Problems of Municipal Administration in India

The earliest evidence of local management of civic administration in India can be traced to Indus Valley civilization (around 2300 B. C) which was essentially an urban civilization. Commenting on the Indus Valley civilization, Golden Childe says “well planned streets and a magnificent system of drains, regularly cleared out; reflect the vigilance of some regular municipal government”. The nature of society and governance at local level underwent a significant change over the changing course of Indian history.

It is beyond the scope of this paper to trace the process of this evolution and therefore one move straight to the modern civic administration in urban India. The first municipal Corporation in modern India was set up in the former Presidency town of Madras in 1688. This was followed by Municipal Corporations of Calcutta in 1876 and Bombay in 1888. Lord Ripon (1880-84), the Viceroy of India introduced an element of elections in the Municipal Corporation and is known as “father of Local Self-government in India” for his pioneering work in this direction.

The reforms introduced by Lord Ripon continue to have its traces in the existing local self governments. Municipalities in India came into being in the British era. The first of the municipalities in India was in the city of Chennai as the Municipal Corporation in the year 1688. This was followed by the setting up of the subsequent municipalities in India in the states of Mumbai and Kolkata. Presidents of these municipalities in India were elected by Lord Mayo’s Resolution of 1870. The present structure and configuration of the municipalities of India came into being after Lord Ripon’s Resolution of 1882.

The basic structure of the municipalities in India has not changed much since 1882. In the year 1992, the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act came into being and brought with it specifications regarding the responsibilities and the powers of the municipal units in India. The periodical elections followed the 1992 Act with timely elections and reconstruction of the municipal government. The 1992 Act made it mandatory for the Central Finance Commission to take care of the state municipalities in India and provide funds in case of necessity.

However, unlike the rural governing bodies, the urban Indian municipalities did not have a federated and systematic network. The municipal networks in India comprise of Mayor and councillors. The number of councillors in a particular municipal area depends upon the total population of that region. Also, the elected councillors are the ones who choose among the nominated councillors. The Municipalities of India are headed by the Municipal Commissioner whose tenure of operation is fixed by the State Statue. All the powers and responsibilities of the Municipal Commissioner are also provided by the Statue of the State.

The functions of Municipalities are divided into two parts – discretionary and Obligatory. Some of the discretionary functions of the Municipalities of India are: 1. Housing facilities for low income groups 2. Construction and maintenance of gardens, libraries, rest houses, public parks, leper homes, rescue homes for women, museums and orphanages 3. Provision of transport links with the municipality 4. Promotion of welfare of employees of municipalities 5. Securing or removal of building or places that are prone to dangers Some of the obligatory functions performed by the municipals of India are: 1.

Building and maintenance of primary schools 2. Supply of wholesome water 3. Removing obstruction and projections in public paths, bridges and other areas 4. Lighting and watering in the public streets 5. Maintenance and development of the public hospitals 6. Construction and maintenance of public streets Sources of Income- The sources of income are mainly two- 1. Taxes that the Corporation can levy, like octoroons, water tax, property tax on education, etc. and 2. Grants from the government. Municipal Corporation is the term used for describing the local governing ody in countries, cities, towns, charter townships, townships, villages and boroughs. Municipal Corporation of India was formed to take care of the requirements and necessities of the various communities like medical centers, educational necessities, along with matters relating to property and housing taxes. The corporation departments work for cities with more than twenty thousand population. It is also known as the “Nagar Nigam”. GUWAHATI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION: Guwahati Municipal Corporation or GMC in short is the local government in Guwahati. GMC was formed in the year 1971 by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation Act, 1969.

The Corporation was duly constituted in 1974 in the first meeting of the elected councillors as per provision of Sec. 45 of this Act. The Corporation has the following major branches. 1. Conservancy 2. Water Works Tax Division 3. Public Works 4. Building Permission 5. Street light and Electrical Section 6. Municipal Markets 7. Sanitation & Health 8. Veterinary 9. Enforcement 10. Property Tax 11. Mutation Branch 12. Trade Licence 13. Advertisement 14. Slow Moving Vehicle Branch 15. Dead body and night soil removal Branch 16. Poverty alleviation 17. Birth and death registration 8. Garage Branch 19. Accounts Branch For property tax and trade licence purposes, the corporation area is divided into four zones. For Conservancy and Public works, the corporation area is divided into five divisions. Sources of Revenue: 1. Property Tax comprising of general tax, water tax, scavenging tax, light tax and urban tax. 2. Trade licence fee 3. Entry toll 4. Parking fees 5. Toll and rent from municipal markets 6. Tax on advertisements 7. Tax on slow moving vehicles 8. Animal tax 9. Building permission fees and penalties 10. Water connection charge 11. Fines 12.

