Posted July 12, 2016 | by admin

Political Accountability

Political accountability refers to the responsibility or obligation of government officials to act in the best interests of society and if they fail to do so, they have to face the consequences of their actions. The key motive behind the concept being public officials should be held responsible or accountable for their actions.

Today, public life in India is daunted with issues of corruption in which politicians play a pivotal role. From corruption money being stashed in foreign accounts, Commonwealth games scam, Telecom scam to Adarsh housing society scam, millions have been embezzled, as people watched their elected representatives acting out of greed or in service of those bankrolling their ascent to power. This is where political accountability projects come into picture. Such projects at FRNV are based on the values of discipline and truthfulness, aimed at assisting people of character and inner strength.

FRNV advocates for tools such as INPAC and Performance Audit to be used at community levels as well as nearby neighborhoods to incorporate political accountability in the system.

Indian Network of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (INPAC)

INPAC is a network of Parliamentarians willing to contest election, by demonstrating their credibility to the constituency of engaged citizens, nurtured over a period of time. Candidates who have contested before and are interested in contesting again can also be part of this network.

Objectives of the project INPAC:

To provide a platform to Parliamentarians who would like to respond to that segment of citizens interested in tangible evidence of their integrity and delivery
To encourage Parliamentarians to demonstrate their credibility
To ignite passion among the youth to join Politics and participate in the Democratic process for nation building
To enable citizens to make informed choice during elections
To train Parliamentarians on tools and best practices of Governance, Transparency and Accountability
To help FRNV to engage with political representatives, citizens for deepening of democracy and expand its reach, programs and network

Performance Audit

Performance audit of elected representatives refers to an independent examination of functions and operations of these governmental representatives to assess as to whether they are achieving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the employment of available resources. Simply put down, it is an independent tool to keep a check on their activities and performance and make them accountable for their actions. This can be done by introducing and advocating the tool of Development Pact.

Development Pact is a tool of Governance to bring together and help citizens, elected representatives, service providers and civil society bodies, to agree on a joint roadmap, to prevent corruption and ensure people centric development.

Objectives of the project Performance Audit of the elected representatives :

To mobilize and sustain political will by facilitating mutually beneficial pacts between local authority, elected representatives, and community including most marginalized sections
To have support of local NGOs can ensure the participation of marginalized sections of the society by bringing them at the centre of policy
To create an environment where people will not only decide their agenda of development but also monitor the progress and participate in the process of all developmental activities
To create awareness and empower the marginalized section of society to ensure a participatory democracy
To create a strong citizen’s forum at all levels and promote the concept of citizen’s journalism for better advocacy
To promote a Governance tool to mitigate the gap between political representatives, Municipal Corporation, Administration and people
To use this tool to ensure that the local authority pro-actively seek the inclusion of civil society organizations, communities and vulnerable citizens in public decision making.

Though these projects, FRNV aims to efficiently incorporate political accountability in the system to ensure effectiveness and transparency of the work in the governmental setup.