FEATURES OF GOOD GOVERNANCE:PARTICIPATION: (5:02 PM):

• Representative democracies have failed to provide citizen participation beyond the electoral process.
• On the other hand, there is no scope for citizen participation in dictatorship.
• Good governance is possible only when stakeholders are given enough opportunities to decide their future.
• It can help in policies reflecting ground-level realities, rather than having a complete mismatch between policies and the needs of the people. 
• Various instruments like e-governance, citizen's charters, etc. can be used to ensure the participation of stakeholders in governance.

Consensus oriented:

• The late scientist M. S. Swaminathan believed that agriculture must be handled as an industry. He believed that agriculture pricing must be decided by the producers, and not the product consumers, like every other sector. Whenever agricultural commodities get costlier, the government imposes laws like the Essential Commodities Act of 1955, export restrictions, etc. The three farm bills were brought with the intention of globalizing and liberalizing the agriculture sector. Despite the pious intentions, the bills faced high resistance because the government could not bring consensus in their favor.

• Government with an absolute majority on the floor of the house use their numerical strength to get crucial bills passed.
• Once the time for their implementation comes, they face severe resistance from the stakeholders.
• We saw that when the three farm bills were introduced, forcing the government to withdraw the critical legislation.
• Good governance demands that decisions should be made through consensus so that their implementation can be smooth and efficient.

RULE OF LAW (5:30 PM):

• Constitutionalism demands that there should be a strict implementation of the rule of law in both letter and spirit.
• Democracies that are not fully developed are characterized by "constitutional formalism".
• The basic difference between a developed and developing country lies in the implementation of the rule of law.
• Developed countries and established democracies ensure strict implementation of the rule of law irrespective of the persons involved.
• On the other hand, in evolving democracies, the rule of law is mostly seen in the constitution than in reality.
• A delay in delivering justice, and failure to implement laws, rules & regulations ensure that the rule of law is only implemented partially.

Economy & Efficiency:

• Term	Meaning
  Economy	Expenditure
  Efficiency	Output
  Effectiveness	Outcome
  Equity	Quality of outcomes

• 

• For example, if the government wishes to improve education in an area, it will sanction a project to build schools. The economy is the funds available for any project. The output is the physical results achieved from utilizing the capital. The outcome will be the achievement of the desired results. Construction of schools will be the output, while improvement in efficiency levels for children will be the outcome. Equity will be achieved when the beneficiaries are from all sections of society, and not only the affluent section.

• In a developed country like India, the availability of resources is a major problem while formulating and implementing policies.
• Optimum utilization of resources would be necessary for rapid economic growth and development.
• As rightly recognized, it is possible only when administrators ensure economy and efficiency.
• The economy is defined in terms of reducing expenditure.
• It can be done by eliminating unproductive and wasteful expenditures.
• Efficiency is all about the optimum utilization of existing resources to maximize outputs.
• Efficiency can also automatically ensure the economy.

INCLUSIVENESS & EQUITY (6:00 PM):

• Macroeconomic parameters like GDP growth rates can only partially reveal the conditions of the economic system.
• But as pointed out by the United Nations and World Bank, what is important is the quality of development rather than the quantity of growth.
• In the Indian context, we must evaluate the development in terms of:
• I. Reduction in poverty.
• II. Providing employment to people( job-led growth).
• III. Eliminating inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth.
• IV. Realizing the objectives of inclusive and equitable growth.

Dimensions of inclusive & equitable growth:

• All sections of the society must benefit from the growth.
• The weaker sections must benefit more from the growth.
• Upliftment of the agricultural sector.
• Development of manufacturing sectors, especially the MSMEs.

1. Job-Led growth:

• The employment elasticity of the growth should be very high.
• For example- for a 1% increase in GDP, employment must increase by more than 1%.

