GOOD GOVERNANCE IN BANGLADESH: A STUDY OF WORLD GOVERNANCE INDICATORS

The inclusive philosophy of good governance is almost indispensable for the progress of state democracy in Bangladesh. However, the Bangladesh government is fighting a malicious virus in the governance structure that is visible in all sectors of the state. Against this backdrop, an attempt has been made to comprehend the general state of good governance in Bangladesh according to World Governance Indicators (WGI) of the World Bank. This study is based on mixed approach containing quantitative data from World Bank website (world economy.com) and qualitative data from existing literatures. The collected data have also been analyzed through table, chart and text. This paper found, the current situation in Bangladesh is appalling and detrimental to the socio-economic development of the country. This situation is crisscrossed by overpopulation, politicization, bureaucratization, corruption, poverty, broken law and order, and the narrow game of politics. This paper then outlines some of the policy guidelines needed to define good governance principles in Bangladesh. The results of this study are expected to be useful for policymakers in devising appropriate strategies to ensure good governance at all levels of government.

The inclusive philosophy of good governance is almost indispensable for the development of state democracy in Bangladesh. However, the Bangladesh government is fighting a malicious virus in the governance structure that is visible in all sectors of the state. Against this backdrop, an attempt has been made to comprehend the general state of good governance in Bangladesh according to World Governance Indicators (WGI) of the World Bank. This study is based on mixed approach containing quantitative data from World Bank website (world economy.com) and qualitative data from the existing literatures. The collected data have also been analysed through table, chart and text. This paper found that the current situation in Bangladesh is appalling and detrimental to the socio-economic development of the country. This situation is crisscrossed by overpopulation, politicization, bureaucratization, corruption, poverty, broken law and order, and the narrow game of politics. This paper then outlines some of the policy guidelines needed to define good governance principles in Bangladesh. The results of this study are expected to be useful for policymakers in devising appropriate strategies to ensure good governance at all levels of government.

INTRODUCTION
Good governance refers to any form of government strategy that can be used to ensure the well-being of the people. It means being open, transparent, equal and accountable for the efficient utilization of a nation's resources (B. Hasan et al., 2014). It has come to be a trendy concept in today's global politics and economy to ensure quality, effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery. The concepts of governance and good governance have long been at the top of the sustainable development agenda in recent years, especially since the second half of the 1980s (Ahrens, 2009). Good governance norms are widely regarded as a necessary condition for resolving a wide range of issues and achieving socio economic growth in developing countries. As a result, many international organizations, including the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Monetary Fund, and a variety of non-governmental organizations, have begun to emphasize good governance as a prerequisite for receiving their services and funds (Rahman, 2000).
The Constitution of Bangladesh gives a wide range of components to executing good governance standards, qualities, approaches and procedures. But the nation has not yet completely formulated correct policies in this regard. The nation actually needs climate, establishments, force and good governance rehearses (Momen & Begum, 2005). It is observed that democracy and good governance are interlinked in a significant way. However, Democracy was established in Bangladesh in 1990 by shifting from presidential to parliamentary system of government. But even then, the country is in turmoil, beginning with the interim government and violating various democratic standards. Democratic governance has failed to guarantee constitutional rights and better performance for government employees (Momen & Begum, 2005;World Bank, 2016). Parliamentary accountability to the public and administrative accountability to the government have not yet been institutionalized. Absence of institutional limits and other social ills are hampering the country's tranquil democratic process, economy and development (Transparency International Bangladesh, 2019;Roy, 2018).
Despite some disturbing highlights of good governance in Bangladesh, the country also has many opportunities for good governance. In addition, Bangladesh has made great strides in manpower development, women empowerment, poverty reduction and improving the lives of its people. In this context, this paper is aiming to understand the present state of good governance in Bangladesh.

