In order to understand the gender equation of women in Urban Governance, we looked at the 100 cities under the Smart City mission. These 100 cities represent a diversity of region and size of cities across the country. Of the 100 smart cities, while as many as 35 city governments have women as mayors, only 14 have women as administrative head of the city government.
Read MoreAs Indian cities experience continued growth and associated urban challenges, such as air pollution, artificial flooding, and water scarcity, appropriate forest governance is vital. However, the mismatch between jurisdiction over and funding for forest management and the impacts of poor forest management leave cities at an impasse.
Read MoreAs we come up to the census year 2021, we looked at India's Census numbers from 2011, which are used to make policy decisions. We imagined, that if India were only a 100 people, how would we represent India's people?
Read MoreThe Constitution of India provided for special powers to certain regions to decide upon their local governance, according to their traditions and culture. The Constitution created two such categories through Article 234 under the Fifth and Sixth Schedules: Scheduled Areas and Tribal Areas respectively. While PESA was passed in 1996 and panchayats have been formed under it, MESA still has not been passed. Yet, municipal governments have been formed in Scheduled areas. The conflict that municipal governance faces in Scheduled Areas is because of this lack of legislative protections.
Urbanisation is inevitable and is taking place in tribal dominated areas as well. Urban areas need governance systems which are geared towards their particular needs.
Read MoreWe are still a long way in India to making public libraries central to our urban existence. According to the 2011 census, India has only 4,580 libraries in urban areas, which roughly translates to one urban library for over 80,000 people. When you break down the types of libraries by sizes of towns, the picture is even more jarring. For our largest cities this number is dismal - one public library for almost 22 lakh people! The smallest of our towns which have the highest density of public libraries also have only one library for every 25000 people. As per the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) standards, there should be one public library for every 3,000 people.
Read MoreGrowth in cooperative banks reflects the trust communities and shareholders have shown in them. Is transforming into a commercial bank part of natural evolution for cooperative banks? Are they merely copying the business models and aspirations of commercial banks? In the face of lack of options, this is the only way for them to grow? Banking sector should introspect and search for these answers such that the growth in cooperative banks is not at the cost of the communities and those who need them.
Read MoreNagrika has been conducting a pan-India mapping of the implementation status of 74th Amendment and municipal functions enshrined in the 12th Schedule. This is being done as part of a knowledge partnership project. The project is an urban governance study led by Praja Foundation, a non-partisan organisation working towards enabling accountable governance. Praja's initiative aims to advocate policy changes that will change the way Indian cities are governed. It is multi-year project in nature, with ground research as the foundation being used to form a pan-India network and influence change across the country. The Nagrika team have already visited 16 out of the 29 states, which are part of the study.
Read MoreOur work has ensured that smaller cities become part of policy agendas of urban policy making. With an extremely small and talented team, we have been putting our best efforts to produce this knowledge. We continue striving to create quality and reliable publicly available knowledge that can can empower decisions of citizens and city governments.
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