National Human Development Report: 2001 - Indira Gandhi Institute ...

114GOVERNANCE FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT NATIONAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2001Governance for human development relates to the managementof all such processes that, in any society, define theenvironment which permits and enables individuals to raise theircapability levels, on one hand, and provide opportunities to realisetheir potential and enlarge the set of available choices, on the other.These processes, covering the political, social and economic aspectsof life impact every level of human enterprise, be it the individual,the household, the village, the region or even the nation as a whole.It covers the state, the civil society and the market, each of whichis critical for sustaining human development. The state isresponsible for creating a conducive political, legal and economicenvironment for building individual capabilities and encouragingprivate initiative. The market is expected to create opportunities forpeople. The civil society facilitates the mobilisation of publicopinion and peoples’ participation in economic, social and politicalactivities for sustaining an efficient and productive social order. Inorder that these processes lead towards the desired social ends,governance requires the exercise of legitimate political power, by thedesignated bodies, in a manner that is perceived as equitable, nondiscriminatory,socially sensitive, participatory, and above allaccountable to the people at large. While these are generic,universally relevant and accepted features of good governance, thereare always aspects of governance that arecontextually driven, geared to address thelocal concerns and reflect the aspirationsof the people. In some sense then, theprocess of governance is, perhaps, uniqueto every society.In recent times, the issue ofgovernance has emerged at the forefrontof the agenda for sustainable humandevelopment. A development that, whilebeing sustainable in terms of resourcesover generations and across spacerecognises, the legitimate claim of eachperson in a society to be an active and aproductive participant in thedevelopment process. Augmentation in acountry’s resources and its material meansis but one of the essential steps towards