Good Governance Week

Context

• Recently, the good governance week celebration came to an end. The week included the launching of several programs and initiatives related to good governance.
• In this context, this edition of the burning issue will elaborate on good governance and good governance week.

About Good Governance Week

• In 2014, the Government of India paid tribute to the former Prime Minister of India, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, by declaring his birthday (December 25) as ‘Good Governance Day’ – Susasan Divas.
• Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Government of India celebrates Good Governance Week from 19-25 December every year.
• The decision to celebrate Good Governance Week (Sushasan Saptah) was taken by the government in the year of Amrit Mahotsav (75th Year of Independence) ie. 2021.
• During the week-long celebrations, various activities are taken up to demonstrate the government’s commitment to providing transparent, effective and accountable governance to the people of this country.

Good Governance Week 2022

• Good Governance Week (Sushasan Saptah) campaign “Prashasan Gaon Ki Aur” was launched during 20-25 December 2021 and it aimed at showcasing and replicating the best governance practices at the grassroots level. The campaign intended to create a national movement for good governance and motivate the stakeholders both in the government as well as outside the government.
• The Second Sushasan Saptah to be celebrated during 19th – 25th December 2022, aims at furthering Good Governance at every level in India. As part of the celebrations, a 5-day “Prashasan Gaon ki Ore campaign” is to be organised from 19th December 2022.
• The Nationwide campaign for the Redressal of Public Grievances and Improving Service Delivery will be held in all Districts, States and Union Territories of India. Over 700 District Collectors will be participating in the Campaign and officials will be visiting Tehsils and Panchayat Samiti Headquarters.
• District Collectors have also identified 81,27,944 applications for Service Delivery to be disposed of, along with 19,48,122 Public Grievances to be redressed in State Grievance Portals.
• This is the second time in Amrit Kaal Period, that the Government of India will be conducting a National Campaign at Tehsil level to address Public Grievances and Improving Service Delivery. Prashasan Gaon ki Ore Abhiyaan will create a national movement for good governance that will inspire future generations.
• 373 Best Good Governance Practices have been identified for discussion in District Level Workshops on December 23, 2022. 43 Success Stories in Public Grievances will also be shared during the Good Governance Week-2022.
• 3,120 New Services identified by District Collectors across the country will be added for Online Service Delivery.

What does Good Governance mean?

• 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 is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the rule of law.
• While there is no internationally agreed definition of ‘good governance’, it may span the following topics: full respect of human rights, the rule of law, effective participation, multi-actor partnerships, political pluralism, transparent and accountable processes and institutions, an efficient and effective public sector, legitimacy, access to knowledge, information and education, political empowerment of people, equity, sustainability, and attitudes and values that foster responsibility, solidarity and tolerance.

Good Governance according to United Nations

The United Nations is playing an increasing role in good governance. According to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, “Good governance is ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law; strengthening democracy; promoting transparency and capacity in public administration.” To implement this, the UN follows eight principles:

• Participation – People should be able to voice their own opinions through legitimate immediate organizations or representatives.
• Rule of Law – Legal framework should be enforced impartially, especially on human rights laws.
• Consensus Oriented – Mediates differing interests to meet the broad consensus on the best interests of a community.
• Equity and Inclusiveness – People should have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being.
• Effectiveness and Efficiency – Processes and institutions should be able to produce results that meet the needs of their community while making the best of their resources.
• Accountability – Governmental institutions, private sectors, and civil society organizations should be held accountable to the public and institutional stakeholders.
• Transparency – Information should be accessible to the public and should be understandable and monitored.
• Responsiveness – Institutions and processes should serve all stakeholders.

Features of Good Governance

• Good education facilities offered by the government have greater employability,
• Development of basic infrastructures like roads, bridges, power, telecom, airport, irrigation and transport
• Safety of public life, property, peaceful law and order,
• Creating new employment opportunities in the government and private sectors, l Effectiveness and efficiency of working of government and its staffs,
• A good business environment with a free-market economy,
• Reducing inequalities in society through positive discrimination in favor of the poorest of the poor l Providing total freedom of speech, of religion, of work and attitude of non-interference by government.
• Provision of more concessions to citizens and free from bias,
• Good business environment and l Citizen centric services.

