Government, governance and good governance

Detail

1. Government vs governance

• Government: the people and offices that hold power at a given time. This means ministers, legislators, officials and judges. Government is who holds office.
• Governance: the process of taking decisions, organising society through rules and making sure people follow those rules. Governance is how power is used.
• Governance is wider than government. Groups outside the state also take part in it:
• markets, such as firms, traders and service providers;
• civil society, such as NGOs, the media and trade unions;

• communities, such as village groups and Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), which manage local roads, water and safety.

• The World Bank defines governance as "the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country's economic and social resources for development" (Governance and Development, 1992) [5].

• Exam point: a government can change at every election. The quality of governance depends on rules, institutions and citizens, and it does not change automatically with a new government.

2. The government's triple role (Class 7)

Role	What it means	Examples
Protector	Keeps people safe	Law and order, police, defence of borders
Provider	Gives services that people cannot easily arrange alone	Free schooling, roads, railways, airports, welfare schemes
Regulator	Sets and enforces rules for fair activity	Rules on economic activity, social justice laws, food safety standards

3. Police state vs welfare state

• Police state: in Indian constitutional writing, a state that limits itself to law and order, defence and justice. It leaves the economy and social life to individuals. This is not the same as the everyday meaning of a "police state" (a state that spies on and represses people).
• Welfare state: a state that actively works for people's well-being, including jobs, health, education and fair sharing of wealth.
• The Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSPs) (Part IV, a list of goals that guide the state but cannot be enforced in court) aim at a welfare state:
• Art. 38: the state must secure a social order based on social, economic and political justice, and reduce inequalities.
• Art. 39: adequate means of livelihood for all, equal pay for equal work, and no harmful concentration of wealth.
• Art. 41: right to work, to education and to public help in unemployment, old age, sickness and disability.

• Art. 47: raise nutrition levels and the standard of living, and improve public health.

• More detail: see dpsp-fundamental-duties.

4. Parens patriae: the state as guardian

• Parens patriae (Latin, "parent of the country"): the state acts as guardian of people who cannot protect themselves, such as children, people with mental illness, disaster victims and people in a coma.
• How the Supreme Court has used it:
• Charan Lal Sahu v. Union of India (1990): the Court upheld the Bhopal gas claims law (Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act, 1985).
  • Thousands of victims were poor and could not fight a multinational company alone.
  • So the Union government was allowed to act as their guardian and sue for them.
• Aruna Shanbaug v. Union of India (2011): the Court used parens patriae to decide what was in the best interest of a patient who could not decide for herself. It also set rules, with High Court oversight, for withdrawing life support (passive euthanasia).
• Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015: the state takes on the duty of care for children in conflict with the law and for children in need of care and protection.

5. Good governance: origin and meaning

• Good governance: governance that is open, fair, efficient and answerable to citizens.
• How the term spread (World Bank):
• 1989: the World Bank's report on sub-Saharan Africa blamed a "crisis of governance" for poor development.
• 1992: Governance and Development made the term common. It said lasting development needs a predictable and transparent set of rules and institutions for both public and private business [5].

• 1994: the Bank described good governance as predictable, open policymaking; a professional bureaucracy; an executive answerable for its actions; and a strong civil society, all working under the rule of law [6].

• UNESCAP's eight features of good governance:

Feature	Simple meaning
Participation	Men and women take part in decisions, directly or through representatives
Rule of law	Fair laws, applied without bias. Human rights are protected
Transparency	Decisions follow rules. Information is freely available to those affected
Responsiveness	Institutions serve people within a reasonable time
Consensus orientation	Different interests are balanced to reach broad agreement
Equity and inclusiveness	No group, especially the weakest, feels left out
Effectiveness and efficiency	Results meet needs while making the best use of resources
Accountability	Those in power must answer to the people affected by their decisions

• Class 7 glossary terms:
• Transparency: people can see how and why decisions are made.
• Accountability: people in power must explain their actions and face consequences.

6. The Indian framing of good governance

• Slogan: "minimum government, maximum governance". This means fewer layers of control and better delivery of services.
• Good Governance Day (25 December) falls on the birth anniversary of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It promotes accountability, transparency and citizen-centric public service [4].
• Good Governance Index (GGI), prepared by DARPG (Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances):
• GGI 2019 was launched on Good Governance Day, 25 December 2019. It assesses governance in states and UTs [2].

• GGI 2021 was launched on 25 December 2021. It covers 10 sectors and 58 indicators. States and UTs are placed in four groups so that like is compared with like [3].

• Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2nd ARC):

• 4th Report, "Ethics in Governance" (2007): on corruption, ethics for ministers and civil servants, and the Lokpal.

• 12th Report, "Citizen Centric Administration – The Heart of Governance" (2009): on citizen's charters, grievance redress and putting the citizen at the centre of service delivery.

• Details: see transparency-accountability.

7. Class 7's puzzle: why do problems persist?

• The question: India has a Constitution, laws, elected representatives, a bureaucracy and courts. Yet several problems remain:
• bribery and corruption;
• poverty;
• poor schooling and health care;
• poor infrastructure;

• welfare schemes that do not reach everyone who should get them.

• Institutional answers (pointers: statutory-regulatory-bodies, transparency-accountability):

• Central Vigilance Commission (CVC): the top body that oversees vigilance (anti-corruption checks) in the central government.
  • The Santhanam Committee recommended it, and it was set up in 1964.
  • The Supreme Court in Vineet Narain v. Union of India (the Jain Hawala case) directed that it be given statutory status (status given by an Act of Parliament).
  • A 1998 Ordinance came first. Then the CVC Act, 2003 received the President's assent on 11 September 2003 [7].
• Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013: the Lokpal is an anti-corruption ombudsman (an independent body that investigates complaints against public servants) at the Centre. Lokayuktas do the same job in the states.
• Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (amended 2018):
  • Giving a bribe is now a direct offence. A person forced to pay a bribe is protected if they report it to the authorities within 7 days [8].
  • Section 17A: police need the government's prior approval before inquiring into a public servant's decision or recommendation made in official work. This approval is not needed when someone is caught on the spot taking a bribe [8].
• CAG (Art. 148): the Comptroller and Auditor General audits government spending and reports to Parliament and the state legislatures.
• Citizen's charters: public promises by an office about what service it will give, and how fast.
• Social audit: the people a scheme serves check its records in public meetings. Gram sabhas do this under MGNREGA, for example.

• E-governance and DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer): money goes straight into the beneficiary's bank account. This cuts out middlemen and fake beneficiaries.

• Class discussion: 75+ years of the republic

• Achievements: higher literacy, and growth in roads, railways, air travel and telecom.
• Unfinished tasks: poverty, quality of schools and health care, and corruption.
• Key question: which level of government should fix each problem: Union, state or local (panchayat or municipality)?

Prelims Hooks

• Government vs governance: government is who holds office; governance is how power is exercised. Governance also includes markets, civil society and communities.
• Triple role: food safety rules show the regulator role, not the provider role.
• Welfare-state DPSPs: Arts. 38, 39, 41 and 47. A police state is limited to law and order, defence and justice.
• Charan Lal Sahu v. Union of India (1990): parens patriae; upheld the Bhopal gas claims law. Aruna Shanbaug (2011): parens patriae; passive euthanasia.
• The World Bank's Governance and Development (1992) defined governance as the manner of exercising power in managing economic and social resources for development [5].
• UNESCAP lists 8 features of good governance. Trap: "decentralisation" and "privatisation" are not among the eight.
• Good Governance Day: 25 December, Vajpayee's birth anniversary [4]. GGI is by DARPG. It started in 2019; GGI 2021 has 10 sectors and 58 indicators [2][3].
• 2nd ARC: 4th Report = Ethics in Governance (2007); 12th Report = Citizen Centric Administration (2009).
• CVC: set up on the Santhanam Committee's advice. It became statutory through the CVC Act, 2003 after Vineet Narain [7]. CAG: Art. 148.
• PC (Amendment) Act, 2018: bribe-giving became a direct offence (7-day reporting protection). Section 17A requires prior approval to investigate a public servant [8].

Mains Points

• Governance beyond government: problems of service delivery come less from missing laws and more from weak implementation, low capacity and poor accountability. Answers that involve non-state actors (RWAs, SHGs, social audit, the media) show that governance is shared work.
• Welfare state vs "minimum government, maximum governance": these goals need not clash. Cutting procedures and using DBT and e-governance can make the welfare promise of Arts. 38–47 reach people better. The risks are digital exclusion and Aadhaar-linked denial of benefits.
• The anti-corruption design has trade-offs:
• Section 17A protects honest officers from harassment for honest decisions, but it may delay probes [8].
• The CVC and Lokpal depend on investigating agencies they do not fully control.

• The 2nd ARC's 4th Report urged ethics codes and faster punishment.

• Parens patriae justifies an active state for vulnerable people (Bhopal victims, children under the JJ Act 2015). Critics say it can override the victims' own voice, as seen in criticism of the 1989 Bhopal settlement.