"When citizens are actively involved in their civic and democratic institutions, their community and their nation are stronger, more just and more prosperous." - Alan Solomont, former US diplomat.

Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Transparency International ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt a country's public sector and judiciary are perceived to be by experts and business executives. The scores indicate the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100. So, if a country has 0 points, it is highly corrupt and if it gets 100 points, it is perceived to have a very efficient administration. India ranks 78th out of 180 countries in 2018. We cannot deny the fact that there is widespread corruption in India. This causes hindrances to development, backwardness and poverty, loss of faith in judicial system and even loss of natural resources.

Since the last century, citizens all over the world have become at least a bit vigilant about their civic rights and obligations. Participatory citizenship has become prevalent in most of the developed and developing countries. The major function of participation is an educative one as it leads to gaining practical democratic skills. It has an integrative effect and it aids the acceptance of collective decisions.

By 2020, India is set to become the world's youngest country with 64% of its population in the working age group. But, ironically, the number of unemployed youth is also increasing.

Inequality and discrimination is still so deep rooted that only active participation of young people can break the caste cauldrons and other traditional evils. A large portion of rural public service recipients are either unaware of grievance redressal mechanisms or do not resort to a formal complaint even if they know about it. As a result, the quality of services delivered is not satisfactory. Services which are targeted towards the deprived sections are likely to be less efficient and more prone to corruption due to low level of interest articulation by the poor. In such a situation, citizens need to organise themselves to measure, report and improve effectiveness and efficiency of a government. One such type of social control is 'Social Audit.'

Social Audit, as a term, was first used in the 1950s. Social audits are now widely accepted as an important mechanism to address corruption and strengthen accountability in government service delivery. Basically, it is an effort undertaken to ensure that the work done by the government is actually benefitting the citizens. It is an account of the work done by the government in reference to the welfare of citizens. It is a continuous process. Through this tool, the resources used by public agencies for development initiatives are shared with the people. Therefore, it is an opportunity for the citizens to scrutinise governance. It is a very useful tool for raising awareness among citizens about their rights and obligations. It promotes not only responsible citizenship, but also integrity and a sense of community. It ensures that decision making is carried out in the presence of affected persons to a large extent. It improves quality and standard of governance. The most important benefit of social audit is that it almost automatically leads to drastic reduction in corruption.

In India, the Gram Sabha at the local level has been empowered to conduct social audit in the rural or village sector. Similarly, mostly in the cities, the right to information empowers the citizens to inspect public records. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005m mandates the regular conduct of the social audit of works sanctioned under MGNREGA in the Gram Sabha at least once every six months. There are regular public hearings where the scheme and the process of social auditing is publicly analysed. However, unless and until there is a strong sense of political will in the implementation of these schemes in the political class as well as administration, some failures are bound to be there. As all good things take their own time to get successfully materialised, let us hope that the trend of social audits will become a cornerstone of the Indian democracy.

Many people in India still think themselves as being ruled by politicians. Because of this, common citizens do not get easily involved in the development activities. On the other hand, some public authorities avoid social audits, though the Right to Information (RTI) Act empowers citizens to obtain easily information on government processes. There should be stringent legal penalties for not following the social audit principles. As young citizens, we also have an obligation to be part of our governance. Our participation in social audits will make our friends and relatives also aware about this concept and authorities can never evade from performing their duties in the just and right manner. So, our well-informed participation will make our system sound and transparent. Let us never forget the famous saying - "As a citizen, you need to know how to be a part of it, how to express yourself - and not just by voting. "