MODULE 2

URBAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

- What is Urban Local Government

(ULG)?
- It’s the level of government _below
the state_ that runs cities & towns.
- In India there are three tiers of
government: central, state & local (urban
+ rural).

- Constitutional backing
- The 73rd Amendment (1992) gave
constitutional status to _rural local bodies_
(Panchayati Raj).
- The 74th Amendment (1992) did the
same for _urban local bodies_
(municipalities).
- These amendments made local
governments _democratically elected_
and gave them specific powers.
Powers of rural localities have been
formalized under the panchayath raj
system , while urban localities have nagar
palika but derive their powers from
individual state govt
- Urban Local Government (ULG)
forms
- Urban areas are governed by
municipalities(urban self-government).
- ULG works through elected
representatives; the 74th Amendment
gave them constitutional recognition.

- What is an “urban area”?

- (a) All places with a _Municipality,
Corporation, Cantonment Board_ or
_Notified Town Area Committee_.
- (b) Other places that satisfy three
criteria:
1. Minimum population of 5,000
2. At least 75 % of adult male
workers in _non-agricultural_ jobs.
3. Population density of 400 persons
per sq km or more.

- Types of urban local bodies (ULBs)

- Statutory Towns: urban areas under
statutory units like Municipal Corporation,
Municipality, Nagar Palika, etc. (4,041 in
2011).
- Census Towns: administrative units
that meet the three criteria above
detailed.
- there are three types of municipality
based on the population

1. Municipal Corporation (Nagar

Nigam) – for big cities like Delhi, Mumbai.
2. Municipality (Nagar Palika/
Nagar Parishad) – for towns > 25,000 &
< 1 million people.
3. Municipal Committee– for towns
between 10,000 & 25,000 people.
- Key points
- Municipal corporations &
municipalities are _fully elected_ bodies.
- The 74th Amendment aimed to make
urban governance more democratic and
improve service delivery (water,
sanitation, roads, etc.).

1. Municipal Corporation
A municipal corporation runs big cities. It
has two parts – a council (the legislative
wing) elected by people with a Mayor, and
an executive wing headed by a
Commissioner (usually an IAS officer) who
manages day-to-day work.
2. Municipality
Municipalities manage smaller towns.
They are called municipal committees,
boards, or city councils. Their structure is
like a corporation but the head is a
President/chairman instead of a
Commissioner.

3. Notified Area Committee (NAC)

An NAC is set up for the administration of
two type of areas (a)fast-growing
industrial town&(b) a town which doesn’t
not yet fulfill all the conditions necessary
for the constitution of a municipality. All its
members, including the Chairman, are
nominated by the state government, so it
is neither elected nor a statutory body.

4. Town Area Committee

This is a semi-municipal body created by a
state act to run a small town with limited
civic functions. Its members can be wholly
elected, wholly nominated, or partly both.

5. Cantonment Board
A Cantonment Board handles municipal
services in areas where military forces are
stationed. It works under the Defence
ministry, has a military officer as ex-officio
President, and members are partly elected
and partly nominated.

6. Township
A township is established by large public
enterprises to provide amenities to their
staff living near the plant. All officials,
including the administrator, are appointed
by the enterprise; it is not an elected
body.

7. Port Trust
Port trusts manage major ports (like
Mumbai, Kolkata) and for two purposes (a)
to manage and protect the ports ;
(b)provide civic services there. They are
created by an Act of Parliament and have
both elected and nominated members.

8. Special Purpose Agency

These are state-created agencies that
handle specific functions that legitimately
belong to the domain of municipal
corporation,municipalities or other
ULG(e.g., town improvement trust,housing
boards, pollution control). They are known
as uni – purpose, or functional local
[Link] are autonomous statutory
bodies, not subordinate to local
municipalities.

Functions of Urban Local Bodies

(ULBs)
The 74th Constitutional Amendment gave
ULBs powers listed in the Twelfth
Schedule, focusing on public health,
safety, infrastructure, and development.
It lists functions related to economic and
social development that are best handled
locally.

Key functions include:

-urban planning & land-use regulation,and construction
of buildings :
making town plans and controlling
land-use & building construction. Usually
done by development authorities (e.g.,
DDA or BDA), but sometimes many
agencies share it, causing coordination
problems.
deciding how land is used and buildings
are built.

-economic & social development planning:

planning programs for social and
economic growth. ULBs often lack
resources or expertise for proper
integrated planning.

