Good Governance (Challenges and problems of Good Governance)

In the words of Kofi Annan, “Good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development” The concept of „governance‟ came into vogue only recently though the story of governance is as old as human civilization itself. In India the concept of good governance is as old as Indus valley civilization which is continued to be practiced even after Kautilya for many centuries. Kautilya in his treatise Arthasastra propounded the traits of good governance by ruler-king as follows: “happiness of his subjects lies his happiness, in the welfare his welfare, whatever pleases himself he shall not consider as good , but whatever pleases his subjects, he shall consider as good” . We can even trace the concept of good governance in the writings of Plato when he referred to the philosopher king or when Rousseau and Thomas Paine stressed on Rule of Law or when Benthan called for “Greatest Happiness to greatest number”. According to Karl Marx good governance is governance where it is replaced by self regulation. The governance should be good is a universal fact then what is the need to prefix „good‟ before governance. The term „good governance‟ has been coined by west for the third world countries. The aid which was provided by the west for third world countries gave rise to the concept of good governance. World Bank first time in 1989, highlighted the concept of good governance. In 1992, World Bank document Governance and Development said, “Good governance is central to creating and sustaining an environment which fosters strong and equitable development and it is an essential complement to sound economic policies. But in this modern era the word good governance is replaced by a term “Misgovernance” as there are crisis in governance is found at every stage of governance which should be rectified in order to make governance good for our citizens.