<p>What is the role of the mayor in governing a city? In several countries, the mayor is the chief executive of the city government, vested with executive powers. He derives his powers from the people of the city, as he is elected directly by them. The recent election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City attracted worldwide attention, not only because he was directly elected by the people, but also because, as a Democrat, he secured an overwhelming majority against a candidate backed by the US President’s dominant Republican Party.</p>.<p>In India, urban governance is marked by a multiplicity of authorities, including a municipal council, with little accountability. While the municipal council is an elected body, most others — water supply board, electricity distribution company, road transport corporation, metro rail transport corporation, and infrastructure development corporation — are parastatal agencies controlled by the state government. Even the elected council does not enjoy sufficient autonomy.</p>.<p>City governance in India is fragmented, with divided responsibility and minimal co-ordination. Beyond challenges such as inadequate resources and professional manpower, poor planning and expanding urban sprawl, the system lacks leadership. The mayor, supposed to lead the city, lacks executive authority, and is more of a ceremonial head with short tenures, ranging from one to two-and-a-half years.</p>.A rare show of political civility.<p>In the UK, the US, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, or Indonesia, the mayor is directly elected by the people for a period of five years, and enjoys executive powers. The mayor is recognised as the city’s leader, and represents it at important events, and is empowered to make key decisions. For example, Mamdani met Trump even before assuming office. Can we imagine the mayor of Bengaluru, Mumbai, or Chennai meeting the prime minister? In India, it is the chief ministers who present the cities’ needs to the prime minister.</p>.<p>Consider what an empowered mayor can accomplish. Michael Bloomberg, the New York mayor for three consecutive terms from 2001, launched ‘PlaNYC-a Greener and Greater New York’ to fight global warming and protect the city’s environment. His ‘Million Trees NYC’ initiative cut greenhouse gas emissions by ~20%.</p>.<p>Ken Livingstone, London’s mayor from 2000 to 2008, reshaped transport policy by introducing ‘congestion charges’, which reduced traffic and pollution in central London. In 2002, Seoul’s mayor Lee Myung-bak took a bold decision to remove an expressway in the city’s heart, restoring a stream by diverting water from the Han River and creating a beautiful waterfront.</p>.<p>After 9/11, when New York faced an unprecedented crisis, it was Mayor Rudy Giuliani who became the city’s face. He appeared daily on TV, explaining rescue operations, outlining recovery measures, and instilling confidence among people. Neither the governor of New York nor the US President played that role.</p>.<p>Can we think of any instance where the mayor has brought about a major change in a city in India? Hardly. This is not due to a lack of capability, but because the system does not provide the environment for city leadership to flourish. In the current system, the powers of the chief executive of the municipal corporation are vested in the commissioner, who is an appointee of the state government. Also, fragmented responsibilities spread across statutory authorities working in silos provide no focal point for city leadership.</p>.<p>Empowering the mayor is a much-needed reform, which can help improve urban governance in India. This must, however, be done in conjunction with other reforms, primarily decentralisation of powers to the municipal authorities as envisaged under the 74th constitutional amendment, including fiscal decentralisation, inducting professional manpower to discharge technical and administrative functions, and clarity of responsibilities.</p>.<p>In his thought-provoking book, If Mayors Ruled the World, Benjamin R Barber, American author and political theorist who served as adviser to Bill Clinton, has argued that cities and mayors who run them are the best forces of good governance, and that cities which are not burdened with issues of borders and sovereignty are better equipped to meet the challenges of our times like terrorism, climate change, drug trafficking, and poverty, than nation states which are becoming dysfunctional. City-to-city collaborations and continent-spanning urban networks ‘constitute a layer of global governance with a transformative impact on urban and global problems’. He cites the example of the C40 Cities, a global network of nearly 100 cities where the mayors are unitedly confronting the climate crisis and are committed to using an inclusive and collaborative approach to cut their share of emissions by half by 2030.</p>.<p>It is important to realise that visionary leadership is crucial to the task of fixing our cities — from potholes and garbage to traffic congestion, pollution, and poor infrastructure. This can be achieved only by a mayor elected by the people and empowered to deliver goods. The mayor can be assisted by a council, on the lines of a Cabinet, to discharge various responsibilities. A system of checks and balances must be evolved as a safeguard against misuse of power and to ensure accountability.</p>.<p>The potential for city leadership in India is vast. Tikender Singh Panwar, who served as Shimla’s deputy mayor, has authored three books on urbanisation, reflecting on urban issues. Looking beyond the present, he says: ‘Cities must transition from being sites of extraction to being ecological habitats, embedded within regional water cycles, local food systems and circular economy. This requires rethinking value…where life, health, and ecology determine policy design’. Here is a vision for a city. To translate this into action, he needs to be empowered.</p>.<p>If Mamdani’s election has any lesson for India, it is the empowerment of a directly elected mayor to design a better future for its cities.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is a former chief secretary, Government of Karnataka)</em></p><p><em>(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH).</em></p>