- Roads and bridges

building & maintaining city transport
infrastructure (shared with PWD).
- water supply for domestic , industrial and
commercial purposes
providing water for homes, industries &
commerce.
-public health , sanitation, conservancy and solid waste
management
water quality, food safety, disease control
(except immunisation) & waste
management.
collection, transport & disposal of
garbage.

- slum improvement and upgradation

upgrading housing & living conditions
(handled by housing boards).

- urban poverty alleviation

special schemes to help poor urban
residents.
- fire service

- urban forestry
Protection of the environment and
promotion of ecological aspects
- safeguarding the interests of weaker sections of
society
Including the handicapped and mentally
retarded
- providing of urban services and facilities
Such as parks , garden,playgrounds
- Burials and burial grounds
Cremations,cremation grounds and
electric crematoriums
- promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic
aspects

- cattle pounds ;prevention of cruelty to animals

- vital statistics;
including registration of birth and deaths
- public services (amenities)
including street lights, parking lots, bus
stops and public convenience
- Regulation of slaughter house and tanneries

ULBs often lack resources for integrated

planning, leading to coordination
problems among multiple authorities.

Sources of revenue for ULBs

- Taxes & non-tax collections assigned
to them.
- Shared taxes & duties recommended
by the State Finance Commission.
 - Grants from state & central govt.
(including Centrally Sponsored Schemes).
- Central Finance Commission grants.

Challenges of urban local bodies

- Delegation of powers states don’t give

enough authority to [Link] urban local
govt have not been able to perform their
task effectively
- Ineffective leadership leaders use their
position for personal gain ( for political
carrier- rather than being change agent
bringing out desired urban
reforms)instead of reforms.
- Parastatal agencies separate bodies
(such as urban development . authorities
and public corporation ) answer only to
state govt., not local bodies.
- Lack of fundslimited revenue & tied
grant reduce flexibility.
- Corruption & low capacityunderstaffed &
underpaid municipal staff, limited
capacity
Even if the municipal bodies receive fund
they just don't have the capacity to
function effectively most of the funds
given to the ULB s are tied funds
 - Coordination problems many agencies
work separately, causing inefficient
service delivery.
- Policy & planning issues inconsistent
urban policies & weak monitoring lead to
poor implementation.
- lack of consistent and coherent urban
development policies

-Lack of proper monitoring system

ULBs need proper power, money &

coordination to perform their many urban
services effectively.

What are Cantonment Boards?

Cantonment Boards are local autonomous
bodies responsible for municipal
administration of cantonment areas,
managing both military and civilian
populations.

How do Cantonments differ from

Military stations?
Cantonments house both military and
civilian residents, while military stations
are solely for training and housing armed
forces.

What are the categories of

Cantonments based on population?

Category I: population > 50,000.

Category II: population 10,000-50,000.
Category III: population 2,500–10,000.
Category IV: population < 2,500.

What is the significance of

Cantonment Boards?
They provide public services like health,
water, sanitation, education, and street
lighting, and act as an interim
administration for army units in border
areas and also for the residents live there.
Facilitates soldiers between two tenures
of difficult and challenging “border and
field postings “ to focus on training and
administration

Who administers Cantonment

Boards?
They operate under the Ministry of
Defence (central government), unlike
other urban bodies which are state-
controlled.

What is a Special Area Improvement

Trust?
It is an authority (Urban Improvement
Trust or Development Authority)
responsible for planning and developing
urban areas.

Major functions of Improvement

Trusts include:
- Construction/reconstruction of
buildings, roads, drainage, sewerage, etc.
- Street formation, alteration, and
lighting.
- Demolition of unsafe dwellings.
- Market and public facility
development.
- Land division for residential plots.
-provision of facilities for
Communication and green space facilities.
- Land reclamation for
gardens/afforestation.

The image contains two pages of text

discussing *Administration of Urban
Improvement Trusts/Development
Authorities* and *Slum Areas*.

Urban Improvement
Trusts/Development Authorities
- State-government-controlled entities
managed by nominees from various
departments.
- Main revenue comes from land sales,
ground rent, fees, conversion charges,
and urban levies.
- Expenditures focus on acquiring land,
providing roads, parks, bridges,
electrification, sewerage, drainage,
sanitation, and maintaining urban
amenities.

