Municipal governance in India: Difference between revisions

Municipal or local [[Governance in Europeanisation|governance]] refers to the third tier of [[governance]] in India, at the level of the municipality or urban local body.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nagrika - The Constitution and the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act|url=http://www.nagrika.org/nagrikalarticles/74amendment|website=Nagrika|language=en-US}}</ref>

# Statutory Towns: All administrative units that have been defined by statute as urban like Municipal Corporation, Municipality, Cantonment Board, Notified Town Area Committee, Town Panchayat, Nagar Palika etc., are known as Statutory Towns. According to the 2011 [[Census of India]], there were 4041 statutory urban local bodies (ULBs) in the country as compared to 3799 as per Census of 2001.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Handbook of Urban Statistics, India|url=http://mohua.gov.in/pdf/5c80e2225a124Handbook%20of%20Urban%20Statistics%202019.pdf|access-date=8 October 2020|website=MoHUA}}</ref>

# [[Census town|Census Towns]]: All Administrative units satisfying the following three criteria simultaneously:  i) A minimum population of 5,000 persons ; ii) 75 per cent and above of the male main working population being engaged in non–agricultural pursuits; and iii) A density of population of at least 400 persons per km². As per 2011 Census, there were 3,784 Census Towns as against 1,362 in 2001.<ref name=":0" />

The municipal corporations and municipalities are fully representative bodies, while the notified area committees and town area committees are either fully or partially nominated bodies. As per the [[Constitution of India]], 74th Amendment Act of 1992, the latter two categories of towns are to be designated as municipalities or nagar panchayats with elected bodies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend74.htm|title=74th Amendment Act of 1992|access-date =18 January 2009}}</ref>

* [[Nagar Panchayat (Notified Area Council)|Nagar Panchayat]] (Notified Area Council or City Council)(नगर पंचायत)

Among all urban local governments, municipal corporations enjoy a greater degree of fiscal autonomy and functions, although the specific fiscal and functional powers vary across the states. These local governments have larger populations, a more diversified economic base, and deal with the state governments directly. On the other hand, municipalities or nagar panchayats have less autonomy, smaller jurisdictions and have to deal with the state governments through the Directorate of Municipalities or through the collector of a district{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}. These local bodies are subject to detailed supervisory control and guidance by the state governments.

State Municipal Acts are legislations enacted by state governments to establish municipal governments, administer them, and provide a framework of governance for cities within the state. Every state has its own municipal act and some states have more than one municipal act, governing larger and smaller municipalities under different acts.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nagrika - What is a Municipal Act?|url=http://www.nagrika.org/nagrikalarticles/municipalacts|access-date=2020-10-08|website=Nagrika|language=en-US}}</ref> Various processes including rules for elections, recruitment of staff, and demarcation of urban areas derive from the state municipal acts. Most Municipal Acts are enforced across all statutory urban areas in the respective states except the cantonment areas. Government of India had issued a Model Municipal Law in 2003 which aimed to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the municipal governments in the various states and bring them into conformity with the provisions of the 74th CAA.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Model Municipal Law, 2003|url=http://www.ielrc.org/content/e0331.pdf|website=International Environmental Law Research Center}}</ref>

Public health includes [[water supply]], [[sanitary sewer|sewerage]] and [[sanitation]], eradication of communicable diseases etc.; welfare includes public facilities such as education, [[recreation]], etc.; regulatory functions related to prescribing and enforcing [[Building code|building regulations]], encroachments on public land, [[birth registration]] and [[death certificate]], etc.; public safety includes [[fire protection]], [[street lighting]], etc.; public works measures such as construction and maintenance of inner city roads, etc.; and development functions related to [[town planning]] and development of commercial markets. In addition to the legally assigned functions, the sectoral departments of the state government often assign unilaterally, and on an agency basis, various functions such as [[family planning]], nutrition and slum improvement, disease and epidemic control, etc.

Besides the traditional core functions of municipalities, it also includes development functions like planning for [[economic development]] and [[social justice]], urban [[poverty alleviation]] programs and promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects. However, conformity legislation enacted by the state governments indicate wide variations in this regard. Whereas [[Bihar]], [[Gujarat]], [[Himachal Pradesh]], [[Haryana]], [[Manipur]], [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]] and [[Rajasthan]] have included all the functions as enlisted in the Twelfth Schedule in their amended state municipal laws, [[Andhra Pradesh]] has not made any changes in the existing list of municipal functions. [[Karnataka]], [[Kerala]], [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[Maharashtra]], [[Odisha]], [[Tamil Nadu]], [[Uttar Pradesh]] and [[West Bengal]] states have amended their municipal laws to add additional functions in the list of municipal functions as suggested in the twelfth schedule.

