Urbanisation and the case for city government

Detail

1. Why cities need their own government

• Cities are harder to run than villages. Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai are much bigger than villages. They also hold a much more mixed population. So city governance must also be more complex.
• Pyramid of governance (NCERT Class 6, Fig. 12.2).
• The Union government sits at the top and state governments in the middle.
• Rural local bodies (panchayats) and urban local bodies (municipalities) form the base.

• The base is closest to the people. Most daily services are delivered there.

• Urban local body (ULB): an elected body that runs a town or city. Examples are a nagar panchayat, a municipal council and a municipal corporation.

• Decentralisation: power is moved down from the state to local bodies. Local people then get a direct say in how their area is run.
• Participatory democracy: people take part in decisions directly and often, not only by voting once every five years. Local bodies are its main tool.

2. The Sameer–Anita dialogue: closeness vs anonymity

• Village life:
• Everyone knows everyone.

• Even children are heard in village matters.

• City life:

• Neighbours often do not know each other. This is urban anonymity (living among strangers).

• Yet neighbours still come together in a crisis, for example after a house collapses.

• The lesson:

• In a city of strangers, personal ties cannot carry people's voices.
• So elected local bodies must speak for city residents.

3. The Constituent Assembly plea

• Rustom Sidhwa spoke in the Constituent Assembly on 13 October 1949 (date as given by NCERT).
• He asked for full-fledged local bodies.

• His reason was that people would learn administration, the franchise (the right to vote) and their rights "in a small sphere".

• Why it matters: local government was seen as a "school of democracy", not just a service provider.

• The original Constitution (1950) did not make local bodies compulsory.
• Village panchayats appeared only as a Directive Principle (a goal for the state that courts cannot enforce), in Article 40.
• Municipalities received constitutional status only in 1992.

4. Historical roots of city government

• Madras (Chennai) Corporation is the oldest surviving municipal body in India. Britannica dates its setting up to 1688. The charter that created it is usually dated 1687, which is the date in this topic's timeline [8].
• Lord Ripon was Viceroy from 1880 to 1884. He widened the powers of local elected governments [9].

• His 1882 resolution on local self-government is called the "Magna Carta" of local self-government in India.

• Before 1992:

• Municipalities existed only under state laws.
• State governments could supersede councils (dismiss the elected body and run the town through an official) and postpone elections whenever they wished.
• Class 11 NCERT describes this weakness for panchayats. The same was true of towns.

5. What counts as "urban"?

The Census uses two kinds of town.

Type	How it becomes a town	Who runs it
Statutory town	Notified by law, with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee [2]	An urban local body
Census town	Not notified, but meets all 3 tests: population of at least 5,000; at least 75% of male main workers outside farming; density of at least 400 persons per sq km [2]	Still a gram panchayat (village council)

• Urban agglomeration (UA): a continuous built-up urban area. It is either (a) one town plus the outgrowths around it, or (b) two or more towns that touch each other, plus their outgrowths [2].

• Outgrowth: a built-up area next to a town that has urban features but lies outside the town's legal boundary.

• Constitutional definition (Article 243Q, inserted by the 74th Amendment, 1992) [4][5]:

• Nagar panchayat: for a transitional area, meaning an area changing from rural to urban.
• Municipal council: for a smaller urban area.
• Municipal corporation: for a larger urban area.
• The Governor decides which category an area falls into, by public notification. The Governor considers population, density, revenue earned for local administration, the share of non-farm jobs and economic importance [4].

• Proviso to Article 243Q: an industrial township may be left without a municipality if an industry provides its civic services [4].

• Exam point: the Census definition is for counting. Article 243Q is for governing. A census town counts as urban, but under the law it is still a village.

6. Census 2011: the numbers

• Towns (2011): 7,933 in total, made up of 4,041 statutory towns and 3,892 census towns [2].

• NCERT Class 6 rounds this to "8,000 towns".

• Growth of census towns: they rose from 1,362 (2001) to 3,892 (2011), almost three times as many [2].

• Most of the new "urban" India of 2001–11 therefore had no municipal government.

• Urban population:

• 286.1 million in 2001 → 377.2 million in 2011 [2].

• This was 31.1% of India's population in 2011 (NCERT Class 11: "about 31%").

