1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Governance and Public Policy in India

Lecture – 1
Governance, Good Governance, Role of
Civil Society
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Governance, Good Governance, Role of Civil Society

Governance, good governance and democratic governance, role of state, civil society and individuals:
● Governance does not simply mean rule or administration. It has a broader meaning as it also focuses on the
purpose.
● Meaning that the governance unlike the public administration, puts attention not only on the structure and
functions but also has great deal of emphasis on its goal, aims and purpose of formation.
● Governance therefore is about the capacity i.e. financial resources and infrastructure etc. and accountability
i.e. performance and effectiveness of an administration.
● Governance in public administration became important in the changed global scenario. It is an innovation of
the World Bank which was introduced at a historical juncture where many developing countries (sub-
Saharan African countries) were failing to repay its debt and the inefficiency within administration in its
structure and also in solving of the crisis was visible.
● This development along with collapse of the Soviet Union and popularity of neo liberal reforms, led to
believe that within public administration, there should be accountability, transparency and participation of
citizens, which therefore led to the introduction of the concept of Governance.
● Thus, Governance overall draws its sustenance from „participatory democracy‟ and „neo-liberal reforms‟ that
ushered a change in the public administration.
● Governance‟, like New Public Management, defies simple definitions and indicates the emergence of a more
plural political world, a declining role of the nation state i.e. collaborative management of the society with
other actors, and a more complex set of societal problems.
● Thus, the shift from government to governance in the era of globalization depicts a shift from a coordinated
hierarchical structures and processes of societal steering to a network-based process of exchange and
negotiation.

Good Governance:
● As per World Bank, good governance is epitomized by predictable, open and enlightened policy-making, a
bureaucracy imbued with a professional ethos acting in furtherance of the public good, the rule of law,
transparent processes and a strong civil society participating in public affairs.
● Thus, the four key elements of good governance are:
a. Accountability
b. Transparency
c. Legal framework for development
d. Information to citizens
● Improving governance hence would begin from assessment of its institutional environment i.e. making it
accountable, transparent, and open to public, based on rule of law etc.
● World Bank has contrasted good governance against the poor governance and has said that poor governance
is a formulation characterized by arbitrary policy-making, unaccountable bureaucracies, un-enforced or
unjust legal systems, the abuse of executive power, a civil society unengaged in public life and widespread
corruption‟.
● Another World Bank document, Governance and Development (1992), defines governance as „the manner in
which power is exercised in the management of a country‟s economic and social resources for development‟.
It thus talks about relationship of good governance with a) the type of political regime in the country b) the
process through which power is exercised and c) the capacity of the government to design, formulate, and
implement policies to discharge the government functions.
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● The United Nations Development Programme (1997) has provided eight important characteristics for good
governance which are as follows:
a. Participation – Participation must be by both men and women. It could be direct or indirect i.e.
through representatives or legitimate institutional mechanisms. By participation, it does not necessarily
mean that demands of the vulnerable sections of the society will always be incorporated in decision
making. It means that the participation by the public should be organized and informed i.e. freedom of
association and expression along with role of civil society must be promoted.
b. Consensus oriented – There should be representation/consensus of all the stakeholders in the society
so that decision making reflect the best interests of the society.
c. Accountable - Accountability is a key tenet of good governance. Who is accountable for what should
be documented in policy statements. In general, an organization is accountable to those who will be
affected by its decisions or actions as well as the applicable rules of law.
d. Transparent – It means that the information with respect to law making or decision making must be
available out in open for it proper investigation and securitization. e. Responsive – It means that govt.
and its decision making should be sensitive to the need and interests of the public and that too in a
reasonable time frame. f. Effective and Efficient – It means that while ensuring that the govt. works as
per the needs of the society, they must also make sure that there is proper utilization of resources
without any wastage.
g. Based on Rule of Law – Meaning the workings of the government must respect and should be
according to the law of the land.
h. Equitable and Inclusive – It means that it must allow fair and just involvement of public and their
needs in decision making process.
● Good Governance assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account, and
that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to the
present and future needs of society.
● Importance of good governance is clearly inscribed in Indian Constitution through principles of Sovereign,
Socialist, Secular and Democratic Republic committing itself to democracy, rule of law and welfare of
people, Fundamental Rights, DPSP etc.
● As per former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, "Good governance is ensuring respect for
human rights and the rule of law; strengthening democracy; promoting transparency and capacity in public
administration." He also said that “Good Governance is perhaps the single most important factor in
eradicating poverty and promoting development”.

Initiatives of Good Governance in India:

● Right to Information
● E-Governance - Focus on 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance
● Ease of Doing Business
● Decentralization – Introducing Grass root level governance through 73rd and 74th Constitutional
Amendments
● Niti Aayog
● Good Governance Index – It launched on Good Governance Day on 25 December 2019.
♦ The Good Governance Index is a uniform tool across States to assess the Status of Governance and impact
of various interventions taken up by the State Government and Union Territories.
♦ The objectives of Good Governance Index are to provide quantifiable data to compare the state of
governance in all states and Union Territories, enable states and Union Territories to formulate and
implement suitable strategies for improving governance and shift to result oriented approaches and
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administration.
● Citizens Charter
● Lokpal and Lokayuktas
● Aspirational District Programmes - launched in January 2018 to transform the lives of people in the under-
developed areas of the county in a time bound manner. The programme aimed at transforming 115 most
backward districts with focused interventions in the field of health and nutrition, education, agriculture and
water management, financial inclusion and skill development.
● And many more.

Challenges to Good Governance:

● Criminialisation of Politics
● Corruption
● Delay in justice
● Increase cases of Violence
● Disrespect of rule of law
● Marginalization of social, economic, and educational backward communities
● Centralization of administration and power

Role of Civil Society and Individuals:

● Civil society is refereed as the third sector of the society that represents the shared interests, values, purposes
and behaviour of the public. It is distinct from government and commercial (for-profit actors).
● They in other words manifests the will and interests of the common people, family, and the private sphere.
● It includes charities, development NGOs, community groups, women's organizations, faith-based
organizations, professional associations, trade unions, social movements, coalitions, and advocacy groups
etc.
● The inclusion of civil society voices is essential to give expression to the marginalized and those who often
are not heard. Civil society actors can enhance the participation of communities in the provision of services
and in policy decision-making and therefore plays a vital role in ensuring that good governance is
implemented by the official authorities.
● They facilitate better awareness and a more informed citizenry, who make better voting choices, participate
in politics, and hold government more accountable as a result.
● The role of civil society in society was promoted by many classical liberal theorists such as Hegel, Marx,
Alexis de Tocqueville, Ferdinand Tonnies etc.
● Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba in 20th century have further expressed their role in decision/policy
making by emphasizing on their contribution in a democratic order.
● Robert Putnam opines that such non-political organisation are vital for democracy to work as they help in
building mutual trust, cooperation, social capital, values etc. which by transferring to political system helps
in keeping the society intact and together.
● However, theorist like Partha Chatterjee believes that the scope of „civil society is demographically limited‟.

Contribution by civil society in India: The civil society has influenced government decisions time and again
through PILs (Public Interest Litigations), social movements, with the help of media, lobbying etc. Some of the
examples are as follows:
● Chipko Movement
● Narmada Bachao Andolan - Medha Patkar and Baba Amte, have received the Right Livelihood Award in
1991 for their contribution.
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● Right to Information – MKSS in Rajasthan

● Child trafficking – Bachpan Bachao Andolan founded by Kailash Satyarthi received Noble Peace Prize
along MalalaYousafzai in 2014.
● LGBT Rights – In 2017, SC declared section 377 of Indian Penal Code as null and void. Few organisations
such Naz Foundation, Ondede (founded by Akkai Padmashali), National AIDS Control Organisation etc.
played significant contribution.
● Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace 2013 – Vishakha and Others vs State of Rajasthan
● Movement for prevention of environment and Pollution control measures such as M. C. Mehta v. Union of
India under which the court shut down numerous industries and allowed them to reopen only after controlled
pollution disposal in the Ganga basin.
● NGOs such as Administrative Democratic Reforms and People‟s Union for Civil liberties have played
significant contribution by filing PILs to improve the election procedures in India:
a. Disclosure of Candidate Background (Criminal, Educational & Financial) to Election Commission
(2003) - filed by ADR in December 1999 culminated into a landmark Supreme Court Judgement.
b. The Supreme Court's Judgement On NOTA (September 2013) – Both PUCL and ADR played a
significant contribution in inserting the NOTA button in the EVM machines first time during the 2014
Lok Sabha elections.
c. Disqualification Of Convicted MPs/MLAs (2013) - On a petition filed by Lily Thomas and Lok Prahari
NGO, where ADR also intervened, the Supreme Court stated that if a sitting MP/MLA is convicted (not
only charged) then he/ she would be disqualified immediately and the seat would be declared as vacant.
d. Introduction of VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail)
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Governance and Public Policy in India

Lecture – 2
Public Policy: Stages and Processes
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Public Policy: Stages and Processes

Introduction:
● Public policies are framed by the government of a nation to satisfy and fulfill the needs and interests of its
citizens.
● It is a mechanism through which the government remains truly democratic and representative towards the
public and the society.
● In other words, they are the means by which the collective community needs are met.
● The success of the government lies with the success of the policies as it showcases public/citizens consent
and satisfaction towards its government. And that is why it is said that if the policy fails, the government
fails.
● Public policy was for a very long time a subfield of political science and public administration. However, as
the society became complex, its relationship with the government and other political institutions too became
complex, thereby leading to more detailed discussion on how the government makes assessments while
choosing for a policy alternative.
● In other words, with the growing need for representative government around the world and the participation
and empowerment of the public in the works of the State, the need for detailed study on public policies
functioning also increased.
● Contemporary public policy and policy analysis has particularly an American and twentieth century flavour
i.e. it was in America where initiatives towards a more unified approach to the study of public problems and
policy really began.
● The work by Harold Lasswell, Psychopathology and Politics (1930) and The Analysis of Political Behavior
(1948), which culminated in the publication of Lasswell’s essay titled ‘The Policy Orientation’, The Policy
Sciences, co edited with Daniel Lerner is worth a mention.
● Thus, Harold Lasswell is the man behind the initiation of the movement on public policy.
● Therefore, with growing problems in the society with respect to war, poverty, health, education, crime,
environment etc. and more involvement of the State in solving them, great interests in policy sciences
emerged.
● In recent times, the study of public policy has evolved into what is virtually a new branch of social sciences,
the so-called policy sciences.

What is Public Policy?

● The word ‘public policy’ has been derived from two words – Public and Policy, which means that these are
the series of programmes or actions directed by the state/government/public administration to serve the
interests of the public.
● In other words, these actions are not meant for private needs or to serve private interests and are therefore
purely meant for distribution of public goods and to eradicate any problems faced by people in the society.
● Robert Presthus defines policy as ‘a choice made by an individual or group of individuals that explains;
justifies, guides, or outlines a certain course of action’.
● Thomas R. Dye states that ‘public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do.’
● B. Guy Peters - public policy is the ‘sum of government activities, whether acting directly or through agents,
as it has an influence on the lives of citizens.’
● James E. Anderson defines public policy as ‘a purposive course of action followed by an actor or set of
actors in dealing with a problem or matter of concern’
● Larry N. Gerston – Public policy is ‘the combination of basic decisions, commitments, and actions made by
those who hold or affect government positions of authority’
● Yehezkel Dror defines public–policymaking as a ‘dynamic process which decides major guidelines for
action directed at the future, mainly by governmental organs. These guidelines (policies) formally aim at
achieving what is in the public interest by the best possible means’
● The special characteristics of public policies stem from the fact that they are formulated by what David
Easton has called the ‘authorities’ in a political system, ‘elders, chiefs, executives, legislators, judges,
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administrators, counselors, monarchs, and the like’. These are, he says, the persons who ‘engage in the daily
affairs of a political system’ are recognized by most members of the system as having responsibility for
these matters’, and take actions that are ‘accepted as binding by most of the members so long as they act
within the limits of their roles’.

Features of Public Policy:

● Public policies are purposive and/or goal-oriented action or behaviour.
● It is a course of action or series of programmes adopted by the State to serve the interests and needs of the
public and the society at large.
● Public policies are those actions which the government actually wanted to do rather than what they intended
to do.
● They can be both positive in nature i.e. action taken by the govt. to solve a particular problem or can be
negative in nature i.e. decision by govt. to not take any action or to not do anything about the issue that came
across.
● Public policies have legal and authoritative bases i.e. as David Easton said they authoritative values allocated
by the State. Meaning that it is legitimate and is followed by legal obligation and coercive power.

Types of Public Policy:

Theodore Lowi (1964) suggests that policies may be regulatory, distributive, and redistributive in nature.
● Regulatory policies – These are the policies which are related to some sort of regulations or control of
people via coercive techniques. Such policies deal with regulation of trade, safety measures, measurement
indicators etc. i.e. these policies are framed to ensure quality and corrupt free functioning of a certain
institution. This type of regulation is conducted by autonomous institutions that work on behalf of the
government.
● In India, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI),
the Bureau of Indian Standards, and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are examples of regulatory agencies.
● Distributive policies – These are the policies that grant goods and services to specific groups of the
population. All public welfare programmes are distributive. Agricultural subsidies to the farmers, subsidized
food for the poor, and government health services are examples of such policies i.e. MNREGA, PDS etc.
● Redistributive policies – These policies aim at redistributing resources from one group to another. The main
objective of such policies is to set up an equitable society through redistribution of social and economic
rewards. Income tax policies are often cited as examples of redistributive policies.
● Apart from it, there can be capitalization policies (those policies that provide certain kinds of incentives, or
subsidies for smooth running of the businesses in the society) and ethical policies (those policies that aimed
at establishing some kind of moral practice in the society).
● Note: Different types of public policies depict varieties of functions conducted by the government. They
therefore represent action of the government to solve a dispute, conflict or a problem in the society.

Public policy: Functional Dimensions:

Before understanding the public policy process, one should understand the functions and functionaries involved in
the system which are as follows:
1. The policy environment:
● It refers to the environment or the scenario in which policy making occurs and its subsequent
implementation and evaluation. The demands for policy actions are generated in the environment and
transmitted to the political system. It also consists of the official and non-official participants in policy
making and thus consists of the defining mood of the people that later transforms into policy. Two
environmental factors identified by James E Anderson that influence policy making decisions are political
culture and socioeconomic variables. Difference in policies amongst different nations and societies occurs
due to the uniqueness of its socio-political variables.
● Political culture means widely held values, beliefs and attitudes concerning governmental policies and
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actions. Political culture thus shapes political behaviour.

● Socio-economic factors refer to societal characteristics and economic conditions of the society. These socio-
economic factors are influenced by the conflict that arises between various pressure and interests’ groups
processing different needs and desires and it plays a major part on how, why, which and what policies are
made by the government.

