Observing ‘Good Governance’ Day today as part of the Telangana decennial celebrations is important since it has made all the difference
By Arvind Kumar
The formation of Telangana in 2014 is a revelation of the innate potential of the region to emerge and survive as a separate State as well as the aspirations of its people for their unique cultural identity, self-respect and self-rule! During the period of agitation for Statehood, there was scepticism about the very survival of Telangana as a separate State.
Contrary to expectations, the new State has arrived with a bang! Its emergence as a frontrunner in key economic indicators like attracting investments, growth in real estate and agriculture, ensuring uninterrupted 24/7 power, initiating path-breaking welfare measures, Ease of Doing Business, increase in per capita income, GSDP, and coming on top on almost all parameters at the country level while relegating the major States to the background is impressive.
Behind all this, there is a concerted effort to promote the concept of ‘good governance’ with the larger aim of realising a progressive and prosperous ‘Bangaru (Golden) Telangana’. Commemorating the 10th year of a decade after the formation of Telangana State, the government is befittingly organising the decennial celebrations with day-wise themes for about 21 days. Of all these, the celebration of ‘Good Governance’ on June 10 is particularly significant for every citizen of the State as it is the fulcrum which has made all the difference in the governance.
The Concept
The World Bank, in its 1992 report titled ‘Governance and Development’, defined Good Governance as “the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development”.
While the concept of good governance indicates attributes like equity, fairness, acceptability and fair play, in simple terms it can be said it is a form of governance, wherein public institutions dealing with public affairs and public resources are being managed objectively with the prime motto of ‘Common Good’ to society at large. Thus, there should be no scope for any abuse or misuse of power by anyone at any level. This ‘neutrality’ in governance should be the norm, rather than the exception and it should be the attribute of every institution, not just the individuals, who run these institutions.
The Framework
The concept of good governance has greater relevance in a democratic setup. Our Constitution is the epitome of the core principles of good governance, ie, equality of status and opportunity enshrined in the Preamble; a set of fundamental rights guaranteed to every citizen, including the right to equality, equality before the law and equal protection of laws; Directive Principles of State Policy enjoining the State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people (Article 38) and, most importantly, a specific Article 326 which specified universal adult franchise without any discrimination towards any individual.
However, at the all-India level, the surge in population growth, ever-decreasing land holding size resulting in a drastic fall in productivity, push to cities in search of employment and subjectivity in public interface associated with delays and corruption became the order of the day and the trust in governance took a toll.
TS Role Model
However, the Telangana government since its formation has kept people as the central theme of governance. It has rolled out several welfare initiatives targeting different sections of society with a massive infusion of funds. A noteworthy aspect of these schemes is the direct money transfer to beneficiaries. Be it the flagship Rythu Bandhu, where every farmer is given Rs 10,000 per annum as input subsidy, Kalyan Lakshmi/Shaadi Mubarak under which the bridegrooms from poor families get Rs 1,16,000, Rs 13,000 which goes to eligible mother’s bank account as a token of appreciation of institutional delivery, besides the monthly disbursement of pensions to about 36 lakh persons. There is no requirement for anyone to visit any office, to meet any person! This has not only eliminated middlemen but has also ensured the reach of the entire benefit directly to the beneficiary, without the scope for any sort of leakages.
Thus, this form of good governance has transformed what hitherto used to be a mere “opportunity” into an entitlement or a right.
Initiatives like the creation of small districts (erstwhile 10 districts have now become 33), new revenue divisions, new mandals, Institution of Additional Collectors (Local Bodies), TS-iPass scheme in Industries Department, constitution of She Teams and establishment of a comprehensive Command & Control Centre in Police Department are some of the shining examples of institutionalised good governance in Telangana. The process is even more pronounced in the delivery of municipal services across 142 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the State.
Notch above in Urban TS
Telangana is predominantly an urban State with 46.8% of its population residing in cities. Good governance has even greater relevance when it comes to local authorities. They attract the highest daily footprint of citizens for a range of services from city-wide needs concerning civic infrastructure, community needs like recreation facilities, street lighting, maintenance of markets, graveyards, etc, and individual needs pertaining to sanitation, water supply, property matters, birth and death certificates, etc.
While the visit of citizens to municipal offices is welcome, the Telangana Urban Administration under the guidance of the MA&UD Minister strives to make each of these visits a fruitful and rewarding experience. In fact, the Telangana government has brought the local administration to the doorstep of the citizens, obviating the need for a personal visit of citizens to the municipal offices for any of the core municipal services.
The State government enacted the path-breaking Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019, which accelerated the process of good governance in ULBs. While their counterparts in many other States are in the aspirational stage of providing online services to the citizens, the ULBs in Telangana are a notch above and are providing not just online services but also instantaneous services, whereby the citizens get these services automatically without any need for any specific application/requisition to that effect.
The Act in its Schedule-III specifies timelines for as many as 24 municipal services. While one service is available for free download to citizens on the website, seven services are instant, eight services have 7 days timeframe, one service has 14 days timeframe and another seven services have 15 days timeframe.
The outcome of the TS-bPASS Act, 2020, a comprehensive legislation assuring building/layout permissions to citizens through online, time-bound and impersonate manner, has to be seen to be believed. The staggering number of applications received for building/layout permission across 142 ULBs in the State since the enactment of this Act stood at 2,09,163. Perhaps, no other State in the country is delivering these services on such a massive scale. Citizens need no building permission for plot sizes up to 75 sq yards, except registering the same by paying a token registration fee of Re 1 – this is the instant approval. There is time-bound approval of 21 days for plot sizes above 75 to 600 sq yards and a single-window approval system with the same timelines for above 600 sq yard plots and layouts. The adherence to timelines by officials is being monitored constantly and those found flouting the norms are punished by way of imposition of fines.
The urban citizens also need not visit their local municipal offices for any of the services like assessment of property tax on buildings, mutation (change of owner name in municipal records) of properties, and for birth and death certificates, provided such events are recorded in local government/ registered private hospitals.
Ward Offices in GHMC
With a visionary Chief Minister and a dynamic and proactive Minister for Municipal Administration, the motto of urban governance in Telangana is ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’. To further bring down the municipal administrative services to the arm’s-length of citizens, the government is starting ‘Ward Offices’ in each of the 150 wards in the GHMC, which is among the biggest municipal corporations in the country.
As each ward has an average of over 50,000 population, these new Ward Offices, with a range of officials from various wings of the GHMC as well as from other line departments like Hyderabad Metro Water Board, Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company functioning together from a designated local Ward Office is expected to result in effective, timely and fruitful redressal of citizens’ grievances and in fulfilling their aspirations towards civic services. The idea is to try and get different departments to coordinate with each other so that capital is resourcefully used.
Before planning this initiative, the MAUD studied the base-level municipal administrative setup in different metros of the country and came out with this unparalleled administrative structure, which will be operationalised on 10th June 2023, ie, the day designated for the commemoration of Good Governance.
To conclude, we believe that urban Telangana competes with the best globally in the delivery of citizen services and good governance and we are going to raise our standards to be the best in the world.