View of GOOD GOVERNANCE IN INDIA: HURDLES AND INSIGHTS

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VOLUME: 08, Special Issue 01, (SDCS-2021) Paper id-IJIERM-VIII-I, February 2021 46

GOOD GOVERNANCE IN INDIA: HURDLES AND INSIGHTS Ajaz Ahmad Dar

Research Scholar, Bhagwant University Ajmer, Rajasthan Dr. Dinesh Mandot

Registrar, Bhagwant University Ajmer, Rajasthan

Abstract - Good governance is an emerging subject of study and has universal application.

It needs to explore ways and means by which it can be realized in a state. Once it is accomplished, it would be a panacea to all problems of maladministration like corruption, incompetency, inefficiency, illiteracy, red-tape, unemployment, injustice and citizen’s grievance etc. Good governance will lead to peace harmony, integrity, citizen-friendly, development, efficiency, all round development of a state, accountability, responsive government, common brotherhood, equality, justice, freedom and ultimately lead to welfare state. Good governance in India is inevitable. Government and people of India must complimentarily explore all possible steps to ensure good governance. The objective of this research is to examine and explore the challenges and prospects of good governance in India. The methodology will be qualitative in nature and secondary data will be analyzed and examined, which includes books, magazines, journals, research articles, newspapers and debates etc.

Keywords: Citizen-friendly, development, good governance incompetency, common brotherhood, accountability, responsive government.

1 INTRODUCTION

No common definition of governance exists. There is a divergence in opinions between conservatives and leftists, between progressives and communists on the nature of government.¹The term "good governance" is derived from the Greek verb "kubernao,"

meaning "to steer." The definition of government in the dictionary is how to rule. It is the mechanism conducted by the family, including the government and non-governmental organizations. It refers to a mechanism or act or feature of exercising power in a given territory to control man's affairs. Good governance means the decision-making process and its abuse-free and corruption-free execution. The problem of good governance has been generally considered as one of the primary ingredients for poverty reduction and sustainable growth in recent years.²

The word 'Governance' was first used in the 1989 World Bank report 'Sub-Saharan Africa-from Crisis to Sustainable Development' to characterize the need for structural change and a healthier and more responsive public sector in Sub-Saharan countries. It defined governance as “the exercise of political power to manage a nation’s affairs.”³ It did not, however, specifically refer to the connotation of 'good.' It was only in the foreword that the phrase 'good governance' was used by former World Bank President Barber Conable (1986-1991), referring to it as a “public service that is efficient, a judicial system that is reliable and an administration that is accountable to its public.”⁴In the Bank's 1992 publication, Governance and Development, the principle of governance was further developed. In this publication, governance was described as “the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development.”⁵The Bank later substantiated this description in 1994, as “Governance is epitomized by predictable, open and enlightened policy making (that is, transparent processes); a bureaucracy imbued with a professional ethos; an executive arm of government accountable for its actions; and a strong civil society participating in public affairs; and all behaving under the rule of law”.⁶Subsequently, in 1998, an annual report Governance in Asia: From crisis to Opportunity,from the World Bank presented a more convincing definition of good governance. Four main pillars of good governance are drawn up in the report: accountability, transparency, predictability and participation.⁷

The United Nations Development Programme describes governance as “the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority in the management of a country‟s affairs at all levels. Governance comprises the mechanisms, processes and institutions through

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which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their political rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences.”⁸

Good governance has eight features, according to the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESPACP):⁹

1. Participation: The primary cornerstone of good governance is engagement of both men and women in administration. In decision-making, both men and women should have a say, either directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions which serve their interests. Such wide engagement is focused on freedom of association and speech, as well as the opportunity to engage constructively.

2. Rule of law: Good governance needs proper procedural mechanisms which are impartially implemented. Human rights, autonomous and imperial police services, and administration are all expected to be secured.

3. Transparency: This ensures that information is publicly available and immediately accessible to those who will be impacted by and implementation of those decisions.

In this respect, India's Right to Information Act plays a major role.

4. Responsiveness: good governance ensures that all parties can be represented within a reasonable timeline by the institutions and processes.

5. Consensus orientation: In a society, good governance requires a broad consensus on what is in the best interest of the community and how this can be achieved in a sustainable and reasonable way.

