The desire for the ?good governance? was perhaps the moving spirit behind the emergence of the state. People struggled relentlessly for the attainment of the objective all through the tortuous path of the history. Philosophers, historians and scholars have penned down this saga of the mankind, which is preserved in the scriptures, epics and immortal writings. In modern India, since independence umpteen numbers of efforts have been made to attain the elusive goal of good governance. However, we have seemingly failed in achieving the target particularly in the context of poor, the deprived and the disadvantaged section of the society which constitutes about one third of our population. To ensure a responsive and transparent governance to this section of the society in changing national and global environment, the need of periodical thinking about the concept and (institutions of governance) is desirable. In the present volume, an out come of UGC sponsored seminar, the scholars of repute have discussed different facets of the concept and its prospective impact on the immediate environment. Tracing the history of the concept and its prospective impact on the immediate environment. Tracing the history of the concept right from the ancient times, the contributors have exfolded its changing form, parameters for evaluation of a good government and from this from this point of view ascertaining the desirability of reviewing the constitution while finding out the ways and means for improving the quality of politics and public life and the removal of barriers coming in the way of sustainable human development. The contributors suggest that the goal of good governance can be achieved if the institutions, leadership, political parties and bureaucracy are committed to the ideological values, accountable to the masses, efficient and proactive is to create an enabling environment wherein the people may realize their dreams.

S.K. Chaturvedi is professor and head department of political science and coordinator of Public Administration, Chaudhary Charan Singh University (formerly Meerut University) Meerut. He has been engaged in teaching Post graduate and M. Phil students and in supervising research projects of Ph.D. scholars for more than two decades. He has authored and Edited ten books and sixty papers and articles of which one and half a dozen formulate chapters of books in the areas of South Asian politics and relations, Criminal Justice Administration and India Political System. Dr. Chaturvedi has received Govind Ballabh Pant Award constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi for writing the History of Police in India. He also edits a bi-annual Journal and is Advisor to Vikas Paricharcha, a Journal of the department of Public Administration, Lucknow University, Lucknow (U.P.) Member of several academic associations of the national repute; professor Chaturvedi is currently the Vice President of Indian Political Science Association.