& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Good Governance — to Satisfy Our Needs

by Mohammad Siddiquer Rahman
***The important thing for good governance is the quality of services and standard of performance that would generally satisfy the needs and expectations of the people.***
GOOD governance is being Increasingly recognised as a requirement as well as a goal in carrying out the responsibilities and activities of a modern government. Good governance was set by western donors as a condition for increased aid flow in the early 1990s. The Paris-based Development Assistance Committee (DAC) led by the. USA adopted this notion as a basic condition of bilateral aid. Pluralistic democracy and respect for human rights were given as conditions of European Bank for reconstruction and development in giving assistance to the East-European countries in the transition to
Development Bank (ADB) held at Nice. France in May. 1994. the western donors put good governance as a condition for increased development aid. These days the World Bank, the UNDP and other International Development Agencies are also lying greater emphasis on "good governance."
The question is: what is the definition of good governance? I am not aware If there is any precise definition of good governance. The perception of good governance may vary from country to country depending on their background and circumstances and their stage of development. Respect for human rights and democratic rule Is considered by the developed countries of the West and the donors as essentia] conditions of good governance.
To some donors good governance includes fair efficient and transparent public management. accountability to the public, controlling corruption or cutting excessive military spending.
To the ordinary man. however, good governance means the efficient performance of the state responsibilities for the protection of the rights and interests of the people and the prompt delivery of services to meet the basic needs of the people within the available resources. In fact good governance is what the people In general expect the government to do for the people in respect of the problems that confront them in their day-to-day life and the endeavours made by the government to discharge these responsibilities to the general satisfaction of the people.
Let us see what are these basic tasks and responsibilities that must be satisfactorily performed by the government to quality for good governance particularly in the context of a developing country like ours.
The first and foremost responsibility, the people expect the government to carry out, is to provide safety, security and protection to the life and property of the individuals of the country. The question as to whether the people feel safe and secure inside his house or in the streets or whether they are haunted by the fear of robbery hijacking, child-lifting and terrorism. whether there is anarchy and indiscipline in the society whether the criminals are at large and let go unpunished are the most immediate concern of cAmes'and acts of vio-
lence and the violation of laws whether causing death by rash driving or by gunshot and whether by a political terrorist, a student leader or an ordinary criminal must be brought under the process of law and punished by competent court of law with utmost promptitude without any political interference. These are the basic criteria for qualifying for good governance. If a government fails to maintain Taw and order, stability of the country will be Jeopardised which will affect peace and orderliness in the society, bring down the image of the country and also hinder investment and development both from inside and outside the country.
It is the expectation of all that rule of law is established firmly with the precepts of equality before law, fundamental human rights and protection of rights to life, property and personal liberty without being tainted by political considerations and other influence. All encroachments and impediments on rights must be stiflable under the process of w so that nobody is deprived of his rights or are made victim of oppression or tyranny whether by act of individuals and groups or of the government. If the court cases are unreasonably prolonged, Justice is denied because Justice is delayed, If the accused persons are confined in Jail without trial for months together because of the Inability or fault of the prosecution in preparing the case, the right of the accused is infringed.
It need hardly be mentioned that the first priority in state responsibility must go to the maintenance of law and order, security of life and property of the people, protection of rights of individuals and the dispensation of Justice on the basis of equity and fairness. For the maintenance of law and order the people must be involved.
For good governance the laws of the country and the rules and regulations must be enforced strictly. Non-en-forcement of the laws whether newly enacted or the old ones will only create lawlessness and reduce the effectiveness of the governtpent. Enforcement of all laws seriously and strictly is a precondition of good governance. Law enforce-not be treated as a mere routine.
People expect the government and administration to redress their grievances and give decisions on all cases within the earliest possible time and avoid all sorts of delay and procrastination. The process of the government and administration must therefore be simple, straight forward and efficient. Such processes should also be easily accessible to the members of the public and should be available as near to his area as possible so that people do not have to run to departments and ministries in Dhaka for things which could be disposed of or delivered at the district or local level with decentralisation of powers and delegation of authority. The decision-making process must be transparent and should be open to all whether for Import of food or for purchase of plants and machinery from abroad or for awarding a contract of construction or consultancy or for appointment of a Sub-Inspector of Police. Can the people easily reach the decision-making authorities responsible for responding to his everyday needs concerning state regulations and the delivery of essential services and supplies in the public sector.
