Metropolitan Governance in India

ACCORDING TO THIS author, most projections indicate that the urban population of India will reach 400 million in another ten years. A critical factor in the quality of life for this very large population is the management of change in these urban areas, and this depends heavily on the policies and programmes of local urban governments and on the institutional framework within which they function. This book examines the establishment and evolution of local governance in India's four largest cities – Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Chennai (formerly Madras), Delhi and Calcutta.
An introductory chapter describes the structure of municipal governments in India, which have an elected deliberative wing, headed by an elected mayor, and an administrative executive wing, headed by an appointed municipal commissioner. It also discusses the relatively weak position of local bodies in India, controlled and supervised as they are on many fronts by state government. The author goes on to explore the theoretical and historical underpinnings of local government, and to discuss the development of the new localism. Looking at the examples of the USA, Britain and India, she considers the relationship between values and the structure of local government. The body of the book consists of profiles of each of the four metropolizes, comparing their models for management, the various roles within city government and the relationships between these and other organizations. She describes Chennai's government as being quite limited in both its function and credibility. Delhi she sees as having “...too much governance and not enough administration”. Mumbai is described as being outdated and out of touch with a
democratic ethos, depending heavily on a commissioner with wide-ranging powers. Calcutta, with its “mayor-in-council” form of governance, is more people-oriented and idealistic since it cedes greater executive power to the elected arm of local government. Calcutta is clearly the model that Pinto prefers, and she argues the need for a balance between the involvement of local people and the need for professionalism in the management of these cities.