AMN / NEW DELHI
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad Friday said that the power structure has been well defined in the Constitution and governance must be left to those elected to govern.
He said, off late, there has been great propensity of taking over governance by courts which need to be reflected upon.
Addressing a seminar on Good Governance, Development and Human Rights in New Delhi, Mr. Prasad said the governance and accountability go hand in hand and one can not take governance without taking accountability.
The Minister said the judiciary must set aside laws and orders which are unconstitutional and arbitrary and should make executive accountable, but legislation and governance must be left to those who are elected to discharge these functions.
The Minister said accountability, transparency and participation are three things which are important for good governance.
He also said, digital governance is more important to empower the people and NDA government has taken several measures in this direction.
Mr. Prasad, said the government has saved 58 thousand crore rupees pocketed earlier by middlemen, through the use of Direct Benefit Transfer in various schemes.
Three crore fake ration cards and 2.75 crore fake LPG gas connections have also been detected after seeding them with Aadhar Cards.
The Minister also informed that the government is proposing to link driving licence to Aadhar to check duplicacy.
Earlier, NHRC Chairperson, Justice H L Dattu said that good governance is rooted in the empowerment of people and this can help foster respect and protection for human rights. ‘Principles of human rights help guide the development of legislations, policies, programme and budgetary allocation,’he said.
He said that the proper implementation of good governance will also lead to the effective realization of the UN’s 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. The suggestions which emerged during the two-day discussions among various stakeholders, included, among others, improvement in health care system, quality education, infrastructure and research to create a database; putting in place a system to check corruption and change in mindsets for compliance by States.
The seminar was inaugurated by Home Minister Rajnath Singh yesterday. The participants included NHRC Members, Justice P C Ghose, Justice D. Murugesan, S C Sinha, Ms. Jyotika Kalra, Secretary General, Ambuj Sharma, Chairperson and Members of State Human Rights Commissions and other Commissions, senior officers of the Central and State Governments, members of core group and committees of NHRC, media persons, NGOs, academicians, research scholars.
