1. Jainism’s three keys to transcendence READ MORE
2. Levels of love READ MORE
3. Ethics, yoga are must for holistic growth READ MORE

1. How to use free satellite data to monitor natural disasters and environmental changes READ MORE
2. Weather report. Shadow of El Nino over growth READ MORE

1. Married or partnered: Politics won’t defy a largely traditional society. So, civil unions may be a good first step for same-sex couples READ MORE
2. How Does Living with In-Laws Affect Women’s Employment? READ MORE
3. Inaction and intervention: On the handling of social issues READ MORE   
4. Digital training in healthcare is vital READ MORE

1. SC is right, Centre wrong on same-sex marriage READ MORE
2. Self-regulation of online gaming will need safeguards READ MORE
3. Relief to Govt READ MORE

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. National Project of Soil Health READ MORE  
2. PLI Scheme in Food Processing Sector READ MORE
3. Atal Innovation Mission launches ATL Sarthi READ MORE
4. Armenian PM critical of Moscow-dominated security pact READ MORE
5. House panel apprehensive about ₹15,000 crore PM-PVTG allocation READ MORE
6. RBI has allowed banks from 18 countries to trade in rupee: government in Rajya Sabha READ MORE
7. Bhopal gas tragedy case | Supreme Court dismisses Centre’s petition seeking additional compensation READ MORE
8. Government corrects MPLADS change on allocation for SC/ST areas after concerns raised READ MORE
9. IPCC meet in Switzerland: The significance, likely impact READ MORE  
10. Carbon footprint of marine fisheries lower than global average. Efforts on to green sector: CMFRI READ MORE

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. Married or partnered: Politics won’t defy a largely traditional society. So, civil unions may be a good first step for same-sex couples READ MORE
2. How Does Living with In-Laws Affect Women’s Employment? READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. SC is right, Centre wrong on same-sex marriage READ MORE
2. Self-regulation of online gaming will need safeguards READ MORE
3. Relief to Govt READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Inaction and intervention: On the handling of social issues READ MORE   
2. Digital training in healthcare is vital READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. In Saudi-Iranian ‘normalisation’, new challenges emerge in West Asia READ MORE   
2. India and Italy: Friends in a turbulent world READ MORE
3. Iran-Saudi deal casts China as desirable counsel READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. What are India’s immediate growth prospects? READ MORE
2. Silicon Valley Bank collapse: How safe are Indian banks? READ MORE
3. The big bank collapse: Long-term solution needed to deal with systemic issues READ MORE  
4. RBI’s fresh approach is promising READ MORE
5. Policy dilemma: Central banks must focus on inflation READ MORE

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Look at AI, not ChatGPT READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. How to use free satellite data to monitor natural disasters and environmental changes READ MORE
2. Weather report. Shadow of El Nino over growth READ MORE