2. Official policymakers:
● They are those who possess legal authority to engage in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of
public policy. These include legislators, executives, administrators, and judiciary.
● The legislators are central to the tasks of law making/policy formulation in a political system. They lay down
the broad structure of the policy and how it has to be implemented. Apart from it, they are also involved in
keeping a check on the work of the executive i.e. the govt. via deliberations, scrutinizing, criticizing, and
publicizing government policies and their consequences for the public on the floor of the house.
● In the modern world, the role of the executive has increased. It has now playing the role both in policy
formulation and policy execution. In a parliamentary form of government, all policies must have the
approval of the cabinet and the ministers of the government before introducing the Bill in the house.
● The politics-administration dichotomy as proposed by classical organisation theories proved flawed with
respect to the role of administrators. And since then, it was believed that the public administration must be
also involved in policy formulation in more than just one way.
● Public officials, today, are associated with policy formulation in three important ways. First, they supply
facts, data, and analysis— regarding the workability of a policy—to the ministers or to the legislature and
impart content to a policy. Second, they are constantly in touch with the public, so they have a better
understanding of their problems and the solutions required in the form of policies. Third, on account of lack
of time and knowledge, the legislature passes ‘skeletal’ acts and leaves the ‘body’ to be filled by the
administration.
● Judiciary too plays its part in policy policies by making, executing, and most importantly scrutinizing and
investigating the efficacy of a public policy via judicial review.
● They have the power to determine the constitutionality of actions of the legislature and the executive
branches and to declare them null, and void, if such actions are found to be in conflict with the constitutional
provisions. They play an important role in giving direction to social, economic, and political policies of
national importance.

3. Unofficial participants: Besides, official participants in policy making, many other unofficial players may
participate in the policy making process like interests’ groups, political parties, vigilant citizens, media,
pressure groups etc. They do not take direct part in formulation, implementation and evaluation of the policy
but influences the decision-making process by negotiations and bargaining etc.

Public policy process: The process of framing a public policy is a sequential and continuous task as the feedback
from one policy leads to formulation of the other. The stages in brief are as follows:
1. Public policy formulation: This is the stage in which the initial research takes place for identifying the
problems and target groups which may be in need of a certain policy. Thus, policy is formulated to solve the
problems faced by a certain group within a community.

The formation of the public policy has following stages:

a) Identification of public problems
b) Putting public problems on policy agenda
c) Formulation of policy proposals/alternatives to deal with the problem
d) Making final policy decision from the set of alternatives
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Hurdles in Policy evaluation:

a) Difficult task
b) Partiality or biasness towards certain policy decisions
c) Shortage of manpower and resources
d) Irrelevant data and statistics
e) Resist in change by the organization

Public policy process in India:

● Policy making is a vital function of the government in a democratic country like India. The process of policy
making begins with ideas and opinions people have about the actions they want the government to
undertake. In other words, they are the demands and proposals made by civil society organizations or
interest groups upon the political system for action on some perceived problem.
● In the Indian parliamentary system, the activities of the government are carried out by the council of
ministers headed by the Prime minister. In the council of ministers, the cabinet occupies an important place,
as it is the body which takes important decisions pertaining to governmental policies. The cabinet formulates
all the policies and sends them to the parliament for approval.
● The parliament consisting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha discusses the policy before approving it on
which lots of discussions and debates take place. However, the support of majority members in both the
houses makes it easy for the government in power to get the approval on any policy initiated by them.
● Once it is cleared by both Houses, it is sent to the President whose final assent makes a bill into a law i.e. a
prospective policy gets legal validation.
● The President can assent the bill, withhold it or send it back for reconsideration. With the President's assent,
the first stage of policy making i.e. policy formulation is complete.
● The second stage i.e. policy implementation involves various institutions in India like legislature, the
executive, judiciary, civil services, NGOs and others participate directly or indirectly involved in the process
of policy implementation which is the most important stage of policy process as it brings the policy in theory
to practice.
● However, it is the executive who with the help of bureaucracy is the main agency for policy implementation.
● The legislature plays its role by expressing opinion in the Parliament during session. Apart from this, the
Member of Parliament by being part of various parliamentary committees such as Public Accounts
Committee, Estimate Committee etc. scrutinizes and analyzes the government's decision.
● The judiciary too plays its role with the help of judicial review, Public Interest Litigation (PILs) and
questions the government intention or any faulty decision taken by the executive while implementing a
policy.
● After being implemented, a policy is evaluated in order to assess its effectiveness and in India agencies like
CAG, parliamentary committees, commissions of inquiry, private institutions, research scholars, NGO,
pressure groups, media etc. are involved in the process that provides feedback for future policy formulation
tasks.

Important books-
● Andrew Heywood – 2005 - Key Concepts in Politics
● T.H. Marshall - 1950 - Citizenship and Social Class and Other Essays
● Amartya Sen - 2000. Development as Freedom.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Governance and Public Policy in India

Lecture – 3
Accountability and Control - Legislative
Control over Executive
 2

Accountability and Control - Legislative Control over Executive

Legislative Control over Executive:
1. Through Debates and discussions – Will cover in Unit 7 under the section – Parliament.
2. Through Parliament Committees – Will cover in Unit 7 under the section – Parliament.
3. Through Budgetary control – The Parliament in India keeps a check on the power of the executive by
keeping an eye on the financial receipt and expenditure by the executive. The budget i.e. the annual financial
statement consisting of the money required by the government to run the country cannot be
appropriated/accrued from the Consolidated Fund of India without the permission of the Parliament.

The budget process in India is as follows:

● In India, the Union Budget is prepared by the Department of Economic Affairs of Ministry of Finance.
Earlier the budget was presented in two categories i.e. Railway budget and General budget. However,
this practice ceased to exist post the Budget of 2017-18.
● The decision to merge the Railway Budget with General Budget was done on the recommendation of
NITI Aayog committee headed by Bibek Debroy by Modi Govt. on Sep 21, 2016, as it was felt that
overtime the other sectors like defence, tele-communication, infrastructure etc. have grown more in size
in relative comparison of the Railways and the separate budget is a mere ‘colonial ritual’.
● According to Article 112 of the Indian Constitution, the President is responsible for presenting the
budget to the Lok Sabha. The annual financial statement takes into account a period of one financial
year.
● According to Article 77 (3), the Union Finance Minister has been made responsible by the President to
prepare the budget also called as the annual financial statement and pilot it through the parliament.
Budget embodies the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government of India for one financial
year. The financial year commences on 1st April each year.

Stages of Budget:
In parliament, the budget goes through 5 stages:
1. Presentation of budget with Finance Minister’s speech
2. General discussion of the budget. After this, there is an adjournment of houses (meaning suspension of the
house) so that standing committees of the Parliament can scrutinise the demand for grants for a month.
3. Voting on demand for grants in Lok Sabha
4. Passing of appropriation bills
5. Passing of Finance bills.

1. Budget Presentation:
● The budget is presented to the parliament on the date fixed by the President. Generally, it was presented on
the last working day of February, a month before the commencement of the financial year but this 92 years
old practice of presenting budget has been changed now.
● Since 2017, the budget is presented on the 1st of February.
● During general elections, the budget is presented twice, first in the form of either vote on account or Interim
Budget by the outgoing government and later completely by the incoming government.
● The Budget presented in 2019 before the general election was an Interim Budget presented by Piyush Goel.
● While a vote-on-account only deals with the expenditure side of the government's budget, an Interim Budget
is a complete set of accounts, including both expenditure and receipts, akin to a full budget. The 2019
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Interim Budget was the third interim one since 2000.

● Note: Why Vote on account or Interim Budget is needed?
● Since the passing of the budget takes almost 2 months, the Government requires the sanction of an amount to
maintain itself for this period. According to Article 116, a special provision called 'Vote on Account' is
created by which vote of parliament is obtained by the government for a sum sufficient generally for 2
months to incur expenditure.
● However, since the government started presenting the budget on 1st February, the need for vote-on-account
is no longer there. Now, only for the election year such practice is needed.
● Budget speech of the finance minister is in two parts, Part A constitutes a general economic condition of the
country while part B relates to taxation proposals. The general budget is presented in the Lok Sabha by the
Minister of Finance. At the conclusion of the speech of the finance minister in Lok Sabha, the annual
financial statement is laid on the table of Rajya Sabha, which can only discuss it and has no power to vote on
the demands for grants.

2. General discussion of the Budget: The general discussion of the Budget begins a few days after its
presentation. It takes place in both the Houses of Parliament and lasts usually for 3-4 days.
● During the stage, the Lok Sabha can discuss the budget as a whole or on any question of principles involved.
After this, the House are adjourned for about 3-4 weeks.
● During this gap period, the 24 departmental committees of Parliament examine and discuss in detail the
demand for grants of concerned ministries and present reports on the same. These reports are submitted to
both the Houses of Parliament for consideration.

3. Voting on Demand for Grants (Mentioned in Article 113 of the Indian Constitution): After standing
committee reports are presented to the house, the house proceeds with a Ministry wise discussion of
committee reports and voting on demand for grants.
● The time for discussion and voting on demand for grants is allocated by the speaker in consultation with the
leader of the house. Introduction and voting on Demands for Grants is confined only to the Lok Sabha.
● The Lok Sabha has the power to assent, refuse to assent and even to reduce the amount of the Demand for
Grant. In Rajya Sabha, there is only general discussion of the budget. The upper house does not vote on the
Demands for Grants.
● During this stage, the MPs discuss the details of the budget and can reduce any demand for grants using a
motion called ‘cut motion’.

There are three kinds of cut motion:

a) Policy cut motion: It represents the disapproval of the policy for which the demand for grant is made. Such
act is done by reducing the demand to Re 1. The MP can also suggest an alternative policy.
b) Economy cut motion: It demands reduction of a specified amount from the demand for Grant representing
the welfare of the economy.
c) Token cut motion: It is used to voice a grievance with respect to sphere of responsibility of GOI. In token
cut, the amount of the Demand for Grant is reduced by Rs.100 in order to express a specific grievance. The
significance of cut motion lies in the fact that it helps in detailed discussion of the grants laid down by the
concerned departments and also obligates a sense of responsibility to the government.
● However, this is mere a formality as such motions are only moved and discussed but not passed since the
government enjoys majority in the House.

4. Passing of Appropriation Bill: Appropriation means a sum of money allocated officially for a particular
 4

use. And the Constitution states that no money can be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund of India
except under appropriation made by law, meaning that in order to get any grants voted earlier in Lok Sabha
or expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India, an appropriation bill needs to be passed in the
House of the Parliament.
● It is mentioned in Article 114 of the Indian Constitution.
● The procedure for passing the appropriation bill is the same as that of the money bills.
● Note: No amendments (in relation to reject, reduce a demand for grant or expenditure charged on
Consolidated Fund of India) can be proposed to the appropriation bill in either House of the Parliament.
● The Appropriation Bill becomes Appropriation Act after it is assented by the President and the act authorizes
or legalizes the payments from the Consolidated Fund of India.

Types of Expenditure-
● Charged expenditure: It includes expenditure specified in the constitution. There is no voting on charged
expenditure. It includes emoluments of the president and the salaries and allowances of the chairman and
deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, speaker and deputy speaker of Lok Sabha, Judges of the Supreme
Court, CAG, and certain other bodies/agencies specified in the constitution.
● Non-Charged Expenditure: It is the votable expenditure. It is the sum required to meet other expenditure
proposed to be made from the consolidated fund of India. In other words, the amount of expenditure incurred
through Demand for Grants.

5. Passing of Finance Bill (Article 117 of the Indian Constitution): The Finance bill is introduced to give
effect to the financial proposals of GOI for the following year. It is subjected to all conditions applicable to a
money bill. Unlike the appropriation bill, the amendments seeking to reduce or reject a bill can be moved in
case of a finance bill. The bill has to be passed and assented by the President in the Parliament within 75
days.
● The Finance Act legalizes the income side of the budget and completes the process of the enactment of the
budget.
● Other Grants: In addition to the budget, various other grants are made by the Parliament under
extraordinary or special circumstances.

Types of grants are as follows:

a) Supplementary Grant: If the amount authorised in the original budget for a particular service for a current
financial year is found to be insufficient, supplementary grant may be granted by the Parliament.
b) Additional Grant: It is the grant made by the parliament for expenditure on new service not contemplated
in the annual financial statement that year.
c) Excess Grant: It is a grant that is authorized in case the executive spends in excess of the amount for that
service granted in the budget. However, before the excess grant is given, it must be approved by the Public
Accounts Committee who made its recommendation on the basis of the CAG report.
d) Token Grant: Spending money sanctioned for one head on another head within the same ministry with the
permission of the finance ministry is done through a token grant (also known as reappropriation of money).
In the token grant, it seeks a token sum of Rs.1 from Lok Sabha to spend on a new service. e) Exceptional
Grant: Through exceptional grant money is sought for service that is not part of the current service of any
financial year.
 5

Funds-
The Constitution of India provides for the following three kinds of funds for the Central government:
1. Consolidated Fund of India (Article 266)
2. Public Account of India (Article 266)
3. Contingency Fund of India (Article 267)

● Consolidated Fund of India - It is a fund to which all receipts are credited and all payments are debited. In
other words, (a) all revenues received by the Government of India; (b) all loans raised by the Government by
the issue of treasury bills, loans or ways and means of advances; and (c) all money received by the
government in repayment of loans forms the Consolidated Fund of India. All the legally authorised
payments on behalf of the Government of India are made out of this fund. No money out of this fund can be
appropriated (issued or drawn) except in accordance with a parliamentary law.
● Public Account of India - All other public money (other than those which are credited to the Consolidated
Fund of India) received by or on behalf of the Government of India shall be credited to the Public Account
of India. This includes provident fund deposits, judicial deposits, savings bank deposits, departmental
deposits, remittances and so on. This account is operated by executive action, that is, the payments from this
account can be made without parliamentary appropriation. Such payments are mostly in the nature of
banking transactions.
● Contingency Fund of India - The Constitution authorised the Parliament to establish a ‘Contingency Fund
of India’, into which amounts determined by law are paid from time to time. Accordingly, the Parliament
enacted the contingency fund of India Act in 1950. This fund is placed at the disposal of the president, and
he can make advances out of it to meet unforeseen expenditure pending its authorisation by the Parliament.
The fund is held by the finance secretary on behalf of the president. Like the public account of India, it is
also operated by executive action.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Governance and Public Policy in India

Lecture – 4
Accountability and Control - Judiciary
Control over Executive and Legislature
(Judicial Review and Judicial Acitivism)
 2

Accountability and Control - Judiciary Control over Executive and

Legislature (Judicial Review and Judicial Acitivism)
Introduction-
● The term ‘judicial review’ in general, means the power of a court to review and potentially strike down an act
of legislature as unconstitutional and invalid. Judicial review means not merely a power of the courts to set
aside legislative actions but also covers the power judicial review of executive or administrative actions. The
idea of Judicial Review seeks to maintain the supremacy of the constitution by keeping a check on law as
well as executive acts.
● The doctrine of Judicial Review, in the modern sense, has been originated in the United States of America. It
was propounded for the first time in the famous case of Marbury V. Madison (1803) by John Marshall.

