Urban Governance Index, 2020

The Praja Foundation recently published its ‘Urban Governance Index, 2020’. The index highlights that, no state has developed 18 municipal functions to urban local bodies even Twenty-seven years after the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act was passed.

 74th Constitutional Amendment Act

  • The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act was passed in 1992.
  • This act was passed with an aim of strengthening the democracy at the grassroots level through local bodies.

Highlights of the Governance Index

  • The study was carried for over three years that is from 2017 to 2020.
  • The foundation carried the study in 40 cities of 28 states and National Capital Territory of Delhi.
  • The team analyzed the structural empowerment of the city governments by respective state governments.
  • The report highlighted that, no state has devolved all the municipal functions and  the municipal bodies are dependent on the state for funds and decision-making.
  • Some of the municipal functions out of total 18 include-  solid waste management, Slum Improvement, water supply, upgradation and promotion of education.
  • The report further said, there exists many urban governance schemes, policies and global and national level indices. But these schemes and indices focused only on the aspect of mapping the performance/delivery of urban services.

State’s Ranking

  • Odisha ranked first in the Governance Index.
  • Maharashtra ranked second.
  • Maharashtra is followed by Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.
  • The report further finds that, Odisha and Maharashtra have the most accessible open data portal.
  • Madhya Pradesh has been ranked first for active grievance redressal mechanism.
  • Maharashtra and Kerala has been ranked first for devolution of financial power and accountability.
  • The index has ranked the states on a 100-point scale in the 42 indicators.
  • These four heads are divided under four categories namely, empowered elected representatives & legislative structure, empowered city administration, citizens and fiscal empowerment.

Purpose of the study

The study was conducted to map the status of urban reforms in individual states. However, later it was realised that these is a need to make a broader national level comparison matrix in order to track the implementations of reforms by individual states. Thus, the foundation came up with the Urban Governance Index (UGI).