Conceptualization
Governance encompasses all of society's good and bad in terms of delegating power and managing public funds. As a consequence, good governance is a subset of governance in which resources, problems and issues are handled in a way that is sustainable, effective, and meets society's basic needs (Muhith, 2001;Khan, 2003). It's important to note that the debate about "good governance" emerged in the 1980s and early 1990s, as opposed to the statedominated economic and social development of previous decades (Fukuda-Parr & Ponzio, 2002). Good governance is characterized by participation, transparency, and accountability. It's also convincing, fair, and advances the legal standard. It ensures that broad public consensus is reached on political, social, and economic issues, as well as that in the distribution of development services, the poorest and most disadvantaged people's voices are heard (Srivastava, 2009).
The concept of "good governance" as a precondition for long-term growth and poverty reduction has gained momentum, especially among international organizations, since the early 1990s. Domestic problems, later referred to as "good governance," have long existed in all parts of the world (Ahren, 2009;Khan, 2009). During the Cold War, however, they had given little value in donor-recipient relationships. Many factors came together to push good governance to the top of the international agenda at the end of the Cold War and the assumption that market oriented systemic reform policies had failed. Poor policies and governance in recipient countries were the primary causes of these failures. In fact, receiving development aid from donors is now conditional on good governance (Simonis, 2004).
Currently, academic and donor discourses on good governance are competing. Academic discourses are primarily concerned with how power and rights relations are structured in different circumstances, while donor-led discourse is more concerned with accountability, legal processes, and state structures. The primary goal of academic discourse is to know the institutional relationships that exist between the government, civil society, and the private sector. A donor-directed discourse policy seeks to improve effectiveness (Rahman, 2000). Good governance is currently considered in three realms: the first is national, which includes all conventional political, economic, and administrative elements. The second is global, which covers all facets of the globalization process, including global public goods regulation and capital flow economic stability. The third is aimed at the corporate world (Hasan, 2014;Miazi & Islam, 2012).
From the preceding discussion, three main characteristics of good governance can be identified: To begin, good governance should be based on a mutually beneficial and cooperative relationship between the government, civil society, and the private sector. Second, good governance is characterized as all or part of the law, fairness in decision-making, accountability, rule of law, and foresight. Finally, good governance is the rule rather than the exception (Simonis, 2004).

Six Indicators of Good Governance (Daniel Kaufmann and World Bank)
Both Daniel Kaufman and the World Bank (World Governance Indicator) provided the following six criteria for assessing a country's governance standards, whether good or bad (See Table 1).

The Good Governance model of APRM
The APRM focuses on the following components of good governance related to political, economic, corporate and social measures for sustainable development and best practice.  (Simonis, 2004).
From above discussed models of good governance, this paper followed model no. 3.2 (Six Indicators of Good Governance model developed by Daniel Kaufmann and World Governance Indicators).

State of Good Governance in Bangladesh
Miazi and Islam (2012) state that Governments, scientists, scholars or academics, and donor agencies in developing countries like Bangladesh are concerned about good governance. Bangladesh's current state of good governance does not meet international expectations, and the country has been affected by a variety of factors (Momen & Begum, 2005, Ara & Khan, 2006Khan, 2009). Debasement, savagery, nonappearance of rule of law, obsolete rules, nonstraightforwardness, lack of polished technique, and maltreatment of common freedoms, nonresponsibility, and politicization of all government institutions, including the judiciary, characterized Bangladeshi public administration. As a result, there is no basis for holding someone accountable if anything goes wrong (M. S. Hasan et al., 2013). As a result, administrative reforms are needed to address corruption, lack of accountability, lack of transparency and inefficiency. Enforcing the rule of law with solid ethics and morality is vital for guaranteeing good governance and sustainable development (Sarker et al., 2017;Hasan, 2014).

METHODS
The fundamental objective of this paper is to dissect the current situation with good governance in Bangladesh. To estimate good governance of Bangladesh, this investigation followed widely acclaimed good governance indicators of the World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), alongside the six indicators model of Daniel Kaufmann. The six indicators are Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption. This paper is based on mixed approach analysis of social research. Most of the quantitative data collected from the website of the World Bank, world governance indicators indexes. Alongside statistical data, qualitative data collected from the various literatures like journal articles, online newspapers, websites, printed books and journals etc. This data also analyzed through table and charts to meet the demand of the objectives of this study.