Judicial Review in India-

● In India, the judiciary is the guardian of the Indian Constitution.
● The courts have the power to review all legislative enactments, executive and administrative actions.
● Though the phrase ‘Judicial Review’ has no where been used in the constitution, the provisions of several
articles explicitly provides for judicial review through article 13, 32, 131-136, 143, 226 and 246.
● In contrast to the judicial review of legislative action, the courts in India use the power of judicial review
more against the excesses of administrative action.
● The Supreme Court has declared the power of judicial review as the basic feature of the constitution or an
element of the basic structure of the constitution.
● Article 13 lays down the procedure for judicial review in India. It enables the courts to examine the
constitutional validity of laws passed by the Parliament and the state legislatures.

Justice Syed Shah Mohammad Quadri classified the judicial review into 3 categories:
● Judicial Review of constitutional amendments
● Judicial review of legislation of the Parliament and the State Legislatures and subordinate legislations.
● Judicial review of administrative action of the Union and the State and authorities under the state.

Grounds/Basis of Judicial Review:

● Illegality
● Procedural unfairness
● Irrationality

Judicial Pronouncements:
● In A. K Gopalan Vs State of Madras (1950 AIR 27) – the courts adopted a strict approach and displayed the
attitude of judicial restraint by declaring that the judiciary’s power of judicial review is subordinate to the
‘procedure established by law’.
● In Shankari Prasad v. Union of India, AIR 1951 SC 458 – the first case on the amendability of the
constitution. The validity of the constitution (1st Amendment) Act, 1951, curtailing the ‘Right to Property’
guaranteed by Art. 31 was challenged.
● Sajjan Singh v State of Rajasthan (1965) – Constitutional Amendments made under Art. 368 are outside the
purview of the Judicial Review of the Courts.
● Golaknath v State of Punjab (1967) – Amending power of the Parliament does not include the power to
amend the Fundamental Rights.
 3

● The Keshavananda Bharati v. State of Kerela (1973) – amending power of the Parliament does include the
power to amend Fundamental Rights but the basic structure of the Constitution cannot be amended.
● In Indira Nehru Gandhi Vs Raj Narayan (1975) – the theory of basic structure was applied and reaffirmed.
Judicial review was considered as essential and integral part of the Constitution of India.
● I.R. Coelho Vs. State of Tamil Nadu and others (2007) – Constitutional Amendments made on or after 24th
April, 1973 by which the Ninth Schedule is amended by inclusion of various laws therein shall have to be
tested on the touchstone of the basic features of the Constitution enshrined under Articles – 14, 19 and 21.
● Shivraj Singh Chauhan vs. Speaker of Madhya Pradesh (2020) – the satisfaction of the Speaker is subject to
Judicial Review.

Importance of Judicial Review-

● To upload the principle of the supremacy of the constitution.
● To maintain federal equilibrium (balance between the Centre and the States).
● To protect the fundamental rights of the citizens.

Judicial Activism-
● The concept of Judicial Activism originated and developed in USA. The phrase judicial activism appears to
have been coined by the American Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr, in a 1947 article in Fortune Magazine.
Judicial Activism is a ruling issued by a judge that overlooks legal precedents or past constitutional
interpretations to support a political view. The term may be used to describe a judge’s actual or perceived
approach to judicial review.
● In India the doctrine of Judicial Activism was introduced in the mid-1970s. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, Justice
P.N. Bhagwati, Justice O. Chinnapa Reddy and Justice D.A. Desai laid the foundations of judicial activism in
the country.

Meaning-
● Judicial Activism denotes the proactive role played by the judiciary in the protection of the rights of the
citizens and in the promotion of justice in the society. Judicial activism is also known as ‘Judicial
Dynamism’. It implies the assertive role played by the judiciary to force the legislature and the executive
organ to discharge their constitutional duties. It is the practice in the judiciary of protecting or expanding
individual rights. It moved beyond the Anglo-Saxon tradition of restrained tradition to transform its functions
from photographic to creative.

Reasons for emergence-

● Decline of Parliament
● The National Emergency
● Ninth Schedule – Article 31B – misuse
● Judicial Romanticism
● Article 142 and the idea of ‘complete justice’

Judicial Pronouncements-
● ADM Jabalpur vs. S. Shukla (1976) – the dissenting judgment of H. R. Khanna J. paved way to Judicial
Activism.
● A large number of decisions of the Supreme Court where it has played an activist role related to Article 21 of
the Indian Constitution.
 4

● In Maneka Gandhi vs. Union of India (1978) – the due process of law, which was consciously and
deliberately avoided by the constitution makers, was introduced by judicial activism of the Indian Supreme
Court.
● Judicial Activism was begun by the Supreme Court when it interpreted the word ‘life’ in Article 21.
● In Francis Coraile Mulin Vs. The Administrator, Union Territory of Delhi (1981) – the SC held that the Right
to live is not restricted to mere animal existence. The court held that right to life includes the right to live with
human dignity and all that goes along with it.

Public Interest Litigation-

● Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concept originated and developed in the USA in the 1960s. In USA, it was
designed to provide legal representation to previously unrepresented groups and interests.
● In India, the PIL is a product of the judicial activism role of the Supreme Court. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer and
P.N. Bhagwati were the pioneers of the PIL concept. PIL is also known as Social Action Litigation (SAL),
Social Interest Litigation (SIL) and Class Action Litigation (CAL).

Meaning of PIL-
● Introduction of PIL in India was facilitated by the relaxation of the traditional rule of ‘locus standi’.
According to locus standi, only that person whose rights are infringed alone can move the court for remedies.
Under the PIL, any citizen or a social organization can move to the court for the enforcement of the rights of
any person or group of persons who because of their poverty or ignorance or socially or economically
disadvantaged position.
● PIL – “a legal action initiated in a court of law for the enforcement of public or general interest in which
public/community by which their legal rights are affected.

Purpose of PIL-
● Vindication of the Rule of Law.
● Facilitating effective access to justice to the socially and economically weaker sections of the society.
● Meaningful realization of the Fundamental Rights.

Who can Approach and How:

● Any public spirited citizen can move/approach the court for the public cause (in the interests of the public or
public welfare) by filing a petition:
● In Supreme Court under Art. 32 of the constitution
● In High Court under Art. 226 of the constitution
● In the Court of Magistrate under Sec. 133, Cr. P.C
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Governance and Public Policy in India

Lecture – 5
Accountability and Control - Corruption
and Administrative Reforms
 2

Accountability and Control - Corruption and Administrative Reforms

Administrative Control and Accountability-
Administrative Reforms Commission:
● The ARC or the Administrative Reforms Commission is a committee set up by the Government of India to
review the public administration system and give recommendations to improve it.

First Administrative Reforms Commission -

● The First Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) as a Commission of Inquiry was set up in
January,1966, to examine the public administration of the country and make recommendation for reform and
reorganisation when necessary, involving the following aspects:
● The machinery of the Government of India and its procedures or work
● The machinery for planning at all levels
● Centre- State relationships
● Financial administration
● Personnel administration
● Economic administration
● Administration at the State level
● District administration
● Agricultural administration and
● Problems of redress of citizens grievances.
● The Administrative Reforms Commission was initially chaired by Shri Morarji R Desai, MP, and later
on Shri K.Hunmanthaiya, M.P became its chairman when Shri Morarji R Desai, MP, became the
Deputy Prime Minister of India. The other members of the Commission were:
● Shri H.C. Mathur, M.P.
● Shri G.S. Pathak, M.P
● Shri H.V. Kamath, M.P.
● Shri V. Shankar, I.C.S., Member Secretary

The Commission was empowered to devise its own procedures, appoint Committees and Advisors to assist it.
The Commission had set up 20 Study Teams, 13 Working Groups and one Task Force.
● The Working Groups made detailed studies of specific agencies and organisations such as Customs &
Central Excise, Post & Telegraphs, Life Insurance, Income Tax, Police and Developmental Control and
regulatory organisations. The Commission submitted the following 20 reports before winding up in mid-
1970 -
1. Problems of Redress of Citizens Grievances (Interim)
2. Machinery for Planning
3. Public Sector Undertakings
4. Finance, Accounts & Audit
5. Machinery for Planning (Final)
6. Economic Administration
7. The Machinery of GOI and its procedures of work
8. Life Insurance Administration
9. Central Direct Taxes Administration
10. Administration of UTs & NEFA
 3

11. Personnel Administration

12. Delegation of Financial & Administrative Powers
13. Centre-State Relationships
14. State Administration
15. Small Scale Sector
16. Railways
17. Treasuries
18. Reserve Bank of India
19. Posts and Telegraphs
20. Scientific Departments

● The above 20 reports contained 537 major recommendations. Based on inputs received from various
administrative Ministries, a report indicating implementation position was placed before the Parliament in
November, 1977.

Second Administrative Reforms Commission-

● The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) was constituted on 31.08,2005, as a Commission
of Inquiry, under the Chairmanship of Shri Veerappa Moily for preparing a detailed blueprint for revamping
the public administrative system. The Commission consists of the following:
● Shri Veerappa Moily, Chairperson
● Shri V. Ramachandran, Member
● Dr. A.P. Mukherjee, Member
● Dr. A.H. Kalro, Member
● Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, Member
● Smt. Vineeta Rai, Member Secretary

● The Commission was requested to suggest measures to achieve a proactive, responsive, accountable,
sustainable and efficient administration for the country at all levels of the Government. It had presented the
following 15 Reports to the Government for consideration:
1. Right to Information: Master Key to Good Governance (09.06.2006)
2. Unlocking human capital: Entitlements and Governance – a Case Study) (31.07.2006)
3. Crisis Management: From Despair to Hope (31.10.2006)
4. Ethics in Governance (12.02.2007)
5. Public Order: Justice for each … Peace for all (25.06.2007)
6. Local Governance (27.11.2007)
7. Capacity Building for Conflict Resolution – Friction to Fusion (17.3.2008) 8. Combating Terrorism
9. Social Capital – A Shared Destiny
10. Refurbishing of Personnel Administration – Scaling New Heights
11. Promoting e-Governance – The Smart Way Forward (20.01.2009)
12. Citizen Centric Administration – The Heart of Governance
13. Organisational structure of Government of India
14. Strengthening Financial Management System
15. State and District Administration

● The Government constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) on 30th March, 2007 under the Chairmanship of
the then External Affairs Minister – Mr. Pranab Mukherjee to consider the recommendations of the Second
 4

A.R.C. and to review the pace of implementation of the recommendations as well as to provide guidance to
the concerned Ministries/ Departments in implementing the decisions. It has since been reconstituted under
the Chairmanship of the Union Finance Minister on 21.08.2009.

The Group of Ministers considered thirteen reports, namely

(i) Right to Information: Master Key to Good Governance (First report)
(ii) Unlocking human capital: Entitlements and Governance – a Case Study relating to NREGA (Second
Report)
(iii) Crisis Management From Despair to Hope (Third report)
(iv) Ethics in Governance (Fourth Report)
(v) Local Governance (Sixth Report)
(vi) Capacity Building for Conflict Resolution (Seventh Report) (vii) Citizen Centric Administration – The
Heart of Governance (Twelfth Report)
(viii) Social Capital-A Shared Destiny (Ninth Report) and
(ix) Organisational Structure of Government of India (Thirteenth Report) (x) Promoting e-Governance – The
Smart Way Forward (Eleventh Report) (xi) State and District Administration (Fifteenth Report)
(xii) Strengthening Financial Management System.
(xiii) Combating Terrorism (Eighth Report)

Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption –

● The Committee was established in 1962-64 to address the cases of corruption, mal-practice and mal-
administration in India.
● It was headed by K. Santhanam.
● The Committee suggested rules to be framed for governing the conduct of civil servants.
● On the recommendations of the Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption, Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) was established by a resolution of the Ministry of Home Affairs on April 1, 1963. Later,
it was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and now it enjoys the status of an attached office.
● In 1964, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) was set up by the Government on the recommendations
of Santhanam Committee, to advise and guide Central Government agencies in the field of vigilance. The
CVC was later conferred a statutory status in 2003.
● The Committee also suggested a systematic review of the laws, rules, procedures, and practices of the
Ministries so that the possible scope and modes of corruption may be identified, and remedial measures
prescribed.

Prevention of Corruption Amendment Act 2018:

● The Act amended the provisions of the previous Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.
● The amendment was made to enhance the transparency and accountability of the govt. and make the
corruption an even stringent offence.

● Key Features of Bill:

(a) Giving bribe made punishable offence
(b) Redefines Criminal misconduct
(c) Prior approval for investigation
(d) Trial Time limit
(e) Penalties for offences
5
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Governance and Public Policy in India

Lecture – 6
Institutional Mechanisms for Good
Governance I
 2

Institutional Mechanisms for Good Governance I

Citizen’s grievances and channels of redress:
● A citizen‟s grievance is the public dissatisfaction with the functioning of governmental process.
● In the welfare state like India, which is engaged in nation building and socio- economic planning, public
dissatisfaction is proliferating owing to the gap between rising expectations of the people and
malfunctioning of the administrative machinery. The grievances hence could be against government policies,
maladministration, corruption, harassment, insufficient delivery of services or delay in provision of goods
and services etc at national, state or local level.

STRUCTURE OF GRIEVANCE REDRESS MACHINERY AT APEX LEVEL:

◘ Grievances from the public are received at various points in different ministries/ departments in the
Government of India. However, there are primarily two designated nodal agencies in the union government
handling these grievances. These agencies are:
A. Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances &
Pensions.
B. Directorate of Public Grievances, Cabinet Secretariat.

Right to Information:
● Right to information is established by government to handles Citizen‟s grievances.
● It is mechanism to make government more accountable and responsible towards its citizens.
● It also promotes empowerment of the citizens and democratic ideals.
● It is an Act of Parliament dealing with rules and procedures to allow citizens to have access of government
information.
● It was implemented in the year 2005.
● The Act empowers every citizen in the country to call to account the custodians of record as well as the
machinery involved in the process of decision-making.
● Right to information movement was initiated in Rajasthan by MKSS (Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghattan) in
early 1990s to fight against local corruption and exploitation.
● The RTI Act replaced the Freedom of Information Act 2002 which in itself was a weaker legislation as it
didn‟t acknowledge the right to information of the people, barred jurisdiction of the court, did not establish
any independent body for investigation. And, only allowed appeal from within the govt. bodies.
● The Right to Information Act 2005 overrides the Officials Secrets Act 1923. This anti-espionage Act
allowed the govt. to deny information to public on the grounds of secrecy and actions helping the enemy
state were strongly condemned. This Act has a colonial legacy and depicted the undemocratic values.
● The RTI act superseded the Act on 2005 and changed the relationship between the citizens and officials in
authority. Section 8 of the RTI Act categorically states that „the information which cannot be denied to the
Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person‟.

