All India Institute of Local Self-Government, established in 1926, will complete 100 years of its existence in three years’ time. In all these years, the institute has worked closely with municipal corporations, Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI) to empower their workforce and elected representatives to work efficiently for local development. Urban and rural local governance, as envisaged by the Father of Nation, has grown strong in many states but a lot of work still has to be done to improve local governance in the country.
The concept of local self-governance is not new to India. It is as old as India itself. The reference to Gram Sangh or panchayats has been found in ancient stories and religious texts too. However, the constitutional recognition of local governments in India came with the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act in 1992, and these local institutions were officially declared as the third tier of governments. Since then, LGs have been active at the grass-root level and making the lives of the people easier. Though their style of functioning was different from one state to another, the constitutional amendments gave them a standardized working framework.
At present, there are over 250,000 local government bodies, rural and urban, across India. If we look at just the number of towns in India, there are over 8000. There are nearly 3.1 million elected representatives and 1.3 million women representatives. It is mandatory under the CAAs to have at least one-third of women elected representatives in local bodies. Some states have taken this a step further. As many as 20 states have increased the representation of women in rural local bodies to
50 per cent. It has improved the way women are represented at the local level of politics. Since the local government is the first step into the political and administrative domain, the new entrant needs rigorous and extensive capacity building to be effective.
Almost 25 years have passed since local governments got constitutional validity but the capacity building of officials and elected representatives is still required to make governance efficient and effective. With the changing development requirements of cities and villages, the skill sets of officials need to be updated. The government of India has also taken note of the need for training for local government officials and elected representatives. Almost every mission launched since has a component to train and capacitate officials and elected representatives. It is true for the recently launched missions like Jal Jeevan Mission, Smart Cities Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission. A significant amount of budget has been allocated for training and capacity building programs under all these missions.
Existing Structure
of local governments
Many scholars, researchers in the local governance domain and elected representatives have been complaining that the existing local government framework needs revisiting. Since it is a state subject, every state has its own rules and regulations to run local governments. This is also visible in how these local government institutions are financed and what comes under their authority. Further, it is different in rural and urban areas.
The structure of urban and rural local bodies under state governments is similar in all states except in tribal areas. There are three types of urban local bodies based on the population under their jurisdiction. Urban areas having a population of over one million are governed by Municipal Corporations or ‘Mahanagar Palikas’. The large areas within the corporations are further divided into wards. And, urban areas with less than a million population are termed municipal councils. The rural areas transitioning to urban areas are governed by ‘Nagar Panchayats’. All these local governments are independent in their functioning and authority and managed by the respective state governments. In rural local governance, there are three nested bodies. At the top is the District Council which is made of a cluster of block councils (panchayat samiti) that is further made of village councils (gram panchayat).
The major responsibility conferred upon local bodies is to prepare development plan and execute 29 functions in rural and 18 in urban areas. These areas include health, social welfare, sanitation, education, poverty alleviation, housing, and the promotion of small-scale industries, among others.
The fundamental basis of local governance is that local citizens must have a say in decisions that affect their daily lives, and local problems are best solved by local solutions. Local governance has also been instrumental in removing the scourge of public malfeasance and increasingthe accountability of government departments and elected representatives.
AIILSG and local governance
Since its inception about 97 years ago, the institute is working towards empowering local government institutions in the country. For a long period, the local governments did not have constitutional recognition. Despite not having financial and administrative authority, traditional local government in the country supported the development projects and eased governance systems at the local level. The institute provided handholding support from the beginning of its operations and emerged as one of the premier institutions in building the capacity of local government officials and elected representatives.
The institute organized the first World Mayors’ Conference at Jaipur in 1998 and then the second one in Kochi in 2005. The idea behind organizing the global conferences in the country was to give exposure to elected city representatives in India and empower them to take a lead role in improving services and governance in their respective jurisdictions. For many years since 1998, the institute functioned as the anchor institute for the Urban Management Programme (UMP) of UN-Habitat in South Asia. The overall thrust was to build and strengthen the capacity of local governments and other stakeholders to address urban problems within a participatory framework. It also anchored the Sustainable Cities Programme of UN-Habitat in Maharashtra.
In later years of the 21st century, the institute has also started the South Asian Cities Summit, South Asian Mayors Forum and Urban Dialogues series to provide a knowledge-sharing platform to city leaders and officials and learn from the experiences of other cities. If cities are the engines of growth then local governments are the fuel than keeps that engine throttling at a required speed to maintain prosperity for all citizens. The role of the institute is expected to be substantial in the coming years. As the institute prepares to celebrate centennial anniversary in a few years, its role in the development of local governments will become
quite significant.
Many scholars, researchers in the local governance domain and elected representatives have been complaining that the existing local government framework needs revisiting. Every state has its own rules and regulations to run local governments. This is also visible in how these local government institutions are financed and what comes under their authority