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ASICS

2013-ongoing

Shaping India’s Urban Agenda

The Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS) is a health diagnosis of our cities. It evaluates the quality of laws, policies, institutions and institutional processes that impact the quality of life in urban India. States are scored on a scale of 0 to 10; the higher the score, the better the strength of urban laws.

Program Details

ASICS is based on the city-systems framework and aims to provide a common frame of reference for political and administrative leaders, business and academia, and media and civil society, in different cities to converge on their agenda for transformative reforms.

The initiative involves adopting a collaborative approach that combines Janaagraha’s expertise in governance reforms with the local knowledge and relationships of our state and city partners. We also leverage our collaborations with city partners to effectively engage political and administrative decision-makers on ASICS findings. Additionally, we advocate for – and implement – reform agendas to improve urban governance, thereby improving the ability of our cities to deliver a good quality of life. 

In its latest edition, ASICS evaluates the quality of urban laws of 35 states/UTs in India through 52 questions using the city-systems framework. It assesses 82 municipal legislations, 44 town and country planning legislations, 176 allied legislations/rules & notifications, and 32 policy and allied documents. ASICS 2023 aims to push the needle for transformative reforms in city governance in India.

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impact

  • ASICS strongly inspired the Municipal Performance Index of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India which led to several parliament questions. 
  • A private member bill was introduced to amend the 74th Constitution Amendment Act and give more powers to councils and mayors, leading to the first-ever chapter on cities in the Economic Survey of India.

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ASICS 2023

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ASICS 2017

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ASICS 2016

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ASICS 2015

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ASICS 2014

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ASICS 2013

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