Eligibility Criteria

General

  1. Any State Government, Municipality (all categories of Urban Local Bodies), Civic Agency that provides services in urban areas, State Election Commissions and State Finance Commissions in India are eligible to apply.
  2. The Application should provide evidence of ground breaking work in decentralisation in the urban context. It could cover areas such as decentralised planning, fiscal decentralisation, functional devolution, administrative devolution and practices, community participation or any other initiative that has furthered urban decentralisation.
  3. Applications should be made only for initiatives undertaken post December 2010.
  4. Applications submitted during V Ramachandran Awards inaugural edition are not eligible to apply for this edition.
  5. The decision of the awards jury shall be binding.

Criteria By Award Categories:

Award Category Eligibility Area of Work
Best State Efforts by State Government through departments such as Local Self Government/ Urban Development / Directorate of Municipal Administration/ Finance.
  1. Enactment of laws, drafting of policies, setting up of institutional mechanisms to successfully foster urban decentralisation in the city / state.
  2. Implementation of a policy / programme / scheme to successfully foster urban decentralisation in the city / state.
Best Municipality Initiatives by Urban Local Bodies (Municipal Corporations, Municipalities and Town Panchayats).
  1. Drafting of policies, setting up of institutional mechanisms to successfully foster urban decentralisation in the city.
  2. Directly implemented or facilitated implementation of initiatives (laws, policies, schemes, programmes) that have furthered urban decentralisation in the city.
Best Civic Agency Initiatives by Development Authority/ Metro Rail Cooperation/ Water Supply Board /any city civic agency excluding Urban Local Bodies. Effective implementation of project / scheme through demonstrable inter-agency/government coordination and decentralization in practice.
Best State Election Commission State Election Commissions in India. Drafting of policies and setting up of institutional mechanisms and processes and implementing such initiatives to successfully conduct elections to the Municipal Bodies such as improving voter participation, accuracy of electoral rolls, promoting candidate disclosures and using technology to improve election process management.
Best State Finance Commission State Finance Commissions across India. Setting up of institutional mechanisms to successfully foster urban decentralisation in the state. Initiatives could typically include steps that help improve financial management and transparency in ULBs and role in improving decentralised governance in India.