Proactive Citizenry wants better Government not more Government

Ques. 29. “Participation in authentic discourse requires warrants for discourse”. In the light of above statement explain the broader democratic consequences of a pro active citizenry?

Ans. Democracy literally means Govt. by the people of the people and for the people. So if we assess the participation of people in a democracy only by exercising their right to vote then full essence of this word Democracy will not be met.

In democracy not only while electing but also while governing people’s participation should be there which will check the negligent and corrupt attitude of irresponsible officers and will make the state responsible and accountable for its actions.

In India concepts like RTI, Citizens Charter, NGO, active Civil Society, Lokpal and Lokayukta, PIL warrants participation in authentic discourse. 

Some more consequences of a pro active citizenry are - 

(a) Concepts like Citizen Charter will let people know about their rights and schemes for them ensuring efficiency in final allocation of public money and facilities.

(b) PIL empowers every citizen to bring to the notice of judiciary problems of society which may not be directly related to him. For eg. Constitution of Civil Services Board was through a PIL

(c) Lokpal and Lokayukta checks the spread of corruption among Government servants of higher and lower Strata.

(d) RTI empowers citizens to have information of non classified nature from any public authority or state.

(e) NGO’s and active Civil Society press for rights of marginalized and downtrodden section of society.

We can see that all the above institutions warrants the broadening of people’s participation in democracy which in turn will lead this participative governance to the full realization of democracy in its true sense.

Ques. 30. “We do not need more government; we need better government” Comment.

Ans. More government can mean 2 things –

(a) All products and services being provided by Government which is also known as Socialistic State system

(b) Multiplicity of Government Ministries and departments

Both of the above concepts in excess are harmful for good and better government. The first aspect is harmful because government do not have the capacity and specialization to provide all services efficiently. Precisely this was the time when the concept of NPM took hold globally and the need for LPG was felt all over the World. All profitable non capital intensive industries were privatized to bring in efficiency and provide people with cost effective services. Also Government work was reduced and it was able to focus on other areas of public interest.

The second aspect is a very different one in which the incumbent instead of streamlining the process makes it more complex by opening more and more departments which creates confusion and difficulty in coordination. So rather than increasing departments and ministries they should be kept limited and proper platform of cross coordination should be present in order to avoid mismanagement and red tapism.

So by analyzing above 2 points it can be said that administration by the Government should be done in a qualitative manner not quantitative.