Good Governance

7.1 Concept and Origin

Good governance as a concept was promoted by the World Bank in its 1989 report Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth, which linked aid conditionality to governance quality. The UNDP (1997) gave the most widely cited framework.

UNDP's 8 Characteristics of Good Governance:

#	Characteristic	Explanation
1	Participation	All citizens have voice in decision-making
2	Rule of Law	Fair legal frameworks enforced impartially; independent judiciary
3	Transparency	Information freely available; institutions accessible
4	Responsiveness	Institutions serve all stakeholders within reasonable time
5	Consensus Orientation	Mediate different interests to reach broad consensus
6	Equity and Inclusiveness	All members of society feel included and part of mainstream
7	Effectiveness and Efficiency	Produce results that meet needs while making best use of resources
8	Accountability	Government accountable to the people and institutional stakeholders

7.2 Good Governance in India

Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC):

• 1st ARC (1966–70): Morarji Desai → focused on administrative structure, personnel
• 2nd ARC (2005–09): Veerappa Moily → 15 reports including "Promoting e-Governance," "Ethics in Governance," "Citizen Centric Administration"

Key e-governance initiatives:

• DigiLocker, UMANG, MyGov — citizen interface
• PFMS (Public Financial Management System) — financial transparency
• GeM (Government e-Marketplace) — transparent procurement
• RTI Act 2005 — transparency and accountability
• Lokpal Act 2013 — anti-corruption accountability

Rajasthan Good Governance examples:

• Jan Soochna Portal — 100+ government schemes' beneficiary data publicly visible
• e-Mitra — single window service delivery (birth/death certificates, utilities, welfare applications)
• Rajasthan Mission on Livelihoods (RMAL) and Mukhyamantri Chiranjeevi Swasthya Bima Yojana — welfare delivery
• Rajasthan Right to Hearing Act 2012 — responsiveness in service delivery

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