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Urban Administration
If you live in a city or town, have you ever WHAT ARE THE MAIN FEATURES OF
wondered where the water and electricity in your MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE?
house come from? Your mother may buy the The main features of municipal governance are :
lamps at home, but who fixes the lamp posts on
g To create an effective, responsive, demo-
the streets? There is a complex network of
cratic, transparent, accountable local gover-
workers and departments that carry out duties
nance.
related to urban administration in India. It takes
g To provide a responsive policy guidance
place under Municipal Corporations or Councils.
So, let’s delve deeper into this topic today! and assistance to sub-national entities.
g To strengthen the legal, fiscal, economic and
As far as urban administration in India is con-
service delivery functions of municipalities.
cerned, the majority of the burden falls on The
Municipal Corporations. When you live in one of g To foster greater citizen participation in the
the metro cities, these corporations have a huge governance of local bodies.
strength and even bigger budget allocations. MUNICIPAL CORPORATION
Everyone from the sweeper who sweeps the Municipal Corporations are created to look after
streets in the morning, to the Municipal the administrative needs of large cities such as
Corporate Chief, all are employees under the Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, etc. The
Municipal Corporation. The richest Municipal respective state legislatures can establish the
Corporation in India is the one of Mumbai, municipal corporations by passing an act. In case
Brihanmumbai Mumbai Corporation (BMC). of union territories, they can be established by
the acts of Indian Parliament. There may be a
one single act for all municipal corporations in
the state or separate act for each municipal
corporation. There are three authorities under a
municipal corporation namely, the council, the
standing committees and the commissioner. The
council acts as the deliberative and legislative
wing of the corporation. The council is made up
of councilors who are directly elected by the
BMC people. The head of the council is called mayor.
Mayor is assisted by a deputy mayor. Mayor
There are several types of urban bodies in India
presides over the council meetings. As the
such as Municipal Corporation, Municipality,
council is too large in size, standing committees
Notified Area Committee, Town Area
are created to facilitate the working of the coun-
Committee, Special Purpose Agency.
cil. The standing committees take decisions with
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