Q. Ever since the 74th Amendment came into effect, the disempowerment and depoliticisation of urban local government has happened in multiple ways. Examine. (250 words)

Model Answer :

Approach:

• Why in news?
• Introduction
• Disempowerment and depoliticisation of urban local government
• Conclusion

Why in news?

The 74th Amendment came into effect on June 1, 1993.  So June 1, 2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the promised revolution in local governance. Moreover, as the Central Government’s Smart Cities mission completes three years this month, it’s the right time to examine India’s tryst with municipal governance.

Introduction

It is important to examine concerns in the underlying constitutional design of urban local governments and the politics impeding this Amendment’s operation. The “implementation failure” narrative tends to focus on how local governments are financially constrained and do not have the administrative capacity to carry out its functions. It is also important to explore how urban local governments are actively disempowered and depoliticised as an institution.

Disempowerment and depoliticisation of urban local government

The disempowerment and depoliticisation has happened in multiple ways as follows –  

• The elected representatives at the city-level are rendered powerless by making them subservient to the State government.In most municipal corporations, while the mayor is the ceremonial head, the executive powers of the corporation are vested with the State government-appointed commissioner. This disjuncture in municipal governance has been exploited by State governments to ensure that no city-level politician challenges their control over a city.
• Municipal corporations are further denied their political role by the continued operation of various parastatal agencies created by the State government. These may take the form of urban development authorities (which build infrastructure) and public corporations (which provide services such as water, electricity and transportation). These agencies, which function with a certain autonomy, are accountable only to the State government, not the local government. Even urban planning and land-use regulation (globally a quintessential local government function) is with State government-controlled development authorities.
• Apart from these pre-74th Amendment legacies like parastatal agencies and unelected commissioners, in recent years central government programmes such as the Smart Cities Mission seek to ring fence projects from local government. This programme mandates the creation of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for Smart Cities which will have “operational independence and autonomy in decision making and mission implementation”. It further “encourages” a State government to delegate “the decision-making powers available to the ULB (urban local body) under the municipal act/government rules to the Chief Executive Officer of the SPV”.
• The functions listed under the 12th Schedule do not include essential civic issues such as urban transportation, housing or urban commons. The 74th Amendment also contains an industrial township exception whereby a municipality need not be constituted in areas which are declared as industrial townships. These provisions have been employed by State governments to keep local governments weak.
• Even for performing functions that are within its purview (such as levying local taxes or undertaking civic projects above a certain budget) the local government requires State government permissions. Hence, municipalities are not yet autonomous units that can be genuinely called as the “third tier” of government in India’s federal system. Even after the 73rd and 74th Amendments, India has effectively only two levels of government — Union and State.

Conclusion

For making Urban local bodies a genuine “third tier” of government, efforts should be made to restore their independence, powers and autonomy effectively without undermining these through ways of State parastatal agencies, unelected commissioners and special purpose vehicles (SPVs) etc.

SOURCE:- Dheya IAS