Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
Successive governments also strived to ensure upliftment of the poor and the
downtrodden. While several schemes and programmes were framed for the
betterment of the socially and educationally weaker sections, the women and the
children, the government also introduced several schemes aimed at alleviation of
poverty, as it was clearly understood that the country may not be able to achieve
the goal of rapid develop- ment unless the poorer sections of the society also
experienced increase in their incomes and became part of the mainstream
bandwagon of economic development.
It has been experienced by the country over the past six decades that despite
billions of rupees pumped in the rural sector since independence, through various
schemes and programmes, the desired outcomes have not been achieved. The
number of people below poverty line has declined but at a very slow pace and the
results have not been commensurate with the quantum of funds invested by the
government. Even from social point of view, it has been proved through many
studies that there have been significant leakages in the expenditure made for the
welfare of the weaker sections of society.
All this is strong pointer to the fact that the governance in the country needs
improvement to achieve an improved delivery system. Over the last few decades,
successive Five-Year Plans have tried to introduce certain reforms through their
broad-based objectives. Democratic decentralisation achieved through the
strengthened Panchayati Raj System and the resultant social empowerment has
been one major initiative in this direction.
Though the policy makers may be taking a lot of credit for all these actions, yet
the above governance initiatives are not sufficient and a lot more remains to be
done. Maintenance of law and order of the desired level remains a pipe dream in
many States. The general perception is that the law and order machinery is
generally inefficient, tardy and unresponsive. Corruption is rampant, undermining
economic growth, distorting competition, and disproportionately hurting the poor
and marginalised citizens. Crimina-lisation of politics continues unchecked, with
money and muscle power playing a major role in elections. In general, there is
high degree of volatility in the society on account of unfulfilled expectations and
poor service delivery.
Future Goals
Any attempt towards reforms in governance in the future must focus on two
things—the fulfilment of human potential and rapid economic growth. The broad
objective of realising human potential includes the prevention of human
sufferings, ensuring human dignity, providing access to justice and making
available equal opportunity to all so that every citizen becomes a fulfilled and
productive human being. Rapid economic growth, on the other hand, would
result in realising the country’s real potential and provide India with an
opportunity to play rightful role in the world to protect the interests of the people
of the country, while ensuring that the people living below poverty line also get
their due share in the growing prosperity of the country.
The role of the State in basic services needs to be clearly defined and emphasized.
Ensuring access to speedy and efficient justice, protecting rights of the citizens,
enforcing rule of law and maintaining public order are all inseparable and form
the basic foundation of a civilised society, as well as that of the democracy. The
deficiencies in this vital area need to be plugged through judicial and police
reforms, better participation of citizens in governance.
Based on the past experience and best practices, we need to redesign our delivery
mechanisms in the education sector in an innovative manner and deploy the
nation’s finest talent to man these sectors. Inadequate and poor quality of school
education is the bane of Indian society today. Except in case of some better
institutions of higher and technical/professional education, higher education too
is not very successful in promoting excellence and producing quality service
providers, dynamic leaders, result-oriented managers and long-term wealth
creators.
There are no two views that the governance has been a weak link in our quest for
rapid development with equity. The country has an impressive governance
structure and several important successes to credit. But we need to consolidate
the gains already made and venture into the virgin but vital areas of reforms in
governance.