The term “governance” refers to the decision-making and implementation processes in the administration of a country, state or organization. At the country/state level, governance is the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority in the management of multifarious affairs.
In the ancient days of rajas and maharajas, Kautilya’s Arthashastra was the Magna Carta of governance. This magnum opus elaborates the traits of a good ruler: “In the happiness of his subjects lies the king’s happiness, in their welfare his welfare. He shall not consider as good only that which pleases him but treat as beneficial to him whatever pleases his subjects.”
Kautilya’s rajasprovided “despotic yet benevolent governance” and for thousands of years our tradition of government has been that of “Raja and Praja”. Everything came from the top and was never questioned. It was normal for the king and his courtiers to demand and accept presents or gifts in return for favours done.
With such a mindset prevailing among a majority of the population even after independence, India’s democracy has never really been a “government of the people, by the people and for the people”. This has been fully exploited by post-Independence satraps to practise pseudo-democracy wherein what is beneficial to them and their family alone matters!
For thousands of years our
tradition of government has
been that of ‘Raja and Praja’.
Everything came from the top
and was never questioned
In the event, during the last half-century, governance has diminished and conflicts have risen. Justice, ridden with corruption and exorbitant cost, has become a rare commodity. The resultant discontent that could lead to rebellion, anarchy, and chaos, has many reasons. Chief among them was the lack of grassroot democracy in India’s Constitution.
“Objectives Resolution”, moved by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in December 1946 called for a Constitution “wherein all power and authority of the Sovereign Independent India, its constituent parts and organs of government, are derived from the people”.This reflected Gandhi’s description of swaraj in 1922 as merely a “courteous ratification of the declared wish of the people of India”. Visions of these founding fathers envisaged a people-based governance with a bottom-up process that would give everyone “a place in the sun”.
But when it was adopted, the Constitution concentrated political and economic powers with the Central government, devolving some to the states to maintain a federal facade. None was given to the grassroot entities of district and villages. The founding fathers’ aspiration of “making the people as the source of all power and authority”, which is the basic tenet of any democracy, stood betrayed.
Nearly four decades later, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi condescendingly agreed to “devolve power to the people”, indeed a cruel joke on the basic tenet of democracy! It took a few more years and another Prime Minister (PV Narasimha Rao) to make the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution for establishing and empowering Panchayati Raj institutions. These amendments, barring exceptions, still remain only on paper.
Under the circumstances, the unenviable task of delivering de-centralized governance fell on the shoulders of India’s civil services. Post-Independence, the colonial administrative structure, with IAS and IPS at the core, continued unaltered. The people of a free nation looked upon these elite services as the bulwark of the administrative system whose main task was to give good and honest governance to all citizens and uplift the poor and the downtrodden. To facilitate performance of this momentous task without fear or favour, these services were covenanted in the Constitution, a privilege not available anywhere else in the world!
For a nation of 110 crore people with 70 per cent of the aam aadmi living hand to mouth, governance has a very distinct connotation. It is not facilitating a “billionaire economy” through globalization, with some crumbs trickling down. It is basic governance – creating and sustaining an ambience and atmosphere for the common man to work and live with equity, safety, security and dignity. Tragically, at grassroots level, these elements of basic governance are being trashed at every turn.
These two agendas – global felicitation and basic governance – have come into conflict and most of the management-savvy mandarins are favouring the former and spurning the latter. IAS incumbents have little patience with tackling burning and basic issues like corruption, injustice and inequality, which concern the common man. They are more comfortable with cozy jobs in state industrial and commercial sectors as well as Central economic ministries and the benefits that flow. And the IPS is not far behind. Are the services abandoning the basics for which they were covenanted?
IAS (retd) with a distinguished career of 40 years - worked in Army, Govt, Private, Politics & NGOs.