Provisions of the Act:

● The legislation provides all citizens the freedom and the right to access information from all the public
authorities at Union, State and Grassroot level and public sector undertakings within Union and state
governments.
● Also, it makes public authority obligated and legally bound to provide information to the public.
 3

● The Act provides for the establishment of Central Information Commission (CIC) and State Information
Commission (SIC).
● The CIC falls under the Ministry of Personnel.
● And mandates appointment of public information officer in every department to provide information to
citizens.
● The President will appoint a Chief Information Commissioner and governor of state will appoint state
information commissioners.
● Composition – The Act states that the Commission will include a Chief Information Commissioner and not
more than 10 Information Commissioners (both at Centre and State level)
● The members of CIC along with chairperson will be selected by a panel comprising the Prime Minister,
leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet minister nominated by the Prime Minister.
● In the case of the State, the Member and Chairperson of SIC will be selected by a panel comprising of Chief
Minister, Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha (State Legislative Assembly) and a minister nominated by
the CM.
● The Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioner will publish an annual report on
the implementation of the Act. These reports will be tabled before Parliament and state legislature.
● The CIC and SIC investigates (both suo moto and on complaint) –
1. Non-appointment of information officer
2. Refusal of information by officer
3. Not resolving of the information within the time limit
4. If the information provided is false or misleading
5. Any other matter related to obtaining information etc.
● CIC and SIC both have the power to regulate its own affairs and power of a civil court.
● Act also fixes a deadline of 30 days to provide information and 48 hours if it is concerned with matters of
life or liberty of a person.
● Information will be free for people below poverty line. For others, fee will be reasonable.
● Carries a strict penalty for not providing information. (250 Rs to 25,000 Rs)
● Government bodies have to publish details of staff payments and budgets.
● The procedure of appeal in case the information is denied is– first appeal to superior of public information
officer, second appeal to information commission, and third appeal to a high court.
● Exemptions to - intelligence and security organizations, information affect the security, sovereignty and
integrity of India, information constituting contempt of court, causing breach of privilege of Parliament and
state legislature and commercial information.

RTI Amendment Act 2019:

● Various provisions of the Act with respect to Central Information Commission and State Information
Commission were amended in 2019, which are as follows:
Provisions of the Act RTI Act 2005 RTI Amendment Act 2019
1. Term  The Chief Information  The Act removes this provision
Commissioner (CIC) and and states that the central
Information Commissioners government will notify the
(ICs) (at the central and state term of office for the CIC and
level) will hold office for a the ICs.
term of five years.
2. Quantum of Salary  The salary of the CIC and ICs  The Act removes these
(at the central level) will be provisions and states that the
 4

equivalent to the salary paid to salaries, allowances, and other

the Chief Election terms and conditions of service
Commissioner and Election of the central and state CIC
Commissioners, respectively. and ICs will be determined by
 Similarly, the salary of the CIC the central government.
and ICs (at the state level) will
be equivalent to the salary paid
to the Election Commissioners
and the Chief Secretary to the
state government, respectively.
3. Deductions Salary  The Act states that at the time  The Act removes these
of the appointment of the CIC provisions.
and ICs (at the central and state
level), if they are receiving
pension or any other retirement
benefits for previous
government service, their
salaries will be reduced by an
amount equal to the pension.
Previous government service
includes service under:
(i) the central government,
(ii) state government,
(iii) corporation established under a
central or state law
(iv) Company owned or controlled
by the central or state
government.

Thus, the Central Government notified the term and quantum of salary through Right to Information Rules 2019:
The Right to Information Rules, 2019 were notified on October 24, 2019 which are as follows:
Provision RTI Act, 2005 RTI Rules, 2019
Term • The CIC and ICs (at the The CIC and ICs (at the central and
central and state level) will state level) will hold office for a
hold office for a term of five term of three years.
years.
Salary • The salary of the CIC and ICs • The CIC and ICs (at the
(at the central level) will be central level) shall receive a
equivalent to the salary paid to pay of Rs. 2,50,000 and Rs.
the Chief Election 2,25,000 per month,
Commissioner and Election respectively.
Commissioners (Rs 2,50,000 • CICs and ICs (at the state
per month) level) shall receive a pay of
• Similarly, the salary of the Rs. 2,25,000 per month.
CIC and ICs (at the state level)
will be equivalent to the salary
paid to the Election
Commissioners (Rs 2,50,000
per month) and the Chief
Secretary to the state
government (Rs 2,25,000 per
month), respectively.
 5

◘ Other Development - Supreme Court of India in 2019, upheld the decision of Delhi High Court bringing
the office of Chief Justice of India under the purview of Right to Information (RTI) Act.

RTI is necessary because:

1. Makes administration more accountable.
2. Reduces gap between administration and people.
3. Creates empowered and informed citizenry.
4. Facilitates better delivery of goods and services to people.
5. Ushers good governance.
6. Promotes citizen‟s participation in decision making process and facilitates constructive criticisms by them.
7. Discourages and prevents arbitrariness in decision making by govt.
8. Reduces corruption and upholds democratic ideals etc.

Consumer Protection Act:

● The Act provides grievances to citizens as consumers/customers.
● It is established to solve the consumer grievances and protect the interests of the consumers in the country.
● The Consumer Protection Act 2019 was passed by the Parliament recently and replaces/repealed the
Consumer Protection Act 1986.
● It came into force in July 2020.
● The bill was introduced in the parliament by the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution, Late Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan.
● The aim of the 2019 Act is to enhance the protection of consumers‟ interests and timely settlement of their
grievances. It seeks to widen its scope in addressing consumer concerns. The new Act recognizes offences
such as providing false information regarding the quality or quantity of a good or service, and misleading
advertisement. It also specifies action to be taken if goods and services are found “dangerous, hazardous or
unsafe”.
● Definition of a consumer- As per the Act, A consumer is defined as a person who buys any good or avails a
service for a consideration. It does not include a person who obtains a good for resale or a good or service
for commercial purpose. It covers transactions through all modes including offline, and online through
electronic means, teleshopping, multi-level marketing or direct selling.

Provisions of the Act:

● Establishment of Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA):
● The authority is being constituted under Section 10(1) of The Consumer Protection Act, 2019. The CCPA
aims to protect the rights of the consumer by cracking down on unfair trade practices, and false and
misleading advertisements that are detrimental to the interests of the public and consumers.
● The Central Authority shall consist of a Chief Commissioner and such number of other Commissioner to be
appointed by the Central Government.
● The CCPA will have the powers to inquire or investigate into matters relating to violations of consumer
rights or unfair trade practices suo motu, or on a complaint received, or on a direction from the central
government.
● It will have the right to impose a penalty on the violators and passing orders to recall goods or withdraw
services, discontinuation of the unfair trade practices and reimbursement of the price paid by the consumers.
● The Central Consumer Protection Authority will have an investigation wing to enquire and investigate such
violations. The CCPA‟s investigating wing will be headed by the Director-General.
 6

● Rights of consumers:
♦ The Act provides rights to customers: Consumer is having the following six consumer rights under the Act:
• Right to Safety
• Right to be informed
• Right to Choose
• Right to be heard
• Right to seek Redressal
• Right to Consumer Awareness

● Prohibition and penalty for a misleading advertisement:

♦ The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) will have the power to impose fines on the endorser or
manufacturer up to 2-year imprisonment for misleading or false advertisement.
♦ Repeated offense may attract a fine of Rs 50 lakh and imprisonment of up to 5 years.

● Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission:

♦ The act has the provision of the establishment of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions (CDRCs)
at the national, state and district levels.

The CDRCs will entertain complaints related to:

i. Overcharging or deceptive charging
ii. Unfair or restrictive trade practices
iii. Sale of hazardous goods and services which may be hazardous to life.
iv. Sale of defective goods or services

● Jurisdiction:
♦ The National CDRC will hear complaints worth more than Rs. 10 crores. The State CDRC will hear
complaints when the value is more than Rs 1 crore but less than Rs 10 crore. While the District CDRC will
entertain complaints when the value of goods or service is up to Rs 1 crore.

● Product liability:
♦ It means the liability of a product manufacturer, service provider or seller to compensate a consumer for any
harm or injury caused by a defective good or deficient service. To claim compensation, a consumer must
prove any one of the conditions for defect or deficiency, as given in the Act.

Citizen Charter:
● The Citizen Charter is a voluntary written document that showcases the service provider‟s effort and
commitment towards the fulfillment of the needs and demands of citizens/consumers.
● The Charter lays down the information regarding how the citizens can redress their complaints and
grievances, it consists of what the citizens/customers can expect from a service provider etc.
● The Citizen charter is another way of ensuring good governance as it enhances accountability and builds
mutual trust and cooperation between citizens and their service providers.
● The concept of a citizen‟s charter was initiated by former British Prime Minister John Major in the year
1991. It was started as a national programme intended to improve the quality of public services. In 1998, in
the UK, the concept was renamed „Services First‟.
 7

● The basic objective of the Citizen‟s Charter is to empower the citizen in relation to public service delivery.
The six principles of the Citizen‟s Charter movement as originally framed were:
1. Quality: Improving the quality of services.
2. Choice: Wherever possible.
3. Standards: Specifying what to expect and how to act if standards are not met.
4. Value: For the taxpayers‟ money;
5. Accountability: Individuals and Organisations; and
6. Transparency: Rules/Procedures/Schemes/Grievances.

● This later was elaborated into Nine Principles of Citizen‟s Charter laid down by the UK govt. in 1998 are as
follows:
1. Set standards of service
2. Be open and provide full information
3. Consult and involve
4. Encourage access and the promotion of choice
5. Treat all fairly
6. Put things right when they go wrong
7. Use resources effectively
8. Innovate and improve
9. Work with other providers
● Many countries were inspired from the UK and adopted the mechanism of Citizen Charter. Amongst many
countries, India is also one of them.
● In India, the concept of Citizen‟s Charter was adopted at the Conference of Chief Ministers of various States
and Union Territories‟ held in May 1997 in New Delhi.
● The conference‟s major outcome was in relation to the formulation of Citizen‟s Charter by both central and
state governments starting with large customer-based organization such as railways, telecom, postal services
etc.
● The charters were mandated to include service standards, the time limit that the people can expect to be
served, mechanisms for redressing grievances and a provision for unbiased scrutiny by consumer/citizen
groups.
● The task of coordination, formulation and operationalization of citizen‟s charters was given to the
Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). The DARPG website lists more
than 700 charters adopted by various government agencies across India.
● In India, in this context, citizens can mean not only citizens but also all stakeholders such as customers,
clients, beneficiaries, ministries/departments/organisations, state/UT governments, etc.
● The Indian model of citizen‟s charter is an adaptation from the UK model. However, there is one additional
component of the charter in the Indian version and that is the inclusion of the point „expectation from
clients‟.
● Note: Citizen‟s Charter is not a legally enforceable document. These are just the guidelines of services
provided to the customer by service providers.
● An attempt was made to give the Charter a legal validity by introducing the bill in 2011 known as The Right
of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011
(Citizens Charter).
● But the bill lapsed due to dissolution of Lok Sabha in 2014.
 8

● The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (AC) had made recommendations to improve the
effectiveness of citizen‟s charters. Some of the recommendations are:
1. Should specify the remedy/compensation in the case of any default in giving the standard as promised
in the Charter.
2. Charters must restrict to a few promises that can be fulfilled.
3. Before making a charter, the organisation should restructure its set-up and processes.
4. There should not be a uniform charter across organizations. They should be local and customized.
5. All stakeholders must be kept on board while drafting the charters.
6. Commitments made should be firm and there should be a citizen- friendly redressal mechanism.
7. Officers should be held accountable if commitments made are not fulfilled.
8. The citizen‟s charters should be reviewed and revised regularly.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Governance and Public Policy in India

Lecture – 7
Institutional Mechanisms for Good
Governance II
 2

Institutional Mechanisms for Good Governance II

Centralized Public Grievances Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS):
● The department of administrative reforms and public grievances launched the CPGRAMS in 2007 for
receiving, redressing, and monitoring of grievances from the public. CPGRAMS provides the facility to
lodge a grievance ‘online’ from any geographical location.
● It enables the citizen to track online his or her grievance being followed up with departments concerned and
also enables the DAR&PG to monitor the grievances.
● CPGRAMS is a web enabled application and can be accessed by ministries, departments, organizations
through a personnel computer using an internet connection and an internet browser.
● The citizen can access the system online through the portal www.pgportal.nic.in. For convenience of the
citizens, the CPGRAMS is also available on mobile.
● Similar concepts have already been tried in several States, for example, the Lokvani in Uttar Pradesh.
● Example: The CPGRAMS is currently involved in handling the public grievances with respect to
COVID’19 outbreak in Govt. of India for which few mentioned procedures are being followed:
a. Every Department/ Ministry shall appoint a designated Nodal Officer for handling COVID19 Public
Grievances. The name, phone number and email ID of the designated Nodal Officer shall be placed on
the website of the concerned Department/ Ministry.
b. Every Department/ Ministry website shall have a separate field in CPGRAMS to cater to COVID-19
grievances for more focused tracking, monitoring, and disposal of public grievances.
c. Considering the importance of prompt redressal of such grievances, every Department/Ministry shall
pay high priority and will closely monitor COVID19 public grievance redressal on their respective
Dashboards.
d. In Departments/ Ministries where CPGRAMS version 7.0 has been implemented, mapping of the
COVID-19 grievances shall be done to the last mile grievance officers.
 3

Ombudsman:
● Ombudsman basically refers to a designated officer representing the public and their interests and, on their
behalf, investigating/examining the cases of corruption or maladministration in the various government
departments and organisations in the country.
● An Ombudsman official is usually appointed by the government or the Parliament and investigates the
complaints and grievances of citizens with respect to violation of rights, corruption, and maladministration
etc.
● A significant degree of independence is usually provided to them and their duties includes:
a. Investigating cases of complaints and attempt to solve them either through consultation, mediations, or
compromise.
b. Identifying systemic and structural issues/reasons behind poor services to citizens and cases of violation
of rights.
c. Identifying organisational roadblocks etc.
● The modern concept of Ombudsman began from Sweden by establishing Parliamentary Ombudsman in 1809
that established a supervisory body independent of executive to safeguard the rights of the citizens.
● In India, Government has established many designated ombudsmen for redress of grievances and complaints
from individuals in the banking sector, insurance sector and other sectors serviced by both public and private
organisations.
● Banking Ombudsman Scheme – It is a scheme established by RBI as effective from July 2017 to address the
complaints and grievances of the citizens with respect to the banking sector. Around 22 offices of Banking
Ombudsmen have been established in different parts of the country namely – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru,
Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur,
Kolkata, Mumbai 1 and 2, Patna, New Delhi 1,2 and 3, Raipur, Ranchi and Thiruvananthapuram.
● Insurance Ombudsman Scheme - The Insurance Ombudsman scheme was created by the Government of
India for individual policyholders to have their complaints settled out of the courts system in a cost-effective,
efficient and impartial way.
● There are at present 17 Insurance Ombudsman in different locations and any person who has a grievance
against an insurer, may himself or through his legal heirs, nominee or assignee, make a complaint in writing
to the Insurance ombudsman within whose territorial jurisdiction the branch or office of the insurer
complained against or the residential address or place of residence of the complainant is located.
● The Ombudsman in India are generally referred as the Chief Vigilance Officer.
● The Central Vigilance Commission was established in 1964 after the recommendation of Santhanam
Committee on Prevention of Corruption (1962-64). The CVC was given a statutory status by the Act of
Parliament in 2003.

