Good Governance and

e-Governance
• The concept of “good governance” assumed significance since 1990s
with the publication of two reports by the World Bank. In the first
report entitled “Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable
Growth” (1989), the Bank emphasised upon the need for good
governance. While in the second report entitled as “Governance and
Development” (1992), the Bank identified a number of aspects of
good governance. These are political, legal and administrative in
nature.
• Features of Good Governance Good governance has eight features (or
characteristics or attributes). These are explained below.
• 1. Participation Participation by both men and women is a
cornerstone of good governance. Participation could be either direct
or through legitimate intermediate institutions or representatives. It
is important to point out that representative democracy does not
necessarily mean that the concerns of the most vulnerable in society
would be taken into consideration in decision making. Participation
needs to be informed and organised. This means freedom of
association and expression on the one hand and an organised civil
society on the other hand.
• 2. Rule of law Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are
enforced impartially. It also requires full protection of human rights,
particularly those of minorities. Impartial enforcement of laws requires an
independent judiciary and an impartial and incorruptible police force. 3.
Transparency Transparency means that decisions taken and their
enforcement is done in a manner that is as per rules rules and regulations.
It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to
those who will be affected by such decisions and their enforcement.
Information needs to be leveraged as a core strategy for monitoring
implementation. 4. Responsiveness Good governance requires that
institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders within a reasonable
timeframe.
• 5. Consensus oriented There are several actors and as many view
points in a given society. Good governance requires mediation of the
different interests in the society to reach a broad consensus on what
is in the best interest of the whole community and how this can be
achieved. It also requires a broad and long-term perspective on what
is needed for sustainable human development and how to achieve
the goals of such development. This can only result from an
understanding of the historical, cultural and social contexts of a given
society or community.
• 6. Equity and Inclusiveness A society’s well being depends on
ensuring that all its members feel that they have a stake in it and do
not feel excluded from the mainstream of society. This requires all
groups, but particularly the most vulnerable, have opportunities to
improve or maintain their well-being. 7. Effectiveness and Efficiency
Good governance means that processes and institutions produce
results that meet the needs of society while making the best use of
resources at their disposal. The concept of efficiency in the context of
good governance also covers the sustainable use of natural resources
and the protection of the environment.
• 8. Accountability Accountability is a key requirement of good
governance. Not only government institutions but also the private
sector and civil society organisations must be accountable to the
public and to their institutional stakeholders. Who is accountable to
whom varies depending on whether decisions or actions taken are
internal or external to an organisation or institution. In general an
organisation or an institution is accountable to those who will be
affected by its decisions or actions. Accountability cannot be enforced
without transparency and the rule of law.
Barriers to Good Governance
• The Second Administrative Reforms Commission in its report entitled
“Citizen Centric Administration: The Heart of Governance” (2009) identified
five barriers to good governance in India and explained them in the
following way:
• 1. Attitudinal Problems of the Civil Servants There is a growing concern
that the Civil Services and administration in general, have become wooden,
inflexible, self-perpetuating and inward looking. Consequently, their
attitude is one of indifference and insensitivity to the needs of citizens.
This, coupled with the enormous asymmetry in the wielding of power at all
levels, has further aggravated the situation. The end result is that officers
perceive themselves as dispensing favour to citizens rather than serving
them and given the abject poverty, illiteracy, etc., a culture of exaggerated
deference to authority has become the norm.
• 2. Lack of Accountability A common reason usually cited for inefficiency in
governance is the inability within the system to hold the Civil Services
accountable for their actions. Seldom are disciplinary proceedings initiated
against delinquent government servants and imposition of penalties is
even more rare. This is primarily because, at most levels, authority is
divorced from accountability leading to a system of realistic and plausible
alibis. Cumbersome disciplinary procedures have added to the general
apathy towards discipline in government. Moreover the safeguards
provided to civil servants— which were well intentioned— have often been
misused. Another reason for lack of accountability is that performance
evaluation systems within the government have not been effectively
structured. The complacency that the system breeds has resulted in
employees adopting an apathetic or lackadaisical attitude towards citizens
and their grievances.
• 3. Red Tapism Bureaucracies the world over are expected to adhere to rules and
procedures which are, of course, important for good governance. However, at
times, these rules and procedures are ab-initio ill conceived and cumbersome
and, therefore, do not serve their purpose. Also, government servants sometimes
become overly pre-occupied with rules and procedures and view these as an end
in themselves.
• 4. Low Levels of Awareness of the Rights and Duties of Citizens Inadequate
awareness about their rights prevents citizens from holding erring government
servants to account. Similarly, low levels of compliance of rules by the citizens
also acts as an impediment to good governance; when citizens do not adhere to
their duties they infringe on the freedom and rights of other citizens. Thus,
awareness of rights and adherence to duties are two sides of the same coin. A
vigilant citizenry, fully aware of its rights as well its duties, is perhaps the best way
to ensure that officials as well as other citizens, discharge their duties effectively
and honestly.