Share of motor vehicle tax 13. Share of entertainment tax 14. Share of land revenue and surcharge on stamp duty There are over 1, 00,000 assessed holdings. There are about 40,000 water connections to different holdings. Organisational setup: The Mayor and the Deputy Mayor, is responsible of the 60 Municipal wards of Guwahati Municipality Corporation, who is the head of a council consist of 60 elected ward commissioners. There are five standing committees of the council to supervise various works. The Commissioner is responsible for the proper functioning of the corporation.

He is assisted by Additional Commissioner and Joint Commissioner. A Chief Engineer for The Water Works department and the Public Works Department division is responsible. A Superintendent Engineer is responsible for the Garage branch. The accounts branch is the responsibility of a Financial Advisor, a Chief Accounts and an Audit Officer. Each revenue zone is headed by a Deputy Commissioner. Functions: The functions of the Corporation as assigned to it by the Municipal Corporation Act, 1969, may be described in the following manner: * Water Supply, Drainage and Sewerage:

To construct and maintain water works, drains, public latrines and urinals; to supply water; to take precautions against any act of water pollution through bathing, throwing rubbish, dirt, filth, etc. To take measures to flush, clean and empty the drains from time to time; to take steps for disposal of garbage at appropriate places in or outside the city; to keep the public latrines clean and in proper order, and to compel the employers of more than 20 workers to provide necessary latrines and urinals in their establishments. Regulation of public bathing and washing: To set apart suitable places for the use of the public for bathing or washing, to specify the times at which, and the sex of persons by whom, such places may be used and to prohibit the public from use of any place not to set apart and from polluting water in any manner. * Conservancy: To remove offensive matters and take necessary steps for keeping the streets clean and to provide for cremation and burial grounds. * Regulation of factories and trades:

To regulate the establishment, alteration, enlargement or extension of any factory, workshop or trade premises in which steam, electricity, hydro or other mechanical powers are used with a view to regulate factories and trade. * Prevention of Dangerous diseases: To take necessary measures for prevention of necessary diseases and to take necessary steps for removal of any diseased person to the hospital for treatment or as a necessary measure against spread of any disease. * Disposal of Dead Animals: To take measures for disposal of carcasses on information received from the owners of the dead animals. Public safety and suppression of nuisances: To adopt measures against any type of nuisance. For this purpose, the Corporation should ensure that no person loiters, begs importunately, exposes or exhibits deformity of offensive sore, carries meat exposed to public view, pickets animals, sticks upon buildings and walls etc notices or documents without permission, carries rubbish, filth, etc at any hour prohibited by the Corporation or along any route in contraventions of any prohibition made by the Corporation

Prohibition of Nuisance from Animals: To see that dogs are registered and not let loose in public places, to destroy stray dogs if found loitering to the danger of the public and to maintain pounds for confining any animals which may be found in public places or streets. * Prevention of Fire: To take measures for prevention of outbreak of fire, extinction and control of a fire that may break out and to prohibit deposition in any place of anything that may cause fire and maintain a fire brigade for extinguishing fire in case of its occurrence. Market and Slaughter-houses To provide for and control municipal markets, slaughter-houses and stock yards and also to control the private markets, slaughter-houses, etc. * Maintenance of vital statistics: To maintain statistics of birth and death and other vital matters. Problem areas of Municipal administration in India: * Scarcity of financial resources: The first and most serious problem facing the urban local bodies is the acute scarcity of finance. Generally, their sources of income are inadequate as compared to their functions.

Their chief sources of income are the varied types of taxes. However, most of the income generating taxes is levied by the Union and state governments and, the taxes collected by the urban bodies are not sufficient to cover the expenses of the services provided. Though they can impose certain new taxes, the elected members of these urban bodies hesitate in doing so for fear of displeasing their electorate. The administrative machinery, at the disposal of these local bodies, is insufficient and ineffective.

