Active Transparency and Good Governance

In the 1990s, the World Bank became the first international institution to adopt the concept of Good Governance. In its 1992 report entitled “Governance and Development”, the notion of Good Governance was written as the way in which power is used to regulate the economic and social resources of a country for development. Good governance aims to minimize corruption, take into account the opinions of minorities, listen to the voices of the oppressed people in the decision-making process, and respond actively to the needs of the community now and in the future. But what makes Good Governance?
According to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Good Governance has eight major characteristics. It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive, and follows the rule of law. While all of the eight major characteristics of Good Governance are equally important and complementary to each other, this column is of the opinion that transparency is the most vital of them all in the Naga context today. Transparency means that information is freely available and directly accessible to the citizens, and that enough information is provided in easily understandable forms and media. Transparency is inextricably linked to Good Governance and is the antidote to the cancerous disease of systemic corruption.
Transparency in governance means that government officials act openly, that citizens are informed about the government policies and actions, and an assurance that governments are free of systemic corruption. Transparency is important to governments and the citizens they serve because corruption threatens good governance, leads to the misallocation of resources and misappropriation of funds, harms public and private sector development, and distorts public policy.
Information is crucial to good governance as it reflects and captures government activities and processes. Every citizen of the state has right to access information under the control of public authorities, consistent with public interest. Besides, a government providing information to its citizens is not only to promote openness, transparency and accountability, but also to ensure participation of people in all matters related to governance.
There are two types of transparency – active and passive. Active transparency consists of the obligation of public institutions to disseminate free and regularly updated information without anyone requesting it. It does not depend, like passive transparency, on citizens’ requests.
There are tools like the Right to Information (RTI) Act that enables citizens to seek and get information from public institutions. RTI is a tool to promote passive transparency, but it is not adequate to promote active transparency.
How much developmental funds did Mokokchung district receive in the last financial year? Every citizen would want to know. Or, for instance, how much funds did Mokokchung district receive for healthcare last year and how were they utilized? Sure, any citizen can seek the information and get the answers. That is passive transparency. What about the various government departments and agencies disclosing the information without the citizens asking for it? That would be active transparency.
Can the citizens of Mokokchung expect active transparency?