Delhi Elections | What needs to be done to make Delhi a liveable city?

Despite Delhi enjoying more power than what is offered with the 74th amendment to other urban local bodies, it has not truly grown as a liveable city.

The Delhi Assembly elections are around the corner, and for most observers and analysts, it is a classic battle for supremacy in a city-state. The Delhi governance model has been debated politically and academically, and so much has been written about it already. The election campaign leading to February 5 polling will witness many more arguments and counters related to the state of affairs in Delhi state, which, for many, is a larger city administration question rather than about a full-fledged state government.

Delhi has been in the news for various reasons, from the Delhi Metro to air pollution to waste management, among others. In addition, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s governance model in water and electricity tariff management has also led to discussions at the national level. While many support and commend some of the welfare and delivery provisions at the city level in Delhi, they still worry about the city's liveability.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Liveability Index for 2023, Delhi ranks 141 out of 173 cities, with a score of just 60.2 out of 100, indicating its relatively poor performance among the world's cities. Scores in the 50-60 range suggest significant limitations in urban living conditions. With its score barely above 60, Delhi falls short of meeting global standards and has a long way to go to achieve meaningful improvements in its ranking. Despite Delhi enjoying more power than what is offered with the 74th amendment to other urban local bodies (ULBs), it has not truly grown as a liveable city. This raises the challenge of conceptualising and understanding the vision of a liveable, world-class city in India.

In 1992, Parliament passed the 74th Amendment after decades of various committee reports and political overtures. Even 30 years after its passage, state governments have not given a ULB full power to realise the potential of decentralisation — the 74th Amendment aimed to create a powerful city government with 18 critical functions. However, as per CAG reports, only four functions have been effectively devolved with complete autonomy. On average, only 32% of the total revenue of the ULBs is generated as their own revenue, with the rest coming from the Union and state governments.

In the last three decades, more learning and exposure to the emerging challenges and changing times in urban life across the world and in India led to the demand for a more powerful mayor and council, which is more than what is envisioned in the 74th Amendment.

In contrast, one can observe that the power of the city administration has been diluted in its relative sense in many cities across India. Mayors and councillors have limited control over funds and functionaries, and they continue to function more as civic service agents than as truly self-governing bodies. In most Indian cities, key planning functions remain under the control of parastatals rather than municipal bodies. Without autonomy and capacity building of the ULBs to deal with various challenges, making the cities ‘liveable’ will remain a dream. The Union and the state governments should push for a political and administrative dialogue and consensus in this regard on a priority level.

A liveable city has efficient, robust, and accessible public transport, clean air and water, safe and quality housing with all service provisions 24x7, accessible and well-maintained roads for all sections of the city, parks and playgrounds, social and cultural amenities, etc. Cities must ensure the safety and security of all citizens, and the presence of quality healthcare and education.

In India, the urban space is mixed with populations of various economic classes. This is where an empowered ULB, having the resource mobilisation rights, can negotiate and facilitate the public and private sectors to ensure sustainable life to all its citizens. There cannot be a top-down approach to guaranteeing a liveable city.

The experience of smart cities reiterates that there cannot be too many institutions which are not directly responsible to the citizens at the local level to ease their lives; instead, these institutions should be subsumed under a powerful local government to augment and build their capacities to deal with the present and future challenges.

Delhi’s experience from a theoretical framework of a powerful regional government presents us with a lot to ponder while a close contest is ensuing.

(D Dhanuraj is chairman, and Nissy Solomon is senior research associate at the Centre for Public Policy Research, Kochi.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.