The Government of India has declared the 25th
December as the Good Governance (GG) day. It is an initiative to awaken,
educate, sensitize the stakeholders and citizens about GG and
orient them towards it. Most of us have heard and are familiar with
GG. But, what GG exactly means is not known to many of us.
To
understand GG, we require to know the bad effects of bad governance which is
opposite of GG. We desire GG to be happy and prosperous. GG will convert India
into a developed country from a developing one. Currently, India is in
limelight worldwide. India has to meet international expectations along with national. This poses a
big challenge on our public actors. Nation is above all. Hence, our public players
need to put their efforts to achieve GG to fulfill worldwide expectations.
GG is a term that has become a part of the
vernacular of a large range of development institutions and other actors within
the international arena. What it means exactly, however, has not been so well
established.
Almost
all major development institutions today say that promoting good governance is
an important part of their agendas. In a well-cited quote, former UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that “good governance is perhaps the single
most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development”.
GG is
an extremely elusive objective. It means different things to different
organizations, not to mention to different actors within these organizations (to
make matters even more confusing). Governance experts also routinely focus on
other types of governance —global governance, corporate governance, IT
governance, participatory governance and so on.
"Governance" and
"good governance" are being increasingly used in development
literature. Bad governance is being increasingly regarded as one of
the root causes of all evils within our societies. Major donors and
international financial institutions are increasingly basing their
aid and loans on the condition that reforms that ensure "good
governance" are undertaken.
The concept of "governance" is not
new. It is as old as human civilization. Simply
put "governance" means: the process of decision-making and
the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented).
Governance can be used in several contexts such as
corporate governance, international governance, national governance
and local governance.
Since governance is the process of decision-making and
the process by which decisions are implemented, an analysis of
governance focuses on the formal and informal actors involved in
decision-making and implementing the decisions made and the formal
and informal structures that have been set in place to arrive at and
implement the decision.
Government
is one of the actors in governance. Other actors involved
in governance vary depending on the level of government that is under
discussion. In rural areas, for example, other actors may
include influential land lords, associations of peasant farmers,
cooperatives, NGOs, research institutes, religious leaders, finance
institutions, political parties, the military etc. The situation in urban areas
is much more complex.
At the
national level, in addition to the above actors, media, lobbyists,
international donors, multi-national corporations, etc. may play a role in
decision making or in influencing the decision-making process.
All
actors other than government and the military are grouped together as part
of the "civil society." In some countries, in addition
to the civil society, organized crime syndicates also influence
decision-making, particularly in urban areas and at the national level.
Good Governance
has EIGHT major characteristics. It is participatory,
consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective
and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law.
It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are
taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable
in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to the
present and future needs of society.
From the above, it is clear that good
governance is an ideal which is difficult to achieve in its totality. Very
few countries and societies have come close to achieving
good governance in its totality. However, to ensure sustainable human
development, actions must be taken to work towards this ideal with the aim
of making it a reality.
Heera Lal (Views are
personal and based on different sources)
1. http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/good-governance.pdf
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Governance_Day
3.http://unu.edu/publications/articles/what-does-good-governance-mean.html
4.
No comments:
Post a Comment