| Demand of the question Introduction. What is good governance? Body. Recent findings of Good Governance Index report. Measures to improve the governance in Indians states. Conclusion. Way forward. |
According to UNESCAP, good governance means ‘the processes and institutions which produce results that meet the needs of society while making the best use of resources at their disposal’. In simple words, good governance is the management of public affairs in just, fair and reasonable manner. Recently, Government of India has launched Good Governance Index, to assess the status of governance and the impact of various interventions taken up by the State Government and UTs.
Recent findings of Good Governance Index report:
- Big States category: Tamil Nadu topped in Good Governance Index in the “Big States” category. It was followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. The report also said that among the big states the poor performers were Odisha, Bihar, Goa and Uttar Pradesh. Jharkhand was ranked last in good governance index.
- North East and hill states category: Himachal Pradesh ranked first. It was followed by Uttarakhand, Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim. The bad performers of the category include Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
- Sector-wise ranking:
- In the environment sector: The top three states are West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The bottom 3 states are Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.
- Judicial and public security ranking: West Bengal is at the bottom two in the judicial and public security ranking. Tamil Nadu tops the chart here.
- Economic governance: Karnataka is at the top under the economic governance category.
- Health: Kerala is at the top in the public health sector.
- Agricultural ranking: In Agricultural and allied ranking, the best performing states is Madhya Pradesh.
- Commerce and Industries: Under the category of commerce and industries, Delhi and Uttarakhand were the top performers.
- Human resource development: Goa has got the first rank among big states for human resource development sector.
Good Governance Index (GGI), is a welcome exercise to incentivise States to competitively deliver on public services to the citizens.
Measures to improve the governance in Indians states:
- Participation: Participation of the people either direct or indirect in the development and decision making process is one of the cornerstones of good governance. Democratic decentralisation should be emphasised which entails power to the Gram Panchayats and people at the lowest level of political hierarchy.
- Accountability: Important feature of good governance is accountability. From policymakers to implementers all should be held responsible for their omissions and commissions. Everybody should be answerable for allocation, use and control of public fund and other assets.
3.Transparency: For this, information should be easily available. It is important that issues related to RTI must be resolved. It also means that enough information is provided and that it is provided in easily understandable forms and media. - 4. Responsiveness: The attribute of responsiveness for good governance necessitates that all public institutions and their processes strive to serve all stakeholders within a responsible time frame. States should be encouraged to achieve targets in a time-bound manner.
- Rule of law: Without rule of law good governance can’t be ensured. It is also important that laws must benefit every individual of the society. Thus states must ensure rule of law in the territory.
The effective functioning of governance is the pillar of an efficient democracy. What is required is transparent, accountable and intelligible governance system absolutely free from bias and prejudices. In the present era when India is progressively moving towards development and prosperity, there is a need is to ensure good governance in the country. When the nation/state machineries become more efficient and accountable, the citizens can enjoy higher per capita income, widespread literacy, adequate health facilities with longer average life.
