Social Watch India : Citizens Report on Governance and Development 2006

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Description In contemporary India, the process ofgovernance is at the crossroads and roles and responsibilities of public institutions are being redefined. In this light, an independent evaluation of these institutions by the civil society will go a long way in enabling Indian citizens to transform themselves from being mere passive' voters to proactive' civicus. This provides a backdrop for the Social Watch Report 2006, which attempts to evaluate the four key institutions of governance in India: the parliament, the judiciary, the executive and the institutions of local self-government. The working of Parliament has been evaluated in terms of the issues of representation and accountability. The dynamics of democratization forms the backdrop of the evaluation. The review of the executive seeks to examine the role and consequences of the Union's public policy in view of the ongoing reorientation and its effects on the lives of the people. The section on Indian judiciary makes a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the issuesconfrontation with the executive, pendency of cases, probity of judges and persisting vacancies at all levelsconfronting the higher judiciary, the Supreme Court of India and the high courts. The performance of the judiciary as revealed through some of its most significant verdicts has also been examined. The section on local self-government institutions reviews the progress made by these institutions in rural and urban areas and looks into the key challenges faced by these institutions. The issues of Panchayat elections and urban renewal are brought to the forefront. It is hoped that the Report will generate a healthy and constructive debate on the issues of participatory development, democratic imperatives and the whole process of governance in India. This report has been prepared by the National Social Watch Coalition (NSWC), a collective effort of civil society organizations, media persons, academics and parliamentarians. The coalition is promoted by National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS), Pune and New Delhi (www.ncasindia.org), Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD), Bhubaneswar (www.cysd.org) and Samarthan, Bhopal (www.samarthan.org).