URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND CITY GOVERNANCE

DECENTRALISATION

INTRODUCTION

The dawn of 21st century is marked by decentralized governance both as a strategy and
philosophy of bringing about reforms and changes in democracies. These changes led to such
qualities of transparency, responsiveness and accountability and ensures good governance.
Today decentralization and democracy are the most significant themes in the development
discourse. In the present context of rapid social change and development activities, de
bureaucratization and decentralization have been found to be much more appropriate to deal
with contemporary trends of globalization, liberalization and privatization. In this scenario an
attempt is made in this unit to discuss conceptual aspects and the significance of democratic
decentralization as an institutional mechanism to govern rural and urban areas of the society.

CONCEPT OF DEMOCRATIC DECENTRALISATION

Democracy is considered as one of the best forms of government because it ensures liberty of
thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, equality of status and opportunity, fraternity as
well as the right to participate in political decision making. Participation and control of
governance by the people of the country is the essence of democracy. Such participation is
possible only when the powers of the state are decentralized to the district, block and village
levels where all the sections of the people can sit together, discuss their problems and suggest
solutions and plan, execute as well as monitor the implementation of the programmes. It is
called the crux of democratic decentralization. The words, “democratic” and “decentralization”
form the key to the understanding of the expression “democratic decentralization”. The work
“democratic” explains the nature and purpose of the concept as also its basic claims in an
institutional set up. The word ‘decentralization’ is essentially indicative of the method to realize
the end as contained in the word ‘democratic’. Decentralization means transfer of planning,
decision-making or administrative authority from the central government to its field
organizations, local administrative units, semi-autonomous organizations, local governments
or non-governmental organizations. Different forms of decentralization can be distinguished
primarily by the extent to which the authority to plan, decide and 1 manage is transferred and
autonomy is achieved in their tasks. In simple under decentralization authority is not
concentrated at the centre, it is distributed to smaller administrative units.
Decentralisation: Transfer of planning, decision-making or administrative authority from the
central governments to its field organizations, local administrative units, semiautonomous
organizations, local governments and nongovernmental organizations.

EVOLUTION OF DEMOCRATIC DECENTRALISATION

After Second World War, the newly – formed nation-states adopted the growth centred model
for development. In this model, the state assured the moral and political responsibilities for the
development of the society. It became gradually evident that the growth-centred model for
development aimed only at economic growth and increased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of
the country. But, it could achieve these at great social and environmental costs. This
development model had bypassed large sections of the society, leading to a greater disparity,
further marginalizing the deprived sections. The special programmes initiated for the
vulnerable sections failed to make an impact because the people were treated as mere
‘beneficiaries’ and ‘objects’ of development. World-wide discontent and disillusionment
generated by this dominant model for development led to its severe criticism. A crucial debate
is on in developing countries regarding the degree of control that central governments, should
exercise over development planning and administration. The past experience of planned
development for the last 50 years in India and the results thereof have raised doubts regarding
achievement of the welfare objectives, removal of poverty and social inequalities, economic
growth with social justice, etc. There was disillusionment with the results of highly centralized
planning. It resulted in economic inequalities, regional disparities and increased absolute
poverty. Therefore, the basic premises of development theory came into question during the
1970s. The growing realization among policy analysts that as government activities expand, it
is increasingly difficult to plan and administer all development activities effectively and
efficiently from the centre. Hence, local autonomy in making decisions of primary concern to
the locality and greater responsibility for designing and implementing development
programmes became 2 a necessity. This revived interest in the notion of decentralization.
Participatory development has emerged as an alternative paradigm over the past two decades
as a result of the criticism of the dominant model for development. Development would mean
a process of change from the present situation to a better one, with deliberative interventions
by citizens and institutions. New perspective of development stressed that along with economic
growth, development of the quality of life of individuals, families and community should also
be ensured. It can be feasible through greater people’s participation in decision-making,
creating opportunities for productive employment, access to consumer goods and basic services
such as health, sanitation, education and communication. Development can be sustained if
special efforts are made to systematically involve the deprived sections of the society in the
process by taking into account their special needs. It can reduce inequalities and bridge the
ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor. Participatory development strategy should
also ensure that more people have access to and control over their resources. Post-
Independence India adopted a democratic system of governance. Institutions of democracy in
India in fact began to grow during the colonial rule. The provisions of democracy found their
place in the Government of India Acts of 1909, 1919 and 1935. Following the deliberations
within the Constituent Assembly, democracy was introduced in the Post-Independence India in
1950. In India, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jail Prakash Narayan described
democracy as the government that gives ‘power to the people’. Gandhi said “True democracy
could not be worked by some persons sitting at the top. It had to be worked from below by the
people of every village”. Democracy at the top could not be a success unless it was built from
below.