6. Equity and Inclusiveness: The well-being of a society depends on the general growth of its inhabitants, including women, poor people, as well as backward people economically and socially, without which the true advancement of society cannot be achieved. Their fair representation is also necessary in the decision-making process.

7. Effectiveness and Efficiency: Good governance ensures that the mechanism and organizations deliver outputs that satisfy the needs of stakeholders by ensuring the optimum use of the tools available to them.

8. Accountability: Decision-makers are responsible to the public as well as to institutional stakeholders in government, private sector and civil society organizations. Depending on the organization and whether the decision is internal or external to an organization, this accountability differs.

In the Indian background, what is 'good' governance? The primary task to good governance relates to social development. Jawaharlal Nehru expressed this challenge in his famous

"tryst with destiny" speech on 14 August 1947 as, “the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunities”.¹⁰The notion of good governance is not new to the Indian world. While paying attention to the state of affairs in ancient India, it is noted that the king or ruler was bound by the dharma, which was intended primarily to ensure the people's good governance.¹¹Mahatma Gandhi promoted the "Ram Rajya" idea for India based on the ideals of good governance, which inevitably meant dreaming of India as a welfare state where the interests of the down-trodden, the welfare of the commoner, and their development by indigenous industries would become the hallmark. After freedom, by having special provisions in the Indian Constitution, the Indian Constitution was also framed to protect justice, liberty, equality and empower weaker sections, including women, youth and poor, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The history of India over the past six decades has clearly demonstrated that good governance in India aims at expanding social and economic opportunities, eliminating poverty and providing services effectively at the grassroots level. Every individual must be encouraged and have the right to be consulted, to articulate their opinions that must be heard and considered, to engage in different governance decision-making processes and to interact in substantive ways in order for good governance to work effectively. In India, two big steps have recently been taken to empower the common man and to work efficiently in governance, including the right to know and e-governance. ¹²

2 HURDLES TO GOOD GOVERNANCE IN INDIA

1. Women empowerment: According to Swami Vivekananda, “it is impossible to think about the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is

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impossible for a bird to fly on only one wing.” One means of measuring the condition of the country is to evaluate the position of its women. It is unacceptable that women are not properly represented in government agencies and other allied industries, because they constitute almost 50 percent of the population. It is also necessary to ensure empowerment for women in order to ensure good governance.

2. Growing incidence of violence: It is known that recourse to unlawful force is a law and order problem. Yet as one looks at it from the viewpoint of the ideals of good government, it becomes clear that the first step to growth is peace and order. Of this harmful culture of violence, strikes, protests, terror attacks are burdensome. But when the government uses power to contain these cases, the state police often abuse the civil rights of ordinary people. To deal with this danger through dialogue needs a strong vision, bravery and understanding.

3. Corruption: India's high degree of corruption has been generally viewed as a serious barrier to improving the standard of governance. The driver of good government is called bureaucracy. Different welfare policies such as PDS, NRHM, MGNREGA, Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojna, etc. have been introduced by the government, which are very necessary for good governance. But our government will not excel in executing these projects because of the culture of corruption among our bureaucrats.¹³

4. Delay in Justice: A individual has the right to use timely justice, but there are many variables, so a common man does not get timely justice, those variables are:

 Any people are not mindful of their rights. Poor citizens are unable to afford legal help to lobby on their behalf.

 Even in some cases, the conviction rate is very low to the point of just 5 percent, and most of the time it is poor who are punished, as rich people tend to avoid law clutches through loopholes in the justice system. ¹⁴

 Lack of workers and logistics under court disposal. It should be noticed that about 21.3 million cases are pending in different courts in India, including the Supreme Court, at the end of 2016. Therefore, to improve access to justice, systemic solutions are required. Around the same time, there is a need for ad hoc initiatives to provide emergency assistance to people in need. ¹⁵

5. Centralisation of Administrative system: Only if they are encouraged to do so will governments at lower levels work effectively. This is especially important for the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), which are currently suffering from insufficient allocation of funds and functionaries to fulfill the duties allocated to them by statute.¹⁶

6. Criminalisation of Politics: A baneful impact on the formulation and governance of public policy is the criminalization of the democratic process and the unholy nexus between politicians, civil servants, and corporate houses.¹⁷

7. Empowerment of people who are socially and culturally backward: In the course of growth, the socially and economically backward divisions of society have always been oppressed. While their upliftment has constitutional guarantees, they are lagging behind in reality in too many fields such as education, economic well-being, etc.