• Million-plus cities: 53 million-plus urban agglomerations in 2011.

• Today: the urban share is estimated to be above 35%. Census 2027 will give the new figure (verify current).

7. "Hidden urbanisation" and the governance gap

• Hidden urbanisation: places that are urban in fact (dense, non-farm, growing) but are still governed as villages. This covers census towns and the peri-urban belts (the edges just outside city limits).
• What follows:
• Panchayats lack the money, staff and powers to plan cities.
• Sprawl grows without sewerage, drainage or land-use control.

• Twelfth Schedule functions such as urban planning never reach these areas.

• The 16th Finance Commission's response (award period 2026–31) [6][7]:

• It gave ₹3,56,257 crore in grants to ULBs, split into a basic grant (80%) and a performance grant (20%) [6].
• It created an urbanisation premium of ₹10,000 crore. This is a one-time grant to states for:
  • (i) merging peri-urban villages into nearby ULBs; and
  • (ii) drafting a Rural to Urban Transition Policy [6].
• Eligibility is fixed at ₹2,000 per person (Census 2011 population) [7].
• It also set aside ₹56,100 crore as a special infrastructure grant for wastewater management in 23 cities of 10–40 lakh population (Census 2011) [6].
• Entry conditions for any local body grant [6]:
  • local bodies must be constituted as the Constitution requires;
  • provisional and audited accounts must be published;
  • the State Finance Commission must be set up on time.

8. What is at stake in cities

• Economic weight: cities produce a large share of national output.

• Agglomeration gains are the benefits that come from people and firms crowding together: bigger job markets, shared infrastructure and faster spread of ideas.

• Services cities must deliver:

• water supply
• sewerage
• solid waste management
• public transport
• housing
• These match items in the Twelfth Schedule (18 municipal subjects, added by the 74th Amendment, 1992) [4].

• Half of the 16th FC basic grant is tied to sanitation and solid waste management and/or water management [6].

• Risks cities face:

• informal settlements (slums)
• urban floods

• heat stress

• NCERT Class 11 cartoon: it asks whether the new urban bodies will actually give slum dwellers housing or toilets. The test of city government is delivery, not just elections.

Prelims Hooks

• Census town: all 3 tests must be met: population of at least 5,000; at least 75% of male main workers in non-farm work; density of at least 400 per sq km. It is still governed by a panchayat.
• Statutory town: has a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee notified by law.
• Census 2011: 7,933 towns = 4,041 statutory + 3,892 census. The urban population was about 377 million (31.1%). There were 53 million-plus UAs.
• Census towns: 1,362 (2001) → 3,892 (2011).
• Article 243Q: nagar panchayat → transitional area; municipal council → smaller urban area; municipal corporation → larger urban area. The Governor classifies areas by public notification, not Parliament and not the Census.
• Trap: an industrial township can be exempted from having a municipality (proviso to Article 243Q).
• Twelfth Schedule = 18 municipal subjects (74th Amendment). The Eleventh Schedule = 29 panchayat subjects (73rd Amendment).
• Oldest municipal body: Madras (Chennai) Corporation, 1687–88. Lord Ripon's resolution came in 1882.
• 16th FC urbanisation premium: ₹10,000 crore, one-time, for merging peri-urban villages into ULBs and for a Rural to Urban Transition Policy.

Mains Points

• The governance gap from hidden urbanisation:
• Census towns grew almost threefold in 2001–11, but they are still run by panchayats.

• Arguments for reform: notify them as nagar panchayats under Article 243Q; tie this to the 16th FC urbanisation premium; adopt a state-level rural-to-urban transition policy.

• Local government as a school of democracy versus urban anonymity:

• Sidhwa's "small sphere" ideal holds up in villages but weakens in anonymous cities.

• Reforms could strengthen ward committees and area sabhas so citizens have a voice below the large city council.

• Service delivery is the real test:

• Water, sewerage, waste, housing for slum dwellers, and protection from floods and heat need money and staff.

• The 16th FC links grants to published accounts and to setting up State Finance Commissions on time. This pushes ULBs towards accountability.

• The pre-1992 lesson:

• States could supersede councils and delay elections at will.
• Constitutional status for ULBs under Part IXA (74th Amendment, 1992) was meant to end this. Delayed elections and weak devolution of funds show the gap that remains.