SECURITY

1. China-Russia cybersecurity ties taking darker turns. India needs to worry too READ MORE

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

1. Lessons from Turkey: How to make India earthquake prepared READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Jainism’s three keys to transcendence READ MORE
2. Levels of love READ MORE
3. Ethics, yoga are must for holistic growth READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. Any stimulus for growth should be undertaken while adhering to the fiscal consolidation road map to keep India’s medium-term story intact. Comment on the statement in the light of India’s latest growth prospects and fiscal challenges.
2. The China-brokered deal affirms Beijing’s role in West Asian affairs, posing new challenges for Indian diplomacy in the region. Critically Examine.
3. ‘China’s role in the Iran-Saudi rapprochement raises questions about India’s decision to shed its traditional policy of pursuing strict neutrality and going for bilateralism in West Asia’. Examine.
4. Digital training of healthcare professionals is an important step towards achieving the SDGs.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• A banking system is an act of faith: it survives only for as long as people believe it will.
• The Supreme Court’s decision to refer to a Constitution Bench the issue of granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages can be seen as an important step towards ensuring gender equality, despite apprehension that it is encroaching on the legislative domain.
• The China-brokered deal affirms Beijing’s role in West Asian affairs, posing new challenges for Indian diplomacy in the region.
• India will need to engage with China in West Asia where they have a broad gamut of shared interests in energy security, free and open sea lanes, logistical connectivity, and, above all, regional stability. Here, they can work together to further mutual and regional interests.
• A steady growth of 6% to 7% can be ensured over the medium term, only if the fixed capital formation rate is raised by another 2 percentage points. This is notwithstanding the global factors that are not encouraging.
• As our society and nation lurch towards a future in which even the rudimentary semblances of democracy and decency are defied, we are increasingly witness to a shrinking support base of persons who can struggle and assert the need for these indispensable norms.
• In very challenging times, India and Italy intend to give a strong impulse to their relations, united by a millenary tradition of exchanges, linked by the common recognition of the value of true friendship and solidarity.
• The lack of standardized healthcare practices hampers the objective of achieving SDGs which can lead to disparities in care and negative health outcomes.
• Digital training can provide healthcare professionals with a consistent, evidence-based approach to patient care.
• Digital training of healthcare professionals is an important step towards achieving the SDGs.
• Increasing access to quality healthcare education can play a critical role in achieving a more sustainable and equitable world.
• Investing in digital training programs for healthcare professionals can help to ensure that the SDGs are met and we are on track towards achieving our goals.
• A continuous evaluation of banks and other financial institutions would allow the RBI to focus on attaining the objective of price stability.

ESSAY TOPIC

• Women are ready to take charge of this era but they can’t leave their responsibilities behind.

50-WORD TALK

• A responsive government that wants to treat this as a matter of policy and not cede space to the courts would act on its own to consider the right of any two people, regardless of gender, to marry or found a family. Legislative inaction on burning social issues will legitimise and invite judicial intervention.
• Indian policymakers will have to carefully assess the developments because prima facie, the Iran-Saudi rapprochement raises questions about India’s decision to shed its traditional policy of pursuing strict neutrality and going for bilateralism in West Asia. Some Indian scholars have long advocated that India should act as a bridge between contending states of West Asia.
• Wholesale inflation at a two-year low won’t be much relief for policymakers. The systemically more important retail inflation, at 6.44%, was still higher than RBI’s upper comfort limit. Govt and RBI have to quickly get India out of this high inflation, low growth phase—the worst combination for an economy.

Things to Remember:

• For prelims-related news try to understand the context of the news and relate with its concepts so that it will be easier for you to answer (or eliminate) from given options.
• Whenever any international place will be in news, you should do map work (marking those areas in maps and exploring other geographical locations nearby including mountains, rivers, etc. same applies to the national places.)
• For economy-related news (banking, agriculture, etc.) you should focus on terms and how these are related to various economic aspects, for example, if inflation has been mentioned, try to relate with prevailing price rises, shortage of essential supplies, banking rates, etc.
• For main exam-related topics, you should focus on the various dimensions of the given topic, the most important topics which occur frequently and are important from the mains point of view will be covered in ED.
• Try to use the given content in your answer. Regular use of this content will bring more enrichment to your writing.

THE CONTEXT: The current dispensation of governance is based on Minimum Government – Maximum Governance. The relation between citizen and government in the social contract is based on Trust. And this is based on the strong foundation of the Good Governance. It is imperative for civil society, non-profits, and public officials to introduce citizen experience-based systemic measures in advocacy campaigns for improved public welfare access to vulnerable citizens.

CONCEPT OF CITIZEN CENTRIC ADMINISTRATION

Good governance aims at providing an environment in which all citizens irrespective of class, caste and gender can develop to their full potential. In addition, good governance also aims at providing public services effectively, efficiently and equitably to the citizens.
The 4 pillars on which the edifice of good governance rests, in essence are:

• Ethos (of service to the citizen),
• Ethics (honesty, integrity and transparency),
• Equity (treating all citizens alike with empathy for the weaker sections), and
• Efficiency (speedy and effective delivery of service without harassment and using ICT increasingly).

