Role of Accountability Institutions in maintaining good and ethical governance
It is
indeed a privilege for me to be standing
before an audience so distinguished and speaking in the memory of an individual
who is truly a titan, an icon of his times and, whose deeds have left
an impeccable legacy.
Shri Pradhan Jwala Prasad was from that rare breed of
distinguished statesmen, who had a broad vision, an abiding faith in the
capacity of each citizen to build the nation and who led by example.
A trained
engineer, he had the capacity to not only conceptualise his ideas into
practical constructs but also to
envision issues far beyond his times.
He is fondly remembered in the ADB and
his contribution to Bihar in the form of the Jeevak Heart Hospital is a rare
gift to the people.
His tireless striving to cleanse public life has ignited
that spark, which I am sure has started the thought and action process to set
in motion a groundswell, which will lead to the emergence of new paradigm
founded on ethical governance, probity in public life and the rejuvenation of faith
in a people and the govt that they elect.
I am indeed very grateful to Dr Ajit
Pradhan for giving me this honour to be able to speak in the memory of such a
noble person as Shri Pradhan Jwala Prasad.
2.We, the people of India, have given to
ourselves a parliamentary democracy.
A democracy, of which all of us are so
proud.
A democracy, which has consistently
delivered near to double digit economic growth and delivered us from the tag of
the ' hindu rate of growth'.
A truly vibrant democracy, in which each
pillar has so very effectively performed its role.
We the people of India, have all the
freedom that any model of a sovereign democratic republic can possibly enjoy in
which the three pillars viz., the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary
have steadfastly performed their roles.
The fourth estate has also been very
alert and is growing increasingly assertive. In recent times, when the citizen
has come centre stage, and the young urban middle class voice is wanting to be
heard, the media has ensured that this voice is indeed heard.
The fifth estate, if it can be so
described, in any democratic set up are always the over sighting and
accountability institutions.
Every pillar in a democracy is expected
to perform its given role, objectively and sincerely. Yet, to provide assurance
to the man on the street, an element of
vigilante is routinely introduced. Such vigilante is exercised by specifically designed
accountability institutions such as the Election Commission, the Vigilance
Commission, Information Commission, a host of Regulatory Bodies and of course
the Supreme Audit Institution, which in India is referred to as the Institution
of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
3. While some of these institutions of
accountability derive their mandate directly from the Constitution, some have
statutory backing. Regulatory Institutions
are created by Government through specific statutes so as to distance itself
from the oversighting function and entrust it to a specialized body well versed
in the technicalities of that particular sector. It could be a Capital Market
Regulatory body, Electricity Regulatory body or Pollution control body.
However, before we examine the role and relevance of these institutions of accountability,
it would be worthwhile to spend a couple of minutes to peep through the pages
of history to ascertain how these institutions were conceptualized and have
transformed themselves during the years.
4. The idea of governance and accountability
is as old as organized government. Preservation of the resources of the king in
ancient times was accorded top most priority.
As early as in the third century
BC, Kautilya in his magnum opus Arthashashtra, had observed of human nature's
vulnerability to acquire public money for private gain. He wrote: “Just as it
is impossible not to taste honey or poison that one may find at the tip of
one’s tongue, so it is impossible for one dealing with government funds not to
taste, at least a little bit, of the king’s wealth.” He added: “Just as it is impossible
to know when a fish moving in water is drinking it, so it is impossible to find
out when government servants, in charge of undertakings, misappropriate money.”
Therefore, Kautilya went on to formulate a series of checks and balances in the
administrative system. He wrote that “in all cases (where) an official has
caused loss of revenue to the state….his property shall be confiscated.”
5. In the modern day accountability
refers to the processes, norms and structures that hold the population of
public officials legally responsible for their actions and even impose
sanctions if they violate the norms. Accountability becomes essential, to
ensure a systemic oversighting of those entrusted with acting on behalf of government.
It is a fundamental tenet of a modern and democratic society. In a democracy, the citizens
elect a government and invest the elected representatives with the power to
govern them. The government is, therefore, obligated to work in the interest of
its citizens and deliver accountable governance. The government spends a huge
amount of money in creating infrastructure, providing services and running
various schemes for the welfare of its people.
A large chunk of the
government’s money comes from tax which is compulsorily collected from its citizens.