Central Vigilance Commission:

● Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is an apex Indian governmental body created in 1964 to address
governmental corruption.
● The creation of the Commission was recommended by Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption
(1962-64).
● In 2003, the Parliament enacted a law conferring statutory status on the CVC.
● Nittoor Srinivasa Rau, was selected as the first Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India.
● It has the status of:
1. An autonomous body i.e. an independent body, only responsible to the Parliament.
2. Free of control from any executive authority
3. Charged with monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central government and advising various
 4

authorities in central Government organizations in planning, executing, reviewing, and reforming their
vigilance work.
● The CVC is a multi-member body consisting of a Central Vigilance Commissioner (chairperson) and not
more than two vigilance commissioners.
● The CVC is not controlled by any Ministry/Department. It is an independent body which is only responsible
for the Parliament.
● They are appointed by the president by warrant under his hand and seal on the recommendation of a three-
member committee consisting of the prime minister as its head, the Union minister of home affairs and the
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
● They hold office for a term of four years or until they attain the age of sixty five years, whichever is earlier.
After their tenure, they are not eligible for further employment under the Central or a state government.
● The president can remove the Central Vigilance Commissioner or any vigilance commissioner from
the office under the following circumstances:
(a) If he is adjudged an insolvent; or
(b) If he has been convicted of an offence which (in the opinion of the Central government) involves a
moral turpitude; or
(c) If he engages, during his term of office, in any paid employment outside the duties of his office; or
(d) If he is (in the opinion of the president), unfit to continue in office by reason of infirmity of mind or
body; or
(e) If he has acquired such financial or other interest as is likely to affect prejudicially his official
functions.
● In addition to these, the president can also remove the Central Vigilance Commissioner or any vigilance
commissioner on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. However, in these cases, the president
has to refer the matter to the Supreme Court for an enquiry. If the Supreme Court, after the enquiry, upholds
the cause of removal and advises so, then the president can remove him.
● It is vested with the power to regulate its own procedure. It has all the powers of a civil court.
● It may call for information or report from the Central government or its authorities so as to enable it to
exercise general supervision over the vigilance and anti-corruption work in them.
● Thus, roles and functions of CVC are as follows –
1. Exercise superintendence and gives direction to the Delhi Special Police Establishment (CBI) insofar as
it relates to the investigation of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
2. To inquire or cause an inquiry or investigation to be made on a reference by the Central Government.
3. To inquire or cause an inquiry or investigation to be made into any complaint received against any
official belonging to such category of officials specified in Section 8(2) CVC Act, 2003.
◘ Note – Section 8(2) of CVC Act states that it can investigate members of All India services concern with
affairs of Union and Group A officers of Central Govt. and corporations, governmental companies, societies
or local authorities established by Central Govt. (Meaning that CVC doesn’t have jurisdiction beyond it in
most cases - in case of central govt. and also cannot investigate officials employed in State govt. as well)
◘ Note - There is no power conferred on the CVC to suo moto institute an inquiry and investigation without
any complaint being lodged. 4. Review the progress of investigations conducted by the DSPE into offences
alleged to have been committed under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 or an offence under the
Cr.PC.
5. Review the progress of the applications pending with the competent authorities for sanction of prosecution
under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
6. Tender advice to the Central Government and its organizations on such matters as may be referred to it by
them.
 5

7. Exercise superintendence over the vigilance administrations of the various Central Government Ministries,
Departments and Organizations of the Central Government.
8. The Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) is the Chairperson and the Vigilance Commissioners
(Members) of the Committee, on whose recommendations, the Central Government appoints the Director of
Enforcement.
9. The Committee concerned with the appointment of the Director of Enforcement is also empowered to
recommend, after consultation with the Director of Enforcement appointment of officers to the posts of the
level of Deputy Director and above in the Directorate of Enforcement.
10. The Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) is also the Chairperson and the Vigilance Commissioners
(Members) of the Committee empowered to recommend after consultation with the Director (CBI),
appointment of officers to the post of SP and above except Director and also recommend the extension or
curtailment of tenure of such officers in the DSPE (CBI).
● The CVC has to present annually to the President a report on its performance. The President places this
report before each House of Parliament.
● All ministries/departments in the Union Government have a Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) who heads the
Vigilance Division of the organisation concerned, assisting, and advising the Secretary or Head of Office in
all matters pertaining to vigilance. He also provides a link between his organisation and the Central
Vigilance Commission on the one hand and his organisation and the Central Bureau of Investigation on the
other.
● Vigilance functions performed by the CVO include:
(i) Collecting intelligence about corrupt practices of the employees of his organisation
(ii) Investigating verifiable allegations reported to him
(iii) Processing investigation reports for further consideration of the disciplinary authority concerned
(iv) Referring matters to the Central Vigilance Commission for advice wherever necessary
◘ Note - CVC has no investigation wing of its own as it depends on the CBI and the Chief Vigilance Officers
(CVO) of central organizations, while CBI has its own investigation wing drawing its powers from Delhi
Special Police Establishment Act.

Jurisdiction:
Commission’s Jurisdiction under CVC Act:
✔ Members of All India Service serving in connection with the affairs of the Union and Group A officers
of the Central Government
✔ Officers of the rank of Scale V and above in the Public Sector Banks
✔ Officers in Grade D and above in Reserve Bank of India, NABARD and SIDBI
✔ Chief Executives and Executives on the Board and other officers of E-8 and above in Schedule ‘A’ and
‘B’ Public Sector Undertakings
✔ Chief Executives and Executives on the Board and other officers of E-7 and above in Schedule ‘C’ and
‘D’ Public Sector Undertakings
✔ Managers and above in General Insurance Companies
✔ Senior Divisional Managers and above in Life Insurance Corporations
✔ Officers drawing salary of Rs.8700/- p.m. and above on Central Government D.A. pattern, as on the
date of the notification and as may be revised from time to time in Societies and other Local Authorities
◘ Note - The Central Vigilance Commission observed the Vigilance Awareness Week from 26th October
to 1st November 2021.
● This is observed every year during the week in which the birthday of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (31st
 6

October) falls. This awareness week campaign affirms our commitment to promotion of integrity and
probity in public life through citizen participation.
● The theme of Vigilance Awareness Week 2021 was “स्वतंत्र भारत @ 75: सत्यननष्ठा सेआत्मननभभरता;
Independent India @ 75: Self Reliance with Integrity”. During this week, the citizens were also made aware
about PIDPI.
● The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Informers (PIDPI) Resolution, 2004, envisages a
mechanism by which a complainant can blow a whistle by lodging a complaint and also seek protection
against his victimisation for doing so. If any complaint is made under PIDPI, the identity of the complainant
is kept confidential. The complaint can be made against employees working in various Central Government
Ministries and Departments including PSUs, PSBs and UTs, etc.
● Source - PIB

CBI – Central Bureau of Investigation:

● Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating police agency in India.
● The superintendence of CBI related to investigation of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988
lies with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and in other matters with the Department of Personnel &
Training (DOPT) in the Ministry of Personnel, Pension & Grievances of the Government of India.
● Lokpal Act 2013 gives Lokpal the power of superintendence over CBI with respect to cases referred by it to
CBI. It also specifies that CBI officers investigating cases referred by the Lokpal can only be transferred
with the approval of the Lokpal. It is also the nodal police agency in India which coordinates investigation
on behalf of Interpol Member countries.
● In 1963, the CBI was established by the Government of India after the recommendations of the Santhanam
Committee on Prevention of Corruption (1962- 64) with a view to investigate serious crimes related to
defence of India, corruption in high places, serious fraud, cheating and embezzlement and social crime,
particularly of hoarding, black-marketing, and profiteering in essential commodities, having all-India and
inter-state ramifications.
● With the passage of time, CBI started investigations in conventional crimes like assassinations, kidnappings,
hijackings, crimes committed by extremists, etc. CBI derives power to investigate from the Delhi Special
Police Establishment Act, 1946.

Thus, cases handled by the CBI are:

● Anti-Corruption Crimes Division - for investigation of cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act against
Public officials and the employees of Central Government, Public Sector Undertakings, Corporations or
Bodies owned or controlled by the Government of India.
● Economic Crimes Division - for investigation of major financial scams and serious economic frauds,
including crimes relating to Fake Indian Currency Notes, Bank Frauds and Cyber Crime.
● Special Crimes Division - for investigation of serious and organized crime under the Indian Penal Code and
other laws on the requests of State Governments or on the orders of the Supreme Court and High Courts -
such as cases of terrorism, bomb blasts, kidnapping for ransom and crimes committed by the mafia/the
underworld.
● Suo Moto Cases - CBI can suo-moto take up investigation of offences only in the Union Territories.
● The Central Government can authorize CBI to investigate a crime in a State but only with the consent of the
concerned State Government.
● The Supreme Court and High Courts, however, can order CBI to investigate a crime anywhere in the country
without the consent of the State.
● The CBI Director is appointed, for not less than a term of 2 years, by the Appointment Committee on
 7

recommendation of Selection Committee as mentioned in DSPE Act 1946 amended through the Lokpal &
Lokayukta Act 2013 and CVC Act, 2003 respectively.

The Appointment Committee consists of:

1. Prime Minister – Chairperson
2. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha or the Leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, if
the former is not present due to lack of mandated strength in the Lok Sabha - member
3. Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court Judge recommended by the Chief Justice – member
● The Selection Committee consists of Central Vigilance Commissioner as the Chairperson and other
members are Vigilance Commissioners, Secretaries from Home Ministry and Ministry of Personnel and
Public Grievances who would send recommendations to Central Government for the appointment of CBI
Director.
● When making recommendations, the committee considers the views of the outgoing director.
● (Such Mechanism of selection of members of CVC was laid down post Vineet Narain case – 1997 by
Supreme Court of India)

Lokpal and Lokayuktas:

● In India, the Ombudsman are more commonly known as the Lokpal and Lokayuktas. These are the anti-
corruption bodies established by the Govt. of India via the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013.
● The recommendation for their establishment was first made by the Administrative Reforms Commission in
1966 under the Chairmanship of Morarji Desai.
● It recommended a two-tier system – Lokpal at the Centre and one Lokayukta each in respective states to
address the grievances.
● The first Parliamentary bill for the same was introduced in 1968 in Lok Sabha. But it was only passed in
2014 after the massive anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare in 2011 under which he also provided
an alternative Lokpal mechanism under Jan Lokpal Bill.
● The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013 mandates for the creation of Lokpal for Union and Lokayukta for
states.
● However, the state-level Lokayukta institution has developed gradually. Orissa was the first state to present a
bill on establishment of Lokayukta in 1970, but Maharashtra was the first to establish the institution, in
1972.
● As per the Lokpal Act 2013, the anti-corruption ombudsman or Lokpal has the power to investigate any
complaint or corruption against the public entity including the Prime Minister. However, for investigation on
PM, it must have the two-third majority of the Lokpal committee and must be on-camera.

Structure of Lokpal:
● Lokpal is a multi-member body, consisting of a chairperson and a maximum of 8 members.
● Chairperson of the Lokpal should be either the former Chief Justice of India or the former Judge of Supreme
Court or an eminent person with impeccable integrity and outstanding ability, having special knowledge and
expertise of minimum 25 years in the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration,
vigilance, finance including insurance and banking, law and management.
● Out of the maximum eight members, half will be judicial members and minimum 50% of the Members will
be from SC/ ST/ OBC/ Minorities and women.
● The judicial member of the Lokpal either a former Judge of the Supreme Court or a former Chief Justice of a
High Court.
● The term of office for Lokpal Chairman and Members is 5 years or till the age of 70 years.
 8

● The members are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a Selection Committee.
● The chairman and members of Lokpal shall be appointed by a selection committee consisting of the Prime
Minister, the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice of India or a
sitting supreme court judge as nominated by the CJI and an eminent jurist to be nominated by the President
based on the recommendations of the other members of the selection committee.
● For selecting the chairperson and the members, the selection committee constitutes a search panel of at least
eight persons. This search panel is constituited by the DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training) under
the Lokpal Act 2013.
● The jurisdiction of Lokpal includes
1. Current and Former Prime Minister: except on allegations of corruption relating to international
relations, security, the public order, atomic energy and space and unless a Full Bench of the Lokpal and
at least two-thirds of members approve an inquiry. It will be held in-camera and if the Lokpal so
desires, the records of the inquiry will not be published or made available to anyone.
2. Current and former Ministers of Union Govt.
3. Current and former Members of Parliament (but except on any allegation of corruption against a
Member of Parliament in respect of anything said or a vote given in Parliament, from the jurisdiction of
Lokpal)
4. Current and former government employees at Group A, B, C, D levels. (The Lokpal, with respect to
Central government servants, shall refer the complaints to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
The CVC will send a report to the Lokpal regarding officials falling under Groups A and B; and
proceed as per the CVC Act against those in Groups C and D)
5. Chairpersons, members, officers and directors of any board, corporation, society, trust or autonomous
body either established by an Act of Parliament or wholly or partly funded by the Union or State
government.
6. Lokpal also have jurisdiction over institutions receiving foreign donations above ten lakh rupees per
year or such higher limit as specified.
● A complaint under the Lokpal Act should be in the prescribed form and must pertain to an offence under the
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against a public servant.
● Lokpal has powers of confiscation of assets, proceeds, receipts and benefits arisen or procured by means of
corruption in special circumstances.
● Lokpal has the power to recommend transfer or suspension of public servant connected with allegation of
corruption.
● Lokpal has the power to give directions to prevent the destruction of records during the preliminary inquiry.
● Lokpal will have power of superintendence and direction over any central investigation agency including
CBI for cases referred to them by the Lokpal. In other words, Act gives Lokpal the power of
superintendence over CBI with respect to cases referred by it to CBI. It also specifies that CBI officers
investigating cases referred by the Lokpal can only be transferred with the approval of the Lokpal.
● The Inquiry Wing of the Lokpal has been vested with the powers of a civil court.
● The Inquiry Wing or any other agency will have to complete its preliminary inquiry and submit a report to
the Lokpal within 60 days. It has to seek comments from both the public servant and "the competent
authority”, before submitting its report.
● The preliminary inquiry done by Lokpal Bench should normally be completed within 90 days of receipt of
the complaint.
● Pinaki Chandra Ghose, former judge of the SC and a member of NHRC was the first chairperson of Lokpal
appointed in 2019.
● Currently Pradip Kumar Mohanty has been authorised to act as the Chairperson of Lokpal from May 2022.
 9

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Amendment) Act, 2016

● It was passed by Parliament in July 2016 and amended the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013.
● It enables the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha to be a member of the selection
committee in the absence of a recognized Leader of Opposition.
● It also amended section 44 of the 2013 Act that deals with the provision of furnishing of details of assets and
liabilities of public servants within 30 days of joining the government service.
● The Bill replaces the time limit of 30 days, now the public servants will make a declaration of their assets
and liabilities in the form and manner as prescribed by the government.
● It also gives an extension of the time given to trustees and board members to declare their assets and those of
their spouses in case of these are receiving government funds of more than Rs. 1 crore or foreign funding of
more than Rs. 10 lakh.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Governance and Public Policy in India

Lecture – 8
Institutional Mechanisms for Good
Governance III
 2

Institutional Mechanisms for Good Governance III

E-Governance and NITI Aayog:
E-Governance:
♦ The trend towards reinventing and revamping the govt. structure and its functioning is in place since 1990s
where attempt has been made to improve the public service delivery system of the State.
♦ And e-governance with the help of ICT i.e. Information and Communication Technology have played a major
role in the process of making governmental authorities accountable and effective in its working.
♦ E-governance is the application of ICT to the processes of government functioning for good governance. In
other words, e-governance is the public sector‘s use of ICTs with the aim to improve information and service
delivery, encourage citizen participation in decision-making and make government more accountable,
transparent, and efficient.
♦ Thus, E-governance goes beyond computerization of government operations and implies fundamental
changes to overall structure, operations and functioning of all governmental authorities at legislative,
executive, and judicial level.
♦ E-governance is the application of ICT to usher SMART governance in the governmental organisations.
♦ SMART means Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent.
♦ SMART governance, thus, helps in:
a. improving the internal organisational processes of governments
b. providing better information and service delivery
c. increasing government transparency in order to reduce corruption
d. reinforcing political credibility and accountability
e. promoting democratic practices through public participation and consultation.
♦ E-governance can be used for many things such as:
a. Dissemination of information.
b. Two-way Communication.
c. For Service Delivery and Financial Transactions.
d. Integration (both outside and inside the organization)
e. Political Participation.
f. Grievance Redress etc.

