Facets of Good Governance

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The desire for the good governance' was perhaps the moving spirit behind the emergence of the state. People struggled relentlessly for the attainment of the objective all through the tortuous path of the history. Philosophers, historians and scholars have penned down this saga of the mankind, which is preserved in the scriptures, epics and immortal writings. In modern India, since independence umpteen numbers of efforts have been made to attain the elusive goal of good governance. However, we have seemingly failed in achieving the target particularly in the context of poor, the deprived and the disadvantaged section of the society which constitutes about one third of our population. To ensure a responsive and transparent governance to this section of the society in changing national and global environment, the need of periodical thinking about the concept and (institutions of governance) is desirable. In the present volume, an out come of UGC sponsored seminar, the scholars of repute have discussed different facets of the concept and its prospective impact on the immediate environment. Tracing the history of the concept and its prospective impact on the immediate environment. Tracing the history of the concept right from the ancient times, the contributors have exfolded its changing form, parameters for evaluation of a good government and from this from this point of view ascertaining the desirability of reviewing the constitution while finding out the ways and means for improving the quality of politics and public life and the removal of barriers coming in the way of sustainable human development. The contributors suggest that the goal of good governance can be achieved if the institutions, leadership, political parties and bureaucracy are committed to the ideological values, accountable to the masses, efficient and proactive is to create an enabling environment wherein the people may realize their dreams.

S.K. Chaturvedi is professor and head department of political science and coordinator of Public Administration, Chaudhary Charan Singh University (formerly Meerut University) Meerut. He has been engaged in teaching Post graduate and M. Phil students and in supervising research projects of Ph.D. scholars for more than two decades. He has authored and Edited ten books and sixty papers and articles of which one and half a dozen formulate chapters of books in the areas of South Asian politics and relations, Criminal Justice Administration and India Political System. Dr. Chaturvedi has received Govind Ballabh Pant Award constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi for writing the History of Police in India. He also edits a bi-annual Journal and is Advisor to Vikas Paricharcha, a Journal of the department of Public Administration, Lucknow University, Lucknow (U.P.) Member of several academic associations of the national repute; professor Chaturvedi is currently the Vice President of Indian Political Science Association.

Right from the inception of the human society peace, security, justice and development have remained ultimate objectives of the human life. In an attempt to attain these goals, it submitted itself to the coercive institutions. The philosophers from oriental and occidental world have portrayed state as an institution striving for attaining the objective of people's welfare. The famous dictum that the state is for the good of the people and continuing for ensuring a better life to them subscribes this view. Kautilyas concept of 'Rajdharma' and emperor Ashoka's concept of "Yogakshema" further support this feeling which though traversed through the medieval and modern ages got impeded by the sovereigns of the day. However, common man's struggle for good governance continued.

In India throughout the tortuous path of freedom struggle, demand for self government and good government remained one of the main agenda of debate between the colonial masters and freedom fighters. After attainment of independence founding fathers of our constitution made the state accountable to the people and ensured the individual liberty, equality and justice within the framework of a democratic, and secular republic. They directed the state to ensure welfare of one and all in the society. Attempts were made to revitalize public administration at various levels through statutory and non statutory bodies. However, despite all these efforts, the state has seemingly failed in making an impact on people's life and psyche as is evident in almost all spheres of the polity. Many unhealthy developments are being witnessed in our political and administrative setup, which deeply affect other segments of the society. It is in this context that the issue of Good Governance has become of much significance. It is at this stage that one should think whether our political regime, the process by which authority is being exercised in the management of country's economic and social life and capacity of government to design, formulate and implement public policies is responding to the people's aspirations of development in right earnest way? In this context whether we can learn something from our glorious past? Needless to mention that state-society relation in the fast changing national and global environment is required to be debated. New patterns of interaction between government and society can be observed in areas such as social welfare, environmental protection, human rights, educational and physical planning which the government of the day need to frame and perform accordingly with excellence.

'Good Governance' is a two-way traffic. If the government is committed to the people for their greatest good, the people themselves can only realize it by having a stake in the government for the sake of future and future is the place where all of us will live the rest of our lives. It is in this context that some eminent scholars have put their views to trace the fiber of good governance from unknown past to searching present. The views have been expressed by these scholars in a national seminar organized by the Department of Political Science, Chaudhary Charan Singh. University, Meerut some time ago. Later, it was decided to present them in a volume for which the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, provided basic pecuniary input. Out of umpteen papers only thirteen have been culled in this volume.

At the every out set Sanjeev Kumar Sharma in his paper tries to underline the functions, duties, role and characteristics of a good, popular and dutiful king as inscribed in the Shanti Parv of the epic Mahabharata. It may be worthwhile to mention that the ancient scripture lays down a parameter while testing goodness of the governance and state.