Good Governance in India

• The concept of “Good governance” is relatively a new term which has come to the limelight in the 1990s; however, the principle of good governance is not new to Indian society.
• While throwing attention over the state of affairs in ancient India, it is noticed that the king or the ruler was bounded by the dharma which was precisely meant to ensure the good governance for the people. “Rajadharma” was the code of conduct or the rule of law which was superior to the will of the ruler.
• Even in the great epics like Mahabharat and Ramayana, the rulers abide by the principles of good governance which are more often cited on many occasions.
• In India, the concept was talked about in the Arthashastra, authored by Chanakya. He mentions the characteristics of a good king thus, “In the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness, in their welfare his welfare; whatever pleases himself, he does not consider as good, but whatever pleases his subjects he considers as good.”
• Mahatma Gandhi advocated the concept ‘Ram Rajya’ for India based upon the principles of good governance which necessarily meant dreaming of India as a welfare state where the necessities of the down-trodden, the welfare of the commoner and their progress through indigenous industries would become the hallmark.
• The Constitution of India also embodies the concept the good governance through its list of Fundamental Rights of the citizens and Directive Principle of State Policy.

Good Governance Initiatives in India

• Public service guarantee act: The public service guarantee act is also known as the Right to Public Services Act in some states. It provides for legislation and statutory laws that guarantee time-bound delivery of services by the government to the citizen and provides a mechanism for punishing the errant public servant who fails to provide the service stipulated under the statute, within the stipulated time. Madhya Pradesh was the first state to enact the Right to Service Act on 18th August 2010 and Bihar became the second state to implement it on 25th July 2011.
• Citizen’s Charter: is a non-agency device for people’s participation. It is a document representing an effort to focus on the commitment of public organisations toward their clients/citizens. The Sevottam model is designed as an assessment tool by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in 2006. SEVOTTAM is the ‘Nine Criteria Model for Citizen Centricity’, meaning Uttam Seva or excellence in service delivery.
• Right to Information: has emerged as a prominent concern in the field of public administration. Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution includes the Right to Information. Right to Information opens up the government’s records to public scrutiny, thereby arming citizens with a vital tool to inform them about what the government does and how effectively; thereby making the government more accountable.
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): a governance-centric approach to citizen’s welfare, is an obligation on the part of the corporates to act in a manner that will serve the best interests of the society. The enactment of Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 made CSR spending and reporting mandatory for the first time and brought CSR initiatives of Indian corporates under the purview of corporate law.
• Good Governance Index: The Good Governance Index Was launched on the occasion of Good Governance Day on 25 December 2019. The Good Governance Index is a uniform tool across States to assess the Status of Governance and the impact of various interventions taken up by the State Government and Union Territories.
• Some other notable initiatives: that enable better governance include the MyGov citizen engagement platform, MEITY’s e-governance platform, Digital India, Niti Aayog’s Aspirational Districts,

Challenges to Good Governance in India

• Corruption: Corruption has virtually spread in almost all aspects of public life. It not only averts the benefits of globalization to reach the common man but also denies transparency, accessibility and accountability, confuses rules and procedures, and proliferate mindless control and poor commitments at all levels. Hence,
• The criminalization of Politics: The nexus of crime and politics is so strong that the common citizens of the country have no stand to say or exert their rights. In order to prevent such misuses on May 2, 2002, the Supreme Court of India has given a historic judgment following the public interest litigation (PIL) led by an NGO that, every candidate contesting an election to Parliament, State Legislatures or Municipal Corporations has to give true declarations of candidate’s educational qualifications, criminal charges and financial records.
• Judicial delays: The most severe challenge relates to the complexity of adjudication as legal proceedings are lengthy and costly and the judiciary lacks personnel and logistics to deal with these matters.
• Weak accountability mechanism: The general weakness of accountability mechanisms impedes improving services across the board. Bureaucratic complexities and procedures make it difficult for a citizen as well as civil society to navigate the system for timely and quality delivery of services.
• The lack of transparency and secrecy: that have been associated with the administrative system from colonial times, besides generating corruption, has also led to injustice and favoritism.
• The frequent transfer of key civil servants: has enormously contributed to failures in the delivery of services. In some states, the average tenure of a District Magistrate is less than one year. Development projects have also suffered as a result of frequent changes in project directors.

