GS2 – Governance
Context:
India’s welfare model is shifting from a rights-based to a data-driven, technocratic approach—boosting efficiency but raising accountability concerns.
Nature of the Shift:
- Efficiency over Justice: The focus has moved from ethical questions of “who deserves welfare” to technical aspects like minimising leakages and maximising coverage.
- Democratic Invisibility: Welfare delivery prioritises metrics (speed, scale, accuracy) over citizen participation.
- Theoretical Perspectives:
- Habermas’ “Technocratic Consciousness”: Technical reasoning dominates over public discourse.
- Foucault’s “Governmentality”: Power operates through surveillance, classification, and control, reducing citizens to governable units.
Governance Challenges:
- Falling Social Sector Expenditure:
- Reduced to 17% in 2024–25, from a 10-year average of 21%.
- Spending on minorities, labour, nutrition, etc., dropped from 11% (pre-COVID) to 3% (post-COVID).
- Weakening Transparency Mechanisms:
- Over 4 lakh pending RTI cases (June 2024); 8 Chief Information Commissioner posts remain vacant.
- Grievance Redressal Issues:
- Centralised systems like CPGRAMS handle complaints but concentrate control without devolved accountability.
Suggested Reforms:
- Democratic Antifragility: Build systems resilient to stress without compromising human dignity.
- Strengthen Federalism: Revive tools like Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan and Gram Panchayat Development Plans.
- Algorithmic Accountability: Integrate right to explanation and appeal in tech-enabled welfare delivery (UNHRC proposal).
- Grassroots Empowerment: Expand political education and legal aid to foster participatory democracy.