Role of Youth in Achieving Good Governance

“Mere good governance is not enough; it has to be pro-people and pro-active. Good governance is putting people at the centre of development process.” Shri.Narendra Modi

     The term governance is derived from the Greek term, kubemao meaning ‘to steer or direct’. Governance is therefore the practices and activities such as administrative, political and legal affairs to be performed by the government for the development of the country. The publication of the World Bank’s report in 1989 titled “Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth” defines governance as: “The traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised. This considers the process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced; the capacity of the government to effectively formulate and implement sound policies and the respect of citizens and the state of the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them”. In a similar line, good governance is essentially governing by the rule of law with liberty, equality and fraternity before law and equal protection under law. 

     Historically, good governance has its trace right from Ancient India. Kautilya is of view that a king must be subjected to a disciplined life and should follow an upright code of conduct. The Raja has to be a servant to the praja with no selfish motives and individual likes. His sole concern ought to be Praja’s welfare and happiness rather than his interests. Kautilya also advises praja to satisfy and live within the limited resources without exploiting it. It is therefore, raja and praja have to move on together for the common goal of the affairs of State and to build a civil society together. The Vishvamanava, Mahatma Gandhi promoted the concept of Sawodaya which encouraged the altruistic actions for the common good beneficial to all.  

     Good governance is also the prosperity, well-being and welfare of all citizens of the nation through decentralized government, standardized rule of law, properly guided bureaucracy, disciplined administrators, fixed salaries, maintenance of law and order, controlling corruption, consistency in administration and integrity in accountability. Precisely, good governance plays a constructive role in the social, cultural, economical and political developmental processes of the society and ensures social security and positive change. 

     The predominant features of governance include participation, following the rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, consensus oriented, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, accountability. The World Bank has put forth six various dimensions to measure governance. They are: “voice and accountability; political stability and absence of violence; effectiveness of government; regulatory burden; rule of law and control of corruption” (Kumar 4).  However, the basic agenda of good governance is to ensure if the benefits of change and development have been safely reached out to the public. The agents of such service delivery mechanisms are of course bureaucrats, civil servants, policy makers, NGOs, social institutions, grassroot institutions, politicians and yes, even Central and State Governments. Statistics reveal that India has the largest youth workforce under the age of 35 and they constitute seventy percent of the population of India. Hence the role of the youth in setting up the developing nation –India- by bringing about a change in the lives of the intended folks is a point to be considered. 

     Former President Dr. Zakir Hussain states that, “Youth form the vanguard of the nation, which when properly channelized shall be instrumental for the development of the country”. The booming interest in media and immense exposure in technology help make the youth to approach every issue in a critical way of understanding. The National Council of Applied Economic Research survey reports that in India, 75% of literate youth are living in a joint family. The report further explains the collective experiences they receive from living in such a family of 3-4 generations. The youth of India thus learns the ‘past’ from elders, evaluates with the ‘present’ and thinks rationally about the ‘future’. They are therefore the repository of knowledge, information and opinions. Hence the requirement of the national human resource of youngsters is extremely important in governance and development. The running government’s pro-people and pro-active is the only mechanism that connects between people and government.   

     The spirit of nationalism among youth helps make to realise the social, economic, and cultural aspiration of the citizens and to extend their hands to them. The vision of every youth must be to develop India as a strong self-reliant nation. To realize the far distant dream, youth should ensure human excellence in every field. The best possible way to understand the pulse of the society is to be a part of civil services and tri-ratnas such as army, navy and air force wings. Joining in civil service and achieving Sardar Patel’s vision of making it a federal service is not a far distant dream if brilliant and patriotic young civil servants step forward. India is of course on the dearth of lack of efficient and corruption-free bureaucrats. Many of our youngsters are passionate about corporate jobs with lucrative salary. They should come forward for government jobs without casting their greedy eyes on the government allowances and other benefits involved in it. Indian On the contrary, the youngsters in the developed countries vigorously serve for their homeland joining in government forces. The new generation Indian youth have to be far-sighted and habitually optimistic like them by upholding the ideal of Gandhiji -“be the change you wanted to see”- and thus take part in good governance of nation. 

     Young generation of India usually blame both the ruling and opposition parties for one reason and the other. It would do no good in the process of democracy and administration. Some of them discourage themselves, and others not to go for voting during election. It is the responsibility of each one of us to be a part of democratic system to elect the leader of their choice. It is as an old adage goes on, “as the king so is his subjects”. So, youngsters must select a dedicated governing team and place the right man in the right place for proper governance as they want to be. Therefore every young individual must spare their time to cast vote without disrespecting the toil of our freedom fighters who brought us freedom and thereby Universal Adult Franchise. And they can ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the governing body. Hon’ble Prime Minister of India once stated, “New age power and not new age voter alone”. Right to vote is the strongest tool to bring good governance. 

     Improvement in communication and technology help to widen the knowledge of people beyond their village or province. It not only connects people from one corner to another but also creates a sense of universal brotherhood. The exposure to technology may lead to discrepancies and chaos in the sovereignty and secularism of India yet it plays an indispensable role in the governance of the country. The Central government’s Digital India campaign and government portals such as ‘mygov.in’ and ‘Interact with PM’ bring government and citizens closer. It thus offers greater accountability by rendering electronic transmission of government services and reduces corruption to a certain extent. Also, our Honourable Prime Minister’s Chai Pe Charcha is a laudable initiative so that lakhs of Indians could directly talk to the PM and bring the breeze of change. Youth of India, who are aware of the electronic revolution should make use of such opportunities, educate the older generation on it and empower the vulnerable groups. ‘One Day Governance’ model of Gujarat State government and Society for Social Audit, Accountability and Transparency (SSAAT) of Andhra Pradesh State government are few ground breaking examples to be followed.  

