There is a general agreement about a severe crisis of governance in most countries of the developing world today and that the process of economic growth in a large part of the globe has not substantially helped in reducing poverty. In fact, it is being claimed in certain quarters that absolute poverty has increased over the years, with the political and economic institutions not functioning either efficiently or honestly in poor countries, leading to a relative deprivation among the poor.
The poor and the underprivileged are not united in developing countries or united across countries. They lack meaningful education, are deprived of information, and are not politically empowered. The result is that they do not have a powerful or even a credible voice in most countries. They are exploited by those wielding political and administrative power while those possessing economic strength ignore them. They merely receive condescension from the media.
One can see these conditions in our own country.
An international conference on Globalization was organized in January 2003 at Asia Plateau at Panchgani, Maharashtra, where it was agreed that the country has to evolve good institutions and responsive political and administrative systems in order to derive commensurate benefit from the forces of Globalization. There was, among other matters, a unanimous resolution that a ‘IC Centre for Governance (ICCfG)’ should be established with the objective of collectively thinking and, wherever possible, acting on issues of governance.