Polity and Governance

  • Ethical Governance in India

    Ethical governance, at its core, is about how power is exercised in public life. It means conducting governance with fairness, transparency, integrity, and accountability, while always keeping the public interest at the centre. In simple terms, it answers a fundamental question: For whom is governance meant?The answer, in an ethical system, is clear — for…

  • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Environmental Governance

    The Sustainable Development Goals outline an exceptionally ambitious and all-encompassing agenda for worldwide development by 2030. India has implemented numerous proactive measures to integrate the SDGs into the policies, schemes, and programs of the government. Environmental Governance and Sustainable Development: Linkage Integration of Economic, Environmental, and Social Objectives Environmental governance seeks to balance economic development…

  • Policy Contradictions and Environmental Degradation

    Environmental protection and the prevention of environmental degradation have emerged as urgent governance challenges in the contemporary world. As awareness grows about the adverse impacts of human activities—such as industrial pollution, deforestation, and climate change—states are expected to respond with coherent and effective policies. However, in practice, policy contradictions across sectors and stakeholders often dilute…

  • Environmental Governance

    Environmental governance refers to the frameworks, institutions, policies, and practices through which societies identify, manage, and resolve environmental challenges. In simple terms, it is the system of decision-making that decides how we use natural resources, how we prevent environmental damage, and how we correct harm when it occurs. Think of environmental governance as the bridge…

  • Social Audit

    If Citizen’s Charter defines what the government promises, and Sevottam explains how the government should deliver, then Social Audit answers a far more powerful question:👉 Did the programme actually make a difference on the ground? In that sense, Social Audit is the voice of the people in governance. What is Social Audit? A Social Audit…

  • Sevottam Model

    If Citizen’s Charter tells the citizen what to expect, the Sevottam Model tells the government how to deliver it well. In that sense, Sevottam is the operational backbone of citizen-centric governance. What is the Sevottam Model? The Sevottam Model has been developed with the overarching objective of improving the quality of public service delivery in…

  • Citizen’s Charter

    Citizen’s Charter is one of the most practical instruments of good governance, because it directly connects citizens with service delivery. If governance is about outcomes, then the Citizen’s Charter is about promised outcomes. Let us understand this concept: What is a Citizen’s Charter? According to the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2nd ARC), a Citizen’s Charter…

  • Surrogate Advertisements

    Surrogate advertising refers to the indirect promotion of banned or restricted products, such as tobacco and alcohol, by advertising substitute or proxy products like: The core objective is brand recall. Even though the advertised product appears legal, the brand identity, colour scheme, logo, and messaging subtly remind consumers of the original banned product. In this…

  • Consumer Protection

    Consumer protection refers to the set of laws, institutions, and administrative mechanisms designed to safeguard buyers of goods and services—and the public at large—from unfair trade practices, fraud, exploitation, and misinformation in the marketplace. The underlying idea is that in a market economy, consumers are the weaker party due to: Therefore, the State intervenes to…

  • Governance of Sports in India

    Sports governance refers to the institutional framework, rules, processes, and mechanisms through which sports organizations are directed, regulated, and controlled in a country. It determines who takes decisions, how they are taken, and how accountability is ensured in sports administration. In India, sports governance involves a complex interaction between: Effective sports governance is essential not…