Citizens are thus at the core of good governance. Therefore, good governance and citizen centric administration are inextricably linked.
To Make the Administration more Citizen-Centric, the 2nd ARC has examined the following strategies, processes, tools, and mechanisms.

1. Re-engineering processes to make Governance ‘citizen-centric’.
2. Adoption of Appropriate Modern Technology
3. Right to Information
4. Citizens Charters
5. Independent Evaluation of Services.
6. Grievance Redressal Mechanisms
7. Active Citizens Participation – Public-Private Partnerships

Various steps has been taken to improve the citizen centricity in the welfare works like- e-governance, RTI, social audits, self-attesting of documents, citizen charters etc. However there has been issues that affect the citizen centricity in the administration.

ISSUES IN CITIZEN-CENTRIC GOVERNANCE

Burden of proof: Due to increase in the documentation requirement in availing the government services and benefits of the welfare programme, there oi shifting away from the citizen centricity in the governance.

E.g. Eligibility for subsidised ration, scholarships, maternity benefits, and so on. The burden of proof of proving their eligibility makes them run around government offices, touts, cyber cafes, common service centres (CSCs), panchayat or nagar nigam offices, and so on. The time and money spent by India’s poor either overshoots or constitutes a considerable percentage of the promised public welfare benefits.

ATTITUDINAL PROBLEMS OF THE CIVIL SERVANTS:

• There is issue of the bureaucratic apathy toward the citizen. Issues of arm chair bureaucracy affect the citizen oriented policies in the governance. Also, their attitude is one of indifference and insensitivity to the needs of citizens. is, coupled with the enormous asymmetry in the wielding of power at all levels, has further aggravated the situation.
• A common reason usually cited for inefficiency in governance is the inability within the system to hold the Civil Services accountable for their actions.

TECHNOLOGY ISSUES

E-governance was adopted to create ‘Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent (SMART) governance. The purpose of implementing e-Governance is to improve governance processes and outcomes with a view to improving the delivery of public services to citizens. Past experiences demonstrate how the promises of digitisation are closely accompanied by a variety of risks to citizens.

POSITIVE IMPACT 

• Digitising welfare payments through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system reduced widespread leakages in physical cash distribution systems.
• Multiple state governments have deployed digital platforms for social protection that allow citizens to access welfare schemes from different government departments through a single window.
• E.g. Samagra platform in Madhya Pradesh and Jan Aadhaar system in Rajasthan

ISSUES

• Data protection concerns arose from the need to collect and store Aadhaar numbers and banking information.
• Issues of uneasiness with which citizens access social protection benefits through digital paltforms.
  ○ E.g. due to digital divide, lack of digital infrastructure etc

THE WAY FORWARD:

E-Governance has to be comprehensive; mere introduction of the IT component is not an end in itself. Comprehensive e-Governance reforms cover
1. the process,
2. preparedness and the technology
3. and the people.
Introduction of e-Governance needs process engineering as the first step. The technology and the hardware and software come second, only after the processes have been re-engineered. And ultimately, in order to make the reforms sustainable the people in the concerned departments/agencies have to internalize the changes.
Research suggests that by being inclusive for the most marginalised, protecting the vast swathes of personal data collected from citizens, enhancing the ease with which citizens access social protection benefits and instituting accountability measures, Digital initiatives can become citizen centric.

ISSUES IN THE RTI

The act was legislated in a positive spirit; as an instrument for improving Government – citizen interface resulting in a friendly, caring and effective Government functioning for the good of our people. However these has been issues that can be categorised in demand and supply side issues.

DEMAND SIDE ISSUES 

• Low public awareness- awareness level among women was found to be low in comparison to men. The difference in awareness level between women and men ranged from 9% to 20%
• Constraints faced in filing applications: Appropriate Governments and the Public Authorities have taken inadequate steps to make the RTI process citizen friendly. The process of RTI application submission has not been designed keeping in view the needs and convenience of the citizens.
• Poor quality of information provided.

