India: The Challenge of Urban Governance

THIS ANTHOLOGY CONSISTS of the contributions of urban researchers in India, all of whom were associated with the Global Urban Research Inititaive (GURI), the purpose of which was to assess the state of urban research in the South. The issue of urban governance emerged as central in this exercise and this book documents some of the research that was generated as a result. The collection includes a number of background papers that focus on various roles in urban governance and examine changes in this regard in India, both as a consequence of larger global changes and in response to the 74th Amendment Act (1992) which gave greater autonomy to local municipal bodies as part of a recognized third tier of government.
In spite of changes in the direction of decentralization, these authors argue that local bodies remain severely limited in their potential for self-government – both because of limited resources and capacities, and also because so many decisions continue to be made at higher levels. The discussion in these papers on who should and does manage cities is not confined to the mechanisms of service delivery but looks also at the broader capacity of cities to respond to change, whether local or global.
The book also includes a case study on private-public partnership – specifically on the process of bringing together stakeholders in planning water supply provision for a medium-sized town in south India. The final paper, which also draws on practical examples, explores the links between city governance and fiscal innovation. Throughout this collection, there is an emphasis on the complexity of the issues, on the poor level of existing knowledge and on the continuing need for research in this area.