National Round Table on Inclusive Urban Governance: Challenges and Opportunities

Representaitives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and urban governance experts brainstormed on the various ways to influence urban governance policies, programmes and institutions from citizens' perspectives at the National Round Table of CSOs on ‘Inclusive Urban Governance: Challenges and Opportunities', New Delhi, 28--29, January. Addressing the participants, Dr. Rajesh Tandon, President, PRIA, said that urban issues are yet to be recognised as an agenda in the governance of the country. "Though it has been 18 years since the 74th Amendment, the nation got its first urban programme only three years back", he opined. The participants collectively called for a more aggressive campaign to realise the impact of the amendment on urban governance. They asserted the need to ensure democratic decentralisation, upscaling of citizen participation and social accountability in urban local governance institutions, realising citizens’ rights to basic urban services and inclusion of the informal sector in planning. The specific objectives of the National Round Table were to discuss ways to upscale and mainstream civil society innovations addressing urban governance-related issues and problems. Representatives of more than 30 CSOs from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Delhi participated in the two-day conclave organised by PRIA.