Please read the following text and answer the questions below:

[NOTE: This is from an alternate timeline where the Mughal Empire never collapsed and India was never colonized by European powers].

"THE DAKSHINA NAD

The only rival to the Mughal Empire on the Indian sub-continent, and indeed the only other nation there, the Dakshina Nad is a federation of Southern Indian and other states spread around the Indian Ocean and south-east Asia that has evolved out of the Kanyakumari Pact, a defensive alliance formed in 1697 to protect the states of southern India against the expansion of the less aggressive [without Aurangzeb] but still threatening Mughal Empire to their north. In overall organisation the Dakshina Nad is a Thalassocracy, a state with primarily maritime realms. It has a population of more than five hundred million people.

Although officially known as the Kanyakumari Federation, the more commonly used name of the nation, the Dakshina Nad, has grown out of the traditional term for South India, with Dakshina meaning 'south' and Nad meaning 'land'. It is also occasionally known as the Dravida Nad or simply Dravida.

The Kanyakumari Federation is a federal government with elements similar to that of Switzerland of the real world. Its administrative capital (roughly equivalent to Brussels in the European Union) is the city of Kanyakumari at the very southern tip of India, in the separate Federal District of Kanyakumari. It is here that the original Kanyakumari Pact was signed in 1697, and where the Kanyakumari Federation was formed in 1901 after long years of increasingly close cooperation for mutual protection against the Mughal Empire and other threats.

The government of the Dakshina Nad helps to coordinate projects that affect and/or span the entire Federation, such as the space programme, the Dakshina Nad Lace [internet], elements of the railway and transport network, and large international engineering efforts such as the Rama's Bridge project.

The Kanyakumari Pact was originally intended for defence alone. As such it allowed members to war among themselves, but also obliged them to allow other Pact forces to move through their territory in the event of war with the Mughal Empire. Over time and with the creation of the Kanyakumari Federation this has evolved into a fully united system.

Originally each Pact member was entirely responsible for their own laws and so on, though they were also obliged to tolerate the religious beliefs of visitors from other Pact nations, a consideration that was considered essential if people from all of the Pact nations were to be able to work together.

This remains largely the case today, although the Pact and later the Federation have taken over elements of external economic policy and also of defence, unifying the navies of the states of the Dakshina Nad in 1760, and their armies and air forces on the creation of the Kanyakumari Federation in 1901.

Over time the Dakshina Nad political system has taken on board many political concepts originating in Europe. The merging of these two sets of political concepts have gradually, and not without problems, formed a political system as effective as, if different from, any of the political systems of the real world.

The royal families of the states making up the Kanyakumari Federation (where they exist) each retain their position in their home state. In addition, the position of head of state of the Federation rotates among each of the leaders of the constituent states in turn on a two year basis [this is similar to the Majlis Raja-Raja system in Malaysia in the real world].

The Vai Arasan (Tamil for Assembly of Kings) made up of representatives of the monarchs and nobility of all of the states of the Federation acts as an advisory council in the Federation, performing a similar function to the durbars of the individual states. The Ashta Pradhan, derived from the Maratha council of the same name, forms a council of ministers for the Kanyakumari Federation in parallel with this.

Most of the governments of the Dakshina Nad use similar organisations, such as Navaratnas, at a more local level, and most have at least some form of parliamentary system.

The politics of the Dakshina Nad, and indeed of all of India remain based on tribal and geographic boundaries, as they have been for centuries, rather than on peoples identification with and alignment to their religion [as happened due to the actions of the Emperor Aurangzeb in the real world].

The Dakshina Nad is lacking in coal so it has long made use of hydroelectricity, wind power, and nuclear power to drive its industry instead. The Dakshina Nad leads the world in space and in space technology.

There are a number of powerful companies in the Dakshina Nad. These are roughly similar to the Tayefe Karkhanas of the Mughal Empire, and are known as Kulam Thoyil Kadai (Family Workshops). These have varying degrees of political power in the different states of the Dakshina Nad.

Both sides of the border between the Dakshina Nad and the Mughal Empire are dotted with fortresses built to defend against the other side in the eighteenth century and often upgraded in the nineteenth century. In the present time these fortresses remain as picturesque tourist attractions.

The Dakshina Nad and the Mughal Empire are linked by an extensive network of roads and railway lines.

The official language of the Dakshina Nad is Tamil, although many other languages are spoken across the regions it controls. Telugu is the second most commonly-used language in the Dakshina Nad. Because of this most popular writing in the Dakshina Nad is in Tamil and Telugu, although there is much published work in other local languages.

The Dakshina Nad officially uses the Hindu Calendar, though a different version to that used in the Mughal Empire. The Islamic, Buddhist and Christian calendars are also widely used, the latter particularly in the Philippines.

The flag of the Dakshina Nad consists of nine vertical stripes in colours derived from the national colours of all of the states in the Kanyakumari Pact, and from the major religions of all of the peoples within it.

The currency of the Dakshina Nad is the Kanyakumari Rupee, first issued in 1744 after the unification of the various currencies of the states making up the Kanyakumari Pact. This currency remains distinct from the Mughal Rupee.

When the members of the Kanyakumari Pact unified their currencies into one, a law permitting the free movement of labour within the Kanyakumari Pact also came into effect. Over time this law has acted to eliminate the worst excesses of the governments of the Dakshina Nad states as people have tended to vote with their feet to escape bad government. By the present day many of the states have, out of self-interest, evolved into enlightened absolute monarchies.

The Hindu caste system still exists within the Dakshina Nad, although it has been weakened over time by the actions of the Sikhs and the example of the Mughal Empire. The strictness with which the caste system is applied varies from state to state within the Dakshina Nad, from quite strictly in Thanjavur to not at all in Pudhiya Kozhikode. In none of the states of the Dakshina Nad is it an entirely insurmountable barrier to individual progress or achievement, with economic and social mobility being entirely accepted.

The special forces of the Dakshina Nad have come, over the years, to be known as the Rakshasas, after the Hindu demons of the same name.

Along with others, the Nair make up a significant percentage of the armed forces of the Dakshina Nad, and of Pudhiya Kozhikode in particular.

The success of the Kanyakumari Pact and the Kanyakumari Federation has inspired other nations around the world to adopt similar forms of government. In particular the Banten Pact which led to the formation of Sarekat.

There are a number of world-renowned universities in the Dakshina Nad. In particular the universities of Mysore, Kandy, Kanyakumari and Manila are very well respected."

Pretend you are a political philosopher from our timeline. What are your thoughts on the Dakshina Nad? Does it have a good political system? What are its benefits? What are its problems? What would you improve?