Empowering Local Bodies

Since the passage of the 74th Constitutional Amendment in 1992, there has been much debate about how poorly this has been implemented by various state governments. For better urban governance, the local government or the Municipalities must be empowered with functions, powers and responsibilities that are singularly in their domain. Under this, there are again three points of intervention proposed by Janaagraha:

1. Revamping municipal law

This entails devolution and distribution of powers and responsibilities across municipalities, wards and at the level of an Area Sabha. 

Janaagraha has developed the concept of the Area Sabha which is an urban equivalent of the Grama Sabha found in rural areas. The constituency of the Area Sabha is the polling booth, composed of all electors. These members of Area Sabha elect an Area Sabha representative among themselves to represent them in the Ward Committee of their municipal ward, which is chaired by directly elected Councilor. The Councilors have powers through the municipal council to decide on the composition of the budget and the priority of projects to be implemented.

Click here to know more about Area Sabhas (link to current Area Sabha page)

2. Coordination across all municipal services

Urban Governance in India presents the challenge of multiple agencies involved in the provision of urban services though constitutionally, these are the responsibilities of the local government – Municipality. The challenges typically are lack of coordination, accountability to the state government instead of the local government, resulting in less power in the hands of the local government for ensuring a good quality of life to the urban citizens. Though ideally, these agencies should fold into the urban local bodies’ (ULBs) jurisdiction, but practically, this might take a long time to come to fruition. Janaagraha proposes intermediate solutions that can be implemented progressively, such as:

1. Creation of common jurisdictions for operational units of all agencies coinciding with the fundamental unit of political accountability within the urban local body i.e. the municipal ward.
2. Aligning reporting periods and date. This allows decisions to be made on the basis of outcomes generated and funds available. It lays the basis for credible and scientific planning.
3. Aligning reporting channels to Urban Local Bodies.

3. Integrated services for the urban poor

With fully empowered urban local governments, addressing the issues of the urban poor can become more effective. Focus can shift to outcomes, rather than input measures which are mostly irrelevant. New service delivery arrangements can be experimented with, including public-private partnerships. Innovations in locally appropriate solutions will emerge. Mistakes that are made will be localised, from which there will be learning and adaptation. The urban poor themselves will be better able to participate in decision-making on issues that matter to them through the structures of Area Sabhas.