Day 64 – Q 2. Why is transparency important for democratic governance? What are its benefits? Illustrate with the help of suitable examples. (10 Marks)

2. Why is transparency important for democratic governance? What are its benefits? Illustrate with the help of suitable examples. (10 Marks)

लोकतांत्रिक शासन व्यवस्था के लिए पारदर्शिता क्यों महत्वपूर्ण है? इसके क्या फायदे हैं? उपयुक्त उदाहरणों की सहायता से स्पष्ट कीजिए।

Approach 

Students are expected to write about the transparency and it’s importance for democratic governance. Highlight it’s benefit with suitable examples. 

Introduction 

Transparency is the condition of openness of system where no aspect whether related to information, principles, actions, rules etc is hidden from the stakeholders in terms of accessibility.

Body

Importance of transparency for democratic governance:

• Democracy, accountability and participation: Absence of, or inaccessibility to, information often creates a sense of disempowerment, mistrust and frustration.
• For example RTI Act achieved its prime objective of bringing about a qualitative change in the democratic governance. 
• Increased efficiency and effectiveness: Greater transparency can also bring benefits to government themselves, directly or indirectly. Therefore, transparency is also considered to be a key component of public policy and efficiency.
• For example Helps in Social welfare reduces poverty, inequality gap and promote egalitarian society. Eg- Disha App and my gov. 
• Against corruption: Free and guaranteed access to information enables citizens, the media and law enforcement agencies to use official records as a means to uncover cases of corruption and maladministration. Lack of Transparency creates opaqueness in decision making which lack objectivity, eg – Bofors scam in defense.

Benefits:

• Inclusion of various sectors: voice of marginalized sections of the society, gender inclusion and financial inclusion can be considered.
• Openness benefits citizens: Open governments are built on robust and inclusive engagement between citizens and governments. Fluid two-way communication between citizens and governments allows governments to better understand citizens’ true needs and to respond to those needs.
• For example transparency works against favoritism, crony Capitalism and nepotism.

Conclusion

Transparency centrally defines the processes, mediums and commitment a government chooses as the basis of how it shares information with its citizens. It is necessary to guarantee good governance. Information is valuable to the electorate for democratic processes to function successfully.