What do you understand by the term 'good governance'? How far recent initiatives in terms of e-Governance…

Question

What do you understand by the term 'good governance'? How far recent initiatives in terms of e-Governance steps taken by the State have helped the beneficiaries? Discuss with suitable examples.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Good governance is participatory, transparent, accountable and equitable rule of law, and e-Governance has largely but not fully delivered it to beneficiaries through DBT, ration portability and digital records while exclusion persists. The Agriculture Ministry (2023) reported that removing 1.72 crore ineligible PM-Kisan names saved about ₹10,000 crore in a year.

**Introduction**

Good governance is the exercise of authority that is participatory, transparent, accountable, responsive, equitable and bound by the rule of law, as UNESCAP defines it. Digital India (2015) promised to carry these values from files to phones; the real test is whether the last beneficiary, not just the average one, gained.

**How e-Governance Has Helped Beneficiaries**

1. **Leakage-free transfers**: DBT on the JAM trinity pays citizens without middlemen; the Agriculture Ministry (2023) reported that removing 1.72 crore ineligible PM-Kisan names saved about ₹10,000 crore in a year.
2. **Portability**: One Nation One Ration Card, live in all States and UTs by 2022, let migrant workers draw rations wherever they work, a lifeline during and after the pandemic.
3. **Access and voice**: DigiLocker, UMANG, more than 36.9 crore Ayushman Bharat cards (Health Ministry, March 2025) and CPGRAMS cut paperwork, bribes and untraceable delay.

**How Far: The Gaps That Remain**

SKETCH: forcefield | e-Governance for Beneficiaries
center: Benefit reaches citizen
driving: DBT, ONORC, DigiLocker, CPGRAMS
restraining: Digital divide, Authentication failures, Privacy risk

1. **Exclusion by design**: Santoshi Kumari's 2017 death in Simdega, Jharkhand, after her ration card was cancelled for want of Aadhaar seeding, showed a technical rule overriding the right to food.
2. **Digital divide**: Elderly and rural citizens still rely on intermediaries at Common Service Centres, so the poorest often pay a new kind of middleman.
3. **Privacy**: Puttaswamy (2018) upheld Aadhaar for welfare but barred compulsory private use, so efficiency cannot erode **Dignity-as-Floor**.

**Conclusion**

e-Governance has largely, not fully, helped beneficiaries: transfers are faster, cleaner and portable, but exclusion persists. An assisted, offline fallback beside every digital channel would make it truly SMART governance for the last citizen.

What do you understand by the term 'good governance'? How far recent initiatives in terms of e-Governance steps taken by the State have helped the beneficiaries? Discuss with suitable examples.

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