SUPPLY SIDE ISSUES

• Failure to provide information within 30 days.
• Inadequate trained PIOs and First Appellate Authorities
• Obsolete record management Guidelines
• Non-availability of basic Infrastructure
• Ineffective implementation of Section 4(1) (b) : As per the Act, one of the basic responsibilities of the Public Authorities (PAs) is to disseminate information on suo-moto basis. However, there is no/ inadequate mechanism within the Public Authorities to implement the provisions of the Act

Issues in the Citizen charter: Lack of awareness and knowledge and inadequate publicity, hence loss of trust among service seekers, No training to the operative and supervisory staff, Lack of infrastructure and initiative, Hierarchy gap between the Officers and the Operative Staff. complicated and restrictive rules & procedures. Further, there is no Grievance Redressal of the violation of the citizen charter.
Issues of Corruption: The causes of corruption in India include excessive regulations, complicated tax and licensing systems, numerous government departments with opaque bureaucracy and discretionary powers, monopoly of government-controlled institutions on certain goods and services delivery, and the lack of transparent laws and processes.
Lack of Citizen Centricity in Gram Panchayat: Various issue faced in the Gram panchayat is lack of effective women participation, bureaucratisation in the local panchayat, the problem of fund, function and functionaries etc affected the optimum functioning working and citizen centric governance.
Indian case study
Odisha’s KALIA programme: Databases of different social security programmes has been integrated in Odisha’s KALIA programme to ensure minimal citizen travel to the frontline or mediation offices.

KARNATAKA SAKALA SERVICES ACT, 2011 AND (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2014: A Bill has been passed by the Karnataka State Legislature to provide guarantee of services to citizens in the State of Karnataka within the stipulated time limit and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto. This Act is called the Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens Act, 2011.
Grievance Redressal Mechanism: Mo Sarkar is a feedback based-governance model as part of which the CM, ministers and senior officials seek the feedback of people directly over phone about the kind of services they receive from various government offices. Based on their feedback, the state government takes the necessary steps to improve its service delivery system. As many as 31 departments, including that of finance, works and commerce and transport, have been covered under the purview of Mo Sarkar.

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme benefits in the United States, the White House has adopted the ‘administrative burden’ framework to address citizen experience pain points through an executive order a council to deploy a life experience framework as a strategy to improve federal service delivery to enhance citizen experience of application, documentation and benefits access. The life experience framework draws from a human-centred design-based methodology.

THE WAY FORWARD

• Firstly, ease access to key eligibility documents such as income and caste certificates, and residence proofs (especially for migrants).
• Secondly, on the technology front, the focus must be on the user experience of dealing with digital interfaces and portals. This involves streamlining user interface designs, training frontline officials, and integrating the databases of different social security programmes to ensure minimal citizen travel to the frontline or mediation offices. In addition, the government should make itself accountable for wait time, costs and procedural delays affecting citizens.
• Thirdly, the State must begin a renewed focus on easing welfare access rules, quality of awareness programmes and a seamless grievance redressal process to communicate rules and processes of access.

THE CONCLUSION: 2nd ARC report in its 12th Report (Citizen Centric Administration-The Heart of Governance) has recommended Making Citizens Charter Effective, Seven-Step Model for Citizen Centricity, Participation of Women and the Physically Challenged, Evolving an Effective Public Grievances Redressal System, Analysis and Identification of Grievance Prone Areas, Simplifying Internal Procedures, Monitoring and Evaluation, Rationalizing Procedures – Issue of Driving Licenses, registration of Births and Deaths Building Licenses and Completion Certificate for Citizen centric governance. It should be implemented in letter and spirit for strengthening the social contract.

Mains Question
1. What are the steps needed to Strengthen citizen centricity in the implementation of welfare programmes?
2. Analyse the various initiatives for the good governance in India.

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