A Foundation for Good Governance

12 years after founding the Institute of Directors, Dr Madhav Mehra, described by Dr Athrey, the noted management advisor, as a “human dynamo” and others as a pioneer in bringing about convergence of the defining issues of 21^st Century – quality, environment and governance, announced another initiative on the 13^th Foundation Day of the IOD i.e. setting up the Institute of Good Governance. The Institute is to be chaired by Dr Karan Singh, Member of Rajya Sabha, Former Union Cabinet Minister and Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University. 

In his interview to Haryali Dr Mehra asserted, “a closer examination of the problems of our time reveals that good governance and not scarcity of resources is at the heart of every one of our egregious and intractable problems including poverty, inequality, illiteracy, disease, squalor and environmental degradation.  In the final analysis it is the policies that governments adopt that affect the economic and social well being of the community.  The issues of legitimacy, transparency, equity, accountability, probity and integrity are far more important in creating and sustaining wealth and improving quality of life than the existence of natural resources.  With little natural resources, the deserts of Dubai are home to more holiday tourists than the abounding beauty of our Himalayas.  The biggest challenge for the national governments of today is to ensure that every citizen realizes his/her full and true potential.  Once that is done, nation’s performance excels in every area as has been demonstrated by fast developing countries such as South Korea who not only produces the best automobile designs but also superb performance in the World Cup.”

Dr Mehra added, “in a democratic country like ours it is important to make the electorate, the legislature and law makers aware of the disastrous consequences of mis-governance.  Corruption in government is one example.  In the last International Conference on Corporate Governance in Mumbai, speaker after speaker brought home the incalculable damage being done to the nation through corruption.  While corporate scandals in US have shown that corruption and fraud are not the trademarks of developing countries, its consequences are much more severe in poor countries such as ours.  India is rated 69 out of 90 countries in the Corruption Perception index of Transparency International.  No development can take place unless we can get rid of corruption.  No amount of increase in capital resources can help.  Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister said that only 15% of the development and antipoverty expenditure reaches the real beneficiary.  We spend over Rs 30000 crores on poverty eradication programme.  This means over Rs 25000 crores is siphoned off on the way and only Rs 5000 crores reaches the real poor.  This is a gigantic sum and hence the justification for a massive awareness programme on the damage of corruption." 

Dr Mehra has taken the issue of good governance as a personal mission. He deplored the cynicism of Indian electorate who accorded a lower priority to the issue of corruption. Dr Merha says “We have to create awareness that corruption is the greatest sin and there is no way we can improve our competitiveness without minimizing corruption.  Corruption is so deep rooted that even our medicines are adulterated.  Containing corruption, therefore, is saving human lives. 

Quoting Mehboohul Huq, the Jammu born great economist Dr Mehra said “the corruption in South Asia is upstream and not downstream.  It is the upstream corruption, which is the most dangerous type.  The corruption money travels on wings and not wheels”.  It is deposited in Swiss Bank accounts.  If it was kept in India it could be some use to our economy.  Thirdly corruption often leads to promotion instead of prison.  You will be able to think of many examples without my naming them.  Corruption in India generates poverty and perpetuates poverty as nowhere else in the world.  Millions of people are forced to live below the poverty line with no hope ever in their life of breaking the cycle.  The case for good governance in India cannot be overstated.  The link between corruption and poverty is irrefutably established.  It is a tragedy of history that Indians who today are rated among the brightest in the world are helpless to alleviate the poverty to which our people are condemned.” 

Dr Mehra is condescending towards politicians and says “Unfortunately though politicians are blamed for all the country’s ill, the fact is most of them are well meaning but lack a proper perspective of nation’s ills and have little idea how damaging corruption is.  They have no business plan nor an action plan of how to get about their business.  They get no training whatsoever to equip them with their role.  Despite widespread corruption and a general belief that all politicians are corrupt, the fact is that there is a growing number of young people who have taken up politics as a career with a single minded mission to make a difference.  But no help is available to such people.  It has universally acknowledged that what sets good companies apart from the poor performers is their commitment to training.  Same holds good for politicians.  A large number of them are not even aware how mis-governance and corruption are ruining the country and are the cause of poor schools, poor roads, poor health services, poor drinking water etc.  There is a grave need to train them properly on the best practices of governance.

Following are the mission, vision and objectives of the Institute which has been recently registered as Foundation of Good Governance:

Mission

To bring about India’s economic and social transformation through transparency, integrity, accountability, probity and equity in Governance.

Vision

To see that every citizen of India realizes his / her full potential.

Objectives

i)        To act as a think tank to design strategies and develop action plans to improve quality of governance at central and state, municipal, district and Panchayat level.

ii)       To create nationwide, mass awareness on the dangers of corruption and mis-governance.

iii)      To network all like minded organizations in their fight to eradicate corruption – both upstream and downstream.

iv)      To design, develop and conduct training programmes specially focused on politicians, policy makers and administrators on transparency, accountability, probity, equity and integrity and environmental and social responsibility.

v)      To exchange information and knowledge from like minded organizations worldwide.

vi)     To conduct courses, seminars, workshops, conferences and roundtable to disseminate international experiences on best practices in governance.

vii)   To help each government department develop and publish its own Citizens Charter spelling out the minimum level of service the citizens can expect.

viii)   Strengthen institutions which are fighting against corruption.”

 ……………