◘ Models of E-governance: Prof. Dr. Arie Halachmi in his paper, namely, ‘E- Government Theory and
Practice: The Evidence from Tennessee (USA) gave five models of e-governance. They are as follows:
a. Broadcasting Model – It is based on dissemination/broadcasting of useful governance information, which
is in the public domain into the wider public domain with ICT and convergent media. This model states
that informed citizenry is better able to judge the activities of the government and hence plays a
significant role in safeguarding the democratic character of the society and that has possible more because
of e-governance.
b. Critical Flow Model - The model is based on disseminating/channeling information of critical value to the
targeted audience or into the wider public domain with ICT and convergent media. The strength of this
model is that ICT makes the concept of ‗distance‘ and ‗time‘ redundant.
c. Comparative Analysis Model – This model helps the developing countries, as per Halachmi, to find the
best practices that can make the governance in their nation more effective.
 3

d. E-advocacy/Mobilisation and Lobbying Model - This model builds the momentum of real-world
processes by adding the opinions and concerns expressed by virtual communities. This model helps the
global civil society to impact on global decision-making processes.
e. Interactive Service Model - It opens avenues for direct participation of individuals in governance
processes and brings in greater objectivity and transparency in decision-making processes through ICT.

Advantages to E-governance:
1. Transparency
2. Greater Legitimacy
3. Less Corruption
4. Responsiveness
5. Accountability
6. Informed Citizenry
7. Greater Public Participation
8. Efficient utilization of resources
9. Flattens Hierarchy
10. Reduced Paperwork and red-tapism etc.

Limitations to E-governance:
1. Infrastructure
2. Resources
3. Capital
4. Access
5. Capacity building
6. Human Resource Development
7. Resistance to Change
8. Language etc.

Interaction of Government via e-governance is possible in the following ways:

♦ G2G: Government to Government
♦ G2C: Government to Citizen
♦ G2B: Government to Business
♦ G2E: Government to Employee

Initiatives by Indian Government on E-governance development:

♦ A National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development was set-up in 1998.
♦ A 12-point agenda was listed for e-Governance for implementation in all the central ministries and
departments.
♦ The Information Technology Act (2000) was enacted. This Act was amended in 2008.
♦ Government set-up NISG (National Institute for Smart Government).
♦ National Conference on E-Governance - Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances
(DARPG ) along with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, in
association with one of the State/UT Government organizes the National Conference on e- Governance every
year since 1997. The 25th National Conference on e- Governance was organized on November 2022 Katra,
Jammu and Kashmir. The theme for was ―Bringing Citizens, Industry and Government Closer‖
 4

♦ The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was launched. It consists of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and
10 support components was launched in 2006 under the recommendation of 2nd ARC. The 11th report of the
Second Administrative Reforms Commission, titled "Promoting e-Governance - The Smart Way Forward",
established the government's position that an expansion in e- Government was necessary in India.
♦ In the year 2011, 4 projects - Health, Education, PDS and Posts were introduced to make the list of 27 MMPs
to 31Mission Mode Projects (MMPs).
♦ The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) is an initiative of the Government of India to make all government
services available to the citizens of India via electronic media. NeGP was formulated by the Department of
Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public
Grievances (DARPG).
♦ National e-Governance Plan has been launched with the aim of improving delivery of Government services to
citizens and businesses, is guided by the following vision: ―Make all Public Services accessible to the
common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency
and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man.‖
♦ The National Policy on Information Technology (NPIT) was adopted in 2012.
♦ The state governments launched e-Governance projects like e-Seva (Andhra Pradesh), Bhoomi (Karnataka),
and so on.

Digital India Initiatives:

♦ It is an umbrella programme launched to make the whole nation digitally empowered i.e. to provide them the
access of ICT.
♦ Also, the initiative aims to improve internet connectivity and digital infrastructure so that the Government
services are available to public electronically.
♦ The initiative was launched by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity).

Various initiatives under Digital India:

♦ MyGov: It aims to establish a link between Government and Citizens towards meeting the goal of good
governance. It encourages citizen‘s participation in governmental activities via ‗'Do', 'Discuss', 'Poll', 'Talk',
‗Blog‘, etc.
♦ Digi Locker: It serves as a platform to enable citizens to securely store and share their documents with service
providers who can directly access them electronically.
♦ e-Hospital-Online Registration Framework (ORF): It is an initiative to facilitate the patients to take online
OPD appointments with government hospitals.
♦ National Scholarships Portal (NSP): It provides a centralized platform for application and disbursement of
scholarship to students under any scholarship scheme.
♦ DARPAN: It is an online tool that can be used to monitor and analyze the implementation of critical and high
priority projects of the State and provides real time data on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of selected
schemes/projects to the senior functionaries of the State Government as well as district administration.
♦ PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation): It has been aimed at starting a culture of
Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation i.e. bringing e-transparency and e-accountability. It was
launched in 2015.
♦ Common Services Centres 2.0 (CSC 2.0): It is being implemented to develop and provide support to the use
of information technology in rural areas of the country.
♦ Mobile Seva: It provides government services to the people through mobile phones and tablets.
 5

♦ Jeevan Pramaan: It is an Aadhaar based Biometric Authentication System for Pensioners. The system
provides authenticity to Digital Life Certificate without the necessity of the pensioner being present in person
before his/ her Pension Dispensing Authority (PDA).
♦ National Centre of Geo-informatics (NCoG): Under this project, Geographic Information System (GIS)
platform for sharing, collaboration, location-based analytics, and decision support system for Departments
has been developed.
♦ E-Kranti (National Governance Plan 2.0) – The plan is a significant pillar to Digital India. It was launched in
2015 with the goal of ‗Transforming E- Governance for Transforming Governance‘. 44 Mission Mode
projects were launched under E-Kranti and are at various stages of implementation. Some of those projects
are as follows:
(a) E-education –
◘ SWAYAM - includes Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) for leveraging e- Education. It
provides for a platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses, taught in classrooms from Class 9 till
post-graduation to be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time.
◘ PMGDISHA - Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan aims to make six crore people in
rural India digitally literate.
(b) E-Healthcare
(c) Cyber Security
(d) E-Courts
(e) Financial inclusion via Atm etc.

New initiatives –
1. In June, Ministry of Communications launched ‗Dak Karmayogi‘. It is an e- learning portal of Department of
Posts. It has been launched with the aim of enhancing competencies of departmental employees and Gramin
Dak Sevaks by enabling them to access uniform standardised content in blended campus mode or online.This
will enable them to effectively deliver several government- to-citizen services, in order to bring enhanced
customer satisfaction.
2. In June 2022, Use of ICT in PM e-Vidya scheme by Ministry of Education won UNESCO‘s recognition,
called King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the year 2021. .PM eVIDYA programme was launched by
Ministry of Education, as part of ‗Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan‘ by in May 2020. The programme unifies all
efforts associated to digital, on-air, online education, in order to enable multi-mode access for imparting
education using technology to minimise learning losses.
◘ Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa - This award was established in 2005, with the help of Kingdom of Bahrain. It
rewards individuals and organisations which are implementing outstanding projects and promoting creative
use of technologies to enhance teaching, learning, and overall educational performance in digital age.

NITI Aayog:
♦ NITI – National Institution for Transforming India
♦ It was formed via a resolution of Union Cabinet on 1st January 2015.
♦ NITI Aayog is the premier policy ‗Think Tank‘ of the Government of India, providing both directional and
policy inputs.
♦ While designing strategic and long-term policies and programmes for the Government of India, NITI Aayog
also provides relevant technical advice to the Centre and States.
♦ The Governing Council of NITI Aayog comprises of Prime Minister as its Chairman and Chief Ministers of
all States and Lt. Governor of UTs. Thus, NITI Aayog promotes cooperative federalism.
♦ The ‗think-tank‘ replaced the Planning Commission instituted in 1950.
 6

♦ The replacement was done to better serve the interests of the public and society as the Planning Commission
had become redundant in nature.
♦ The creation of think tank was ushered because of the diverse nature of the country that required collaborative
governance between respective states and the Centre.
♦ The ‗one-size‘ fits all economic pattern of development as promoted by Planning Commission was now
obsolete in the post NEP reforms India and hence required a new and competitive economic system to face
the global economy.
♦ Working structure - 3-year action agenda, 7-year medium-term strategy paper and 15-year vision document.

♦ The Administrative setup of NITI Aayog includes:

1. PM as the chairperson
2. Vice-Chairperson to be appointed by PM
3. Governing Council: Chief Ministers of all states and Lt. Governors of Union Territories.
4. Regional Council: To address specific regional issues, Comprising Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors
Chaired by Prime Minister or his nominee.
5. Adhoc Membership: 2 members in ex-officio capacity from leading Research institutions on rotational
basis.
6. Ex-Officio membership: Maximum four from Union council of ministers to be nominated by Prime
minister.
7. Chief Executive Officer: Appointed by Prime minister for a fixed tenure, in rank of Secretary to
Government of India.
8. Special Invitees: Experts, Specialists with domain knowledge nominated by Prime minister.

Objectives of NITI Aayog:

♦ To foster cooperative federalism
♦ To focus on decentralized approach of planning.
♦ To pay special attention to specific needs of the community.
♦ To provide advice and encourage partnerships between key stakeholders and national and international like-
minded Think Tanks, as well as educational and policy research institutions.
♦ To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative governance
between national and international experts,NGOs, civil society, private sector etc.
♦ To offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues.
♦ To maintain a state-of-the-art Resource Centre, be a repository of research on good governance and best
practices in sustainable and equitable development as well as help their dissemination to stakeholders.

NITI Aayog’s entire gamut of activities can be divided into four main heads:
♦ Design Policy & Programme Framework
♦ Foster Cooperative Federalism
♦ Monitoring & Evaluation
♦ Think Tank and Knowledge & Innovation Hub

◘ The different verticals of NITI provide the requisite coordination and support framework for NITI to carry out
its mandate. The list of verticals is as below:
♦ Agriculture
♦ Health
♦ Women & Child Development
 7

♦ Governance & Research

♦ HRD
♦ Skill Development & Employment
♦ Rural Development
♦ Sustainable Development Goals
♦ Energy
♦ Managing Urbanization
♦ Industry
♦ Infrastructure
♦ Financial Resources
♦ Natural Resources & Environment
♦ Science & Tech
♦ State Coordination & Decentralized Planning (SC&DP)
♦ Social Justice & Empowerment
♦ Land & Water Resources
♦ Data management & Analysis
♦ Public-Private Partnerships
♦ Project Appraisal and Management Division (PAMD)
♦ Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office
♦ National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (NILERD)
♦ At the fourth Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog, held on 17 June 2018, the Prime Minister once
again highlighted the importance of NITI Aayog as a platform to inspire cooperative federalism
♦ Aayog has also established models and programmes for development of infrastructure and to reignite and
establish Private Public Partnership, such as the Centre-State partnership model: Development Support
Services to States (DSSS); and the Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital (SATH) programme
which is designed to help States improve their social sector indicators by providing them technical support.
♦ Further, with the aim of correcting regional developmental imbalance, NITI Aayog has taken special steps for
regions needing special attention and support, like the North Eastern States , Island States and hilly
Himalayan

◘ States by constituting special forums to identify their specific constraints, formulating special policies to
ensure sustainable development takes place in these regions while also protecting their abundant natural
resources.
♦ NITI Aayog‘s important initiatives include ―15-year road map‖, ―7-year vision, strategy and action plan‖,
AMRUT, Digital India and Atal Innovation Mission, SDGs etc
♦ The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is a flagship initiative set up by the NITI Aayog to promote innovation
and entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of the country, based on a detailed study and deliberations
on innovation and entrepreneurial needs of India in the years ahead.
◘ Title: Monitoring and evaluation of public policy; mechanisms of making governance process accountable:
jansunwai, social audit.

Introduction:
♦ Policy evaluation and monitoring is the final and last stage of the public policy process.
♦ This is the stage that depicts the success/failure of a public policy.
♦ In other words, it is the stage where the effectiveness of a public policy in bringing changes in the society is
measured.
 8

♦ Thus, the three purpose of policy evaluation is policy effectiveness, policy efficiency and policy impact.
♦ It reveals the extent to which goals have been achieved. It helps us to understand the degree to which policy
issues have been resolved.

Types of Evaluation:
Joseph S. Wholey has identified three types of policy evaluation activities which are as follows:
♦ Type I: Programme Impact Evaluation is an assessment of overall programme impact and effectiveness. The
emphasis is on determining the extent to which programmes are successful in achieving basic objectives and
on the comparative evaluation of national programmes.
♦ Type II: Programme Strategy Evaluation is an assessment of the relative effectiveness of programme
strategies and variables. The emphasis is on determining which programme strategies are most productive.
♦ Type III: Project Monitoring is an assessment of individual projects through site visits and other activities
with emphasis on managerial and operational efficiency.

Methods of Evaluation:
♦ Cost-benefit analysis
◘ This a method in which a systematic monitoring is done to see whether the concerned policy was able to
balance the costs and the benefits accrued from it. Thus, under this the policy‘s credibility in efficient
utilization of resources is checked.

♦ Programme-planning and budgeting system (PPBS)

◘ This method has been widely adapted by government agencies in recent years. It is an attempt to rationalize
decision-making in a bureaucracy. It is a part of the budgetary process but the focus is on the uses of
expenditures and the output provided for, rather than an amount allocated by agency or department. The aim
of PPBS is to specify the output of a government programme, and then to minimize the cost of achieving this
output and to learn whether benefits exceed the cost.

♦ The experimental method

◘ In this method, the basis of evaluation is an ‗ideal‘ laboratory-like situation in which some units in a
population who received some service under the policy measures have been randomly selected, while others
have not received it. In evaluating the performance of such policies and programmes, samples of different
groups—who have received and who have not received—are selected for comparative analysis. Relevant
variables of the groups are then studied before and after, and even during the programme period, in order to
find out the difference of impact. Subsequently, statistical methods are used for testing the data for
significance levels.
◘ Policy is evaluated both by official (such as legislators and their committees, audit office, departmental
evaluation reports etc.) and non- official (University research scholars, private agencies, NGO‘s, public
interest organisation etc.) participants and is evaluated with respect to understanding the impact of a
programme, the strategy used and its effectiveness on the target group (though site visits).