Slum Areas
- “Slum” describes informal settlements
with inadequate housing and miserable
living conditions; they are overcrowded
and have very small living spaces.
- Slums are not new; they exist in most
cities due to urbanisation and
industrialisation, especially where
affordable land is scarce and competition
is intense.
 - The main cause of slum proliferation is
rapid, non-inclusive urbanisation driven by
rural migration to urban areas.
- A slum is substandard housing that is
poorly serviced, unsafe, overcrowded, and
socially undesirable.
- In India, rural-to-urban migration has
increased dramatically, worsening urban
environmental quality and causing
thousands of deaths annually (25 % of
global slum-related deaths).
- UN-Habitat defines a slum as a
run-down area with substandard housing,
squatter status, and lack of tenure
security.
- Globally, urban dwellers in slums
dropped from 47 % to 37 % (1990-2005),
but the absolute number of slum residents
is rising due to population growth (1 billion
in 2010, projected 2 billion by 2030).
- Orangi neighbourhood in Karachi,
Pakistan, is the world’s largest slum
(2.4 million population).

Causes of Slum Formation

- Rapid rural-to-urban migration,
economic stagnation, poverty,
unemployment, informal economy, poor
planning, politics, natural disasters, and
social conflicts.

1. Rural-urban migration: Drives slum

formation as people move to cities for jobs
and better opportunities but cannot afford
housing, eventually settling in slums,
expanding existing ones.
2. Urbanization : Over 50 % of the
world’s population now lives in urban
areas. Rapid urbanisation fuels economic
growth, pushes people to seek urban jobs,
and strains housing and infrastructure,
leading to slum creation.
3. Poor infrastructure: Families unable
to afford transport or housing end up in
squatter settlements near workplaces,
relying on informal employment and
lacking public services.
4. Social exclusion & economic
stagnation : Poor infrastructure forces
people to adapt to sub-standard
conditions (unpaved streets, etc.),
encouraging slum growth.
5. Poor house planning :Lack of
affordable low-cost housing and
insufficient financial resources lead
governments to neglect public housing
programs, increasing slum expansion.
Coordination failures in economic
development, urban planning, and land
allocation worsen the problem.
6. Poverty: Urban poverty drives demand
for slums. Migrants arrive with hope but
little else, lacking shelter, services, or
amenities; slums become the only option
for the urban poor.

7. Natural disasters: in poor nations

force affected families to migrate to
unaffected zones, leading to temporary
tent cities or slums that often become
permanent.
- Examples given are the 2010 Haiti
earthquake (slums near Port-au-Prince)
and the 2007 Bangladesh Cyclone Sidr
(slums near Dhaka).

>>problems faced by slum areas in India,

noting slums are a key urban issue
affecting transport, population, health,
safety and environment, especially when
development projects ignore slum
rehabilitation.

Problems faced by the slums

1. Lack of Basic Necessities – insufficient
access to water, sanitation, electricity,
waste collection, roads, street lighting and
drainage.
2. Overcrowding & High Density– low
space per person, many families share
single-room units (5–6 people), used for
cooking, sleeping and living.
3. Substandard Housing / Illegal Structures
– buildings violate minimum housing
standards, use non-permanent materials
(earthen floors, mud walls, straw roofs),
and often lack compliance with safety
norms.
4. Unhealthy Living Conditions &
Hazardous Locations– absence of basic
services, open sewers, waste dumping,
pollution; slums are built on unsafe sites
like floodplains, industrial zones or
landslide-prone areas.
5. Insecure Tenure / Informal Settlements–
lack of legal documents to occupy land,
making slums informal and insecure
settlements.

– Location – Slum Area

1. Slum location explains that slums arise
in urban peripheries where housing
quality is poor; over time cities expand
and incorporate original slums or spawn
new ones on public or private land.
2. Slums often develop near undesirable
sites such as lagoons, riverbanks, trash
dumps or railway tracks.
3. Examples of large slums: “Dharavi
“(Mumbai, India “the dream city hold the
biggest slum of – Asia’s , 1.75 km²) and
Orangi (Karachi, Pakistan – world’s largest
slum with 2.4 million people).

