Good Governance Day

Context:

“Good Governance Day” is celebrated on December 25 marking the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party doyen Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Firstly, the day is meant to pay homage to the visionary and reformer who fast-tracked all-round development.
Secondly, it was to use the day as a way to increase awareness of government services and accountability among people and inculcate “good governance” as a habit for civil servants.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee: a foundational figure for the BJP

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on December 25, 1924 in Gwalior, present-day Madhya Pradesh.
A poet-politician, he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1939, becoming a pracharak (full-time worker) in 1947.
He held his first major national position as the External Affairs Minister in Morarji’s post Emergency government in 1975.
While that government soon fell (in 1977), Vajpayee had earned major plaudits for his tenure, with his UN General Assembly speech in Hindi drawing praise from all quarters.
Books written includes – National Integration – 1961, Dynamics of an Open Society – 1977, Kucha Lekha, Kucha Bhashana – 1996, Rajaniti ki Rapatili Rahem – 1997, etc.

An able administrator

While he first became Prime Minister in 1996 (for 16 days) it was his 1998-1999 and 1999-2004 terms that left a lasting impact on the nation.
Under his tenure, India formally became a nuclear power despite significant criticism from the West and ably faced war and peace with Pakistan.
India undertook massive public welfare projects including Sarva Shikshya Abhiyaan and PM Gramin Sadak Yojana, and ushered in a new era of foreign investment and international relations, especially with the US.

Good governance

Governance refers to all processes of governing, the institutions, processes and practices through which issues of common concern are decided upon and regulated.
Good governance refers primarily to the process whereby public institutions conduct public affairs, manage public resources and guarantee the realisation of human rights.
This includes the process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced; the capacity of the government to effectively formulate and implement sound policies; and the respect of citizens and the state for the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them
Six Indicators for Promotion of Good Governance

Benefits of good governance:

Efficient Processes – To start, good governance ensures consistency and repeatability in a corporation. In turn, the overall productivity and efficiency of the organization are boosted.

Visibility of Errors – when the organization adopts the principles of good governance, transparency and accountability become the watchword.
Public trust and Goodwill – The overall output of good governance is the right products and services.
Accountability and responsibility can be ascertained and right course of action can be taken easily.
Financial Sustainability – Good governance significantly reduces unnecessary expenses and spend more on progressive needs.

Good Governance through e-Governance

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) with their emergence have led to development, growth and opportunities throughout the world.
The main objective of e-governance is to simplify and improve governance and enable people’s participation in governance through internet.
E- governance is applied in following ways:

Putting government laws and legislations online.
Putting information relating to government plans, budgets, expenditures and performances online.
Putting online key judicial decisions like environment decisions etc. which are important to citizens and create precedence for future actions.
Making available contact addresses of local, regional, national and international officials online
Making available the reports of enquiry committees or commissions online.

According to the Good Governance Day Report published in 2014 by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology – Highlights the key achievements and activities of the ministry that have played an instrumental role in furthering the cause of Good Governance.

Challenges of good governance:

Capacity Building – Access to information, participation, innovation and accountability are needed to build an environment for capacity building.
Administrative Responses – people seeking access to healthcare or livelihood facilities are required to pay several visits to multiple government offices located in different parts of the district headquarters.

Karnataka, for example, has made available land records for some 20 million farmers by placing them online under its Bhoomi Initiative.

Corruption at various levels such as arising due to centralization of power and authority
Criminalization of politics and consequent violations of human rights.
Weak legislators with criminal records, poor knowledge about development issues and low level of education
Poor people’s participation in development processes and less active civil society
Poorly empowered grassroots democratic institutions, poor coordination among the political, administrative and community level organizations and institutions.
Delay in delivery of judicial decisions and poor participation of disadvantaged in decision making process.

Way forward

Public sector modernisation and good governance is no longer an option, but a necessity.
It will help governments respond to changing societal needs and maintain competitiveness in an uncertain international environment.
This can be achieved through initiatives such as Good Governance Index 2019; which is a scientifically prepared tool based on various parameters of good governance which assess the level of any state at a given point of time and help in shaping future development.

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