Way forward

• The step is to evolve from an “application-based right to access information” to “public information being automatically shared on a public platform” using technology.
• Inclusion of the public: Good governance is not created solely by the government. Every stakeholder has an equal role in achieving it. There is a need for greater accountability of any action/decision taken within the public domain. Inclusion will also make sure that well-intentioned government programs and policies do not stray from their intent. The need of the hour is to have stakeholder consensus in the government’s policies and projects. Any program being implemented must be outcome-oriented and achieved through larger stakeholder consensus building.
• Regular monitoring of government schemes: All government schemes should be regularly monitored and evaluated by an independent (third) party, to ensure successful implementation, provide last-mile delivery, and give an unbiased view. This conforms with the global standards established by the UN, World Bank and others.
• Consolidation of multiple redundant ministries: and overlapping schemes should be initiated, to streamline operations, improve efficiency and outcomes for better public service delivery, thereby improving the return on public investment.
• To ameliorate criminalization from politics: It is necessary to ameliorate criminalization from politics and the seriousness of the matter should be properly worked out. Educated youngsters should be encouraged to enter into Indian politics and these young leaders should be properly nourished by patriotic commitments and abide by the core principles of democratic governance.
• Check corruption: There is a foremost need to check corruption at all levels by raising public consciousness and strong commitments not to make dishonest compromises that would put down the moral values and ethics of life.

Conclusion

• Observing Good Governance Day (December 25) will continuously remind us that the ruling government should be development oriented, inclusive, yet forward-looking and global in its approach. It is only with good governance, that Gandhiji’s vision of creating a strong and prosperous India shall be enabled and fulfilled.

Ninth Schedule

• The Karnataka Legislative Assembly has passed a bill to increase the reservation of seats in educational institutions and jobs for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• The leaders of the opposition wanted the State government to put pressure e on the Centre to bring an amendment to include the Bill in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to ensure the increased reservation was implemented.

What is ninth schedule?

• The Constitution (First Amendment) Act of 1951 added the ninth Schedule, which contains a list of federal and state legislation that cannot be challenged in court.
• 13 new statutes were added to the Schedule by the first Amendment. There are currently 284 protected provisions as a result of later revisions made over time.
• It was established by the new Article 31B, which the government introduced along with Article 31A to safeguard legislation pertaining to agrarian reform and the abolition of the Zamindari system.
• Article 31B protects particular laws or enactments, whereas Article 31A covers “classes” of laws.
• The majority of the laws covered by the Schedule relate to agriculture and land, although there are other topics on the list as well.
• Article 31B also has a retrospective operation which means that if laws are inserted in the Ninth Schedule after they are declared unconstitutional, they are considered to have been in the Schedule since their commencement, and thus valid.

Why this amendment must be placed under the Ninth Schedule?

• It is clear that this amendment breaches the 50 % ceiling set by the Supreme Court in the 1992 Indra Sawhney v Union of India verdict.
• So, by placing this amendment under the Ninth Schedule it shields it from judicial scrutiny.

New technology can create jobs reduce unemployment

India is implementing big way of emerging technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, blockchain, cloud and quantum computing, digital mechanisms etc. to improve the living conditions of its people.

• However, several international agencies highlight reduction in job opportunities due to innovative technologies that can replace human labor.

