HPAS/Allied Mains 2022 Answer Writing Challenge Day 19: Model Answer

Question: What do you understand by the term Accountability? (4 marks, 60 words)

Answer: 

Accountability can broadly be defined as the obligation of those holding power to take responsibility and be held answerable for their behaviour and actions.

BODY

• It is a corelative concept, as it concerns the relationship between those that perform an action or deliver a service and those on whom the service has an effect.
• There are two critical elements to actualizing this notion of accountability.
• The first is the question of determining “who should be accountable to whom and for what?”
• Second is that of developing institutional mechanisms and an incentive structure for sanctions and rewards on the basis of which accountability is realized.

CONCLUSION

Thus, accountability has an answerability element‐the need for justification of actions, and an enforcement element‐ the sanctions that can be imposed if actions or justifications are judged unsatisfactory.