urban local bodies

“Urban administration and urban planning in India is undergoing a major change,” says Rajneesh, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban development. “Himachal Pradesh, a predominantly rural state, has to make this transition given that urbanisation is a fact of life and new ULBs (Urban Local bodies) must be strengthened”. This was the rationale given by the Himachal Pradesh government to form three new municipal corporations to administer Solan, Palampur and Mandi . While Solan is a fast growing town with several educational institutions of higher studies and a bustling business community, Palampur in Kangra district is a popular tea town and home to…

The road map for the next five years for devolution of funds to the states, as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission (XVFC), is ready. Tragically though, despite the many important lessons the COVID pandemic taught us, the Finance Commission’s report seems to have largely ignored these lessons. The draft XVFC recommendations totally ignore the aspirations of the states and their hopes of getting their due share. In fact, the structure of the recommendations has been made more discretionary in favour of the Centre, with little thought of the states' needs, based on fairness and equity. In fact, the report’s…

As India reaches the eighth month of its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, with no foreseeable end, states and urban local bodies are severely cash strapped. A situation, which has been exacerbated by the Central government issuing various orders during and after the lockdown on policy issues strictly within the domain of states, such as prohibiting the sale of alcohol, restricting inter-state and intra-state movement, and withholding the GST compensation that each state government is entitled to. According to a report in the Bloomberg Quint, many states’ share in the Central Goods and Service Taxes constitutes an average of only 16-30%. The burden of raising remaining…

During the recently concluded monsoon session of the Karnataka state assembly two audit reports by the CAG of India were tabled.  Report No 1 of 2020 - tabled on 22nd September - pertains to State Finances of Karnataka Government for the year 2018-19. Report No 2 of 2020 - tabled on 23rd September - presents the Performance Audit on Implementation of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act. Read the Performance Audit Report in English hereRead the Performance Audit Report in Kannada here On September 23rd, CAG of India’s Audit Report on Union Government (Finance Accounts) for the year 2018-19 got tabled…

India is undergoing rapid urbanisation, the pace of which poses significant challenges to urban governance. India’s urban population has expanded from 26 percent of the total population in 1991, to 31 percent (or 400 million people) in 2011. It is estimated that by 2030, more than 40 percent of the Indian population will be living in cities. The question is: Are local urban governance structures in India equipped to respond to the needs of their citizens and tackle future problems? Why is local government important? Local governments are the closest to understanding the problems and requirements of their citizens, and are therefore best equipped to make…

Co-authored by Milind Mhaske and Meghna Bandelwar India has witnessed, dealt with and survived an outbreak of several epidemics such as swine flu, small pox, plague, dengue, hepatitis amongst many others, the most recent being the Nipah virus outbreak. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, seems to have created an unprecedented global emergency and the entire world is grappling with the challenge of curbing its spread and providing medical care to the huge numbers of people infected. India has taken measures at the Central and state level to prevent and curtail the spread of the pandemic. The city governments too are trying…

Co-authored by Tarun Sharma and Yutika Vora Many viruses have come and gone (though not fully), but COVID-19 has affected our daily lives like nothing else has, in many of our lifetimes. The spectre of this virus is still unfolding and the stories of its onslaught and the response of various countries are rapidly emerging. Lessons from this human-virus conflict will certainly shape a lot of thought and decisions in the way humanity deals with public health emergencies including responses of governments and citizens.  Some such observations are instructive for all of us: citizens and city governments.  Role of citizens…

The Central Finance Commission is a constitutionally mandated commission that has the key function of recommending how financial resources will be shared between the central governments and state governments, and between individual state governments.  It is constituted every five years, generally for a two year term, and is also required to make recommendations on strengthening financial resources of panchayats and municipalities (also known as urban local bodies). The Finance Commission’s terms of reference are drawn up by the central government, but its report is required to be tabled in Parliament. Generally the Finance Commission submits a single report sometime during Oct-Dec for five…

Congress President, Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Monday that he would make mayoral elections direct, since good leaders are needed to build smart cities. The Congress party has been sharing its key features on social media. The tweet seems like another promise in the direction of smooth urban governance. Real smart cities are built by good leaders. To improve quality of life in our cities we will move to directly elected Mayors with 5 yr terms & elected councils. Administration will be run by multidisciplinary teams of specialists & experts accountable to the Mayor & council. — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April…

In the last week of 2018, a hurriedly planned public consultation arranged by the Department of Municipal Administration of Karnataka to frame an updated Solid Waste Management Policy for the state had to be called off, following sharp criticism by activists and pourakarmikas (waste collectors). Protesters objected to the very short notice given for the consultation and the draft being circulated on the day of the meeting. For those wondering why the Department chose to act in such haste, it could be because of the negative observations of the constitutional auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), following…