• 5. Ineffective Implementation of Laws and Rules There is a large
body of laws in the country, each legislated with different
objectives— maintaining public order and safety, maintaining
sanitation and hygiene, protecting rights of citizens, giving special
protection to the vulnerable sections, etc. Effective implementation of
these laws creates an environment which would improve the welfare
of all citizens and at the same time, encourage each citizen to
contribute his best towards the development of society. On the other
hand, weak implementation can cause a great deal of hardship to
citizens and even erode the faith of the citizenry in the government
machinery.
e-Governance
• The “e” in e-Governance stands for ‘electronic’. Thus, e-Governance
or electronic governance implies the application of Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) to government functioning.
According to the World Bank, e-governance refers to the use by
government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area
Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability
to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of
government. e-Governance is basically a move towards SMART
governance implying: simple, moral, accountable, responsive and
transparent governance.
• 1. Simple — meaning simplification of rules, regulations and processes of government
through the use of ICTs and thereby providing for a user-friendly government
• 2. Moral — connoting emergence of an entirely new system of ethical values in the
political and administrative machinery; technology interventions improve the efficiency
of anti-corruption agencies, police, judiciary, etc.
• 3. Accountable — facilitating design, development and implementation of effective
Management Information System and performance measurement mechanisms and
thereby ensuring accountability of public service functionaries
• 4. Responsive — streamlining the processes to speed up service delivery and make
system more responsive
• 5. Transparent — bringing information hitherto confined in the government documents
to the public domain and making processes and functions transparent, which in turn
would bring equity and rule of law in responses of the administrative agencies
• Interactions in e-Governance There are four types of interactions in e-
Governance viz., government to citizens (G2C), government to
business (G2B), government to government, that is, inter-agency
relationships (G2G), and government to employees (G2E). The Second
Administrative Reforms Commission has explained the above four
types of interactions in e-Governance in its report entitled
“Promoting e-Governance: The SMART Way Forward” (2008) in the
following manner:
• 1. G2C (Government to Citizens) — In this case, an interface is created between the
government and citizens which enables citizens to benefit from efficient delivery of a
large range of public services. This expands the availability and accessibility of public
services on the one hand and improves the quality of services on the other. It gives
citizens the choice of when to interact with the government (being available 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week), from where to interact with the government (e.g., service centre,
unattended kiosk or from one’s home/ workplace) and how to interact with the
government (e.g., through internet, fax, telephone, email, face-to-face, etc). The primary
purpose is to make government, citizen-friendly.
• 2. G2B (Government to Business) — Here, e-Governance tools are used to aid the
business community —providers of goods and services — to seamlessly interact with the
government. The objective is to cut red tape, save time, reduce operational costs and to
create a more transparent business environment when dealing with the government.
The G2B initiatives can be transactional, such as in licensing, permits, procurement and
revenue collection. They can also be promotional and facilitative, such as in trade,
tourism and investment. These measures help to provide a congenial environment to
businesses to enable them to perform more efficiently.
• 3. G2G (Government to Government) — In this case, Information and
Communications Technology is used not only to restructure the government
processes involved in the functioning of government entities but also to increase
the flow of information and services within and between different entities. This
kind of interaction is only within the sphere of government and can be both
horizontal i.e., between different government agencies as well as between
different functional areas within an organisation, or vertical i.e., between
national, provincial and local government agencies as well as between different
levels within an organisation. The primary objective is to increase efficiency,
performance and output.
• 4. G2E (Government to Employees) — The government is by far the biggest
employer and like any organisation, it has to interact with its employees on a
regular basis. This interaction is a two-way process between the organisation and
the employee. Use of ICT tools helps in making these interactions fast and
efficient on the one hand and increases satisfaction levels of employees on the
other.
Benefits of e-Governance The benefits (or
advantages or goals) of e-Governance are as
follows:
• 1. Better delivery of government services to citizens
• 2. Improved interactions with business and industry
• 3. Citizen empowerment through access to information
• 4. More efficient government management
• 5. Less corruption in administration
• 6. Increased transparency in administration
• 7. Greater convenience to citizens and businesses
• 8. Cost reductions and revenue growth
• 9. Increased legitimacy of government
• 10. Flattens organisational structure (less hierarchic)
• 11. Reduced paper work and redtapism in the administrative process
• 12. Better planning and coordination between different levels of governance
• 13. Greater citizen participation in the governance process
• 14. Improved relations between the public authorities and civil society
• 15. Re-structuring of administrative processes