Voice and Accountability
Citizens of a democratic country will take part in the election of their government and enjoy freedom of speech, association, and independent media as a result of having voice and accountability (Ara & Khan, 2006). The Constitution of Bangladesh states the guarantee of such freedoms. Article 39/1 of the Bangladesh Constitution ensures freedom of thought and discretion, while Article 39/2a protects freedom of speech and expression of all people, and Article 39/2b guarantees freedom of the press of Bangladesh Constitution. In reality, neither politicians nor government officials are held accountable, and the decision-making process is opaque. The legislative government has failed to deliver on its promises (Ara & Khan, 2006). The country is in a precarious position when it comes to freedom of thought and speech (Ara & Khan, 2006). The digital weapon to limit on freedom of thought and speech is the Digital Security Act, which was passed by the Parliament of Bangladesh. Although it comes to assuring digital protection and assisting in the prevention of crimes committed via digital platforms, it took a few sections, including vastly criticized section 57, which is frequently used to cut off freedom of thoughts and speech (Amnesty International, 2018). Bangladesh's scores regarding voice and accountability, however, is declining every year according to global governance indicators. Bangladesh score was 38.39 in 2009, down to 27.09 in 2019 (0 indicates the lowest and 100 indicates the highest), indicating a concern for good governance (World Bank, 2016). According to the Voice and Accountability Index (-2.5 weak; 2.5 strong) from 1996 to 2019, Bangladesh's average score was -0.45 points, with a low of -0.73 in 2018 and a high of -0.06 in 1996 (The Global Economy.com, (2020). The following figure no. 02 shows the values earned by Bangladesh regarding voice and accountability according to the voice and accountability index of global economy.com (2020).

. Political Stability and Absence of Violence
Bangladesh's state coup isn't operating properly. The country has experienced extreme violence and a cruel state response resulting from the political instability and political conflict between the government and the opposition. As a consequence of political conflict, the party in power used enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings against oppositions (International Crisis Group, 11 th April, 2016). They do politicization of law enforcement and use elite forces, especially the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), to suppress political opposition to sow the beds of future violence (Amnesty International, 2018). Bangladeshi politics, on the Value other hand, has become apolitical, commercial, and violent affairs now (Moniruzzaman, 2009). Political broth, turmoil, or crisis, and political unrest are all words used to describe political instability in Bangladesh. Terrorist attacks, strikes, political unrest, and other forms of violence have been rising day by day, according to the World Governance Indicators Report (2020). Regarding Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Bangladesh's percentile ranking was 9 in 2009, but it has risen to 15.24 in ten years. Between 1996 and 2019, the average for Bangladesh was -1.21 points, with a low of -1.86 points in 2005 and a high of -0.37 in 1998, according to the Political Stability Index (-2.5 weak; 2.5 strong) (The Global Economy.com, 2020). The following figure no. 03 represents the values earned by Bangladesh regarding political stability and absence of violence according to the Political Stability Index of Global Economy.com (2020).

. Government Effectiveness
Government effectiveness is concerned with the efficiency of the civil service and the efficient and successful delivery of public services, as well as the degree of freedom from political coercion, the development and implementation of cost-effective policies, and the integrity of the government's commitment to those policies (World Bank, 2016). Openness and accountability also represent government effectiveness as well. Bangladesh's government has made progress in terms of ensuring openness and accountability in decision-making. The application of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, in particular, has enabled the general public to hold the government accountable for its acts. But the RTI Act, on the other hand, has both challenges and opportunities for public offices to maintain openness and accountability (Lubaba, 2020). The challenges like; according to the RTI Survey 2019, the concerned authorities are reluctant to penalize the Designated Officer (s), and the authority had no action against 48 percent of cases of noncompliance with the RTI Act (Lubaba, 2020).
Between 2009 and 2019, the government effectiveness seems to have remained nearly stable, with a ranking of 24.00 in 2009 and 23.56 in 2019. According to the government's Economy.com, 2020, https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Bangladesh/wb_government_effectiveness/).
The following figure 4 shows the values earned by Bangladesh regarding Government Effectiveness according to Government Effectiveness Index of global economy.com, 2020.