     The reciprocal relationship between media and youth is integral in nature. The editorial page of newspapers and other columns of national and international importance create an impact in young minds. There is of course partial and biased views in the print media. Youngsters should be educated and flexible enough to think rationally in order to distinguish the bias. They must also give equal weightage to all viewpoints and assure if there is objectivity in media journalism. If possible, youth ought to be participating in Citizen Journalism programmes and voice out to stand for a cause. Such bold moves from the parts of youth help create a fair, impartial and neutral governing system.   

     There is ‘n’ number of social media platforms to reach out to the people from one corner to the other. Blogging is another standardized powerful tool to express the views and thoughts of the young individuals. But it has to be clear that all social activism can be made not exclusively through social media.  For instance, the much-debated new avatar of cleanliness in India -Swacch Bharat Abhiyan- is essentially a revisioning of the legacy left behind by our Rashtrapitha. On a larger scale it mainly focuses on proper sanitation amenities, solid waste management and adequate drinking facilities. The whole idea behind the cleanliness drive should be to bring about change within oneself and others. It is a noble gesture, evidently and a feather in our government’s cap. To our chagrin, the number of civic and particularly youth, actually putting this mission into practice at least on a monthly basis is pretty less. Hence it is pointless to take into account the efforts of digital and hash tag activists in the name of clean and capable India campaign. Their activism is often confined to a carefree environment and also has traces of myopic views. The youth must give due priority to both online and onground tasks and activisms. This government scheme of good governance largely depends on cooperation and involvement of younger generation.   

     The urban youth must atleast work in a village hamlet for one year to be sensitive of the day-to-day problems and predicaments the villagers face. They must also enrol in NGOs working on implementation of govt schemes such as Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jivan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana etc to help the poor. The spread of education in vernacular tongues, sharing with them the helpline numbers of agriculture and such allied activities, teaching computing and telephonic skills are all welcoming moves. Many a number of rural folks are ignorant of the fake calls and spam messages they receive on their phones. They are too naive to understand the impure intention behind such crimes and so are trapped very easily. Timely reporting of such crimes would help prevent it. Our government has also been funding for many self-help groups. Indian youth can impart the skills they know to them free of cost. Our government along with certain corporate enterprises have introduced LAMP scholarship, Gandhi fellowship etc to bring the rural realities to the forefront of Indian youth. Youngsters should make use of such fellowships to explore rural India and try cognizing people on social problems of India. 

     Above all, youth of India should speak up and voice against the violence against women. There are quite a number of coordinated and sustained efforts to eliminate the same. Yet, most men and women find it difficult though they notice females going through degrading and humiliating experience. Most of us do not hit back against the law breakers until our own kith and kin are subjected to this kind of abusive treatment. Young men can also make aware of other men and teach them that abuse is wrong. Young generation must therefore break their silence and be the voice of the voiceless gender. It thus helps eliminate gender-based violence and create empathetic governance.  

     There is of course a lot of professionally skilled and qualified Indian youth. The government of India must pass a rule of ‘serve India for a minimum period of 3 years’ for students passing out from the premier government funded institutions. The medical and law students can conduct free medical and legal camps thus by participating in the governance process of State. The education they received should not be exclusively used not only to earn handsome perks but also to serve the country. 

     The grown-up school and college students can help regulation of traffic. Also they can help in local policing along with beat constable so that effectiveness of policing will be strengthened. This cooperative effort also makes a safer community free of fear and terror. For instance, the heart-warming initiative of Kerala police, ‘Janamaithri’ is a friendly gesture of them to bridge the gap between police and community. 

    Several reports substantiate the involvement of youth in terrorism and communal riots which are likely to be affecting the harmony of our country. Dadri case is one of them. Nothing other than self-control and sense of brotherhood would put an end to it. The youth should teach each other to imbibe moral values and not to be intolerant against other religions. 

     Right to Information is the chief element to strengthen participatory democracy. It is one of the few legislations promoting transparency. The youngsters should come forward and make uneducated people aware of such access to information and also RTI Act. It also empowers the under privileged society to question the government procedures and be able to locate their official files which are likely to be stuck in red tapism. The loopholes of judicial system can be patched by RTI. Thus the notorious punchline on Indian judiciary, “justice delayed is justice denied” would be put to an end.  

     Good governance is definitely a fundamental right. The not-so-far dream of NDA government, ‘Acche Din’ can only be achieved through minimum government and maximum governance. Precisely, good governance is applicable to all sections of society. To have a citizen friendly, caring and responsive community, an ethical and standardized set of rules have to be followed. Good governance is not just a function of Central and State government alone but also judiciaries, media, private and corporate sectors, NGOs etc. Such institutions of change are organs of nation-state governments. These must also go hand in hand with the democratic ideals. Observing December 25 as Good Governance Day does not assure an efficient administration but moving together on the mission of good governance does ensure sustainable development. 

Bibliography:

1. Goel, S.L. Good Governance: An Integral Approach. New Delhi: Deep and Deep Publications, 2007. Print. 

2. Kumar, Suresh. Governance and Development: Lessons and Experience of Kerala. Trivandrum: APH Publishing, 2007. Print. 

3. Laxmikanth, M. Governance in India. Chennai: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2007. Print.

4. S. Madhu. “THE ROLE OF YOUTH IN STRENGTHENING CIVIL SOCIETY IN INDIA.” Mind Text. CPPR, Web. 20 Oct. 2015. 
<http://www.mindtext.org/view/135/THE_ROLE_OF_YOUTH_IN_STRENGTHENING_CIVIL_SOCIETY_IN_INDIA/>