Accountability 360 Aspirations, Promises and Problems in India

Harish Narasappa

Aspirations
Constitution of India sets out the aspirations of the people from the democratic state Aspirations include social, economic and political rights Democratic mechanism and various constitutional and statutory rights constitute the broad accountability architecture

Accountability for and by the people

Electionsfor parliament, state legislatures, local bodies Enforcement of rights through the judiciary- mainly through writ petitions for breach of constitutional and statutory rights Enforcement of rights through various special commissions Accountability through political agitation

Institutional Accountability
Rules and regulations governing functioning and conduct Internal vigilance departments exist to look at irregular conduct External bodies like police, CAG, Lokayukta look at more serious violations Focus of Institutional Accountability is not results but on compliance to rules

Institutional Accountability
Parliament and legislature have the power to hold the executive and bureaucracy accountable on policies and results Judiciary holds both the executive and legislature accountable on constitutionality of policies and results Institutional accountability is reliant on people following rules and carrying out their functions properly

Problems
Every institution is finding it difficult to carry out its functions in a proper manner Legislators are ignoring their functions and seek to encroach upon functions of the bureaucracy with a view to control budget allocation and spending at all levels Bureaucracy has ceded ground to both legislature and judiciary in respect of day to day governance

Problems
Capacity issues plague all arms of government Institutional culture resists any form of accountability Corruption across all institutions has made accountability meaningless Social and political issues like caste, region, religion undermine attempts at accountability regularly

Problems
Independent and scientific audits of executive, legislature and judiciary do not happen on a regular basis Democratic interactions between legislators and constituents are limited to a patronage form of interaction rather than meaningful accountability Most institutional accountability measures stop short of making them effective

Promises
Independent groups are now focusing on functioning of different institutions Result oriented data is being gathered The Jan Lokpal movement has created a new awareness regarding accountability issues Generational change in attitude of people towards government