LOCAL
GOVERNANCE – POLITY
News:
Staff shortage, financial dependency
plague local governance in India
What's
in the news?
●
Recently, an annual survey of Indian
cities shows that a majority of local governments are financially dependent on
their State Governments.
Issues
in the local governance system:
1.
Financial dependence on state governments: Majority of local
governments are financially dependent on their State Governments.
2. Lack of borrowing power: Except five States Bihar, Jharkhand,
Odisha, Meghalaya, and Rajasthan, all the others have to get approval from the
State before borrowing money.
3. Lack of administrative power: Local governments also have limited
control over who to hire and how to distribute work.
●
Data show that 35% of posts in India’s
municipal corporations are vacant.
4. Poor labour capacity: There are 5,906 city workers in New York and
2,936 in London for every one lakh population compared to just 317 in
Bengaluru, 586 in Hyderabad, and 938 in Mumbai.
5. Other challenges: Criminal elements and contractors are attracted
to local government elections especially in urban areas.
●
They are able to win elections through
corrupt means, as local elections do not get same scrutiny as State Assembly or
General Elections.
What
steps can be taken to make local governments more efficient?
1.
Regular elections: The elections should be held at regular
intervals without any delay. State Governments and State Election Commissions
must be held accountable for delays.
2. Efficient implementation of Constitutional amendment act: The
provisions of 73rd & 74th Constitutional Amendments should be
implemented in true spirit.
●
State Finance Commissions should be
regularly constituted with clearly defined Terms of Reference (ToR).
3. Inclusive decision-making: Gram Sabhas and wards committees (in
urban areas) have to be revitalized.
●
Consultations with the Grama Sabha could
be organised through smaller discussions where everybody can participate to
make them inclusive.
4. Strengthening organisational structure: local government
organisational structures have to be strengthened.
●
Panchayats are burdened with a huge amount
of work that other departments thrust on them, without being compensated for
the extra administrative costs.
●
Local governments must be enabled to hold
State departments accountable and to provide quality, corruption free service
to them.
5. Increase human resources: There is a need to improve capabilities
of human resources through training, process consultation, action research
methods and workshops.
6. Enhanced citizen participation: Citizen participation and
engagement in local governance can be enhanced with the help of NGOs and civil
society organizations.
●
Citizens also need to be informed about
the functioning and consequences of decisions taken by the local government
bodies.