Democratic Decentralisation: It is an extension of the democratic principle aims at widening

the area of the people’s participation, authority and autonomy through devolution of powers to
people’s representative organizations from the top level to the lowest levels in three dimensions
of political decision making, financial control and administrative management. It stands for
people’s right to initiate their own projects for local well-being and the power to execute and
operate them in an autonomous manner.

SIGNIFICANCE OF DEMOCRATIC DECENTRALISATION

Today democratic decentralization is a global phenomenon. Decentralization should be seen as

a theory of development, which requires a variety of institutions for empowering and uplifting
the marginalized and the poor. It is expected to work for the building up of an administrative
space at the cutting edge level where the felt needs of the poor could be ventilated.
Decentralization is a prime mechanism through which democracy becomes truly representative
and responsive.

Advantages of decentralization:

1) Tailor-made plans as per the needs of heterogeneous regions and groups are possible.

2) It can cut red-tape.

3) Closer contact between government officials and local population is possible.

4) It can allow better penetration of national policies to areas remote from the national capital.

5) It will ensure greater representation of political, religious, ethnic and tribal groups in
development decision-making that could lead to greater equity in allocation of resources.

6) Capacity of local institutions and their managerial and technical skills will develop.

7) Top management would be relieved of routine jobs and devote time to more important jobs.

8) It will ensure better coordination.

9) It will institutionalize the participation of the citizens and exchange of information.

10) It will offset the influence of the elite people.

11) It will lead to a more flexible, innovative and creative administration.

12) Local people can execute, monitor and evaluate better than the central agencies.

DEMOCRATIC DECENTRALISATION IN INDIA

Gross roots governance has been a major concern of the planning process in Indian ever since
the introduction of Panchayati raj in 1959. The spirit of democratic decentralization that
evolved over the years is being practiced only in a limited way. It is realized that development
efforts in India did not address the issues of equity and to the development of the poor.
Therefore, there is a need to redirect development efforts towards the poor and those at the
gross roots. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts have been major steps in the
direction of decentralized governance in India. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act relates
to introduce reforms in rural local bodies whereas the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act
relates to bring reform in urban local bodies. These amendments have accorded constitutional
recognition to rural and urban local bodies. The Acts aims at integrating the concept of people’s
participation in a formal way with the planning process on the one hand and the devolution of
responsibility to the people themselves on the other. These acts have addressed the persistent
problems of irregular elections, suppression, inadequate representation, insufficient devolution
of powers, lack of administrative and financial autonomy, and inadequate resources.
Democratic Decentralisation in Urban Areas India, like many other developing countries, has
been experiencing rapid growth in recent decades. India’s urban population, which was hardly
10 percent at the beginning of the 20th century, reached 26 percent in nine decades. At present,
urban population is doubling every two decades. It is estimated that by 2025 about half of
India’s population would be urban. The Tenth Five Year Plan is predicted that India’s urban
population is expected to rise from 28 percent to 40 percent of the total population by 2020,
placing increasing strain on the country’s urban infrastructure. Municipal bodies like the
panchayats are not functioning effectively as units of local government due to structural,
functional and financial constraint. From time to time many committees and commissions are
appointed to suggest measures to revitalize them. Almost all committees recommended
strengthening the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). To strengthen the urban governance, parliament
enacted 74th Constitutional Amendment Act 1992. This Act provided constitutional
recognition is a milestone in the history of Urban Local Bodies. This amendment not only
provides a constitutional status to the urban local governments, but also a number of other
measures are incorporated to strengthen their democratic functioning, resources and powers.
This Act is intended to give a more focused thrust to decentralization and the creation of a
democratic governance structure at the urban areas.