UPSC Express

Good governance is an attempt to widen the scope of public administration by going beyond formal government. It was propagated by international financial aid donor agencies such as World Bank in 1990s. It is value based governance which makes public administration open, transparent, accountable, participative, effective and rule based.

Ethical governance is a concept related to good governance. It requires that public officials adhere to high moral standards while serving others. Or in other words, ethical governance brings ethical element in the good governance.

It is necessary for public authorities to not only satisfy the obligations laid down by law, but, in addition, their conduct must be inspired and be guided by principles of ethics and good conduct which have not yet been expressly stated in the regulations.

Example- Suppose you are collector of a district and a scheme regarding distribution of houses at subsidized rates is under you. You are distributing the houses according to rules in a transparent manner. This is good governance.

Now, an old lady comes to you and requests to allot a house to her but she doesn’t have relevant documents. Now you have to make choice based on rules and empathy. Not driving the helpless lady away but actually helping her in accessing relevant documents shows empathy of the collector and displays ethical governance.

A system of laws and rules, however elaborate, cannot provide for all situations. Hence both good governance and ethical governance are required to ensure that the authority entrusted to the public officials is exercised in the best interest of the people.