Good Governance, RTI and Participatory Development
Good Governance is one of the normative concepts of Governance which describes how the public institutions ought to conduct public policy and manage the public resources. The key components of Good Governance are legitimacy, accountability, competence, respect for law, protection of human rights etc. By legitimacy, we imply that the government should have consent of the governed; Accountability encompasses transparency and answerability to actions, Competence refers to effective policy making, implementation and service delivery.
Thus, Good governance is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective, efficient, equitable, inclusive and follows the rule of law {read this article to enhance meaning of Good Governance}. It promotes gender equality, sustains the environment, enables citizens to exercise personal freedoms, and provides tools to reduce poverty, deprivation, fear, and violence.
Key Hindrances to Good Governance
Key hindrances and challenges to good governance include corruption, inefficiency of bureaucracy, nepotism in public administration, improper use of resources, poor planning strategy, criminalisation of politics, attitudinal problems of the civil servants , lack of accountability, red tapism, low levels of compliance of rules and low awareness, ineffective implementation of laws etc.
Measures for good governance taken by India
The key measures taken towards good governance in India include decentralization by constitutional / legal /policy measures, electoral reforms, RIT Act, Citizen’s charters, Lokpal Act etc. However, Good governance does not depend on good policy advice only but also on processes and incentives to design and implement policies on good governance. The necessary preconditions for Good Governance include Sound Legal Framework, Robust institutional mechanisms, competent human resources, apt policies and effective management.
Questions & Answers
What role has been played by RTI towards good governance?
RTI act is one of the landmark legislations in India which has brewed a social revolution and has played a vital role in the governance. Today, RTI uses are active throughout the country and asking questions on variety of subjects. This act has produced better impacts on quality of life of the poor and marginalized and has brought in positive changes in levels of corruption and accountability.
The act has emphasized on Good Governance of which the major elements are – informed citizenry, people’s participation, transparency and accountability, reduction of corruption etc. Information is crucial for good governance as it reflects and captures the government activities and processes. If the people don’t know about the actions of those who rule them, they cannot take meaningful part in the affairs of the society.
Establish the link between Participatory Development and Good Governance
The central focus of participatory development is raising the quality of participation society in development. Good governance is the foundation of participatory development in as much as it provides the government functions needed to promote participation and create the environment in which participatory processes take place.
Good governance as a function of government does not refer solely to support for participatory development; as participatory processes evolve, good governance develops into such functioning that supports wider and more mature people’s participation. In this sense, participatory development promotes good governance in its turn. The projection of the concept of good governance onto the national system an orientation of a state – then progressively boosts people’s trust in their government, inasmuch as, through good governance, government services improve in effectiveness and efficiency. Thus in the long run, good governance evolves into stronger aspirations for further democratization. The strength of a state’s desire for democracy also influences the process of formation of political and administrative structures and government’s capability to translate this national stance into action. In turn, this, too, influences the evolution of participatory development. Participatory development and good governance are consequently interrelated, as are the two component elements of good governance, the ideal orientation of the state and the ideal functioning of government.
