Governance for UPSC, GS 2 Notes By UPSC Topper

Governance

Focus Areas

Role of Civil Services in Democracy
Reforms in Civil Services
Local Self-Governing Institutions
Citizens Charter
Right to Information
Anti-Corruption bodies – CVC, Lokpal, CBI
Minimum Government Maximum Governance
E-Governance
Digital India
2^nd ARC Report
Corporate Governance

Service Delivery Mechanisms

Aadhar and Service Delivery

Why Aadhar?

Transparency: Aadhar facilitates increased transparency where authentication is performed through digital identity. It limits human interventions and thus reduces avenues for corruption seamlessly integrating beneficiaries to entitlements

Plugging Leakage of Subsidies: Aadhaar helps plug the enormous leakage of subsidies through corruption and ghost beneficiaries thus saving the government valuable money that helps in the rationalization of expenditure

Social Welfare: Aadhaar can enable linkage with Bank accounts and mobile under JAM yojana where the physical presence of the beneficiary itself is not necessary thus increasing conveyance while facilitating transparency at the same time

Eg: MGNREGA wages are directly transferred to accounts of employees

Tax Evasion: Linking Aadhaar with PAN card can help the state to widen its tax base and mitigate tax evasion by increased monitoring with the help of Aadhaar database

Security: Aadhar as a unique digital identity with biometric data and linkage with PAN can help in tackling issues of money laundering, tax evasion, finding missing persons and improved forensic study using biometrics

Why not Aadhar?

Exclusion Errors: Making Aadhaar mandatory may keep deserving beneficiaries outside thus depriving them of very basic needs like food grains. The state must avoid such instances like the one in Jharkhand where certain PDS beneficiaries died of starvation once they were denied food grains due to want of Aadhar.

Important Legislations Notes by UPSC Topper Ravisankar Sarma

Face ID has been introduced by UIDAI in a bid to avoid authentication errors and financial exclusion among people who have poor biometrics. This can be pertinent particularly among agricultural manual labourers and farmers whose biometrics are distorted due to intensive work.

Violation of Right to Privacy: The Aadhar data that is available for companies on request raises privacy concerns of citizens. The lack of protection accorded to citizens Aadhar data that contains sensitive biological information due to lack of privacy laws may compromise the citizens fundamental right to privacy as identified by the Supreme Court in the Puttuswamy vs Union of India case under Article 21

Recently, the UIDAI launched Virtual ID which subverts the need of beneficiary to share Aadhar number thus providing the cardholder with an extra layer of security through a pseudo-aadhaar number.

Security of Data: The UIDAI has overlapping powers regarding the maintenance, reporting and recovery in event of the data breach. There are hence concerns over accountability to ensuring the safety of sensitive biological information

Danger of Surveillance State: Widening the purview of Aadhaar to bank accounts and sim cards raises the possibility of a surveillance state where citizens behavioural patterns are monitored by the state. This deprives the citizen of his fundamental right to a privacy-compromising dignified life.

Supreme Court Judgement on Aadhar

The SC upheld the constitutional validity of AADHAR pointing out that it is critical to ensuring basic services and amenities through the public governance system. As an ID system, AADHAR was effective in streamlining public resources and benefits eliminating errors of inclusion and exclusion.

Points of the Verdict

Constitutionally Valid: The Majority verdict identified Aadhar as a tool of good governance that was a reasonable restriction on the right of privacy.
Permitted under Aadhar:
1. Linking of PAN
2. Filing of IT returns
3. Access to government welfare programs and subsidies
Struck down by Court
1. Section 57: The AADHAR Act which provided that private companies shall demand AADHAR as an ID for services of telecom, education, mobile wallet and banking services is to be struck down as there was no rationale to this
2. Education: CBSE, UGC, NET cannot demand AADHAR as ID for exam verification purposes

Right to Information Act

A movement led by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangethan, an NGO in Rajasthan pressurised the government to amend the Official Secrets Act and bring the Freedom of Information Act. However, the wide scope for the exclusion of information and the lack of strong penalty led to a civil agitation that forced the government to adopt a rights-based approach.

Right to information act was hence adopted granting citizens the right to know in matters of governance. The RTI is identified as a fundamental right under Article 19 (1)(A) of the constitution.

Obligatory Provisions of the Act

Maintenance of Records: Public authority should maintain all records duly indexed and categorized. This would enable easy access to sought records.
Suo-Motto Disclosures: Public authority should adopt the principle of maximum suo-motto and pro-active disclosures. This would enhance transparency and reduce need for citizens to move via RTI request route
Publication: Of directory of its offices and employees, particulars of its functioning
Institutional Mechanism: All public authority must appoint Public Information Officers (PIOs) and Assistant PIOs who remain nodal points for a request of information and grievance redressal in case of exclusion of information. PIOs hence act as intermediaries between citizens and public authority with regard to information access.
Time-bound Mechanism: PIOs transfer application to appropriate public authority within 5 days who are liable to respond within 30 days. PIOs decision can be challenged at first appellate authority while its own decision can be questioned before the State Information Commission.