Employment Situation in India:

• Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) show that 19 lakh people had lost their jobs in August 2021 alone; of this, 10 lakhs were from the industrial sector.
  • In July, eight lakh people in this sector lost their jobs.
• The World Bank has calculated that the industrial sector, which contributed 18 per cent to India’s GDP in 1995, is now contributing only 13 per cent.
  • In other countries, such as China moved the largest number of workers from farms to factories and became a manufacturing hub in the world.
• In India, CMIE statistics reveal that employment in agriculture, which accounted for 35 per cent of total employment in 2017-18, increased to 39.5 per cent in 2020-21.
• Due to Covid, many industrial units have closed down and pressure on agriculture has increased. As a result, incomes in villages are falling and the purchasing power is weakening.

Positive Impact of new technologies:

Agriculture Sector:

• Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT), farmers can improve their yield and reduce asymmetries.
• It will result in increasing their income.

Financial Sector:

• Application of new tech will formalize the economy so it will be easier for government to track financial activity till the last mile.
• This record will help to finance existing unorganised manufacturing and traditional sector at nominal rate.
• It will help to reduce their cost of production and deliver their products at a competitive rate.
• It will enhance their income, the multiplier effect of which will lead to more employment opportunities.

Telecom Sector:

• It has wide range of new opportunities for new tech including its 5G services across the country.
• It will generate significant employment for the youth as per the projection of Telecom Sector Skill Council.

Manufacturing Sector:

• Using advance robotics auto manufacturing can be done easily.
• Although still it will require professional, skilled and semi-skilled labour in India.

Travel and Tourism Sector:

• It can be enhanced using blockchain technology coupled with innovative digital strategies and apps.
• It can create positive disruption for allied sectors such as medical and virgin tourist destinations.

Other sectors:

• Cloud computing in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offers flexibility for greater collaboration with work teams, better control of documents, work from anywhere environment leading to increase in productivity, and innovation offering positive externalities and employment across the sector.
• Legal sector is witnessing application of disruptive technologies giving employment opportunities for ICT and data analytics professionals.
• Micro-technologies, especially in digital banking, connectivity and transport services may improve labour productivity.

Challenges associated with new technologies:

• Agriculture Sector: Most of the labour force in India is in agriculture traditionally and new tech will disrupt their wages.
• Construction Sector: It may not witness adoption of advanced technologies as it may not be able to compete with the cheap labour available
• Unemployment in transition phase: During the shift from traditional to new tech jobs in between many people will lose their employment due to not having proper guidance.
• Unskilled Workforce: To acquire employment in new tech requires specific skilled person.
  • In India mostly people are working in unorganised sector are unskilled or not familiar with the technology.

Startup ecosystem in India:

• It is world’s third largest startup ecosystem.
• It has more than 60,000 startups across 642 districts.
• It has generated 65 unicorns across various industries.
• Unicorn: A startup company with value over 1 billion USD.
• These startups are specialized in emerging technologies such as in fintech, e-commerce, supply chain logistics, internet and software services and ed-tech.
• It provides scope for entrepreneurial ventures and self-employment.
• Indirectly it will result in to employment generation in the country.
• It may witness substantive shift from wage employment to self-employment adding to the formal sector.

Suggestive measures:

• There is need for government to carry out upskilling programs for skill development.
• Proper management of work force transition is required.
• It is required that currently employed go under training or re-training to get comfortable with new technologies.
• It is also required to develop skills such as empathy, imagination or creativity, which will underpin jobs in more social sectors.

Way Forward:

According to various study reports, the educated unemployment in India is mainly due to factors which include, among other things, information asymmetries, lack of guidance for suitable jobs, etc., which indeed may get resolved through online tools and platforms as also flexible working environment.

India has comprehensively reviewed its regulatory, policy, and legal framework, enabling it to be one of the best ‘ease of doing business’ destinations. This, along with its cheap and educated manpower, may be favourable for building micro supply chains within India paving the way for the country to become a global manufacturing hub.

