GOOD GOVERNANCE INDEX TO MONITOR STATES, BETTER REDRESS SYSTEM

GOOD GOVERNANCE INDEX TO MONITOR STATES, BETTER REDRESS SYSTEM

THE NEWS

The new Modi Government has planned a ‘Good Governance Index’ to assess and rank states, to achieve the objective of ‘minimum government, maximum governance’.

THE GOOD GOVERNANCE INDEX:

• Underlining its focus on governance issues, the government is planning to operationalize the Good Governance Index for States from July 1.
• The index will measure the governance of states, rank them and drive them to act in target areas.
• Performance Indicators: It will assess state performance in 10 sectors and through 51 indicators. The sectors are:
  • Agriculture
  • Commerce and Industry
  • Human Resource Development
  • Public Health
  • Public Infrastructure
  • Economic Governance
  • Social Welfare and Development
  • Judicial and Public Security
  • Environment and Citizen-Centric Governance Measures
• Objective: The index is aimed at creating a scientific framework and critical assessment of each state’s problem areas which require additional and targeted action at both the state as well as central levels.

EXPANSION OF E-OFFICE & PUBLIC GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL:

• The Government has planned some key projects aimed at ‘minimum government, maximum governance’
• It includes electronic offices (e-office) down to the state secretariat level to ensure paperless functioning and further optimization of the grievance redressal system to reduce the disposal time.

Electronic-Office System:

• The e-office system will be extended to all attached and subordinate offices of the Government of India as well as to state secretariats.
• The expansion of the e-office will be launched in July or August. As many as 48 central ministries have moved so far to 80 percent paperless office working.

Public Grievance Redressal:

• The government had placed a huge focus on ‘public grievance redressal’, by making it even more action-oriented.
• It has been identified that the highest public grievances are related to the railway's ministry, followed by the postal and telecom departments.
• An upgraded Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) will be launched within the next three months for better ‘optimization’ of the ‘grievance redressal time’ to shorten the processing period.
• It will further allow the public to indicate sector/department wise grievances for faster processing.

UNDERSTANDING GOOD GOVERNANCE:

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• Governance refers to Exercise of Power and Authority by Political Leaders for the Well Being of their Citizens and Subjects.
• It also ensures a Leader's actions and Policies to ensure the Development of Both the Society and Nation as a Whole.

UNDP defines governance as “the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels. It comprises the mechanisms, processes, and institutions, through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences”.

The World Bank defines governance as “the method through which power is exercised in the management of a country’s political, economic and social resources for development”.

• There are four pillars on which the edifice of good governance rests, in essence, are:
  • Ethos (of service to the citizen)
  • Ethics (honesty, integrity, and transparency)
  • Equity (treating all citizens alike with empathy for the weaker sections)
  • Efficiency (speedy and effective delivery of service without harassment and using ICT increasingly).
• The other important indicators of Good Governance are as explained below:

Transparency and Accountability:

• Government is held accountable to people for the Policies and Programmes that have been made.
• Therefore, to be a good governing authority and to keep a check if the needs of people are being met, there should be transparency in its functioning.
• For example Right to Information Act & citizen charter initiative.

Rule of Law:

• Good Governance should have a Rule of Law. Good Governance must ensure Equality among its Citizens and the Rule of Law to the supreme power of Authority.
• For example Economic Survey 2016-17 calls for Transparency of Rules Act (TORA) so that citizen becomes aware of laws.

Equity and Inclusiveness:

• It means that Good Governance must ensure that all the Members of Society without Discrimination of any kind, from grass root levels, must be taken into consideration during Policymaking.
• Everybody should be included in Society and nobody should be Alienated from it.

Honesty and Integrity:

• The Government must be honest in its deeds. The authorities must not forget that they are elected by the people and must work for their betterment.
• The only honest and hardworking government can be called good governance.
• For Good Governance, it is essential that citizens, communities, Socio-Political-Economic organizations, as well as authorities, govern themselves ethically.
• Participative - e.g., 73rd and 74th amendment act, 1992.
• Responsive -e.g., digital era governance through digital India mission.
• Networking -e.g., a public-private partnership in public service delivery.

BENEFITS OF THE PLANNING:

• Bringing on the same boat: The index is an attempt to bring together the states which are economical, culturally and socially diverse into a common data-driven framework.
• Painting the exact picture: The index also points out the challenges faced by the country and those differences that are weakening the unity of India. It will paint the same picture of the real suffering in our society.
• A call to act: It will act as a call for the government to formulate effective policies and implements more efficient regulations to uplift India in areas where the overhaul is needed.

CONCLUSION:

Good governance is fundamental and an ideal, which dictates the design and shape of tools for improving governance outcomes and processes. However, very few nations and societies have come close to achieving good governance in its totality. India, in order to, ensures sustainable human development needs to take action to work towards this ideal with the aim of making it a reality. It will only become possible only when the disadvantaged groups feel they have an equal stake and should perceive an adequate flow of benefits to ensure the legitimacy of the State.