Shifts in Urban Governance: Urban decentralization in Indian cities

The cities are growing rapidly. This growth not only affects the city government it also concerns the state government and central government. As the cities are recognized as motors of development they are drawing larger investment sectors as business destinations. This increases the need for skilled laborers and infrastructure facilities. The scale of the growth of the cities poses a greater problem for the city government. This trend is majorly observed in the developing countries of South Asia, specifically in India. By 2015, it is said that the 21 mega cities and 37 cities are expected to rise their population 5 folds.

With this rising population, economic growth the phase of the city’s growth is getting interesting. The demand for skilled laborers and greater job opportunities are dragging the migrants into the city.  For instance, if we look into south India, the IT sector is flourishing to a greater extent which larger increased the migrant percentage in metropolitan cities like, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai. This also invited a section of informal settlement. So, here if we see, it’s not the government sector which is deciding on the growth of the cities rather the investment opportunities decide it.

• The major question lies here is that, what should the role of the local government be?

Indian cities are nodes for changes and innovations showing high growth rates. On the other hand, the cities are facing a lack of infrastructure facilities which is bridging a larger gap between the high and middle-income groups.

• What is the city government has to talk about it?


• How is it going to adjust the quality of life of the growing citizens of the city?

To resolve the questions one has to loop into the structure of the present governance, where are the loopholes in it? The multiple links – administrative, fiscal and political tie local government to governments vertically at a higher level as well as links that tie government departments horizontally to other parts of government. The dispersion of functions and powers away from the central authority and taking hold of needs with the help of local and civil society might reduce the concern to some extent. This phenomenon can be observed in decentralization.

Decentralization

Decentralization has enjoyed a rather stable place on the development agenda despite huge problems in funds, capacity, and institutional context in weak local governments. This has not stopped the central government from continuing to implement the decentralization. There are various dimensions of decentralization that has to be looked into in terms of a comprehensive approach. The political, administrative, fiscal and market decentralization appears in different forms and combines across different countries. If we try to look into the administrative decentralization which urges about the provision of public services among different levels of government, it supports democratization by supporting citizens and other representatives. It transfers the responsibilities for planning, financing, management of certain public functions from the central government and its agencies to field units of government agencies, subordinate level departments, regional or functional authorities.

Choosing the most appropriate decentralization

Decentralization helps alleviate the bottlenecks in decision making that are often caused by central government planning and control of social and economic activities. Decentralization can help cut complex bureaucratic procedures and it can increase government officials’ sensitivity to local conditions and needs. moreover, decentralization can help national government ministries reach a larger number of local areas with services, allows greater political representation for diverse political, ethical, religious and cultural groups to concentrate on policies. In some countries, decentralization may create a geographical focus at the local level for coordinating national, state, provincial, district, and local programs more effectively and can provide better opportunities for participation by local residents in decision making.

Decentralization is not a solution for the potential disadvantages

Weak administrative or technical capacity at local levels may result in services being delivered less efficiently and effectively in some areas of the country. Administrative responsibilities may be transferred to local levels without adequate financial resources and make equitable distribution or provision of services more difficult. Decentralization can sometimes make coordination of national policies more complex and may allow functions to be captured by local elites. Also, distrust between public and private sectors may undermine cooperation at the local level.

Centralization and decentralization are not an either-or condition. Centralization and decentralization are essential to the effective and efficient functioning of the government. Not all functions can be or should be financed and managed in a decentralized fashion. Even when national governments decentralize responsibilities, they often retain important policy and supervisory roles. They must create “enabling conditions” that allow local units of administration or non-government organizations to take on more responsibilities.