Cities need these ‘bhagyas’

Despite being a thriving tech and investment hub, Karnataka’s cities struggle with chronic neglect of basic governance

At its most basic, democracy necessitates timely elections, the formation of popular elected governments without any delays, and governance based on constant consultation and participation of the people. Well, the 315 towns and cities of Karnataka, including the capital Bengaluru, have faced perennial neglect of all three: elections to the city councils don’t happen on time; the city councils are not operationalised; mayors are not elected as soon as the election results are announced; and the ward committees and area sabhas that enable people’s participation in the affairs of the city don’t get formed!

Karnataka is a leading state in terms of human development, economic growth, and reforms. Much of its success as one of the most preferred investment destinations and tech hubs in the world is, besides the usual benefits of a vibrant democracy, due to the concentration of knowledge-based institutions and industries, the availability of highly skilled human resources, cosmopolitan culture, and a welcoming government enabled by growing urbanisation. The irony, however, is that most of the cities in Karnataka are facing serious challenges in terms of basic governance, civic infrastructure, and services. This, despite the lead that Karnataka established over other states due to the early reforms on decentralisation way back in the 1980s.

Also Read | Karnataka has now electrified 78% of its railway network

The new Government of Karnataka has the responsibility to provide these three bhagyas, or guarantees, to the cities in order to maintain the competitive edge of the state without incurring any additional expenditure. In fact, these measures have the potential to improve the revenues of the city governments.

Nagara Palike Chunavane Bhagya (Conduct elections to ULBs on time):
Art. 243U of the Constitution of India, introduced by the 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA), 1993, mandates that the election to every municipal body shall be completed before the expiry of its normal term of five years, just as for the state assemblies or the Lok Sabha. Hardly ever has this provision been implemented in letter or spirit by successive state governments. Whichever city or town one lives in, one thing that any person on the street will lament about is that the elections to the urban local body (ULB) never happen on time. There are several reports in the media every month about hundreds of towns with no elected councils and thousands of wards without elected councillors. Councillors, as people’s representatives at the grassroots, listen to their problems and grievances and provide the voice to ensure the necessary relief. The incumbent government, which has come with a huge mandate from the people, has to ensure that the basic tenet of democracy—regular elections—is respected by conducting elections to all the ULBs, including the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which has been orphaned without elections for the last 3 years, with no delays, and much before the expiry of the 5-year term of the city councils.

Council Rachane Bhagya (Form city councils within one month of the declaration of election results):
Operationalizing the councils after the members of the town municipalities and city corporations are elected is a natural expectation. In practice, however, the ULB councils don’t get formed for months or even years after the election results are announced, leaving the elected councillors with no powers to attend to their duties or respond to the problems faced by the people of their wards. Hundreds of ULBs in Karnataka, including the municipal corporations of Hubballi-Dharwad, Belagavi, Ballari, Kalaburagi, and Vijayapura, are waiting or have had to wait for 6–20 months to form their respective councils and elected governments. After the results of the city elections are announced, the regional commissioner has to schedule the first meeting of the council to elect the Mayor or president, on which date the council’s term is scheduled to begin. But the first meeting hardly ever gets called on time, depriving the people of a popular city government even after giving their mandate.
Not only this, but as Karnataka has a system of annual rotation of mayors and presidents and standing committees of the ULBs, the annual elections to these statutory positions and bodies also do not happen on time. The state government has to ensure that the councils are formed and Mayors/presidents are elected within one month of the declaration of the results of the ULB election and thereafter before the expiration of the term by making suitable rules and guidelines.

Naagarikara Ward Samiti Bhagya (Form Citizens’ Ward Committees and Area Sabhas)
Art. 243S and the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act, 1976, mandate the formation of a ward committee, headed by the councillor and consisting of active citizens representing RWAs, NGOs, women, and the underprivileged, for each ward of a city. The ward committee is meant to be a collaborative forum for the councillor, the city officials, and the people of the ward to come together to plan and implement developmental works in their neighbourhoods. The ward committees, besides enabling the availability of people with different skills and thoughts, enable ward-level planning and implementation of projects and foster teamwork between the elected representatives, the city officials, and the citizens to improve the quality of life in the city. Besides, due to their very nature, the ward committees ensure transparency and accountability in the execution of civic infrastructure works and services and speedy grievance redressal, as officials of various departments and civic agencies such as the city corporation, development authority, police, water board, electricity, telecom, forest, fire brigade, etc. are required to attend the monthly/bi-monthly meetings of the ward committees and ensure speedy resolution of problems faced in project implementation or grievances reported by the residents.

The ward committees have a further decentralised feeder structure of several area sabhas under them, typically one at each polling station level. This enables not only a systemic mechanism to channel the opinion and suggestions of the people on various proposals of the government but also helps reach out to the people on important government initiatives and emergency needs such as health, sanitation, climate action, and natural calamities, as every household is represented in the area sabha. Despite the many benefits they provide, none of the eleven city corporations in the state have area sabhas formed, and only two (Bengaluru and Mangaluru) out of the 11 city corporations have functional ward committees. Not to talk about the remaining 300+ city municipalities, which had the mandate under the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964, to form Areas Sabhas and Ward committees but have never been formed. Therefore, the government has a great opportunity to consider this matter seriously and take the necessary measures to form citizens’ ward committees and area sabhas in all the ULBs of the state to ensure the cooperation and participation of the people in all its initiatives to improve the quality of life of the people.

(The writer is head, Civic
Participation, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy.)