Yet again the walls will be dirty, and the loud-speakers will blare. Yes, India goes to vote, yet again! What are the issues involved, and what does it portend for the future? Here is a hard look on all sides of the cross-roads that India is at today, and where its going to go.
The basic premise of the Right to Information Act is that citizens must ask and directly pay for every piece of information they want from the government. The citizens of India have a right to all the information about the governments of India—local, state and the Union. This right is circumscribed only by the limitations required for official secrets, on what are actually matters of state and security. All information not restricted by those requirements must be available to the citizens as a matter of course, without having to plead, pray or pay.
The book introduces the terracotta approach to environmental management which involves changing of incentives for preserving environment by restructuring ownership and pricing of resources . It talks of giving communities property right to natural resources which would achieve the dual objective of the resource preservation and poverty alleviation.
The book focuses on the functioning of urban municipalities. It attempts to provide answers to very pertinent questions-'How can an ordinary citizen demand accountability from the mighty Municipality in whose hands are vital services like water, electricity supply, garbage removal, roads and primary education?
Muster rolls of public work projects are notoriously abused. Many who are on the official worker list are not actually working on the site and several who are working are not on the roll. Aruna Roy and her organisation MKSS (Majdur Kissan Shakti Sangathan) in Rajasthan took up this issue. The activists would visit a public work site, get a copy of the official muster roll and then verify it, exposing the corruption. After some long battles and initial success, they began to visit more and more sites.
The handbook offers a spectrum of choicest of articles that capture the essence of good governance. The rich menu has insightful contributions on New Public Management, decentralisation, participation, accountability and e-governance. Illustrative case studies on public-private partnerships exemplify sustainable service delivery models worldwide. This digest is a swift route to grasping the fundamentals of governance for politicians, administrators, civil society members and students.