The concepts of right to information and good governance are intertwined. In a way they can be said to be two sides of the same coin, or two aspects of the same aspiration, viz., to strengthen, stabilize and broaden the working of the democratic system. The characteristics of good governance include core values of rule of law, fairness, equity, participation, transparency, responsiveness, consensus, economy, efficiency and effectiveness, and above all impeachable accountability and rule of law. Right to Information Act, 2005 is a landmark for good governance and can help the common citizens especially the poor and underprivileged to get their due from the government. However, this will depend upon the implementation of the Act in letter and spirit. This book is divided eight chapters. Chapter 1st deals with good governance, its element, essentials and need as without good governance the benefits of money spent cannot reach the poor for whom it is allocated. Good governance cannot function without transparency, i.e. right to information. Chapter 2nd discusses the need, and essentials of RTI Act, 2005. Chapter 3 deals with the meaning and scope of RTI Act. Chapter 4 examines organizational structure at the union and state levels as well as the methodology to make it operational. Chapter 5 deals with the process of implementation. Chapter 6 examines RTI Act and administrative reforms. Chapter 7 deals with pros and cons of amendment. Chapter 8 examines the need of people’s participation and socio-economic development on the basis of information made available under RTI Act, 2005. The book would be of great interest to those working in government, NGO’s government-aided institutions, academic and people in general in understanding and acting as per the RTI Act, 2005 to make the functioning of governments at union and state levels transparent, citizen-friendly and productive.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR S.L. Goel
Dr. S.L. Goel, Emeritus Fellow UGC at Panjab University, and an eminent social scientist has been teaching Public Administration and Political Science for over thses decades. He has been a member of University Grants Commission, Govt. of India, New Delhi, Distance Education Council and a member of All India Board of Management under All India Council for Technical Education, Ministry of HRD, New Delhi. His field of specialisation is Public Administration and Management. He has been advisor to Himachal Pradesh and Haryana Health Departments under their USAID Programme. He has written a number of books on Management and Public Administration, foreign students for Doctoral research as well as conducted a large number of training programmes for senior administrators. He has been an elected member of the Senate of P.U., Chandigarh form 1984-88. He is widely traveled in India and Abroad. He was Chairman for UGC IXth Plan Allocation for the Universities in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and Co-Chairman for Maharashtra. North-East Universities as well as with some Central Universities. He was Convenor UGC Tth Plan Committee for Jama Milia University, New Delhi, Chitarkoot University, Chitarkoot, Rajasthan University, Jaipur and all Colleges of Delhi University. He was a member of Xth Plan Committee at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi in 2003. As a member of UGC, he was associated with a number of Programmes like Academic Staff associated with a number of Programmes like Academic Staff Colleges, Special Assistance Programme, Autonomous Colleges, where he contributed substantially. He has also published more than thirty books on other areas. He has been a Visiting Professor and a consultanat at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. He visited USSR under Indo-cultural Exchange Programme. He has also served as Professor of Public Administration at Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Chandigarh and in the capacity directed a number of Executive Development Rogrammes meant for Senior Civil Servants. He visited D.R. of Korea, Japan, Hongkong to study the system of Education. He was in Hungary, Switzerland, France, Italy and U.K. to study the health care system in these countries during the summer of 1999.
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