Reforming Municipal Governance in India Today

India Urban Conference in Mysore (November 17-20, 2011) gave a rallying call for reforming municipal governance in the country on an urgent basis. Held at the Mysore campus of Infosys, Shri Narayan Murthy implored the nearly 500 delegates (mostly from southern region) to focus attention on improving the living conditions of India’s cities. Nearly one-third (377 million) of India’s population is now in cities; another 100 million are in peri-urban habitations; total urban settlements, as per 2011 census, have gone up by a third to about 8000 now. Urban India contributes to nearly 70% of India’s current GDP, top 100 cities alone accounting for 40% of GDP.

Yet, planning and services of India’s cities are outmoded, chaotic and exclusionary. Speaking on this theme, Km Selja, Hon’ble Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India underscored the need for participatory planning which includes the poor and the new migrants. She also raised the urgent need for enhancing human and institutional capacities of urban local bodies in the country.

The Conference was anchored around a number of sub-themes—water, land use, governance, education, health, culture, etc. Arghyam anchored the water & sanitation theme. Dr Rajesh Tandon, President PRIA, Chaired the panel on Reforming Institutions responsible for water and sanitation in cities. The panel discussion raised issues of overlapping and conflicting jurisdictions, poor institutional designs and inter-institutional linkages, declining professional competence in these institutions and resource gaps. In his closing comments, Dr Tandon emphasized the need for effective devolution of resources, and staff to ULBs; as a first step, he recommended ‘activity mapping’ in urban bodies with respect to functions of water and sanitation. He suggested that GOI should mandate a Ministry to take responsibility for devolution, capacity development and functioning of DPCs in urban local bodies in the country.