The staff, which is often underpaid, indulges in corrupt practices which lead to loss of income. Quite often, failure in collecting taxes leads to accumulation of arrears running into crores of rupees. As a result, many urban bodies are on the brink of bankruptcy. Financial stringency has become the biggest hurdle for almost all municipal bodies on account of the ever-increasing expenditure on establishment which has gone up to about 60 per cent of the income. Virtually no money is available for development work.

Municipal committees of many small towns find it difficult even to disburse salaries to their employees on time. Many civic bodies have not been able to provide even the basic civic amenities in the areas which have been included in their jurisdiction during the last couple of decades. * Low effectiveness: Because of inadequate finances, the local bodies have not been able to fulfill their obligatory functions. As a result, they suffer a constant outcry from the public as well as the government.

The most basic necessity, water is not supplied properly, drainage facilities do not cover the entire city, unplanned colonies and slums develop fast, menace of stray cattle on the roads continues, traffic is hazardous, roads are not properly maintained and unsafe buildings are allowed to continue to exist despite the obvious threat to the inmates and the inhabitants of the area. In short, poor sanitation, poor hygiene and shortage of basic necessities make cities unsafe. * Excessive state control: Next is the issue of the excessively strict control exercised by the state government over urban bodies.

To ensure proper performance of their functions, the state government exercises legislative, administrative, financial and judicial control. This proves to be more of a curse than a boon, because, instead of providing guidance and support through the control mechanism, the control turns out to be negative, restricting the functioning of these bodies. Supersession, till 1992, was very arbitrary. Through this tactic the government not only meted out punishment to the elected councillors but to the citizens as well, depriving them of their elected institutions.

Now, the Constitution 74th Amendment Act has taken away the power to supersede or suspend the municipal body from the state government. However, the state government can dissolve them. The financial control over the urban bodies has also been so rigid that they have virtually no autonomy left. When the control becomes too oppressive, the relationship of the state government with the urban bodies would naturally be strained. Hopefully, the situation will change because of the Constitution 74th Amendment. * Personnel management:

With the provincialisation of the municipal services, a lot of earlier defects in personnel management have been mitigated. Yet, the system of recruitment fails to bring in the best men. The need for adequate training of the municipal staff has not received due emphasis. The pay scales are not comparable with those of the state services and promotion opportunities are few. Several vacancies are not filled for years and transfers are affected at the free will of the senior bureaucrats and the government.

In the sphere of transfers, corruption, favouritism and nepotism are rampant. In the case of most of the bodies, the state government is empowered to take disciplinary action and the urban body has very little control over its personnel. The municipal bodies have failed to attract qualified and competent personnel. Gujarat is one state where systematic efforts have been made with financial assistance from the World Bank, to study the staffing pattern of the municipal bodies and to assess their training requirements for urban development.

The Gujarat Municipal Finance Board has entrusted several training institutes with the responsibility of training municipal personnel. Such measures can be initiated by other states as well. * Unplanned urbanisation: It is generally commented that the urban bodies have failed to perform their primary duty, that is, to check the problems and complications created by rapid urbanization. The shifting of a vast number of the rural population towards cities has led to several problems such as the unplanned growth of towns and cities.

In the absence of proper planning, judicious use of land is not being made, colonies are set up without proper facilities such as schools, parks and hospitals, the growth of slums is not checked, there is a shortage of houses, traffic congestion is rampant and hardly any effective steps are taken to check urban poverty and unemployment. * Low level of Participation: Due to an acute lack of civic consciousness, public participation in urban bodies has been negligible. The population of the cities consists of heterogeneous groups and they are alienated from one another.

Most of the city population was once rural and, even now, it looks at the city merely as a place to earn a livelihood, and has little attachment with it. While one understands the reasons behind the low level of participation of the rural population in the management of their politico-administrative institutions, it is difficult to appreciate a similar, if not identical, phenomenon in the urban areas. Why is it that, despite a relatively higher level of literacy and educational standards, city-dwellers do not take adequate interest in the functioning of the urban government bodies?

A perceptible apathy on their part towards participating in the governance system pushes such institutions into a state of complacency and irresponsibility. It is ironical that the urban population has rarely, if ever, raised its voice against cases of prolonged supersession of democratic municipal bodies. * Ineffective Leadership: Poor municipal leadership is yet another factor which has corroded the credibility of the urban bodies. The urban bodies, during their elections, fail to attract men of calibre, as the latter find a berth in State and Union Legislatures— more prestigious and profitable.

