DEVELOPING TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENTS IN THE WORLD: MILES TO GO BEFORE .!!!! AND LESSONS TO BE LEARNED?

Syria - a country in Western Asia.

Ethnic and religious groups - Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Turks, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shias and Arab Sunnis.

Gained independence in April 1946, as a parliamentary

republic. Post-independence period:
1949 1971 : a large number of military coups and coup attempts shook the country 1958 1961 : Syria entered a brief union with Egypt, which was

terminated by a military coup.

1963 2011 : Emergency Law .

 Baath Party took power in 8th March 1963. Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded

by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000.[
Syrian civil war or Syrian Uprising
an ongoing armed conflict between forces loyal to the Ba'ath government

and those seeking to oust it.

The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with popular demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. April 2011 - the Syrian Army was deployed. The protests evolved into an armed rebellion. Opposition forces mainly composed of defected soldiers and civilian volunteers.

 Late 2011 - growing influence of the Islamist group Jabhat alNusra within the opposition forces. 2013 Hezbollah entered the war in support of the Syrian army. Syrian government military support from Russia and Iran. Rebels weapons from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. July 2013
1. The Syrian government controls approximately 3040 percent of the

country's territory and 60 percent of the Syrian population.

2. The insurgency controls large swaths of territory in the country's north and east.

 Human Rights situation in Syria

Considered exceptionally poor among international observers. State of emergency abuse by security forces. According to Amnesty International, the government may be guilty of crimes against humanity based on "witness accounts of deaths in custody, torture and arbitrary detention," during the crackdown against the 2011 uprising. Ethnic and racial discrimination. Internet censorship Control of press.

The regime used heavy weapons in residential areas, trapping civilians in the crossfire.
The regime did not make efforts to spare civilians, and it has not shown concern for civilians who were displaced. There is evidence of looting by regime forces.

There are allegations that the regime forces have engaged in grave atrocities.
The regime is no longer holding back as it did earlier with the uprisings. (although it always beat demonstrators, tortured detainees, etc.)

Regime began to declare victories over the opposition, but at a high civilian cost. Regime forces ultimately radicalized segments of the population with their abuse of armed power.

 Opposition players in Syria : Syrian National Council (SNC) National Co-ordination Committee (NCC) Free Syrian Army (FSA) July 23, 2012 - Syria admitted to possessing a stockpile of chemical weapons which it claims are reserved for national defence against foreign countries. Syria is one of five states that have not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. Syria reportedly manufactures chemical weapons(CW) agents, including mustard blistering agents, and deadly nerve agents like Sarin, Tabun and VX.

 In 1968, Syria acceded to the 1925 Geneva Protocol. Syrian chemical weapons production facilities have been identified by Western non-proliferation experts at approximately 5 sites, plus one suspected weapons base:
al-Safira (Scud missile base)

Hama (Scud missile base)

Homs Latakia Palmyra

Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden

Transparency International Corruption perception index consistent toppers Least corruption

What makes them different?

law enforcement, public participation and transparency mechanisms strong commitment to anti-corruption by political leaders freedom of the press is positively correlated with control of corruption in well established democracies

 high GDP per capita, low inequality rates, literacy rates close to 100 %, and prioritise human right issues(gender equality, freedom of information) they all perform well in terms of government openness and effectiveness.

So what works?
disclosure of budget information closes the door to waste and misappropriation of public funds Codes of conduct for public servants Legal framework criminalising a wide range of corruption related abuses and an independent and efficient judiciary

Swedish model
Openness and accountability
Public access to documents The Ombudsman

Dualism
Small ministries & large agencies

A Decentralized Unitary State

Regional and local competences Local & Regional Right of Taxation

The Indian Scenario

Transparency is relatively new to Government functioning in India. Several new bills have been introduced that can make the

Government more transparent and accountable.

The biggest step to change this has been the Right to Information Act.

It enabled monitoring and accountability for every citizen as a right.

RTI Act was brought into effect in 2005. Overrides the Official Secrets Act, 1923.

The Right to Information (RTI) Act

Applicable to all public authorities owned, controlled or substantially funded by the Government. Empowers citizens to: Ask any question from the Government or seek any information Take copies of any Government documents Inspect any Government documents and works Information to be made available between 30 to 35 days

Transparency in political finance

Stockholm-based International Institute of Democracy and

Electoral Assistance (IDEA) shows that India is one among a

mere 10% of countries in the world to allow either political parties or candidates to receive anonymous donations. India allows individual candidates to receive anonymous donations while parties cannot.

In India, this limit of allowed anonymity is set at Rs 20,000.

CIC held Six national parties - Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI(M), CPI

and BSP under the purview of RTI.

RTI (Amendment) Bill 2013

On 1st August 2013, the Union Cabinet approved draft amendments

to the RTI Act that would nullify an order of the CIC bringing the six
national political parties under the orbit of the Act. It was introduced on August 12 in Lok Sabha. A public authority will be defined as those receiving governmental funding "above 51 per cent," in place of the present usage of "substantial funding." Political parties claim that the Representation of the People Act and the Income Tax Act provide sufficient transparency regarding

financial aspects of political parties

Flaws in the current system

The most significant weakness lies in the enforcement and implementation of these laws and regulation. No Right to Information in the Private Sector. Offices meant to service information claims have not been adequately staffed Roughly 30% of the posts for information commissioners in states

are lying vacant .

No proactive disclosure of information.

Attack against whistleblowers

People seeking information under RTI have been identified and harassed, attacked or killed. Satish Shetty who exposed many land scams in Maharashtra was killed by unknown attackers.

Congress member and RTI activist Vasudeva Adiga who exposed many
wrongdoings in various quarters was kidnapped and brutally killed in January 2013.

These countless murders bring fear to people and stop them from
revealing any secrets. The Union rural development ministry is working on a protocol that will protect activists who work to expose corruption using RTI Act.

Murder of Satyendra Dubey

Satyendra Dubey (1973-2003) was a project director at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) Corridor Project-5968 km, at an overall cost more than USD 10 billion. The contracted firm, Larsen and Toubro, had been subcontracting the actual work to smaller low-technology

groups, controlled by the local mafia.

Dubey wrote directly to the Prime Minister, detailing the financial and contractual irregularities in the project.

Later he was shot dead by unknown enemies.

Other policies for transparency

Apart from RTI, several other efforts at improving transparency have

been initiated at several levels of the Government.

National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy: To increase accessibility and easier sharing of non-sensitive data among

registered

users

for

their

scientific,

economic

and

social

developmental purposes. The Whistleblowers Bill: In 2004, in response to a petition filed after

the murder of Satyendra Dubey, the Supreme Court directed a

mechanism to be put in place for acting on complaints from whistleblowers till a law is enacted. Public Procurement Bill : The draft Bill seeks to establish the

Conclusion
There are indeed a number of initiatives that have been taken to promote transparency for inclusive governance.

Technology is an important enabler for effective

Governance. Traditional and social media has transformed how citizens access and share information. But we are yet to achieve transparency in all levels and