Thus, the new technological developments will bring challenges, but they also present an opportunity for us to upskill our workforce in order to emerge as a foreign investment destination and grow Indian startups for economic growth.

‘Dark patterns’ on the Internet

• Dark patterns also known as “deceptive patterns” are unethical user interface designs which are aimed to exploit the user or make a person’s browsing experience harder.
• Using dark patterns, the digital platforms are taking away a user’s right to full information about the services they are using and their control over their browsing experience.
• This term was coined by Harry Brignul who is a UI/UX (user interface/user experience) researcher and designer.

How it works:

• It works by creating convoluted terms and conditions which users have to agree to or forcing users to click on unnecessary urls (uniform resource locator).
• These results in user’s inboxes getting flooded with promotional emails they never wanted and making it hard to unsubscribe or request deletion.

Examples of usage of Dark Patterns:

• Amazon was heavily criticised by EU for its confusing, multi-step cancelling process in Amazon Prime
• EU consumer regulators have been able to make the cancellation process easier for online customers in European countries.
• LinkedIn users often reported of receiving unsolicited, sponsored messages from influencers which requires a difficult process with multiple steps to disable.
• Instagram has been known to show suggested posts that the users did not wish to see with no way to permanently set preferences.

Issues with Dark Patterns:

Dark patterns make the users more vulnerable to financial and data exploitation by Big Tech firms.

Federal Trade Commission [FTC] of United States have identified over 30 dark patterns which are considered standard practice such as:

• “baseless” countdowns for online deals,
• conditions in fine print that add on to costs,
• making cancellation buttons hard to see or click,
• making ads appear as news reports or celebrity endorsements,
• auto-playing videos,
• forcing users to create accounts to finish a transaction,
• silently charging credit cards after free trials end, and
• using dull colours to hide information that users should know about.

Performance of Welfare schemes

• Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the ambitious scheme of the One Nation-One Ration Card across the country has brought a lot of relief to the poor.
• Various other schemes such as One Nation-One Ration Card, distribution of fortified rice, targeted public distribution and other schemes of the Center are being extended to all the beneficiaries
• India has also improved its Ease of doing business ranking among 190 countries in the EODB Report 2020, from 134th position in 2013 to 63rd, i.e. a jump of 71 ranks.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY):

• Launched in March 2020 to ameliorate the hardships faced by the poor due to economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic and to minimize its impact on food security
• Distribution of additional free-of-cost foodgrains (Rice/Wheat) to about 80 Crore National Food Security Act (NFSA), Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) & Priority Households (PHH) beneficiaries at the scale of 5 Kg per person per month
• The 7th Phase (October-December, 2022) is ongoing
• Achievements:
• the Central Government has provided free food grains to the poor, worth Rs 3.90 lakh crore, the government has made a record purchase of Rs 2.75 lakh crore on MSP in 2021-22
• 1118 LMT foodgrains have been allocated to States/UTs so far, with an expenditure of over Rs.3.90 lakh crore.

One Nation-One Ration Card scheme:

• Launched in aug 2019, aimed at portability of ration cards, piloting in 4 states.
• Achievements:
• Till now the scheme has been rolled out in all 36 States/UTs, which includes about 80 crore NFSA beneficiaries i.e. about 100 percent of the country’s NFSA population.
• More than 93 crore portability transactions have been registered under the scheme, in which more than 177 LMT food grains have been distributed.
• During the year 2022, 39 crore portability transactions were done in 11 months, in which more than 80 LMT food grains have been distributed including inter-state and intra-state portability transactions of NFSA and PMGKAY.

Fortified rice scheme:

• To increase the nutritional value of rice and its scop, fortified rice to be provided under all government schemes covering ICDS, PM Poshan and Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)
• The implementation of the second phase started from April 2022 and the third phase will start from the year 2023-24
• Achievements:
• Under ICDS and PM Poshan, 17.51 lakh metric tonnes of fortified rice has been distributed and States have taken 16.79 LMT rice.

