesh Pant, the dean of social international studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, said on Tuesday.

Along with a host of other academics, Pant was in the town to address a seminar, India: Issues and Challenges, organised by University Grants Commission. The political science department of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, hosted the seminar.

Pant said: “The so-called protagonists of democratic states are grabbing power by social engineering. It is painful to see that political pundits are lowering the status of constitutional bodies and sizing down the importance of political offices and agencies.”

Delivering the keynote address, Mahendra Prasad Singh, the former head of department of political science, Delhi University, said: “A powerful institution of Lokpal at the central-level and lokayuktas at the state-level is essential to deal with cases of corruption in the political and administrative classes.”

Nalin Kant Jha, dean, school of social sciences and international studies, Pondicherry Central University, said Indian democracy has witnessed incremental changes in the nature of party system in different states since 1989, pleading that domestic politics do not national interests. In the next 20 years, India will emerge as a formidable super global power.”