Though
functions of the city state had been detailed in Kautilya's Arthashastra,
it is to British rule that we owe the present form of urban local government.
The first municipal corporation of this sub-continent was born in the
city of Madras (1668), followed by Calcutta and Bombay (1726). The present
system of local self-government takes off from the 'Lord Ripon Resolution'
of 1882 in which municipal authorities were made responsible as units
of self-government.
The Centre did not
intervene till 1992 in local self-government matters, as they were considered
an exclusive domain of state governments. The political and economic environment
of the late 1980s and early 1990s, however, fiscally and financially forced
local authorities to depend on the State as well as the Centre to finance
their overall development activities. This led the central government to
directly intervene in local self-government affairs and introduce the
74th Constitutional Amendment Bill that gave sweeping powers to local
authority, especially in planning and development by involving people
at all levels.
Despite
the provisions of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992,
not many local self-government institutions realised the importance of
good governance. Though political devolution or the handing over of functions
from the central to local authorities took place to some degree, fiscal
and administrative devolution were not actualised in many states. Due
to this municipalities and other self governance institutions continued
to languish in a state of neglect. While the urban local bodies were given
responsibilities, they were not given the financial power to act on these
responsibilities. The state of affair held true primarily for small and
medium towns. It was against the background of such a dismal state of
affairs that PRIA and its partners ventured into the field.
PRIA has intervened in 1269 wards of 116 municipalities,
focusing on small and medium towns to enable citizens access better
services including water, sanitation, birth and death registration.
Towards this end it has provided orientation to 3385 newly elected municipal
councillors on their roles and responsibilities in urban governance;
prompted use of citizen-centric birth registration procedures for the
urban poor in 17 municipalities, and carried out 353 campaigns on sanitation
and solid waste management.
While most constitutional
institutions are in place in a democracy like India, they do not function
effectively for the welfare of ordinary citizens. Institutional structures,
systems and culture in the public domain have become discriminatory. They
are anti-poor and work only for the rich and powerful. PRIA's interventions
have focused on getting these public institutions to function in accordance
with their constitutional mandates. From schools to clinics, from water
to electricity departments, Panchayats to municipalities, State Election
to State Finance to State Information Commissions, District Planning Committees
to Town Planning departments, academia to research councils-PRIA has demanded
of and facilitated all such public institutions, to fulfil their mandates
through transparent and accountable functioning.