Provision of water supply and sewerage in several states has either been taken over by the state governments or transferred to state agencies. For example, in [[Tamil Nadu]], Madhya Pradesh and [[Gujarat]], water supply and sewerage works are being carried out by the state level Public Health Engineering Department or Water Supply and Sewerage Boards, while liability for repayment of loans and maintenance are with the municipalities. Besides these state level agencies, City Improvement Trusts and Urban Development Authorities, like [[Delhi Development Authority]] (DDA), have been set up in a number of cities. These agencies usually undertake land acquisition and development works, and take up remunerative projects such as markets and commercial complexes, etc.

The suggested functions to municipal corporations, municipalities and nagar panchayats are listed in the table below.<ref>Reforming Municipal Finances: Some suggestions in the context of India's Decentralization Initiative, by Mohanty P.K., Urban India, January–June 1995.</ref>

| Water supply domestic, Industrial and commercial purposes

| Public health, sanitation, conservancy and solid waste management

| Burials and burial grounds, cremations, cremation ghats/grounds and electric crematoria

| No

| Parking lots, bus stops and public conveniences

| Regulation of slaughter houses and tanneries

| Slum improvement and up gradation

| Promotion of cultural, education and aesthetic aspects

'''Nagar Nigam''' also known as '''Mahanagar Palika''' and [[Nagar Nigam#Terms used for Municipal Corporation in India|other names in different states]] (translated as "Municipal Corporation") in India are state government formed departments that works for the development of a [[metropolis|metropolitan city]], which has a population of more than 1 million. The growing population and urbanisation in various cities of India were in need of a local governing body that can work for providing necessary community services like health centres, educational institutes and housing and property tax. They also replace street lights.

They are formed under the Corporations Act of 1835 of [[panchayati raj]] system which mainly deals in providing essential services in every small town as well as village of a district/city. Their elections are held once in five-year and the people choose the candidates. The largest corporations are in the eight metropolitan cities of India, namely [[Mumbai]], [[Delhi]], [[Kolkata]], [[Chennai]], [[Bangalore]], [[Hyderabad]], [[Ahmedabad]], [[Surat]], and [[Pune]]. These cities not only have a large population, but are also the administrative as well as commercial centres of the country.

In India, a Nagar Palika or Municipality is an urban local body that administers a city of minimum population of 100,000 but less than 1,000,000. However, there are exceptions to that, as previously nagar palikas were constituted in urban centers with population over 20,000 so all the urban bodies which were previously classified as Nagar palika were reclassified as Nagar palika even if their population was under 100,000. Under the Panchayati Raj system, it interacts directly with the state government, though it is administratively part of the district it is located in. Generally smaller district cities and bigger towns have a Nagar palika. Nagar palikas are also a form of local self-government, entrusted with some duties and responsibilities, as enshrined and guided upon by the Constitutional (74th Amendment) Act, 1992. [[Udaipur]] is a city which is big but its population is 451,000 so it has a Nagar Palika.

The members of the Nagar palika are elected representatives for a term of five years. The town is divided into wards according to its population, and representatives are elected from each ward. The members elect a president among themselves to preside over and conduct meetings. A chief officer, along with officers like an engineer, sanitary inspector, health officer and education officer who come from the state public service are appointed by the state government to control the administrative affairs of the Nagar Palika.

A [[Nagar Panchayat]] or Notified Area Council or City Council is a form of an urban political unit in India comparable to a municipality. An urban centre with more than 11,000 and less than 25,000 inhabitants is classified as a "Nagar Panchayat".

Each Nagar Panchayat has a committee consisting of a chairman with ward members. Membership consists of a minimum of ten elected ward members and three nominated members. The NAC members of the Nagar Panchayat are elected from the several wards of the Nagar Panchayat on the basis of adult franchise for a term of five years. There are seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward classes and women. The Councillors or Ward Members are chosen by direct election from electoral wards in the Nagar Panchayats.

* [[Local self-government in India]]

* [http://panchayat.gov.in/ Official site of Ministry of panchayat Raj, Govt of India]