list of top Indian cities living in slums

1. Bhalswa Slum, Delhi – Called “The

Heart of India”, it holds about 20 % of
Delhi’s slum population and has the
largest child-labour concentration. Slum
dwellers from various parts of Delhi have
been resettled to Bhalswa near the
Yamuna river.
2. Nochikkuppam Slum, Chennai –
“The city of flyovers” hosts the
Nochikkuppam slum with 1,300 huts
where ~5,000 people live below the
poverty line, lacking enough money for
basic needs.
3. Basanti Slum, Kolkata– Kolkata’s
“City of Joy” has Basantislum, one of its
major slum areas. One-third of Kolkata’s
population lived in 2011-registered and
3,500 unregistered slums.
4. Rajendra Nagar Slum, Bangalore –
“The garden city” has 570 slums out of
2,000 in the state. About 20 % of
Bangalore’s population resides in slums;
many refuse to move to temporary
shelters, calling it unjust.
5. Indiramma Nagar Slum, Hyderabad
– “The City of Nizam” has 624,689 people
in slums. Only little land is available; the
slums comprise 104 identified and 24
unidentified areas.
6. Saroj Nagar Slum, Nagpur –
Nagpur’s “Orange city” has 424 legal slum
areas; Sarojnagar is one of them. About
40 % of the city’s population lives in slums
on 1,42,000 people covering 1,600
hectares of prime land.
7. Parivartan Slum, Ahmedabad –
Ahmedabad hosts ~440,000 slum
residents. The city has a large population
of poor people living on river banks;
river-side slums are about 40 years old.
slum development policy & programs

– Strategies to
Slum Development Policy
reduce/transform slums include slum
removal, relocation, upgrading, urban
planning with citywide infrastructure, and
public housing.

Key components of a Slum Development policy

- Slum upgrading (improves living
conditions but does not address poverty or
low wages).
- Organized urbanization – planning &
modifying urban areas for newcomers.
- Legitimizing slums instead of driving
people out.
- Improving job opportunities in rural &
urban areas.
- Planning rural development along with
urban development & economic
development.
- Better transport facilities.
- Affordable housing in urban areas.

>>> Government policies for slum

upgrading<<<<>>
 – in India’s 10th Five-Year Plan noted
rising urban slum population despite
poverty reduction. The central & state
governments introduced interventions like
enlarging urban housing & subsidy
programs.

1) National Slum Development

Program (NSDP)

– Launched in 1996 with ₹400 crore

annual assistance. Goals are slum
upgrading via physical amenities,
community infrastructure, health &
social services. Funding mix: larger
states get 70 % loan + 30 % subsidy;
smaller states get 10 % loan + 90 %
subsidy. Construction is done by
contractors.

1. Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana

(VAMBAY)
– launched in 2001 to tackle urban
housing deficits for the poor. It
provides ₹300 crore annual assistance
to state agencies that identify
beneficiaries. The goal is “Cities
without Slums” by giving/upgrading
 shelter for people below the poverty
line (especially EWS) and adding basic
toilet facilities through the Nirmal
Bharat Abhiyan sanitation project.

[Link] Awaas Yojana (IAY)

– started in 1986 as part of the Rural
Landless Employment Guarantee
Program, later merged with Jawahar
Rozgar Yojana in 1989. It reserves
60 % of funds for SC/ST households
and focuses on building sanitation
facilities ,(chimneys) that are
fuel-efficient and smoke-free in
dwelling units.

[Link] Ashraya Housing Program

– a Karnataka government scheme
that offers housing to the homeless. It
aims to provide 300,000 urban units
and 800,000 rural units to households
below the poverty line. The state gives
15-year loans of ₹40,000 (larger cities)
or ₹25,000 (smaller cities), with
beneficiaries contributing at least
₹5,000.

4. Mythri Housing Scheme

 – Kerala’s primary housing program
from 1996-2002 implemented by the
Kerala State Housing Board, financing
over 270,000 homes. Eligible
beneficiaries received ₹9,000 cash
grant and ₹19,000 loan at 5.5 %
interest. They must own 1.6 cents
(64 sq m) of land and contribute
₹2,500. The scheme does not dictate
house design or construction.

[Link] Housing Program

– a subsidy-free program inspired by
Kerala’s Kudumbashree initiative. It
offers 10-15 year loans of ₹30,000–
₹40,000 to needy households through
Community Development Societies.
Beneficiaries choose loan duration and
amount and must own 1.6 cents
(64 sq m) of land.

[Link] Bharat Abhiyan

– a National City Sanitation Project
that is an integral sub-component of
VAMBAY, aiming to improve urban
sanitation.

URBAN POVERTY
Definition of Urban Poverty
- A form of poverty visible in
mega-cities.
- Characterized by sub-standard
living conditions, low income, deficient
basic amenities, and poor quality of
life.
- This cause to Major development
& management problem in developing
countries like India.

Nature & Impact

- Acute & alarming in developing
nations.
- Anti-poverty programs exist but
results are grim.
- Urban poverty is exacerbated by
high population growth & migration
from rural areas.