Hurdles in Policy evaluation:

a) Difficult task
b) Partiality or biasness towards certain policy decisions
c) Shortage of manpower and resources
d) Irrelevant data and statistics
e) Resist in change by the organisation
 9

Social Audit:
♦ Social audit is an exercise conducted to monitor, track, analyze, and evaluate government performance, thus
making public officials accountable for their actions and decisions.
♦ As an evaluation of government performance, a social audit exercise can be considered a mechanism of social
oversight: that is, the control that citizens can exert on their government officials to ensure that they act
transparently, responsibly, and effectively.
♦ The first Social Audit was carried out in Sweden (1985–88) by John Fry and Ulla Ressner.
♦ It allows an active involvement of people and comparing official records with actual ground realities.
♦ Social Audit hence is a powerful tool for social transformation, community participation and government
accountability.
♦ In India, social audits were first made statutory in a 2005 Rural Employment Act and government also issued
the Social Audit Rules in 2011 under the MGNREGA Act. Section 17 of the MGNREGA has mandated
social audit of all Works executed under the MGNREGA.
♦ The social audit is also mandatory under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
♦ Social Audit is different from Financial Audit. Financial audits involve inspecting and assessing documents
related to financial transactions in an organization to provide a true picture of its profits, losses and financial
stability.
♦ Social audits focus on the performance of a programme in fulfilling its intended social objectives and ethical
vision through consultation with a range of stakeholders including social programme beneficiaries,
community members, government officials and verifying the information obtained with documents and
physical evidence. Thus, social audits examine and assess the social impact of specific programmes and
policies.
♦ Gram Panchayats and the Social Audit Units of a state plays an important role in collating and verifying all
the documents, findings and evidences and prepares social audit reports for the Gram Sabha.
♦ The Gram Sabha is then involved in conducting social audit meeting which is called as Jan Sunwai or ‗public
hearing‘. The social audit team presents the findings from the verification stage to the people in the presence
of an independent observer. The implementing agency needs to respond to the issues raised in front of the
Gram Sabha.
♦ The purpose of the public hearing is to ensure that the orders are issued on a public platform and actions are
taken on the social audit findings. The officials from the implementing agencies need to be present and
respond to the social audit findings, as well as the queries raised by people.
♦ The process of social audit has been empowered because of right to information Act.
♦ The implementation and success of RTI goes to the several social audits/jan sunwais that were organized by
MKSS in Rajasthan in early 1990s.
♦ Meghalaya in 2017 became the first state in the country to operationalise a law on social audit. The
Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act, 2017 made social audit of State-
run schemes mandatory.
♦ Today Jan Sunwai have gone digital referred as e-samvad is way to solve citizens grievances. Example -
Lokvani (2004) in Uttar Pradesh, aponline.com in Andhra Pradesh, e-Pariharan of Kerala.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Governance and Public Policy in India

Lecture – 9
Public Policies as Instrument of Change
Part 1
 2

Public Policies as Instrument of Change Part 1

Title – Public policies as an instrument of socio-economic development with special reference to housing,
health, drinking water, food security, MNREGA, NHRM, RTE
● Right to Education Act: The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to
Education Act (RTE) is an Act of the Parliament enacted in 2009.
● It was brought into effect from 1 April 2010.
● This Act was established to provide provisions to implement compulsory and free education for all the
children in the age group of 6-14 years old, which was made a fundamental right under Article 21A in 2002
by 86th Constitutional Amendment Act.

Features of Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009:

● The RTE Act aims to provide primary education to all children aged 6 to 14 years.
● It enforces Education as a Fundamental Right (Article 21).
● It requires all private schools to reserve 25% of seats to children i.e. mandates 25% reservation for
disadvantaged sections of the society where disadvantaged groups include:
a) SCs and STs
b) Socially Backward Class
c) Differently abled.
● It also makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class.
● It also states that sharing of financial and other responsibilities between the Central and State Governments.
● It lays down the norms and standards related to:
a) Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs) - (Primary level – 30:1 and upper primary level – 35:1)
b) Buildings and infrastructure
c) School-working days (Min. 200 and 220 days for primary classes and upper primary classes
respectively.)
d) Teacher-working hours. (Min. 45 hours per week)
● It had a clause for “No Detention Policy” which has been removed under The Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2019.
● It also provides for prohibition of deployment of teachers for non-educational work, other than decennial
census, elections to local authority, state legislatures and parliament, and disaster relief.
● It provides for the appointment of teachers with the requisite entry and academic qualifications.
● It prohibits:
a) Physical punishment and mental harassment
b) Screening procedures for admission of children
c) Capitation fee
d) Private tuition by teachers
e) Running of schools without recognition
● It focuses on making the child free of fear, trauma, and anxiety through a system of child friendly and child
centered learning.
● The Government has also launched an integrated scheme, for school education named as Samagra Shiksha
Abhiyan, which subsumes the three schemes of school education:
a) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
b) Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)
c) Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education (CSSTE).
 3

● RTE Amendment Act 2019

1. Passed in January 2019
2. Removed no-detention policy. Under the previous RTE Act 2009, no student till Class VIII can be
detained.
3. As per the amendment, it would be left to the states to decide whether to continue the no-detention policy.
4. The act provides for regular examination in classes V and VIII, and if a child fails, the amendment act
grants a provision to give her or him additional opportunity to take a re-examination within two months.
5. Such children will be provided with two-month remedial teaching to perform better in the re-
examinations.
6. If the students still do not pass the exam, the state government may decide to detain them.

Impact of RTE Since its enactment, the RTE Act has achieved success in overall enrolment rates but has
faced criticism for administrative and structural lapses.
1. Increase in Enrolment - Nationally, between 2009 – 2016, the number of students in the upper primary level
increased by 19.4 percent.
2. Stricter infrastructure norms resulted in improved school infrastructure, especially in rural areas.
3. More than 3.3 million students secured admission under 25% quota norms under RTE.
4. It made education inclusive and accessible nationwide.

Drawback –
1. However, these national figures conceal massive state-wise discrepancies.
2. There is no focus on quality of learning, as shown by multiple ASER reports.
3. Lack of teachers affect pupil-teacher ratio mandated by RTE which in turn affects the quality of teaching.

● MGNREGA: MGNREGA is one of the largest work guarantee programmes in the world.
● Under the Ministry of Rural Development.
● Full form – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
● Act was passed in 2005 and was brought into effect in 2006.
● The Act first started in Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh on 2nd February 2006 and initially covered 200 of the
most impoverished districts across India.
● The act was called the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), but the prefix Mahatma Gandhi
was added to it on 2nd October 2009.
● The primary objective of the scheme is to guarantee 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult
members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work.
● Legal Right to Work: The act aims at addressing the causes of chronic poverty through a rights-based
framework.
● At least one-third of beneficiaries must be women.
● Wages must be paid according to the statutory minimum wages specified for agricultural labourers in the state
under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
● Demand-Driven Scheme: The most important part of MGNREGA‟s design is its legally backed guarantee for
any rural adult to get work within 15 days of demanding it, failing which an „unemployment allowance‟ must
be given.
● Decentralized planning: There is an emphasis on strengthening the process of decentralization by giving a
significant role in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in planning and implementing these works.
● The act mandates Gram sabhas to recommend the works that are to be undertaken and at least 50% of the
works must be executed by them.
 4

● MGNREGA is a bottom-up, people-centered, demand-driven, self-selecting and rights-based programme.

Thus, MGNREGA remains crucial for integrated resource management and livelihoods generation
perspective.

Viksit Bharat by 2047:

Viksit Bharat 2047 means making India a developed entity by 2047 by encompassing various areas of
development, such as economy, environment, good governance and social progress. To achieve the goal of Viksit
Bharat 2047, the following announcements were made in the Budget 2024:
1) The government will formulate a plan, Purvodaya, for the all-round development of the eastern region of
India, covering Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. This will cover infrastructure,
human resource development, and the generation of economic opportunities to make the region an engine to
attain Viksit Bharat.
2) Nuclear energy is expected to be a very significant part of Viksit Bharat. Towards that pursuit, the
government will partner with the private sector to set up Bharat Small Reactors, research and development of
Bharat Small Modular Reactor, and research and development of newer technologies for nuclear energy.

In Budget 2024-25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman envisaged sustained efforts on the following 9
priorities for generating ample opportunities in line with the strategy set out in the interim budget to
achieve Viksit Bharat 2047:
1. Productivity and resilience in Agriculture
2. Employment and Skilling
3. Inclusive Human Resource Development and Social Justice
4. Manufacturing and Services
5. Urban Development
6. Energy Security
7. Infrastructure
8. Innovation, Research and Development
9. Next Generation Reforms

‘PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana’:

 The Prime Minister launched the ‘PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana’ on 15 February 2024.The
Budget 2024-25 emphasised this yojana and provided that the government will provide for the installment
of solar panels to 1 crore households. It will provide subsidies for installing rooftop solar panels for
residential houses and using solar energy for electricity, which will help save money on electricity bills.
 Solar panels are installed in houses under this scheme to supply power to households and additional
money for excess electricity output. The Central Government will provide substantive subsidies directly
to people’s bank accounts and heavily concessional bank loans to ensure that there is no cost burden on
the people. The government subsidy will cover up to 40% of the cost of installation of the solar panels.
 This scheme will help poor and middle-class households save up to Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 18,000 crores
annually by getting free solar electricity and selling surplus power to electricity distribution companies.
Under this scheme, the government aims to install solar panels in one crore homes throughout the
country. This scheme will help the government save around Rs. 75,000 crore per year for electricity costs.
 5

Objectives of Rooftop Solar Yojana/PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana:

 The Rooftop Solar Yojana, or the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, aims to provide 300 units of free
electricity every month to light up one crore households. The objective of this scheme is to reduce the
electricity costs of the house by installing rooftop solar panels and using solar energy.
 This scheme aims to decrease dependency on traditional energy sources by installing rooftop solar panels
in houses and moving towards sustainable energy practices. It pushes for clean and sustainable energy.

Benefits of Rooftop Solar Scheme/PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana:

 Savings of up to Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 18,000 crores annually from free solar electricity and selling the
surplus power to the distribution companies for charging electric vehicles
 Charging of electric vehicles
 Entrepreneurship opportunities for many vendors for the supply and installation of solar panels
 Employment opportunities for the youth with technical skills in the installation, manufacturing and
maintenance of solar panels
 Reduction of electricity costs for the government.
 Increased use of renewable energy.
 Reduction in carbon emissions.

Eligibility Criteria for Rooftop Solar Scheme:

 Applicants should be residents of India
 Applicants should belong to poor and middle-income households
 Applicants should have their own residence with a roof suitable for installing solar panels.
 Applicants must have a valid electricity connection.
 Applicants should not have availed of any other subsidy for solar panels.

Atma Nirbhar Abhiyan Oil Seeds:

 Goal: Make oil seeds self-sufficient.
 Coverage includes sunflower, sesame, mustard, soybean, and groundnut.
 Focus areas include high-yield cultivars, value-added agricultural methods, procurement strategies,
market connections, and crop insurance

Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan:

 The goal is to improve socioeconomic circumstances in native communities.
 Five crore tribals will benefit.
 Financial Outlay: 79,156 crore, it covers 63,000 villages, benefiting over 5 crore tribal people.
 4 Key Goals of PMJUGA Scheme
 Developing Enabling Infrastructure:
 Providing pucca housing under PMAY (Gramin) with access to clean water and electricity.
 Improving village infrastructure with all-weather road connectivity, mobile connectivity, and internet
access.
 Enhancing health, nutrition, and education infrastructure.
 Promotion of Economic Empowerment:
 Skill development and entrepreneurship promotion through training programs and marketing support.
 Facilitating self-employment opportunities for tribal communities.
 6

 Providing agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishery support.

 Universalization of Access to Good Education:
 Increasing Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in school and higher education.
 Making quality education accessible and affordable to ST students through initiatives like Samagra
Shiksha Abhiyan and setting up tribal hostels.
 Healthy Lives and Dignified Ageing:
 Ensuring access to quality healthcare facilities for ST households.
 Improving health indicators like IMR and MMR through Mobile Medical Units.

Vidyalaxmi Scheme:
It is a new government initiative designed to provide financial assistance to students pursuing higher education in
Quality Higher Education Institutions (QHEIs).

Key Features and Eligibility:

Collateral-Free Loans:
 Students enrolled in QHEIs can access collateral-free and guarantor-free loans that cover the full tuition
fees and related course expenses.
 Loans up to ₹7.5 lakh are backed by a 75% credit guarantee provided by the central government.
 Interest Subsidy for Priority Groups:
 Students with an annual family income up to ₹8 lakh qualify for a 3% interest subsidy on loans up to ₹10
lakh during the moratorium period.
 Priority will be given to those pursuing technical or professional courses in government institutions.

Institutions and Ranking Criteria:

 The scheme applies to selected higher education institutions identified based on National Institutional
Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings:
 Top 100 Institutions: All government and private higher education institutions (HEIs) ranked within the
top 100 in overall, category-specific, and domain-specific NIRF rankings.
 State Government HEIs: Institutions ranked 101-200 in NIRF rankings.
 Central Government Institutions: All centrally run HEIs are eligible under the scheme, regardless of their
NIRF rank.
 Unified Application Portal: The Department of Higher Education will establish a dedicated ‘PM-
Vidyalaxmi’ portal.
 Central Government Institutions: All centrally run HEIs are eligible under the scheme, regardless of their
NIRF rank.
 Unified Application Portal: The Department of Higher Education will establish a dedicated ‘PM-
Vidyalaxmi’ portal.
 Reimbursement System: Banks and financial institutions will be reimbursed for the subsidies via E-
vouchers and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) wallets.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Governance and Public Policy in India

Lecture – 10
Public Policies as Instrument of Change
Part 2
 2

Public Policies as Instrument of Change Part 2

Title – Public policies as an instrument of socio-economic development with special reference to housing,
health, drinking water, food security, MNREGA, NHRM, RTE

Housing schemes: By Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

1. Smart Cities – The concept of smart city can mean different things to different people living in different
area. It basically refers to development of urban ecosystem i.e. comprehensive development of institutional,
physical, social, and economic infrastructure.
● The need for Smart cities arises to meet the aspirations and demands of the people, to improve the standard
and quality of life and to attract more investments in the city.

Smart Cities Mission– 100 smart cities missions were launched in 2015.
● The objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its
citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions.
● The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a
replicable model which will act like a light house to other aspiring cities.

● The core infrastructure elements in a smart city would include:

i. adequate water supply.
ii. assured electricity supply
iii. sanitation, including solid waste management
iv. efficient urban mobility and public transport
v. affordable housing, especially for the poor
vi. robust IT connectivity and digitalization
vii. good governance, especially e-Governance and citizen participation
viii. sustainable environment,
ix. safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly,
x. health and education
● The Ministry of Urban Development has identified 24 key areas that cities must address in their ‘smart cities’
plan.