Achievements of NFSA and TPDS:

• 100 percent NFSA ration card/beneficiary data has been digitized in all States/UTs.
• Details of 19.5 crore ration cards covering about 80 crore beneficiaries are available on the transparency portal of the States/UTs.
• More than 99.5 per cent ration cards are linked with Aadhaar (at least one member of the household).
• 99.8% (5.33 lakh out of 5.34 lakh) Fair Price Shops are being automated with the use of electronic point-of-sale devices for transparent, assuring distribution of subsidized food grains to the beneficiaries.

Achievements of MSP:

• Total procurement of food grains (including wheat, paddy and pulses) was 759.44 lakh tonnes in the year 2014-15, which has increased to 1345.45 lakh tonnes in 2021-22.
• Paddy procurement in Kharif has increased to 759 LMT in 2021-22 (an increase of 60%).
• There has been an increase of 132 percent in the procurement price in eight years (now the total value is about Rs 1.5 lakh crore).
• Rabi procurement was 251 LMT in 2013-14, which has increased to 433.44 LMT in 2021-22 (73 percent increase).
• In the year 2015-16, 78.3 lakh farmers were benefited from the procurement of food grains, which increased to 194 lakh (number of farmers) in the year 2021-22.
• 13 lakh tonnes of coarse grains have also been procured in 7 states during the year.

Achievements of sugar industry:

• It is an important agro-based industry, involving 5 crore sugarcane farmers.
• The annual production is about Rs 1,40,000 crore.
• In the sugar season 2021-22, India has exported more than 110 LMT sugar and has become the largest producer and second largest exporter of sugar in the world.
• Out of total cane price arrears of Rs 1,18,271 crore for the sugar season 2021-22, Rs 1,14,981 crore has been cleared to the farmers, thus more than 97% cane arrears have been cleared.
• Regarding ethanol blending plan in petrol, the government has set a target of 10 per cent blending of fuel grade ethanol with petrol by 2022 and 20 per cent blending by 2025.
• The existing capacity of ethanol production in the country (till 31.10.2022) has jumped to 925 crore litres.

Challenges of food programmes:

• Identification of beneficiaries – The 80-crore cap on NFSA beneficiaries and state ration card quotas are based on 2011 census data.
• Given the projected increase in population since then, about 10 crore eligible people are being excluded from the NFSA’s safety net.
• In its June 2021 judgement, the Supreme Court directed that the Centre and State should continue providing foodgrains to migrants whether or not they had ration cards.
• FCI stock – While the stock position of foodgrains in the FCI godowns was very comfortable in 2020, the situation has altered now.
• There might be a crisis if there is no proper planning and management.
• As of September 2022, including the estimated rice from unmilled paddy and millets, stocks are just over 60 million tonnes, while the buffer norm for October is about 30 million tonnes.
• The usual requirements for NFSA and other requirements are about 60 million tonnes per year, and added to this PMGKAY would require about 12 million tonnes more
• There are apprehensions about paddy production
• Dietary diversity – While the PDS contributes to providing some cereal security, from the point of view of ensuring nutrition, it is also important to improve people’s consumption of other food items such as pulses and edible oil.
• Burden on exchequer – As the economy is also reviving and the OMSS [or open market sale scheme] is doing well, extension of scheme can be given a second thought.
• Data inconsistency –
• A case study by Microsave Consulting, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation conducted in 88 districts showed an “average of 94% households have received the free ration on monthly basis”
• However, A survey by the Centre of Sustainable Employment at the Azim Premji University, showed only 27% of the eligible households reported receiving the full benefits under PMGKAY
• Implementation issues – example in Delhi, distribution has not started in any ration shop.

Way forward:

• According to UN-India, there are nearly 195 million undernourished people in India, which is a quarter of the world’s hunger burden.
• Also, roughly 43% of children in India are chronically undernourished. Further, India ranks 68 out of 113 major countries in terms of food security index 2022.
• Hence, there is immense significance in such food programs. However, focus must be to build permanent capacity of the population to ensure food security.