Every person involved in governance whether a politician. a bureaucrat or a professional must be accountable for
his action in term's of financial propriety, administrative performance and protection of public interest. Corruption must be reduced and controlled at all levels of public service, political as well as administrative. A vigorous monitoring and watchful eye on the administrative process to protect public interest at all levels of governance is a sine qua non of good governance.
The government must allocate major shares of its resources for providing the basic needs of life of the people In general and particularly In the rural areas, i.e. health, education. poverty alleviation, income and employment etc. An efficient Management Information and Monitoring System to ensure that state resources and services actually reach and benefit the vast majority of the poor people specially in the rural areas is an Important measure of good governance.
The people expect the government to make adequate arrangements for an efficient delivery system of public utility services i.e. water supply, sewerage disposal, sanitation, electricity, gas. fuel environmental pollution, telecommu-aiication. public transport etc. whether by public or the private sector. These are essential elements of good governance and their maintenance and necessary expansion and upgrada-tion calls for vigorous enorts.
The common man is hurt by unreasonable hike in consumer prices. The farm population is adversely affected by low prices of agricultural produce. A national pricing policy for keeping price stability for consumer goods and essential services as well as farm produces is an important requirement for safeguarding tne Interest of the common man and should form a criterion for good governance.
The local needs of development i.e. rural infrastructure agriculture. irrigation, drainage, flood protection, fishing etc. must get a priority place in the national development Elans. But this is not possible to e done by a centralised government without local govern-
ment planning. Same is the case with the delivery of services to meet the basic needs of the people i.e., health, water-supply and sanitation, education etc. These can be done only by giving responsibility and authority to the local governments through the participation of the people. For this purpose, the national government must share adequate resources with the various tiers of local governments. Whether such devolution of authority to local governments has been satisfactorily done is a critical test for good governance.
Good governance needs a dedicated and patriotic band of Civil Service who are recruited on merit basis and must be honest and efficient. A permanent Civil Servant has to maintain neutrality in the applica-
tions of laws and regulations and should be above political affiliations and be fair and Just. He must have commitment for the execution of the policies of the government in power but at the same time have the boldness to point out what is wrong and undesirable. It is for the politicians to decide, what is good forthe people who elected them. The one thing that the people expect from the Civil Servants is a positive and helpful attitude, to be responsive to the needs of the people to be corrupt-free and to be prompt in decision-making and implementation of policies. For this, the Civil Servants must be trained, motivated and de-politlclsed.
There may be many other criteria that may be set as qualifications for graduation to
good governance for the multifarious activities undertaken by a government. But the important thing for good governance is the quality of services and standard of performance that would generally satisfy the needs and expectation^ of the people. Good governance is needed not to satisfy donors merely to get increased aid for us. We need it to satisfy our own needs.
The question naturally arise whether large development outlay and economic growth is an essential element of good governance. Yes, if the benefits of development goes directly to the people, especially the poor. It is interesting to note that despite an average economic growth rate of about 2 per cent during 1983-84 to 1991-92. the Income accruing to 5 per cent lowest income households have in fact declined from 1.17 per cent of total income in 1983-84 to 1.03 per cent in 1991-92. On the other hand, the income accruing to 5 per cent of the top In-
come households have' increased from 18.30 per cent of the total Income to 19.42 per cent during the period (BSS). The poorest group has thus become relatively poorer and the richest group has become richer.
Development and growth is definitely most important for increasing production, employment and Income, but this would qualify for good governance only when the poorer gets the maximum benefits of the Increase in Income and is given greater access to the basic needs of life. Development must be targeted to equity and social Justice and not make a few wealthy people wealthier or corrupt the moral values of the people. After all. whatever is the growth and development everybody needs security, peace and stability and these must be ensured first, even for the sake of development.
The writer is a former ambassador and cabinet secretary.