8. Security of the environment, sustainable development.

9. Globalization, liberalization and market-economy problems.

3 INSIGHTS

E-governance is a strong instrument of good governance.¹⁸The vision of the National e- Governance Strategy is to “Make all government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency &

reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man.”¹⁹In addition, numerous measures for e-governance have been proposed by the government;

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Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI): The announcement of PRAGATI took place on 25 March 2015. It is a multipurpose and multi-modal forum aimed at overcoming common man's grievances. It also seeks to track and review critical government union initiatives and services, as well as state-flagged projects. It is an ambitious project with real-time presence and knowledge sharing among the main players of e-governance and good governance and transparency.

Digital India: The Government of India has created a dream to ensure that government services are made accessible to people electronically, including in remote regions, through the improvement of online technology and the increase of internet connectivity. Building a participative, open and receptive structure is the motivation behind the idea.²⁰

The government's plan to celebrate 25 December as Good Governance Day is to make citizens aware of the government's commitment to provide the country with an open and responsive administration. On 25 December 2016, while observing the Good Governance Day, the government agreed to initiate a 100-day good governance drive in the country where ministers will participate in the programmes.

Women's empowerment is one of the necessary factors for achieving good governance. In resolving this issue, the government seems to be actively engaged. Several projects, such as Beti Bachao Beti Parhao, Janani Suraksha Yojana and UJJAWALLA, have been launched.

The government took the decision to demonetize the 500 and 1000 Rupee denomination notes in November 2016. The primary aim of the government was to eliminate the counterfeit currency, resist tax avoidance, and kill black money, terrorism funding operations, and promote the nation to less economic cash.

4 CONCLUSION

Legal application of multiple government features, such as openness, impartiality, openness, tolerance, the rule of law, etc. Enhancing the standard of government. On the part of the government, it is often important to deeply evaluate its function and develop it whenever appropriate. Nevertheless, despite achieving success on many counts, the governance structure in our country still faces several obstacles. Corruption is one of the key reasons hindering the administration's successful results. Interference in the distribution of programs has to be removed. Non-discretionary approaches to decision- making must also be implemented and two-way contact with consumers must be initiated.

Governance is a systemic policy that includes all of the state's foundations, including the provision of justice. It is important that judicial changes and initiatives such as increased use of information technologies be initiated in order to clarify pending court cases.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Arora Dinesh; Good Governance: A Study of the Concept in Indian Context, International Political Science Association (IPSA),

2. Das P.G; Fundamentals of Public Administration, New Central Book Agency Kolkata, 2014.

3. Devi Banasree; “Good Governance and its Working: at the Indian Context”, International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture (IJIRSSC) Vol: 1, Issue: 2, (December Issue), 2015.

4. Ranjan Rajesh; “what causes judicial delay? Judgements diluting timeframes in code of Civil Procedure worsen the problem of Adjournments.” Times of India, August 2016.

5. Sampath G.; “Why everyone loves good governance”, The Hindu, July, 2015.

6. Satpathy Chinmayee; Initiatives and Challenges of Good Governance in India, Yojana, January, 2013.

7. Singh Balmiki Prasad; “The Challenge of Good Governance in India: Need for Innovative Approaches”, Yojna, January, 2013.

8. Tiwari K.C; The Challenges of Good Governance in India, in the era of 21st Century, Abhinav National Monthly Refereed Journal Of Research in Commerce & Management,

9. Uke Lokesh; “Demonetization and its effects in India”, International Journal Economics and Management Studies, Volume 4, Issue 2 February, 2017

10. The Tribune . 11. The Indian Express 12. The Hindu.

13. http://www.upagovt.com//2014/02/10-years-of-progress-upa-milestones.html 14. www.worldbank.org

15. www.abhinavjournal.com

16. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Document August, 1999.

17. World Bank Report 1989

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18. World Bank Report 1992, 19. World Bank Report 1994,

20. https://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/introduction.