(FREE) UPSC Current Affairs 2024 PDF

(GIST OF YOJANA) Good Governance: Cornerstone to Development [MARCH-2019]

(GIST OF YOJANA) Good Governance: Cornerstone to Development

[MARCH-2019]

Good Governance: Cornerstone to Development

Introduction

The definition of good governance continues to evolve, the Tenth Plan document had highlighted some manifestations of bad governance which include poor management of economy, denial of basic needs, threat to life and personal security, marginalization and exclusion, lack of sensitivity, transparency and accountability in state machinery, delayed justice and existence of voiceless poor with little opportunity for participating in governance and deterioration of physical environment.
The United Nations has defined eight pillars of good governance as- consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsible, equitable and inclusive, effective and efficient, rule of law, and participatory.
Under the Sustainable Development goals also, Goal 16 can be considered to be directly linked as it is dedicated towards improvement in governance, inclusion, participation, rights and security.

Development Agenda lndia(@ 75

NITI Aayog has brought out a comprehensive document viz. "Strategy for New India @75 spelling out the broad roadmap for the 75th year of India's Independence. This comprehensive document, comprising 41 chapters covering almost all sectors, spells out current status, binding constraints and strategies to not only enable India to become a 4 trillion dollar economy by 2022 but also lay a solid foundation for clean, inclusive, sustained and sustainable growth for the next three decades. Of these, as many as 7 chapters focus on governance, covering subjects such as balanced regional development, legal, judicial and police reforms, transforming aspirational districts, civil service reforms, city governance, optimizing use of land resources, and data led governance. In the bound manner. Anchored in NITI, the programme is aimed at transforming 115 most backward districts with focused remaining chapters also, especially those relating to social sectors, good governance remains the key for better service delivery and more effective outcomes
In the area of education one of the key interventions in the field of health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water management, financial inclusion and skill development.
The ADP is a landmark initiative that aims reforms suggested is a revamped governance system to improve monitoring and accountability. Thus, Slates should develop and formulate robust mechanisms to enforce regulations on teacher qualifications, teacher absenteeism and learning outcomes. Further, learning outcomes should be regularly assessed by bodies independent of the line ministries.
Another reform entails an electronic national educational registry for tracking each child's learning outcomes and final exams through a unique ID. This will not only assist in preparing a list of children who drop out after elementary education, but will also enable focused attention to the needs of children from socially deprived groups and those with physical or intellectual disabilities.
In the health sector, the document recommends improved governance in medical, nursing, dentistry and pharmacy education. It also suggests revamping the AYUSH, nursing, dentistry and pharmacy councils along the lines of the proposed National Medical Commission Bill, 2017. It is also proposed to establish a Council for Allied Health Professionals to ensure standardization of education and putting in place quality control mechanisms for educational institutions, teaching methods, clinical protocols and workforce management.

Aspirational Districts Programme

The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) was launched in January 2018 to transform the lives of people in the under- developed areas of the country in a time to address governance issues by using a combination of approaches: lifting levels of aspirations through a vision and district plan, adequate institutional arrangements, convergence in all stakeholders' efforts and above all, ranking-based public competition among the districts by setting up a real-time monitoring mechanism.

Direct Benefits Transfer

Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) aims to develop a governance regime which ensures a simple and user-friendly Government to People (G2P) interface and directly delivers entitlements to eligible individuals and households in a fair, transparent, efficient and reliable manner. It helps in achieving multiple benefits. First of all, it cuts down the multiple layers for delivery of any benefit. Secondly, it reduces the delay in payments.
Thirdly it helps in accurate targeting of the beneficiaries and finally it facilitates curbing pilferage and duplication of beneficiaries.

Civil Service, Legal, Judicial and Police Reforms

A major area of governance reforms is the reorientation of the administrative set up, legal/ judicial system and maintaining law and order. With change in the socio- economic fabric, emergence of new mechanisms of service delivery and over 2.7 crore cases pending in various courts, this is an area requiring urgent attention.
NITI Aayog, in its document on New India @75, has made a number of suggestions in the areas of civil Service, legal/judicial and police reforms.

Civil Service Reforms

Improve the teeth to tail ratio and promote an officer-oriented culture.
Reduce the number of current 60 plus separate civil services at the central and state level through rationalization and harmonization of services.
Encourage lateral entry by inducting specialists especially at higher levels.
Bring down entry age in civil services.
Strengthen municipal cadres and outsource service delivery in possible areas.
Develop an inclusive citizen-centric framework in terms of service delivery, grievance redressal and public access to information with enhanced use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Ensure probity in governance by strengthening institutional mechanisms for prevention and detection of corruption, while at the same time protect honest civil servants.

Legal Reforms

Create a repository of all existing central and state laws, rules and regulations.
Repeal redundant laws and remove restrictive clauses in existing laws.
Reform criminal justice procedural laws with focus on pre-institution mediation.
Reduce the criminalization of violations, and move towards compounding of minor offences.
Prioritize court process automation and ICT enablement for electronic court and case management.
Introduce an administrative cadre in the judicial system.

Police Reforms

Modernising police forces and implementing the Model Police Act of 2015.
States to ensure greater representation of women in the police force.
Introduction of remodeled training modules, refresher courses and continuing education for police personnel.
Reform of the First Information Report (FIR) lodging mechanism, including introducing filing e-FLRs for minor offences.
Launch a common nation-wide emergency contact number to attend to emergency security needs of citizens.
Instituting a separate cadre for cyber- crimes, cyber threats and fraud.

E-Governance

To ensure a New India by 2022, some fundamental principles may need to be prioritized. These include making services available to the public in a faceless, paperless and cashless mode; providing connectivity and digital identity to all; targeting benefits through Aadhaar enabled DBT; simplifying forms and processes and providing e-platforms.
Every Ministry/Department needs to have a closer look at the schemes, its implementation, monitoring and evaluation framework with thrust on outcomes, not mere outputs or expenditure incurred.
Wherever possible, ICT and in due course.

Artificial Intelligence should be used for better outcomes. Likewise civil society, corporates, markets and citizens at large need to be involved in holistic development.

Artificial Intelligence can, in due course, play a major role in better implementation. At the same time, portals such as Centralized Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System (CPGRAMs), the Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) and the MyGov need to be made more effective in information exchange, seeking feedback and addressing the grievances of citizens.

Conclusion

To summarize, good governance needs to continue being the cornerstone of various initiatives.
Once implemented in letter and spirit, the goals set for not only New India 2022, but also Sustainable Development Goals 2030 will be in the greater realm of achievement, more sooner than later.