Governance to be minus chains
President Pratibha Patil quoted Rabindranath Tagore to signal her government’s departure from the beaten track on many fronts.
By ET Bureau |
NEW DELHI: President Pratibha Patil quoted Rabindranath Tagore to signal her government���s departure from the beaten track on many fronts. The most striking example of this determination to not be stuck in the ���dreary desert sand of dead habit��� has been in governance reform.
The concept itself is new, and deserves all praise in this country that the World Bank routinely ranks at the bottom in the league table of nations when it comes to ease of doing business, thanks to rotten governance.
The President outlined a paradigm shift in governance, to be effected through one, ongoing, independent evaluation and public reporting of progress in implementing government schemes; two, big strides in e-governance; three, decentralisation and empowerment of panchayats and non-government organisations to implement and monitor government schemes; four, breaking barriers between departments and schemes to achieve synergy, integration and better utilisation of existing resources; five, innovative regulation of health, education and provision of public services; six, liberal use of technology in welfare transfers and achieving public awareness; and, seven, institutionalisation of the government���s basic commitments by requiring all Cabinet notes to specify how their proposals would enhance the goals of equity or inclusion, innovation and public accountability.
A key vision to strengthen the existing right to information into ���duty to publish��� on the part of the government. Except for matters of strategic importance, the rest of government decisionmaking should be made available in the public domain, without anyone specifically asking for it, so that members of the public can act on the information and hold the government accountable.
Significant e-governance expansion is envisaged: Bharat Nirman common service kiosks would deliver a variety of government services in villages and make information available to the public. Scholarships and welfare transfers would be made initially to post office accounts and eventually to smart cards. NGOs would be funded through a portal, in the most transparent fashion, to help implement key schemes.
Indeed, big stress is laid on institutionalising accountability. A model Public Services Law would be legislated, in consultation with the states, to hold functionaries in health, education and rural development accountable. District-level monitoring committees and ombudsmen to attend to grievance redressal would strengthen flagship schemes like employment guarantee.
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The Planning Commission would catalyse an independent evaluation agency that would rope in leading social science research institutes to monitor and perform social audits of the flagship schemes.Download
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