● The strategic components of area-based development in the Smart Cities Mission are:
a) City improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and city extension (Greenfield
development)
b) Plus Pan-city initiatives in which Smart Solutions are applied covering larger parts of the city.
● Smart Cities Mission is one of the mechanisms that will help operationalize the nationwide implementation of
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) priorities like poverty alleviation, employment and other basic
services.
● Coverage and Duration: The Mission covers 100 cities for the duration of five years starting from the
financial year (FY) 2015-16 to 2019-20. Cities were chosen through four rounds of selection from January
2016 to June 2018. In 2021, the timeline for the implementation of the mission was extended to June 2023. It
is because of the delay caused by the pandemic.
● Financing: It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. However, the funds will be directed from states as well as
through PPP. Additional resources are to be raised through convergence, from Urban Local Bodies’ own
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funds, grants under Finance Commission, innovative finance mechanisms such as Municipal Bonds, other
government programs and borrowings.
● Implementation – Creation of SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicle) promoted by the state/Union Territory and the
urban local body, with a 50% equity shareholding each in every city for Decision making, Planning, Project
designing and Implementation. The SPV, formed as a limited company, is governed by the Companies Act,
2013.

2. AMRUT - Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation – AMRUT along with Smart Cities
Mission was jointly planned to transform urban living conditions through infrastructure upgradation.
● It was launched by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in June 2015 with the focus to establish
infrastructure that could ensure adequate robust sewage networks and water supply for urban transformation
by implementing urban revival projects.

● The purpose of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is to
a) Ensure that every household has access to a tap with the assured supply of water and a sewerage
connection.
b) Increase the amenity value of cities by developing greenery and well-maintained open spaces (e.g. parks)
and
c) Reduce pollution by switching to public transport or constructing facilities for nonmotorized transport
(e.g. walking and cycling).
● In other words, The Mission will focus on the following Thrust Areas:
a) Water Supply
b) Sewerage and septage management
c) Storm Water Drainage to reduce flooding
d) Non-motorized Urban Transport
e) Green space/parks

● AMRUT is aimed at transforming 500 cities and towns into efficient urban living spaces over a period of five
years. The category of cities that have been selected under AMRUT is given below:
1) All Cities and Towns with a population of over one lakh with notified Municipalities as per Census 2011,
including Cantonment Boards (Civilian areas),
2) All Capital Cities/Towns of States/ UTs, not covered in above,
3) All Cities/ Towns classified as Heritage Cities by MoHUA under the HRIDAY Scheme,
4) Thirteen Cities and Towns on the stem of the main rivers with a population above 75,000 and less than 1
lakh, and
5) Ten Cities from hill states, islands, and tourist destinations (not more than one from each State).
● AMRUT is a centrally sponsored scheme with 80% budgetary support from the Centre.
● Earlier, the MoHUA used to give project-by-project sanctions. In the AMRUT this has been replaced by
approval of the State Annual Action Plan once a year by the MoHUA (Ministry of Housing and Urban
Affairs) and the States have to give project sanctions and approval at their end. In this way, the AMRUT
makes States equal partners in planning and implementation of projects, thus actualizing the spirit of
cooperative federalism.

AMRUT 2.0 – The second phase of AMRUT was launched by PM Narendra Modi in Oct 2021 till 2025-26.
Along with AMRUT 2.0, Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0 was also launched.
 4

● The aim is to make the cities ‘water secure’ and ‘self-sustainable’ through circular economy of water. 100%
Functional tap connections will be provided to all households, undertaking water source
conservation/augmentation, rejuvenation of water bodies and wells, recycle/re-use of treated used water and
rainwater harvesting.
● It is the continuation of the AMRUT mission launched in June 2015 to ensure that every household has access
to a tap with the assured supply of water and a sewerage connection.
● AMRUT 2.0 aims to provide 100% coverage of water supply to all households in around 4,700 ULBs (Urban
Local Bodies).
● It will build upon the progress of AMRUT to address water needs, rejuvenate water bodies, better manage
aquifers, reuse treated wastewater, thereby promoting a circular economy of water.
● It will provide 100% coverage of sewerage and septage in 500 AMRUT cities.
● It also seeks to promote Atmanirbhar Bharat through encouraging Startups and Entrepreneurs (Public Private
Partnership).
● The Mission will promote data-led governance in water management and Technology Sub-Mission to
leverage the latest global technologies and skills.
● 2.68 crore urban household tap connections to be provided during Mission.
● ‘Pey Jal Survekshan’ will be conducted to promote progressive competition among cities. Swachh Bharat
Mission-Urban 2.0
● All statutory towns expected to become at least ODF+ and all cities with < 1 lakh population

● Health related schemes

1. Ayushman Bharat: Ayushman Bharat, a flagship scheme of Government of India, was launched as
recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage
(UHC).
● Under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
● This initiative has been designed to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its underlining
commitment, which is to "leave no one behind."
● It was launched in September 2018 to address health issues at all levels – primary, secondary, and tertiary. It
has two components: a) Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), earlier known as the National Health
Protection Scheme (NHPS) - Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY is the largest health assurance scheme in the world
which aims at providing a health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care
hospitalization to over 10.74 crores poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) that
form the bottom 40% of the Indian population. b) Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) - In February 2018,
the Government of India announced the creation of 1,50,000 Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) by
transforming the existing Sub Centres and Primary Health Centres. These centres are to deliver
Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) bringing healthcare closer to the homes of people. They cover
both, maternal and child health services and noncommunicable diseases, including free essential drugs and
diagnostic services.

Key Features of PM-JAY:

1) PM-JAY is the world’s largest health insurance/ assurance scheme fully financed by the government.
2) It provides a cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization across
public and private empanelled hospitals in India.
3) Over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable entitled families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) are eligible for
these benefits.
 5

4) PM-JAY provides cashless access to health care services for the beneficiary at the point of service, that is, the
hospital.
5) PM-JAY envisions to help mitigate catastrophic expenditure on medical treatment which pushes nearly 6
crore Indians into poverty each year.
6) It covers up to 3 days of pre-hospitalization and 15 days post-hospitalization expenses such as diagnostics and
medicines.
7) There is no restriction on the family size, age or gender.
8) All pre–existing conditions are covered from day one.
9) Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country i.e. a beneficiary can visit any empanelled public or
private hospital in India to avail cashless treatment.
10) Services include approximately 1,393 procedures covering all the costs related to treatment, including but not
limited to drugs, supplies, diagnostic services, physician's fees, room charges, surgeon charges, OT and ICU
charges etc.
11) Public hospitals are reimbursed for the healthcare services at par with the private hospitals.
● The households included are based on the deprivation and occupational criteria of Socio-Economic Caste
Census 2011 (SECC 2011) for rural and urban areas respectively.
● PM-JAY was earlier known as the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) before being rechristened. It
subsumed the then existing Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) which had been launched in 2008. The
coverage mentioned under PM-JAY, therefore, also includes families that were covered in RSBY but are not
present in the SECC 2011 database.
● PM-JAY is fully funded by the Central Government and cost of implementation is shared between the Central
and State Governments.

Benefit Cover under PM-JAY:

1. PM-JAY provides cashless cover of up to INR 5,00,000 to each eligible family per annum for listed
secondary and tertiary care conditions.
2. The cover under the scheme includes all expenses incurred on the following components of the treatment.
3. Medical examination, treatment, and consultation
4. Pre-hospitalization
5. Medicine and medical consumables 6. Non-intensive and intensive care services
7. Diagnostic and laboratory investigations
8. Medical implantation services (where necessary)
9. Accommodation benefits
10. Food services
11. Complications arising during treatment
12. Post-hospitalization follow-up care up to 15 days

Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana: Launched in 2008 and relaunched by the Prime Minister
Modi, in the year 2015.
● It is a campaign launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India, to provide quality
medicines at affordable prices to the masses through special kendras known as Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya
Janaushadhi Pariyojana Kendra.
● These Centres provide generic drugs, which are available at lesser prices but are equivalent in quality and
efficacy as expensive branded drugs.
 6

● In September 2015, the 'Jan Aushadhi Scheme' was revamped as 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana'
(PMJAY). In November 2016, to give further impetus to the scheme, it was again renamed as "Pradhan
Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana" (PMBJP).
● BPPI (Bureau of Pharma Public Sector Undertakings of India) has been established under the Department of
Pharmaceuticals, Govt. of India, with the support of all the CPSUs for co-coordinating procurement, supply
and marketing of generic drugs through the Jan Aushadhi Stores.
● Jan Aushadhi Store (JAS) can be opened by State Governments or any organisation / reputed NGOs / Trusts /
Private hospitals / Charitable institutions / Doctors / Unemployed pharmacist / individual entrepreneurs are
eligible to apply for new Jan Aushadhi stores. The applicants shall have to employ one B Pharma / D Pharma
degree holder as Pharmacist in their proposed store.
● The Jan Aushadhi Diwas week (Generic Medicine week) is annually observed across India from 1st to 7th
March to create awareness about the importance of Generic Medicines and to highlight the benefits of
Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP).
● And Jan Aushadhi Diwas (Generic Medicine Day) is celebrated on 7th March. It first started in 2019.

Other Schemes:
Atal Pension Yojana: The scheme was launched on 9th May, 2015, with the objective of creating a universal
social security system for all Indians, especially the poor, the underprivileged and the workers in the unorganised
sector.
● Administered By: Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority through National Pension System
(NPS).
● Eligibility: Any citizen of India can join the APY scheme. The age of the subscriber should be between 18-40
years. The contribution levels would vary and would be low if a subscriber joins early and increases if she
joins late.
● Benefits: a) It provides a minimum guaranteed pension ranging from Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 on attaining 60
years of age. b) The amount of pension is guaranteed for lifetime to the spouse on death of the subscriber. c)
In the event of death of both the subscriber and the spouse, the entire pension corpus is paid to the nominee.
d) Tax Benefits: Contributions to the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) are eligible for tax benefits similar to the
National Pension System (NPS).

● Jal Jeevan Mission – Jal Jeevan Mission (Rural): Jal Jeevan Mission is envisioned to provide safe and
adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural
India.
● The Mission was launched on August 15, 2019.
● The programme will also implement source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge
and reuse through grey water management, water conservation, rainwater harvesting.
● Paani Samitis plan, implement, manage, operate and maintain village water supply systems.

These consist of 10-15 members, with at least 50% women members and other members from Self-Help Groups,
Accredited Social and Health Workers, Anganwadi teachers, etc. The committees prepare a one-time village
action plan, merging all available village resources. The plan is approved in a Gram Sabha before
implementation.
● The Jal Jeevan Mission will be based on a community approach to water and will include extensive
Information, Education, and communication as a key component of the mission. Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban)
● JAL JEEVAN MISSION (URBAN): this has been designed to provide universal coverage of water supply
to all households through functional taps in all 4,378 statutory towns in accordance with SDG Goal- 6.
 7

● It was announced by Finance Minister during her Budget speech (2021-22).

● 2.68 crore is the estimated gap in urban household tap connections that is proposed to be covered under
JJM(U). Likewise, estimated gap in sewer connections/septage in 500 AMRUT cities proposed to be covered
in JJM(U) is 2.64 crore.
● Rejuvenation of water bodies to augment sustainable fresh water supply and creating green spaces and sponge
cities to reduce floods and enhance amenity value through an Urban Aquifer Management plan are other key
areas of the Mission.
● JJM(U) will promote circular economy of water through development of city water balance plan for each city
focusing on recycle/reuse of treated sewage, rejuvenation of water bodies and water conservation. 20% of
water demand to be met by reused water with development of institutional mechanism.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Governance and Public Policy in India

Lecture – 11
Monitoring and Evaluation, Jan Sunwai,
Social Audit
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Monitoring and Evaluation, Jan Sunwai, Social Audit

Introduction:
● Policy evaluation and monitoring is the final and last stage of the public policy process.
● This is the stage that depicts the success/failure of a public policy.
● In other words, it is the stage where the effectiveness of a public policy in bringing changes in the society is
measured.
● Thus, the three purpose of policy evaluation are policy effectiveness, policy efficiency and policy impact.
● It reveals the extent to which goals have been achieved. It helps us to understand the degree to which policy
issues have been resolved.

Types of Evaluation:
Joseph S. Wholey has identified three types of policy evaluation activities which are as follows:
● Type I: Programme Impact Evaluation is an assessment of overall programme impact and effectiveness. The
emphasis is on determining the extent to which programmes are successful in achieving basic objectives and
on the comparative evaluation of national programmes.
● Type II: Programme Strategy Evaluation is an assessment of the relative effectiveness of programme
strategies and variables. The emphasis is on determining which programme strategies are most productive.
● Type III: Project Monitoring is an assessment of individual projects through site visits and other activities
with emphasis on managerial and operational efficiency.

Methods of Evaluation:
● Cost-benefit analysis:
This is a method in which a systematic monitoring is done to see whether the concerned policy was able to
balance the costs and the benefits accrued from it. Thus, under this the policy’s credibility in efficient
utilization of resources is checked.
● Programme-planning and budgeting system (PPBS):
This method has been widely adopted by government agencies in recent years. It is an attempt to rationalize
decision-making in a bureaucracy. It is a part of the budgetary process but the focus is on the uses of
expenditures and the output provided for, rather than an amount allocated by agency or department. The aim
of PPBS is to specify the output of a government programme, and then to minimize the cost of achieving this
output and to learn whether benefits exceed the cost.
● The experimental method:
In this method, the basis of evaluation is an ‘ideal’ laboratory-like situation in which some units in a
population who received some service under the policy measures have been randomly selected, while others
have not received it. In evaluating the performance of such policies and programmes, samples of different
groups—who have received and who have not received—are selected for comparative analysis. Relevant
variables of the groups are then studied before and after, and even during the programme period, in order to
find out the difference of impact. Subsequently, statistical methods are used for testing the data for
significance levels.
Policy is evaluated both by official (such as legislators and their committees, audit office, departmental
evaluation reports etc.) and non- official (University research scholars, private agencies, NGO’s, public
interest organisation etc.) participants and is evaluated with respect to understanding the impact of a
programme, the strategy used and its effectiveness on the target group (though site visits).
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Hurdles in Policy evaluation:

a) Difficult task
b) Partiality or biasness towards certain policy decisions
c) Shortage of manpower and resources
d) Irrelevant data and statistics
e) Resist in change by the organisation

Jan Sunwai and Social Audit:

● Jan Sunwai means ‘public hearing’.
● It is an informal court comprising of citizens who play the role of judges and critically analyze the policies
and actions initiated by the governmental authorities.
● It is a mechanism through which the locals are involved in evaluation and monitoring of public policies and
in turn is a tool through which the governance is made accountable.
● It is a democratic way to familiarize local people with government policies and the activities of the public
authorities so that they can understand what the government is doing towards the development of their
communities.
● The practice of Jan Sunwai as an instrument of a social audit can be dated back to the pre-independence era
and it has been widely appreciated as a democratic means of bolstering participation.
● Social Audit is a device of rural India, one that keeps people in the loop regarding the government’s future
activities.
● The implementation and success of RTI goes to the several social audits/jan sunwais that were organized by
MKSS in Rajasthan in early 1990s.
● Today Jan Sunwai has gone digital referred as e-samvad is a way to solve citizen’s grievances. Example -
Lokvani in Uttar Pradesh, aponline.com in Andhra Pradesh, e-Pariharan of Kerala.