. Regulatory Quality
The government's capacity to devise and enforce strong rules and regulations that encourage private sector growth and development is recognized by the quality of regulation. Institutional dualism, according to Brinkerhoff and Goldsmith, exists in many developing countries, where components of both formal and informal governance structures interface and pose a limit on regulatory quality of governance. Informal governance activities become prevalent in this scenario, undermining good governance initiatives specially rules and regulations (Alam & Teicher, 2012). To keep the government, bureaucracy, and politicians accountable in Bangladesh, the Election Commission, the Public Service Commission (PSC), the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, and the Anti-Corruption Commission were created. They were designed to improve regulatory quality of governance by ensuring the rule of law and guaranteeing equality, democracy, openness, and accountability. However, they have yet to develop themselves as reputable, trustworthy entities due to outside intervention that has severely harmed their independence, transparency, performance, and effectiveness (Alam & Teicher, 2012). According to a study conducted by Transparency International Bangladesh, only 1.85 percent of Bangladesh Civil Service examinees have complete faith in the PSC (Karim, 2007).
Regarding regulatory quality, in 2009, Bangladesh's percentile was 21.53, but by 2019 it had dropped to 15.38. This demonstrates that the capacity of the government to create and

. Rule of Law
One of the most pressing problems in Bangladesh right now is the rule of law (Karim, 2007). The rule of law in Bangladesh includes freedom of the judiciary, separation of powers, goodwill of the government (Obaidullah, 2020). The constitution of Bangladesh guarantees the rule of law in every sphere of the state. Article 22 of the Bangladesh Constitution states that "the State guarantees the separation of the judiciary from the executive organs", while Article 94, paragraph 4 of the Constitution states that the Chief Justice and other judges of the Supreme Court are independent in performing their judicial functions. Articles 7 and 26 impose limits on the legislature, stating that no legislation may be enacted that contradicts any clause of the Constitution. Article 27 of the Constitution declares the provision of "equality before the law." Protection of the law is listed as one of the constitutional rights in Article 31 of the Constitution. But the question is what reality is? If we look at the picture of human rights and extrajudicial killings, rape etc. we may get the answer.
In the first half of 2019, at least 204 people were killed extra-judicially by law enforcement agencies across Bangladesh, according to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a human rights watchdog. According to an ASK press release, 59 people were killed in crossfire with RAB, 92 people were killed in crossfire with police, and 12 people were killed by DB, one by joint forces, one by the coast guard, and 28 by the BGB (Hasan, 2019). In the first six months of this year, however, 735 women were raped or attempted to be raped, according to the survey. During that time, 630 women were raped, with 105 attempted rapes recorded. At least 37 people have died as a result of rape, according to the statistics. After being raped, seven women committed suicide (Hasan, 2019).  Source: The Global Economy.com, 2020, https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Bangladesh/wb_ruleoflaw/ In another data taken from the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2020 says, Bangladesh's Rule of Law score has generally been at the bottom of the World Justice Project (WJP) rule of law index over the past four years. In 2020, Bangladesh score is 0.41 out of 1 and ranked 115th out of 128 countries (Ali, 2020). The overall scores are given below:  Source: World Justice Project, 2020 https://tbsnews.net/bangladesh/rule-law-bangladesh-has-not-improved-four-years-55060

Control of Corruption
The spread of corruption is seen as an amount of public power used for personal gain. This includes small and large-scale corruption, as well as state used for elites and individual interests. Corruption at the government level has hampered the establishment of good governance in Bangladesh (Siddique, 2015). Bangladesh has performed admirably in many socioeconomic metrics, such as GDP, for more than two decades, but corruption persists. At least 2% to 3% of the country's GDP is lost to corruption (Bay, 2020). On the other hand, according to a recent study, 89 percent of victims of corruption in service delivery industries are required to pay bribes because they would be unable to access those services without it (Bay, 2020). Officially, there is zero tolerance for corruption, as the president has said repeatedly. The irony is that little, if any, tangible action is being taken to enforce this pledge (Siddique, 2015;Bay, 2020).
According According to a recent report titled "Tracking Bribery Threat", Bangladesh has also been identified as the most dangerous country in South Asia in terms of bribery threats. This year, the country scored 72, two points more than last year, which means the threat has become even stronger. Bangladesh ranks 178 th in the world, compared to India's 78 th and Pakistan's 153 rd (Bhuiyan, 2019