Besides, the urban bodies have no original powers; they are appendage of the state government and their image is sullied often by charges of corruption and inefficiency. Evils of casteism and communalism are also rampant and all malpractices associated with a general election are present. The system of cooption is also misused. Deserving candidates are rarely co-opted and this weakens the municipal leadership. * Structural Lacunae: A lot of criticism has been specially targeted at the single purpose agencies. They are all dominated by bureaucrats which go against the basic philosophy of local government.

The functions that have been assigned to them belong really to the elected urban bodies. They lower the prestige and significance of the local bodies. The municipal bodies have to contribute to the budget of these agencies while having no control over them. Their functions are often overlapping. For instance, in some states, the function of water supply has been entrusted to the Improvement Trusts as well as municipal bodies. This dual control has diluted the responsibility of each. The ordinary citizen also gets confused when he has to approach these organizations.

Unplanned Urbanisation Urbanization is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of rural migration and even suburban concentration into cities, particularly the very largest ones. To form a causal chain, it is right to say that more jobs, more services in the urban side and absence of land in the countryside force people to migrate to larger cities which bring about uncontrolled urbanization. As a result, some problems arise such as unemployment, inadequacy of infrastructure/services and some environmentally unwanted events as well as unpleasant demographic incidents.

The major drawbacks of this growth are as follows: * Unemployment : The first main problem is unemployment rate in the cities. Imagine that a city with a population of 5 million people and everything is fine, everyone has work. Then, other citizens of the same country – especially from the rural areas – see the opportunity to have a better life and migrate to this city. Another 1 million people may be OK, 2 million might be accepted due to newly created sectors; nevertheless, if another 5 million people come to this city, what will be the result?

Excess unskilled labourers will certainly occupy everywhere. There will be a dramatic rise in the unemployment level owing to the limited capacity of workers. Looking from a different angle, since young adults come to cities before their families, unemployment will reach a maximum point that is defined by the term “unable to cope with”. * Inadequacy of infrastructure and services: This uncontrollably growing kind of urbanization results in so much pressure on the infrastructure that no means of infrastructure can respond to any needs of urban life effectively.

For instance, when there is a sudden rain, there would be floods all over the city, but in fact, there should not be by the help of regular working sewers and drainage. Garbage removal is another bad aspect as well as destroyed roads and the inconsistencies of the power supplies. Electricity and natural gases have innumerable problems as a consequence of this denial of service. Services sectors are also in deep trouble. There do not seem to be any noticeable investments in transportation; hence, it cannot meet the needs of city residents.

For the expensiveness of highly equipped private hospitals, urban crowds choose the state hospitals mostly and this leads to very long queues indeed. As a result, people cannot get a good examination in medical centers. Education is also badly hurt; because, children are made to receive education in incredibly crowded classrooms and the teacher cannot show the same interest to every child and that drops the learning level sharply in this so-called educational system. * Pollution and Deforestation: Within this type of urbanization, some unwanted events occur, specifically environmental e. g. ollution and deforestation. Factories and motor vehicles pump large quantities of carbon dioxide and other waste gases into the air. More vehicles mean more pollution. For example, the poisonous gases coming from the vehicles result in acid rain that damages trees, buildings and can kill fish in lakes and rivers. Rivers can also be polluted by industrial waste from factories. Deforestation, on the other hand, is very widespread in recent years; large areas have been destroyed, as the trees are cut down for wood or burned to clear the land for building universities, shopping centers, skyscrapers and so forth.

It is not wrong to say that this unplanned urban growth influences accommodation in the form of illegal buildings by ruining the nature and natural beauties. In conclusion, uncontrolled urbanization is a very deep subject existing in the middle of a causal chain with causes; for example, more job opportunities and better services in urban life in contrast to absence of land in the rural areas and effects; such as unemployment, insufficiency of infrastructure, unwanted environmental events and unpleasant demographic theories.

In the right hands, urbanization can determine or at least influence the destiny of a city and may be a turning point for its existence and optimistic future, whereas in unstable and unplanned conditions, urbanization creates nothing but a real mess. Therefore, migrants to an uncontrolled urban side may meet the worst disappointments in their lives instead of hopes of making easy money; because, it is not perpetually true that “Roads are paved with gold. ” especially in today’s world.