Urban Governance Index

Context in Current Affairs: The Praja Foundation recently released the Urban Governance Index. Odisha topped the list of states and Manipur and Nagaland were at the bottom.

Urban governance index

According to the Urban Governance Index Odisha was followed by Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Delhi rank 13th in the list. The states were marked between 0 and 100 based on the themes empowered City administration, elected representatives and legislative structure and empowered citizens and physical empowerment.

Maharashtra scored 55%, Odisha scored 56%. The Other top performers were Chhattisgarh with a score of 49.6 8%, Kerala with a score of 48.7 7% and Madhya Pradesh with the score of 45.9 4%.

Inadequate infrastructure and Service Delivery are the major issues that continue to impede cities to achieve their true economic potential.

About the index

The ranking was done based on urban governance reforms. In order to create the index the Praja Foundation conducted a study for three years across 40 cities and in the national capital territory. The ranks have been awarded to the states based on their local self-Government and grassroot democracy.

According to the findings of the study none of the states could score 60 out of hundred. This indicates that the municipal bodies are lagging to provide effective governance at the local level. The study also said that not a single state has evolved all the 18 functions to the municipal bodies in spite of the fact that it has been 28 years after Parliament passed the constitutional amendment on municipalities. The 74th constitutional amendment was enacted in 1993 that recognized Municipal governments.

The 18 functions include regulation of land use, urban planning, planning for economic and social development, fire service, water supply, protection of the environment, urban Forestry, promotion of ecological aspects, etc. These functions aim to empower the local urban bodies and democratic decentralization of the local governance.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2020