Migration Effect
- Migration converts rural poverty
into urban poverty.
 - About 40% of urban population
growth is due to migration.
- Leads to mushrooming of slum
pockets.

Challenges
- Feeding, educating, housing &
employing a large, rapidly growing
number of under-nourished,
semi-literate, semi-skilled,
underemployed people.
- City dwellers live in pavements,
unhygienic slums & inadequate
settlements.

Causes of Urban Poverty

1. Uncontrolled Migration
- Lack of rural infrastructure pushes
inhabitants to seek work in
mega-cities.
- Urban space can’t accommodate
the influx, reducing accommodation.
- Results in growth of informal
settlements & increase in slums.
2. Lack of Investment
- Insufficient opportunities &
skill-training for the working-age
population.
- Shortage of investment in quality
education & basic services (health,
sanitation, waste management).

3. Multi-factor Issue
- Not caused by a single factor;
involves poor health, inability to work,
lack of skills.
- Government’s inability to provide
subsidies or skill-specific opportunities
prolongs the problem.

4. Lack of infrastructure in villages–

poor amenities push people to cities
for work, leading to unskilled
migration and informal jobs that
overload urban systems.
5. Poor urban governance &
inappropriate policy frameworks–
corruption and cumbersome
regulations deny the urban poor
essential services (school, health) and
social inclusion.
[Link] of affordable housing -
forces urban poor into illegal
settlements; whole communities miss
basic services like electricity, water,
sanitation because they aren’t “on
paper”.
[Link] of opportunities & skills training
– the poor can’t afford skill
development, so they stay in low-paid
informal jobs and miss technical
employment.
8. Overcrowding –
illegal buildings with shared
bathrooms (50-100 people) cause poor
hygiene and spread infections.

Nature & Dimensions of Urban

Poverty
- Nature of urban poverty: defined by
material deprivation, human
deprivation (lack of voice,
vulnerability), social & political
exclusion, and loss of dignity & basic
rights.
Dimensions of urban vulnerability
divided into five categories:

1. Housing Vulnerability – lack of

tenure, poor shelter, no ownership
rights.
2. Economic Vulnerability– irregular
jobs, low wages, no credit, lack of
productive assets.
3. Social Vulnerability– low
education, food insecurity, exclusion
from institutions.
4. Personal Vulnerability – prone to
violence, discrimination (caste,
gender, age).
5. Occupational Vulnerability–
precarious livelihoods, informal
employment, poor working conditions
(especially for women, children, aged).

Measures to Reduce Urban

Poverty
- Policies have evolved since the
1950s to address housing & basic
services shortages.
- Key issues targeted: lack of access to
credit, employment, regular income,
social security, nutrition, health,
education, and housing tenure
insecurity.

1. Government Policy on Urban

Poverty :
- Focuses on four approaches to
reduce urban poverty:
a. Enhancement of productive
employment and income for the poor.
b. Improvement in general health and
welfare services.
c. Improvement in infrastructure (safe
homes, water, electricity).
d. Slum rehabilitation and providing
the right to live in clean
neighborhoods with jobs via skill
training.

2. National Strategy for Urban

Poor Project:
 - Joint initiative of the Ministry of
Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation,
Govt. of India, and UNDP.
- Aims to address key concerns in
promoting urban poverty eradication
and sustainable urban livelihoods.
- Emphasizes institutional reforms
for efficiency and accelerating
progress toward human development.

3. Atal Mission for Rejuvenation

and Urban Transformation
(AMRUT):
- Launched in June 2015 to improve
living conditions in 500 cities.
- Focuses on providing tap water
and sewer connections to every
household.
- Part of the National Water Mission
to ensure universal water supply.

4. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana

(Housing for All – Urban)
- Mission mode program to provide
“Housing for All” by 2022.
 - Envisions affordable housing and
urban poverty alleviation.

5. Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban):

- Designed to provide universal
coverage of water supply through
functional taps in 4,378 statutory
towns.
- Aligns with Sustainable
Development Goal(SDG-6,water
management.)

6. Self Employment Programme of

Urban Poor
- A component of the National
Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM).
- Offers financial assistance to
individuals/groups of the urban poor
for setting up self-employment
ventures/micro-enterprises, skill
training, and improving local
conditions.
7. Members of Parliament Local
Area Development Scheme
(MPLADS):
- Central sector scheme launched in
1993-94.
- Enables MPs to recommend
creation of durable community assets
in their constituencies focusing on
local needs like drinking water,
education, public health, sanitation,
roads, etc.