Good Governance And Bureaucracy (A Peep in History)

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Governance as a concept remains under- developed and, therefore, remains exposed to variety of interpretation. However, in simple term, it is a process which manages the affairs of the state. Central argument of this volume is that good governance depends upon effective and representative democratic institutions and administrative apparatus. Such institutions are to give both voice and participation to citizens in the process of governance and to hold both the Legislature and executive accountable to the electorate.

The present volume containing twenty one valuable contributions from eminent civil servants, heights on the various aspects of good governance. It also provides valuable insight for the present and future generations of the civil service to shape its ideas accordingly for better formulation and implementation of public policy. A useful book for civil servants, academics and general practitioners.

B.C. Mathur an I.A.S. (1950 batch) has been active in the field of training and development of officers after his appointment as OSD in the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1967. He organized the Training Division and was its First Director and Joint Secretary (Trg.). He helped in starting the Executive Development Programme at IIPA and directed the First Training Programme on Training of Trainers. Elected Vice-Chairman, ECAFE Conference on Development of Senior Administrators at Bangkok in 1970. The Federal Republic of Germany invited him to attend a Seminar on Training of Trainers and Management in Public Enterprises at West Berlin in 1979. He has been Additional Secretary, Administrative Reforms, Director National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, Director IIPA. Was also Secretary in the newly created Ministry of Sports and Youth Welfare in 1982 and also held additional charge for a short period of the Ministry of Work and Housing. He has been Founder Member, Fellow and President Emeritus of Indian Society for Training and Development. A Life President of the Institute of Supply and Materials Management and the Member of Executive Council of the IIPA for nearly 3 decades. He has been the Chairman of the Case Study Programme of IIPA and organized number of Case Study Workshops and conducted Case Study programme with the help of IIPA faculty at the University of Mauritius. Has published several monographs and edited a number of volumes on Training, HRD etc. At the IIPA he has been Honorary Treasurer, Member of the Standing Committee, Screening Committee and number of Sub-committees like the Committee on UGC pay scales and other service conditions of faculty and also regarding Election related matters.

The search for good governance is a continuous and unending process. To ensure 'goodness' in governance and raising its quality is possible only when the aspirations of the people are taken care of and such aspirations are constantly articulated by all sections of society. However, good governance may be articulated differently by different scholars and individuals. For Jeremy Bentham, good governance meant satisfaction of every kind and full of pleasure. To quote him, 'it is better to be a pig satisfied than to be a Socrates dissatisfied." To put it differently, for Bentham, satisfaction was everything and, perhaps, rationality had no place in his thinking. John Stuart Mill, however, made a clear-cut difference between the rational and the irrational. Criticizing Bentham on the question of rationality, he wrote, "it is always better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than to be a pig satisfied." Therefore, for Mill, good governance stood for rationality, individual freedom, liberty with checks and balances and transparency in governance.

Before Bentham and Mill, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau treated the State, created as a result of the social contract, as being synonymous with good governance. For Mahatma Gandhi, good governance meant the dignity of human beings, self-restraint, dignity of labour and a value-based and egalitarian society. Therefore, in India, during the course of the freedom struggle, self-government and good governance became synonymous. After Independence, the Preamble of our Constitution set forth the parameters for good governance.

Though the concept of good governance is envisaged in the Preamble of the Constitution, this goal has been, many feel, elusive despite Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy and the expansion of the coverage and nature of Rights through judicial pronouncements, and the evolution of social policy by the State. The guiding spirit, of course, remains the Preamble of the Constitution.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages