The Role of Social Accountability in Effective Public Service Delivery

The paper highlights that in low and middle-income democracies citizens largely depend on the state for provisions of basic services like health, infrastructure, education etc. At the same time, it has been observed that such countries face problems of dismissal performance of service delivery due to absenteeism among service providers like doctors, teacher etc. There are also other factors like public fund leakages, red-tapism that obstructs public service delivery. All this has led to an idea of citizens contributing to better public service delivery by holding policymakers and service providers accountable. This phenomenon is where citizens ensure accountability of service providers. The paper highlights various social accountability tools like citizens charters, RTI, Right to Service Acts, Social Audit, Public Hearing etc. that aim to inform citizens about their rights, the standard of service delivery they should expect and actual performance, along with grievance redressal mechanism. NGOs, civic societies have been experimenting with various social accountability tools to improve public service delivery. The paper reviews how citizens individually and collectively can influence service delivery through access to information and opportunities to use it to hold providers both frontline service providers and programme managers accountable. The paper focuses on social accountability measures that increase transparency in public services. The paper also takes stock of international evidence and analyses how social accountability has changed the governance structure worldwide. The paper concludes by highlighting measures needed to strengthen social accountability to bring about a vibrant and effective public service delivery system. Paper also talks about that there is ample space for future experiments to test how to make social accountability work at the country level. DOI: 10.5958/2347-6869.2020.00004.

Environmental policy development at the global level: Issues and prospects

Due to the increased ecological crisis, there has been a corresponding spread of awareness and concern for environmental protection and conservation all over the world. There has been a growing recognition that many environmental problems, in particular, those of a trans-boundary nature, cannot be successfully tackled solely at the national level. Nation-states can no longer act alone to solve many of the environmental problems that they face. States, along with other international actors, have responded by creating international ‘regimes’ in an attempt to tackle problems ranging from ozone depletion and climate change to biodiversity loss and toxic waste exports (Connelly, J., Smith, G., Benson, D., & Saunders, C., 2012, p.250). The idea of global environmental governance took place to address the environmental challenges at the global platform. The idea of environmental governance is to govern the environment through a range of nation-states and non-state actors such as national governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other international organizations such as UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). Environmental governance is the answer to calls for new forms of environmental challenges and complexities. It is perceived to be an effective form of multilateral management and essential to the global community in meeting goals of mitigation and the possible reversal of the human impacts on the global environment. The present article discusses the global response to environmental issues. DOI: 10.5958/2347-6869.2019.00002.

Environmental Protection and Conservation in India

In the 21st century, conservation and protection of the environment have become a big issue in every country, whether developed or developing. India has taken a number of steps in this direction, but how far those are relevant, only future will tell, but there is no doubt that since ancient times, there are guidelines and prescription for the environment management. The sacred books, scriptures, Vedas, Puranas including the epics Mahabharat and Ramayan mentioned about the protection of the environment. For this purpose, environment resources like trees, rivers, mountains, lands, etc. were attached to the religion so that they become part and parcel of everyday life of people and they follow in their daily routine. In medieval times also, there were prescriptions for environment conservation. In modern times, mainly after independence, various laws, rules, regulations, by-laws, and policies have been formulated for the protection of the environment in India. A number of organizations/institutes like Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; National Green Tribunal; Central Pollution Control Board have been established for the environment management. DOI: 10.5958/2347-6869.2019.00001.

Major Challenges of Sustainable Development Today: The Need for a Comprehensive Global Environmental Policy

Sustainable development emerged as a concept in the early sixties when the ruthless industrialization in the developed countries started showing visible signs of natural degradation and problems of pollution and ill health. Sustainable development became a wholesome word after the Brundtland Commission Report of 1987 (World Commission on Environment and Development, & Brundtland, G. H., 1987). It has three fundamental principles of inter-generational equity and justice, intra-generational equity and justice and that of the respect for the carrying capacity of the land. Since the definition given by the report fails to define the processes underlying the complexities and contradictions within which international decisions are taken, the industrialized and the less-industrialized countries have defined the term to suit their own requirements. However, there is a basic value inherent in this concept which everyone agrees to and that is the respect for human needs only in relation to the environmental capability to support the largest number of people to the longest possible time frame. However, only within the last decade have these activities focused more directly on pollution prevention and is suffering major challenges thereby there is a need for a comprehensive global environmental policy. Despite the substantial efforts that are now aimed at improving source reduction as well as tailoring processes to separate, recycle and reuse by-products, still, there is a need to seriously act on the need for survival. DOI: 10.5958/2347-6869.2019.00008.

Game Theory and its Application to Penology

Game theory is the study of the interactions that occur between rational decision-makers and the dynamics that influence strategic behaviors. Paramount to this approach is the realization that an individual’s decisions are often influenced by the actions and/or anticipated actions of others. Of particular importance is Game Theory’s capacity to explain the prison’s disinterest and seeming inability to successfully promote offender rehabilitation. Herein the relationship existing between prisons and prisoners is viewed as a “game” designed to prevent an inmate “win”. As such, contemporary prisoners have (in protest) chosen to oppose all forms of correctional intervention even when doing so is personally detrimental. DOI: 10.5958/2347-6869.2018.00015.

Public-Private Partnership in School Education in India: An Analysis

In India, Public-Private Partnership (PPP) practice has been adopted in all the major sectors, i.e., social and commercial infrastructure, energy, communication, transport and water sanitation. It is no longer confined to the development of roads, airports and railways and so on but has also been expanded to the human development sectors particularly education and health. In the educational sector, it is a method of delivering quality educational services through the government with the greater involvement of the private sector including non-governmental organisations, business corporations and communities in the finance and management of services. The expansion of PPP Model in education sector will be a step forward towards the achievement of improved learning outcomes. Since the implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE), Act 2009 in India which provides for free and compulsory education to every child till the completion of elementary education, the quality of education has been decreased. Though, the Act was enacted to provide equitable education of good quality but teaching and learning have fallen further. This paper presents the concept of Public-Private Partnership and also evaluates its progress in school education in India. DOI: 10.5958/2347-6869.2018.00020.

Semiotics of Love in Suhrawardis Allegorical Philosophy

In his allegorical fictions, Shaykh al-Ishraq Suhrawardi conveys multiple mystical issues one most important of which is love. Also included in his theory of love is the concept of rationality. Fairly surprisingly, for Suhrawardi love in the mystical dimension goes to the heart of rationality. The guiding idea is that the hero of Suhrawardi’s allegorical treatises is a wayfarer who loves God, looking for the right way to the Divine. This love is to be some sort of spiritual emotion rather than a passionate love. Our claim would be proved by analyzing Suhrawardi’s fictions, decoding the allegories. On his way to God, the wayfarer may become waylaid by his own perceptions, i.e., five internal and five external senses. The wayfarer, however, must overcome these senses, that is, he should not be overwhelmed by his perceptions. These ten senses are symbolized in “On the Reality of Love” by five chambers and five gates, in “Treatise on Towers” by ten towers, in “A Tale of Occidental Exile” by ten graves, in “The Simurgh’s Shrill Cry” by ten flyers, and in “The Red Intellect” by ten wardens. And finally, the wayfarer conquers all of them. DOI: 10.5958/2347-6869.2018.00013.

The Development and Practice of Citizenship and Citizenship Rights in Ethiopia: Crude Assessment in Three Consecutive Regimes

Instilling democracy on an unshakable ground in a given society is the main goals of political leaders and political philosophers. This process on its base needs an educated citizen that clearly understands and develops an inherent character about one’s own rights and responsibilities. At its core, ‘Citizenship’ is the legal status of citizens which advocate and empower citizenship rights in the political system. At minimum, there will be the right to be domiciled in and take part in the political decision-making process of the state, usually through voting. Forming an inclusive and responsible citizen is also one of the basic and critical point throughout the history of state formation of Ethiopia. Especially, in multicultural society like Ethiopia, social, cultural, economic and political exclusion will be the basic problem that the country faces. Maybe it will be possible to reduce these social problems through the introduction of different legal statements and rules. However, the legal inclusion can never be a guarantee for developing and ensuring social and cultural inclusion of individuals in a given political community. Rather, educating and creating awareness about citizenship and citizenship rights can possibly mitigate such problems from the grassroot level. Bearing this in mind, the paper attempt to made general assessment and explication about the development and practice of citizenship and citizenship rights in Ethiopia. In doing so, different literature, legal documents, governmental reports and records were used as sources of data. Accordingly, this paper made an assessment, though not made a conclusion, about practice and development and practice of citizenship in to four basic periods namely, pre-Emperor Haile Selassie, Haile Selassie, Derg and the EPRDF. DOI: 10.5958/2347-6869.2018.00017.

The Virtue of Violent Force and Retaliation: Analysis on self Defense

Commonly, employing violent force and retaliation are conceived as irrational and uncivilized ways of human existence. Thus, they are considered morally wrong acts. But, under certain conditions, employing violent force and retaliation can be morally justifiable. In this Article, I tried to illustrate the moral justifiability of employing violence for the purpose of self-defence, freedom, equality, the balance of justice, and maximizing the benefits of the majority in number. By combining both moral and political theories, I attempted to analyze the moral acceptability of violent force and retaliation at the individual and community level; and in the arena of national and international politics. Even though many research works have been done in this area, no one tried to provide a comprehensive analysis of the moral justifiability of violence and retaliation. To fill this gap, I used liberal, Marxian, Retributive and utilitarian theories in combination. Thus, this Article is well organized and elaborated to provide an important background awareness and direction to other researchers on the need of using combined theories (moral and political) to fully conceptualize the moral goodness and natural ground of utilizing violent force and retaliation in certain political circumstances. DOI: 10.5958/2347-6869.2018.00021.

Developing sustainable Cities: Major initiatives and experiments in Urban India

Urbanization is generally seen as a symbol of development and progress. But, the unplanned and unregulated expansions of urban areas in India have proved disastrous to both man and nature. Keeping in mind the severity of the problem policy-makers from time to time have formulated and experimented a numbers of measures to control environmental pollution. Delhi has been one of the biggest victims of environmental pollution. The Government of Delhi has tried to protect the environment of the city by implementing measures like, closures of polluted industries, introduction of CNG as a clean fuel, ban on crackers, and experiment of odd-even scheme to control vehicular pollution. This paper will primarily highlight such actions and initiatives undertaken by the Government of Delhi to combat the menace of pollution in Delhi. DOI: 10.5958/2347-6869.2018.00019.