The citizens need to know whether government funds were handled in accordance
with rules and regulations and whether the programmes, projects and services are
achieving their objectives economically, efficiently and effectively. The
government is answerable to public on whether various development and welfare
programmes are producing the expected results. Therefore,
accountability of government, its agencies and public officials spending money
is a key requirement in any democratic set up. Successive governments have
created institutions of horizontal accountability to oversee the actions of one
another. There are other institutions of vertical accountability, such as media and
citizens groups which involve citizens overseeing the actions of the State.
6. Accountability institutions are the
core institutions of a successful and performing democracy. The existence of
strong and independent accountability institutions ensure that the government performs
its duties in the interest of its citizens. Oversight by these institutions
improves the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of government operations.
These institutions detect and prevent poor administration, waste and leakages
in the system. They provide a restraint on abuse of power and arbitrary
behaviour. They prevent illegal and unconstitutional conduct and enforce
standards of responsible and accountable leadership. The oversight institutions
provide an independent mechanism to ensure that things move in the manner they
are supposed to move and that the deviations to acceptable practices are
identified and mid course corrections taken. Citizens are the ultimate
stakeholders in their government and public trust is crucial to any government
which wants to survive. Such independent institutions assure the public, that
efforts are directed towards achievement of national goals and help to build
the trust of citizens in the system of government.
7.
Globally democratic nations have created constitutional and statutory
institutions to enforce accountability. In India, we have the CAG and the
Election Commission who have been given constitutional status. There are
institutions such as the Central Information Commission and the Central Vigilance
Commission who have been given statutory status. The CBI is the investigating
agency of the Central govt. The CAG and the EC have the necessary independence
guaranteed by the framers of the constitution, who had the foresight to
visualise that unless rendered totally distanced from the executive, the
efficacy of these institutions would be seriously compromised. As a
consequence, these institutions have established their credibility and have
gained the public trust. Similarly. it would be in the interest of the credibility
of ,and faith in the functioning of govt, if institutions such as the CVC and
the CIC are also distanced from govt and provided a constitutional status.
Whilst, it may not be feasible to provide
total autonomy to an investigative agency such as the CBI, maybe the agency
could be kept at an arm's length distance from the govt. It could certainly be
given a more autonomous status and yet oversighted by a committee comprising
the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, the Lok Pal, the Lok Sabha speaker
and the leader of the opposition. This would provide it good visibility as an
agency which could no longer be called a handmaiden of the govt. Successive
govts have hesitated to do this for obvious reasons but time has come when some
such decisive step will have to be taken sooner than later. This would serve to
vastly enhance the credibility of govt.
8. In exercise of their functions, these
oversight institutions should not be subject to the direction and control of
any other person or authority. It is important to insulate these institutions
from inappropriate influences. Any attempt to dilute or resist oversight and
challenge the credibility of accountability institutions will only be inimical to societal needs and
concerns. The society today has become very aware and demanding. Accountability
and good governance , matter to people as never before. It is, therefore, in
the interest of the Parliament to empower these accountability institutions and
reinforce checks and balances in the system. These institutions must be granted autonomy and
allowed to exercise the powers vested in them independently and objectively.
They must be allocated the resources and skills required to improve their effectiveness.
This will help to repose public confidence in the functioning of the government
and will assure the man on the street about government’s actions, decisions and
performances. Moribund and feeble institutions weaken the accountability
mechanism and impede the progress of the nation.
9. We are at a critical juncture today.
The ability of the system to enforce accountability cannot be challenged.
Bottlenecks impinging on accountability have to be removed. Accountability
cannot be relegated to a secondary position in pursuit of power and money. Typically
people with vested interests in the system attempt to subvert the rules of
government accountability on the one hand and free market competition on the
other. Several transformational developments taking place in the country
present opportunities for this section of players to try to divert decision
making in government and public institutions for their personal agenda. These
people then become the most insidious threats to a healthy democracy. It is, therefore,
crucial that the accountability institutions must reposition themselves to the
changing scenario and must assist to serve the interests of the public.
10. What has however, become undoubtedly
more important is the concept of vertical accountability to check abuses by
public agencies and branches of government. Civil societies, NGOs, mass media
and citizens, as they have demonstrated in the recent past, have become vital
elements to enforce standards of good performance on officials. These groups
are no longer content to live in the
shadows any more. They have become very assertive. They have started
questioning decisions of officials and are playing an active role to hold the government to
account. They are engaging actively with the government and demanding
accountability. These groups through their increased awareness, collective
action and new forms of participation are assuming a significant role in
building greater accountability in policy implementation and delivery of services.