<p>What is the role of the mayor in governing a city? In several countries, the mayor is the chief executive of the city government, vested with executive powers. He derives his powers from the people of the city, as he is elected directly by them. The recent election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City attracted worldwide attention, not only because he was directly elected by the people, but also because, as a Democrat, he secured an overwhelming majority against a candidate backed by the US President’s dominant Republican Party.</p>.<p>In India, urban governance is marked by a multiplicity of authorities, including a municipal council, with little accountability. While the municipal council is an elected body, most others — water supply board, electricity distribution company, road transport corporation, metro rail transport corporation, and infrastructure development corporation — are parastatal agencies controlled by the state government. Even the elected council does not enjoy sufficient autonomy.</p>.<p>City governance in India is fragmented, with divided responsibility and minimal co-ordination. Beyond challenges such as inadequate resources and professional manpower, poor planning and expanding urban sprawl, the system lacks leadership. The mayor, supposed to lead the city, lacks executive authority, and is more of a ceremonial head with short tenures, ranging from one to two-and-a-half years.</p>.A rare show of political civility.<p>In the UK, the US, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, or Indonesia, the mayor is directly elected by the people for a period of five years, and enjoys executive powers. The mayor is recognised as the city’s leader, and represents it at important events, and is empowered to make key decisions. For example, Mamdani met Trump even before assuming office. Can we imagine the mayor of Bengaluru, Mumbai, or Chennai meeting the prime minister? In India, it is the chief ministers who present the cities’ needs to the prime minister.</p>.<p>Consider what an empowered mayor can accomplish. Michael Bloomberg, the New York mayor for three consecutive terms from 2001, launched ‘PlaNYC-a Greener and Greater New York’ to fight global warming and protect the city’s environment. His ‘Million Trees NYC’ initiative cut greenhouse gas emissions by ~20%.</p>.<p>Ken Livingstone, London’s mayor from 2000 to 2008, reshaped transport policy by introducing ‘congestion charges’, which reduced traffic and pollution in central London. In 2002, Seoul’s mayor Lee Myung-bak took a bold decision to remove an expressway in the city’s heart, restoring a stream by diverting water from the Han River and creating a beautiful waterfront.</p>.<p>After 9/11, when New York faced an unprecedented crisis, it was Mayor Rudy Giuliani who became the city’s face. He appeared daily on TV, explaining rescue operations, outlining recovery measures, and instilling confidence among people. Neither the governor of New York nor the US President played that role.</p>.<p>Can we think of any instance where the mayor has brought about a major change in a city in India? Hardly. This is not due to a lack of capability, but because the system does not provide the environment for city leadership to flourish. In the current system, the powers of the chief executive of the municipal corporation are vested in the commissioner, who is an appointee of the state government. Also, fragmented responsibilities spread across statutory authorities working in silos provide no focal point for city leadership.</p>.<p>Empowering the mayor is a much-needed reform, which can help improve urban governance in India. This must, however, be done in conjunction with other reforms, primarily decentralisation of powers to the municipal authorities as envisaged under the 74th constitutional amendment, including fiscal decentralisation, inducting professional manpower to discharge technical and administrative functions, and clarity of responsibilities.</p>.<p>In his thought-provoking book, If Mayors Ruled the World, Benjamin R Barber, American author and political theorist who served as adviser to Bill Clinton, has argued that cities and mayors who run them are the best forces of good governance, and that cities which are not burdened with issues of borders and sovereignty are better equipped to meet the challenges of our times like terrorism, climate change, drug trafficking, and poverty, than nation states which are becoming dysfunctional. City-to-city collaborations and continent-spanning urban networks ‘constitute a layer of global governance with a transformative impact on urban and global problems’. He cites the example of the C40 Cities, a global network of nearly 100 cities where the mayors are unitedly confronting the climate crisis and are committed to using an inclusive and collaborative approach to cut their share of emissions by half by 2030.</p>.<p>It is important to realise that visionary leadership is crucial to the task of fixing our cities — from potholes and garbage to traffic congestion, pollution, and poor infrastructure. This can be achieved only by a mayor elected by the people and empowered to deliver goods. The mayor can be assisted by a council, on the lines of a Cabinet, to discharge various responsibilities. A system of checks and balances must be evolved as a safeguard against misuse of power and to ensure accountability.</p>.<p>The potential for city leadership in India is vast. Tikender Singh Panwar, who served as Shimla’s deputy mayor, has authored three books on urbanisation, reflecting on urban issues. Looking beyond the present, he says: ‘Cities must transition from being sites of extraction to being ecological habitats, embedded within regional water cycles, local food systems and circular economy. This requires rethinking value…where life, health, and ecology determine policy design’. Here is a vision for a city. To translate this into action, he needs to be empowered.</p>.<p>If Mamdani’s election has any lesson for India, it is the empowerment of a directly elected mayor to design a better future for its cities.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is a former chief secretary, Government of Karnataka)</em></p><p><em>(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH).</em></p>