• As the share of the services sector in the Indian GDP is increasing, we are seeing a reduction in employment elasticity. This is because the services sector has higher entry barriers so that fewer people can enter into it and benefit. Higher qualifications are required to become a software engineer than to be a farm laborer.

• Development of social & human capital.

2. VICIOUS CYCLE OF POVERTY (6:30 PM):

• If a large part of the population resides in poverty, the government incurs large costs in giving subsidies.
• Increased revenue expenditure of the government will lead to a larger fiscal deficit.
• To overcome the large fiscal deficit, the government will borrow more.
• A large part of the borrowing and income from other sources will go to reducing the fiscal deficit.
• This will reduce the funds available to the government for undertaking capital investments.
• Without capital investments, there will be no building of quality infrastructure.
• The lack of infrastructure would mean a lack of industrialization, which would further mean a lack of employment opportunities.
• This will ensure that a portion of the population remains in poverty, which will need subsidies.
• This is how the vicious cycle of poverty-subsidy works.
• We are seeing many governments engaging in competitive populism by promising and providing more and more things for free, including non-essential items.
• Such actions will certainly have long-term economic repercussions which will ultimately be borne by the population.
• The solution to this problem can be better investment in infrastructure which will encourage private industries to set up and expand.
• To ensure that the private industries get sufficient skilled labor, our education system must be re-oriented from rot learning to practical skilling.
• There is a limit to which any government can give employment, so private participation is necessary.
• If the government assumes all the responsibility of providing employment,  its expenditures and deficits will rise, which will in turn affect the population.

3. Gender empowerment:

• Women who constitute 50% of the population, must get equal opportunities for growth.

4. BALANCED REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT (6:30 PM):

• Economic liberalization has only resulted in the "creation of islands of prosperity in an ocean of poverty".
• Very few states and regions in India are developed at the cost of the rest of the country.
• This results in widening regional inequalities.
• Inclusive growth is possible only with balanced regional development.

5. Development of socially & educationally backward sections of society:

• Equitable growth emphasizes empowering people at the bottom of the pyramid.
• More opportunities should be provided to socially and educationally backward sections so that it can result in inclusive growth and development.

6. Sustainable development:

• Economic growth & development can be sustained for a longer period of time only when it is in complete harmony with the ecological systems.
• Recent events all over the globe have proved beyond doubt the significance of sustainable development for inclusive & equitable growth.
• As estimated by multilateral institutions like the United Nations & World Bank,  more than one billion people went below the poverty line due to ecological disasters.

The last feature of Good Governance:

Responsiveness:

• The essence of any democratic system is the responsiveness of the administration to the problems faced by the citizens of the country.
• For example- after the second wave of Covid-19, the government successfully implemented a vaccination program.
• The program ultimately helped in preventing the death of millions of people.
• On the other hand, dictatorial nations like China have not taken any effective measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

CORRUPTION (7:15 PM):

• As per the World Bank, corruption refers to the use of public office for private gains.
• As per the 2nd ARC, Corruption = Monopoly of the State + Discretion + Secrecy - Accountability.
• Systemic corruption involves a political system, economic system, administrative system, and socio-economic system.
• Systematic corruption takes place in a highly organized manner.
• Such corruption is not a one-time event done by any single individual but continues as per the normal functioning of the public system.
• Before the 1991 reforms, due to the License-Quota-Permit Raj, we saw Crony Socialism under which large government control gave avenues for corruption.
• After the 1991 reforms, due to the government's control over the allocation of natural resources, we saw a rise in Crony Capitalism.
• True capitalism will see people getting rich because of sincere hard work and innovation like Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates. etc.
• Crony capitalism will see people get rich because of proximity to positions of power.
•  Crony capitalism reduces the motivation to innovate.
• Economic Survey pointed out that a minor private company based in New York has more patents than 1.4 billion people.
• Materialism is another reason for an increase in corruption, as materialism associates the value of an individual with only possessions.

THE TOPIC FOR THE NEXT CLASS IS the Continuation of corruption.