Demand for accountability from an active citizenry has posed new challenges to
the government and is acting as a catalyst for changing the cultures of
accountability and deepening democracy. This is indeed the old order changing,
yielding place to the new. The era of a new, discerning and demanding class of citizen,
has come to stay. This phenomenon has debunked an oft repeated and widely accepted myth
----that of a 'silent
majority'. The majority is no longer silent. It wants to be heard and
not only so, it wants to hold those in power truly accountable for their
(mis)deeds. This voice wants to participate in governance and wants government
to be participative rather than driven from the top.
This awareness in society is manifesting
in yet another form: the white collar or elite in society are no longer content
in participating in drawing room or T V debates about governance or
administration. They are now willing to
descend on to the street and actively participate in electoral politics. Indeed
a very healthy development. This is a powerful signal as, the politicians had never
taken this class of citizens seriously. They had not commanded any political
leverage. This phenomenon has now debunked yet another myth ; that of the white collared not getting into
electoral foray or being politically irrelevant.
11. Vertical accountability is the means through which citizen, mass
media and civil society seek to ensure transparency in decision making by govt.. It is here that the role of citizen groups
and media recently has been outstanding.
We give to ourselves governments as we deserve, and if we are not
capable of holding them to account, we have none other to blame. In recent years the stellar role of citizen
groups and media in ensuring accountability has been remarkable.
In the appointment of the Central Vigilance
Commissioner, reopening of the Jessica Lal murder case, the misdemeanors of the
Haryana Director General of Police or the unwarranted parole of Manu Sharma,
the role of media and the citizens ensured that truth prevailed.
These are outstanding examples of the new
order asserting itself – a very healthy development.
These are moments in history , observed in
geographies around the globe, when people seem to rise up to right the
wrong. India demonstrated this to gain
independence.
India did this again when
democracy was snuffed out in 1975 to regain it in 1977 and yet again in 1991
with economic reforms. India is now demonstrating
its inherent strength by enforcing accountability on government through
citizens group and media.
12. Countries worldwide have had a new
paradigm emerge after such upheavals. The
mass movements largely are against failures in the system or when the gap
between what governments should be doing and are actually seen to be doing
become very vast. The movements seek the
ideal working of the system, and those impeding it, be accounted for their
misdeeds.
Street protests globally are
against inequality, unfair treatment and injustice in policies of a nation who
could not, through regulators and their own administrative set up, check the
greed of a few. The accountability of
regulators is to harness excesses of the top one percentile wealthy persons,
shore up the middle class and empower those at the bottom of the income
distribution.
The most oft repeated
statements by public officials over a large number of misdemeanours which have
been reported are : that the law will be allowed to take its own course ! It is
unfortunate that this is exactly what does not happen.
Any number of
impediments are, in fact, placed in the way of the law taking its own course.
What we fail to recognise is that enlightened kings and vibrant democracies
have been successful and popular, only because the rule of law was allowed to
prevail.
13. Audit is a powerful tool of good governance.
Accountability and transparency, the two cardinal principles of Good Governance
in a democratic set up depend for their observance, to a large extent on how
well the public audit
function is discharged. An effective audit, strengthens governance, by
providing for accountability and protecting the core values of government. It
helps in enhancing transparency in operations of the government and bringing to
light improprieties committed by persons
holding high positions. It plays a significant role in safeguarding the
interests of various stakeholders thereby facilitating good governance. For any
vibrant parliamentary democracy an effective system of accountability of the
Executive to Parliament is fundamental. It is in this background that
Parliament decided to create an independent authority in the form of the Comptroller
& Auditor General under Article 148 of the Constitution.
The Comptroller & Auditor General’s
external audit provides confidence by which Parliament, on behalf of the tax
payer, scrutinizes how Government uses the money voted by it and holds the
Government to account.
14. The focus of Audit has undergone a
major change during the last few years. Due to massive outlays on
socio-economic development activities, the attention has shifted into the areas
of Performance Audit. Performance Audit is assessment of the operational performance
of the Government against pre-established goals and is important for judging
its accountability in delivery of programs and services to people. Performance
Audit provides an early warning system to the administrator and is a tool for
improving Government’s accountability to public. It helps the Government to ensure
that
their operations are effective and efficient.
