WHAT DOES GOOD GOVERNANCE MEAN TO ME?
What does good Governance to the Government mean? Abraham Lincoln rightly said ‘the Government is for the people, by the people and of the people’. We select our Government during elections and believe that we have chosen the right one.
Good governance should prevail at all levels. For a Government, it lies in the commitment to the people which elected it and fulfillment of the requirements of the people without any discrimination for the unity of our Mother India. It embodies very good planning and development of all fields and disciplines. It should ensure safety of the people and the borders. It should repose confidence in the people by enforcement of law and order, preventing disputes amongst different sections of clan and States on the whole. It should provide employment and education to all the people which are basic needs to youngsters turning as terrorists and involving in anti-social activities.
Good governance thereby is applicable to all places even in individual, family, establishments and in all organizations whether public or private.
Good governance is exhibited by a Government which is clean and transparent in its administration sans corruption. The administration must not be tenacious and be flexible to meet the demands of the people. The activities of the Government must be transparent to the people and the people should know where and how all the revenues are spent and on what projects. The Government should live up to the confidence that people have in it.
Face is the index of mind – Here face is Government and mind is people. A Government with its various ministers and members represents the whole country and its people to the outside world. What the people feel must be voiced by the Government to the world as a whole country’s response.
In India, like many of the developing nations, its national growth is substantially reduced because of corruption. Corruption in its various forms of bribe, favouritism, partiality, etc., is the only Himalayan task thwarting the economy of our county. From small aspects like relaying roads to selecting members of our cricket team to big international events, corruption in different ways as stated above is playing its ghastly part.
In my part, I feel, corruption should be eradicated at its root level immediately. Immediately find the way to curtail and be brave to remove this economic and social evil. The employees in different fields of governance of the Government and in private companies must have respect and love for what they are doing. They must be content with what they have and must not fall into the trap of taking bribe. They must have the real human heart that rightly prevents them from accepting bribe, showing favouritism, etc. Corruption can definitely be made history if we do our work perfectly rather being like a dog – corrupted employee – begging for a biscuit (money).
Corruption, if eradicated, can lead to a new renaissance of giving opportunities to the talented people. In every field involving great international competitions, the talented team of citizens of our India can bring laurels and glory to our mother country. India can be on top of the world in all sports, including circket.
People elect a Government to have their need fulfilled and dreams come true and believe that the Government shall implement the election manifestoes. A good Government should adhere to good policies and contribute more to the county.
Our country – India, is basically an agricultural country. Rural areas are involved in agriculture and the village populace constitutes 70% of our country’s population. Due to advancement in technology, people in villages apart from supplying food materials are also engaging themselves in small industries in their free time for their improved livelihood. Such futuristic methods lead to the growth of the country as a whole. No doubt, good governance should support these small rural industries.
Nowadays, large scale industries promoted by the private sector are encouraged by the Government with various incentives resulting in much required industrial boom.
Just developing industries is not enough; the challenge is also in producing quality human resources to serve the purpose. Selection of the real talented from the masses is possible only when the quality education available in the cities is also offered in the rural villages. This requires adequate posting of teachers in villages.
Health is wealth. Eventhough health is very important for all, especially for students, it is more important for them to understand, assimilate and enhance their knowledge. Now, the health facilities available in the villages are good, but it should improve a lot in annihilating the epidemics. Children born in villages should be administered vaccines at free of cost by the Government. It is to be appreciated that the recent polio campaign by the Government has attained 100 per cent success.
India is having lot of talented and well-educated young people for effective use in various fields. In other words, provide them the employment opportunities lest India lose them badly to other countries.
Make hay while the sun shines. The Government should trap the talented with deserved offers and use them for development of our country. In India, thanks to our former President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who has become an idol amongst the youth said, “Deam Big and Achieve Bigger”, as a consequence of which the youth began to dream big and achieve them. He also revived the Indian Space Research Programme and the Nuclear Energy Field for development purposes. So, all the Government has to do is to induct this pool of talented youngsters into their respective fields and watch them creating a big boom, creating ‘history breaking records’. India has already reached the status of a ‘Nuclear Power Nation’ and possessed a rich amount of intelligent brains leading to becoming as one of the Super Powers.
At present, India is suffering from unemployment problem. The reason is absence of the Government to effectively use the human resources for the progress of our Nation. Hence, youngsters are also affected mentally and when opportunities are offered at their later age, they are not able to function efficiently resulting in poor output. The Government has to explore intelligent means to solve this problem.
The Government is making planned development through its five-year plans. What I feel is, in order to accelerate our progress, the duration of these plans may be reduced to 3 years by employing more number of people. In this manner, greater heights can be reached in less time.
Further, a good Government should have all the States under its control, ensure unity, brotherhood and sharing among them. What is happening at present? Everywhere, there are disputes – disputes in the form of water sharing and management, construction of dams, supply of electricity, etc. Unless the rivers are nationalized, the problem of water sharing cannot end. This problem is also creating enmity between the states and the people. I can rightly put it that we are perishing because of our own untenable policies.
The major share of GDP now comes from activities relating to Information Technology. Our country should not lose the computer savvy brains by way of brain drain to other developed countries. We are not witnessing the situation where compensation and pay off is not an impediment to computer qualified professionals as their pay package is very high and they deserve it.
In administrative functions, the Government should have transparency in dealings. Because India is having one of the biggest army, security of our country is not a problem. The Government should have a proper control upon the police thereby bringing confidence to the public. The corrupted police colluding with the corrupted politicians playing havoc to the image of the police should be controlled. The image of our police should improve to the status of ‘Scotland Yard of United Kingdom’.
Coming to Justice, it is alarming. Good governance must adopt the principle, justice delayed is justice denied and bring reforms to Courts thereby instilling the faith in the people that justice never fails.
For a good Government, there are lot of things to do. Curb unemployment problem by opening various opportunities, support sports and allied activities, improve Science and Technology fields including Information Technology, find out ways to stop spreading of black money. A good Government can be successful in respecting the view of the opposition, accepting criticisms as points put forth for improvement and make health programmes to eradicate various diseases. It would be great if the Government can lead the country without caste and creed feelings and social bias and partiality. It would be paying tributes to our ancestors who won freedom for us.
To sum up, a good governance means, the Government should
- function in a transparent manner,
- accept the criticism as points for progress,
- weed out corruption,
- curb black money,
- eradicate unemployment problems,
- improve health standards,
- support agricultural revolution,
- encourage all types of industries,
- discourage and punish the corrupt policitians,
- render justice in time,
- ensure safety and security of the people,
- develop friendship with neighbouring countries,
- remove differences in caste and creed feelings,
- make available people’s requirements, and
- ultimately keep people very happy.
I am highly confident and determined that if there can be a Government like this, India as visioned by our former President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam can definitely become a Superpower by 2020 and to me such a Government’s governance would be what I call good governance.
As told by our Father of the Nation, the functioning of the Government has to conform to “Think of the poorest person you have ever seen and ask if your next act will be of any use to him”.
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