DISCUSSION
The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh incorporates all the philosophies of good governance but the country has yet to fully build the capacity, appropriate policies, conducive atmospheres, appropriate institutional structures for implementing good governance norms and values. Therefore, despite notable improvements in some areas, however, there is still a long way to go before the momentum is achieved regarding six separate indicators of good governance that we found from the findings of this paper. The scenario of voice and accountability of the nation is hindered at large extent because of institutionalization of politicization. The voice of general people and independent and responsible press and media are paramount and essential for democratic governance. The press is struggling to uncover the truth to the people. Worldwide Governance Indicators says the scores of Bangladesh regarding voice and accountability decreases day by day. It shows Bangladesh is at 38.39 in 2009, down from 27.09 in 2019 (Range is 0-100). Regarding political stability and absence of violence, Bangladesh stands behind the standards in comparison to the developed countries of the world. According to the global economy.com, (2020), Bangladesh got a score; -0.92 and ranked 164 th around the world, and 39 th in Asia. In the area of Government Effectiveness, it seems to have remained almost stable from 2009 to 2019, standing at 24.00 in 2009 and down to 23.56 in 2019, according to worldwide governance indicators.
Regulatory quality of the Bangladesh government is almost similar compared to other indicators. In this context, Bangladesh stands at 163 rd position among the 193 countries of the world. Regarding Rule of Law, Bangladesh plays a partial role in its application. Laws are supposed to exist, but they clearly apply to an individual or a class. As a result, judges tolerate and refuse ordinary citizens. In addition, this climate directly affects the basic privileges of poor people and the social sphere is overlooked, although this is an important part of good governance. In this context, Bangladesh got a score -0.64 with ranked 138 th around the globe, says by the global economy.com, 2020. Regarding controlling corruption, Bangladesh has been permanently ranked among the world's most corrupt countries according to corruption percent index. It's because of not having a strong mechanism for ensuring proper application of law. Bangladesh stood at 145 th , 143 rd , 148 th , 146 th , 146 th in the last five years (2016-2020) according to Bangladesh Corruption Index, Trading Economics, 2020.

CONCLUSION
It has been noted that good governance is a model that is hard to achieve in its entirety. Very few countries, nations and societies have come close to achieving good governance objectives. Developing countries like Bangladesh have been confronted with plenty of difficulties on the way to good governance. Reasons for poor governance performance in Bangladesh include lack of practical commitment to curb corruption, small steps to counter high-profile transplants, rampant fraud and corruption in banking and financial sectors, money laundering, political control of contracts and recruitment business. This is the overall situation of contemporary Bangladesh that makes us disappointed but expecting that gradually these obstacles will be mitigated.
Based on the results of this study, this paper recommends some policy notes for ensuring good governance at all levels of government in Bangladesh; Firstly, establishing good governance requires effective and democratic leadership. Good Leadership is the value of democracy that prioritizes the views of the majority of the country, not its own party. They are informed about expectations and expectations from the public. Secondly, Democracy and good governance require strong rule of law. From the final note, the current law in Bangladesh is not satisfactory. Therefore, an independent and clear policy on the rule of law is necessary to address the ambiguity and illegality of the rule of law. In this regard, support and cooperation from the opposition is vital working behind ensuring rule of law. Thirdly, Independent press and media is imperative in ensuring good governance. Digital security act taken by the government has been wielded as a weapon to silence critics and suppress dissent and hinders the freedom of press and media and freedom of expression of general people as well. According to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index, Bangladesh ranks 151 among 180 countries (The Daily star, October 09, 2020). So, authority should revise the act so that freedom of expression is to be ensured as it is a constitutional right of the citizens of the country. Fourthly, at all levels of government, there must be strong mechanisms in place to tackle corruption. To that end, the Anti-Corruption Commission and other law enforcement agencies must be given adequate resources and be able to carry out their responsibilities in a free and reasonable manner. And finally, governments must strive to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery, restructure government agencies and arrangements to reach the poor and vulnerable, uphold civil and human rights, and promote equity and justice in society.