The Audit Department has carried out comprehensive performance
evaluation of major flagship programmes of the
Government. The focus is on issues that affect the well-being of fellow
citizens—issues that touch their day-to-day lives like food, health, education
and employment. These reviews provide meaningful recommendations to the Government
for mid course corrections.
A central thrust of evaluation of development
programmes is to place more emphasis on what taxpayers get for their money by
focusing on outcomes. The Department has taken measures in upgrading its
auditing techniques and methodologies to address the issue of measuring
performance outcomes.
15. It is also my firm belief that the
mandate is not merely to prepare reports and place them in the legislature. The
constitutional mandate places a larger responsibility : that of holding the government financially accountable to the
legislature. It enjoins upon audit to keep the ultimate stakeholder viz., the man
on the street, apprised of the outcomes of government spending and not merely
conduct expenditure audits. Thus to
sensitise public opinion, steps have
been taken to disseminate audit findings to citizens groups, non-governmental
bodies, educational institutions and the media.
It is with this objective in
mind that booklets, commonly referred to us as "Noddy Books" were
devised to provide a snapshot of salient audit findings and recommendations.
These "Noddy Books" also prominently display good practices adopted
by implementing agencies and provide a channel for dissemination of these
practices to other institutions implementing such projects. It is believed that such an initiative, to sensitise
the interested stakeholders has, served as a force multiplier for and helps to promote accountability and good
governance.
16. Worldwide, governments have empowered
supreme audit institutions in response to the changing models of governance and
the rising demands of citizens for greater transparency and accountability.
Mandates of several national auditing offices have been broadened to secure not
only the legality and probity of government spending but also its efficiency
and effectiveness. A symbolic
demonstration of how public audit has evolved to bring into focus its
accountability role is the repositioning of the Supreme Audit Institution of
the United States. The erstwhile ‘General Accounting Office’ was redesignated
as the ‘Government Accountability Office’. In July 2004 in USA, several
proposals were introduced in the 110th Congress to augment the mandate of the external
auditor.
17. The
conventional wisdom of good governance is premised on the basic tenet that democratically
elected governments will conduct public affairs with probity and
accountability. However, recent actions of government, which have come in the public domain,
indicate that elements of ethics and integrity seem to be lacking. This
has triggered the feeling among the vast majority of urban citizenry that it
is time when the conventional architecture along which governments are expected
to function, needs to be tempered such that there is an element of
participation by the informed public. The supremacy of the elected political
executive in a parliamentary democracy cannot be denied.
The administrative
bureaucracy is meant to advise and facilitate policy parameters enunciated by
the political executive, which is commonly understood to be the
Council of Ministers. However, whilst the political executive is superior to
civil and uniformed bureaucracy, they owe their allegiance to the
ultimate stakeholder on whose behalf they act. Hence, my proposition before you is
that public oversight of government policy is essential. Also, as has
been demonstrated by subsequent governments through the 73rd, 74th
Amendments, Right to Information Act and implementation of flagship
programmes through Gram Panchayats, participative governance
has come to stay.
If the benefits of economic growth are to be made inclusive
and sustainable, the involvement and oversighting by the public to ensure
transparency of decision making and accountability for actions will have to be
ensured.
18. As I conclude, I stand before you
today to remind you that we are poised at that juncture in Indian history where
the pledge of the framers of our Constitution places a huge challenge before
us.
The challenge is that we were entrusted with the blessing of democracy, which
brought with it an opportunity to practice and succeed in self governance.
Today, we need to remind ourselves that
democracy is an experiment in government, which succeeds or fails on its own
merit:
On the merit of the people who need to
actively engage in nation building:
On the merit of those in whom, we place
that fiduciary trust to control public moneys and thereby our
welfare itself:
And, on the merit of the institutions
that we create to ensure that indeed all actions and programmes of government
are architectured for the good of the people.
I stand before you to remind you that
there is really no Bharat or India. We are one homogenous whole.
We
the people, along with our geographical boundaries, constitute the nation a,
We the people, have given unto ourselves
a Government or the State.
This responsibility enjoins upon us to
ensure that the State works for our benefit, that the nation can never be
subjugated to the state : that, our institutions are strengthened to ensure
that those in whom we place the trust to administer on our behalf indeed do so, placing our welfare as paramount.
I stand before you to remind you that
ultimately it is We the people, whom posterity will hold accountable, if
today, we do not ensure that we bequeath to Gen Next, an India
richer, in all respects, than what we had inherited.
Vinod Rai delivered this lecture at A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna
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