WISA-Ward Infrastructure & Services Assessment

Background

India is a rapidly urbanizing nation. According to 2001 census, approximately 28% of Indian population lived in urban areas and by 2021, this is expected to reach 40%. Moreover, it is estimated that by 2011, urban areas will contribute up to 65% of India’s GDP. This, however, is contingent on the availability of quality infrastructure and public goods within the urban areas in a manner that results in an enhanced quality of life for urban citizens.

Though there is a wide acknowledgement on the urgency as well as significance of improving India’s urban infrastructure and service delivery, there are no objective metrics that measure the same, especially from a citizen’s perspective. Further, no measurements are done at a ward level despite the fact that wards are smallest political units in a city with local elected representatives and that budgetary allocations of municipal corporations are done at a ward level. In the absence of any reliable ward level information, infrastructure expenditure today is largely a result of negotiations between council members.

Ward Infrastructure & Services Assessment (WISA) project is a unique initiative to assess an urban citizen’s quality of life through the measure of local public goods delivery in a citizen centric manner. This will be done through a ward level measurement of a set of infrastructure and service indicators that are objective, quantifiable and unchallengeable. Besides being a powerful tool providing valuable information to urban planners and decision makers, WISA will also facilitate a direct accountability of local administration and elected representatives to the urban citizens. The project will be carried out by Janaagraha and is an initiative of the Kesroli group, a group of young eminent Indians with a desire to catalyze systemic changes for better governance and development in India.

Composition

The WISA project measures a set of urban indicators divided into 7 main categories viz.

1. Mobility
2. Water
3. Electricity
4. Public Health
5. Public Safety
6. Public Amenities
7. Environment & Ecology

For each of these categories, two sets of indicators have been defined – Service indicators which measure the outcomes of public goods delivery (eg speed of travel) as perceived by citizens and Infrastructure indicators which measure the means to achieving those outcomes (eg. % of roads paved). A total of 18 service indicators and 30 infrastructure indicators will be periodically tracked for all the wards through WISA.

Scope

WISA project is being piloted for the entire city of Bangalore for the year 2008-09. Measurements will be carried out for all indicators throughout the year and WISA cards for all wards generated at a quarterly frequency. A city level index will also be generated and tracked for an overall improvement in public goods delivery in Bangalore. Based on the outcomes of this pilot, WISA project will be planned to be scaled up to other cities in India as well.