GS Paper II 2026 · Q16
15 marks · 250 words Governance, transparency & e-governance X-Ray · Core #67“Transparency and accountability in governance are not about controlling corruption but about creating the trust of stakeholders in the policy process by following the Rule of Law and Participatory Governance.” Comment.
🧭 How to think about this question · directive: “comment”
Decode the demand
- Directive 'comment': give an evidence-backed opinion on the statement, agreeing where it is right and qualifying where it overreaches; no fence-sitting.
- The claim in one line: transparency and accountability exist to build stakeholders' trust in how policy is made, through rule of law and participation, not merely to catch the corrupt.
- Three things to answer: why trust is the larger purpose; how rule of law and participation build it; where corruption control still matters.
- The trap: writing an RTI-and-Lokpal essay about corruption, or accepting the statement whole and forgetting that leakages destroy trust fastest.
Think in a structure
- Open with the RTI preamble: it names both purposes, so the statement's own law supplies the balance.
- One heading per demand part, each point an administrative keyword plus reason plus the rule or thinker (Article 14, Section 4, Dicey, Rawls, Sen), with one Indian model as a sub-point.
- Visuals: a flowchart showing how disclosure becomes trust, and a hub placing the four pillars around trust.
- End positively: concrete fixes an administrator can act on, then SDG 16 targets 16.6 and 16.7 as the anchor that unites trust and clean government.
Facts checked at source (5)· open
- RTI Act, 2005 (preamble): democracy needs an informed citizenry and transparency both to contain corruption and to hold governments accountable to the governed.Right to Information Act, 2005 — preamble (Central Information Commission) ↗“AND WHEREAS democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed;”
- SDG 16, Targets 16.6 and 16.7: effective, accountable and transparent institutions, and responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.UN SDG 16 — targets and indicators (sdgs.un.org) ↗“Target 16.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels Indicators 16.6.1 Primary government expenditures as a proportion of original approved budget, by sector (or by budget codes or similar) 16.6.2 Proportion of population satisfied with their last experience of public services Target 16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels”
- Section 4(1)(c) and (d) of the RTI Act, 2005 oblige every public authority to publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies and to provide reasons for its decisions to affected persons.Right to Information Act, 2005 — Section 4 (Central Information Commission) ↗“publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing the decisions which affect public”
- The Second Administrative Reforms Commission's first report (2006) was titled 'Right to Information: Master Key to Good Governance'.Second ARC, First Report — Right to Information: Master Key to Good Governance (DARPG) ↗“Right to Information Master Key to Good Governance”
- The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 substitutes clause (j) of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act with a bare exemption for 'information which relates to personal information'.Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 — Section 44(3) (MeitY) ↗“in sub-section (1), for clause (j), the following clause shall be substituted”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2026, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Guidance: Minimalist IAS, checked 8 Nov 2026 (how we verify). ·
Model answer· 611words · Minimalist IAS
The RTI Act, 2005 names two purposes in its preamble: an 'informed citizenry' to 'contain corruption' and to hold governments 'accountable to the governed'. The statement rightly puts trust in the policy process first, yet corruption control is the floor on which that trust stands.
Transparency and accountability: beyond controlling corruption
- Predictability: published data, draft rules and reasons let citizens and investors plan, and accept decisions even when they lose.
- RTI Act, Section 4(1)(c) and (d): publish facts behind important policies; give reasons for decisions to affected persons.
- Legitimacy: when people can see how a decision was made, compliance flows from consent, not fear; Rawls' publicity condition for just rules.
- Answerability: CAG audit (Article 148), parliamentary committees and judicial review turn visibility into consequences, so trust rests on proof.
- Public reasoning: Amartya Sen sees democracy as government by discussion; disclosure supplies the facts that discussion needs.
- Trust as capital: trusted institutions earn voluntary compliance in tax, vaccination and land records, cheaper than enforcement.
- Disclosure
- Reasons given
- Citizens heard
- Officials answerable
- Trust in the policy process
How the Rule of Law creates stakeholder trust
- Equality before law (Article 14): power is bounded and non-arbitrary for every stakeholder, Dicey's core of the rule of law.
- Reasoned orders: natural justice demands a hearing and reasons; a reasoned order can be tested in appeal, so even the loser trusts the process.
- No office above disclosure: the Supreme Court held the Chief Justice's office a public authority under RTI (Subhash Chandra Agarwal, 2019).
- Right, not favour: RTI turns information from discretionary release into an enforceable right with timelines, appeals and penalties.
- 2nd ARC's first report (2006) called the RTI the 'Master Key to Good Governance'.
How Participatory Governance creates stakeholder trust
- Consultation: the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy (2014) asks ministries to publish draft Bills and invite comments before Cabinet approval.
- Social audit: gram sabhas audit MGNREGA works, so accountability is exercised by users at the point of delivery.
- Co-planning: Kerala's People's Plan Campaign let local bodies and citizens set priorities, creating ownership of outcomes.
- Proactive disclosure: information pushed to citizens removes the need to ask, the spirit of Section 4.
- Rajasthan's Jan Soochna Portal publishes scheme-wise beneficiary records, so citizens verify entitlements without filing an application.
- Citizens' charters: published service standards with timelines make expectations explicit and failures measurable.
Trust in the policy process: Transparency (RTI, Section 4); Accountability (CAG, courts, Lokpal); Rule of law (Article 14); Participation (gram sabha, consultation)
Where corruption control still anchors trust
- Leakage destroys trust fastest: one scam undoes years of consultation; Lokpal, CVC and whistle-blower protection remain necessary.
- Disclosure is the first defence: digital trails in DBT and GeM deter graft, which is why the preamble lists containing corruption.
- Gaps that weaken both aims: vacancies in information commissions, token consultations and a narrowing of personal-information disclosure.
- The DPDP Act, 2023 substitutes Section 8(1)(j) to exempt all 'information which relates to personal information', removing the clause's larger-public-interest proviso.
Way forward
- Time-bound commissions: fill information commission vacancies within fixed timelines and publish the selection criteria.
- Consultation with responses: release every draft with reasons, a summary of comments and how each was treated.
- Social audit for all schemes: extend gram sabha audit beyond MGNREGA with independent social audit units in every state.
- Privacy–disclosure test: a clear statutory test so privacy protects citizens without shielding public decisions.
- Open data by default: machine-readable budgets, contracts and beneficiary lists under Section 4, tracked through SDG 16.6 indicators.
SDG 16 asks for 'effective, accountable and transparent institutions' (Target 16.6) and 'responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making' (16.7). Rule of law and participation deliver trust, and clean government is the proof that trust was deserved: one goal, not two.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 8 Nov 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
