Changing Trajectories of Urban Local Governance

2006

Governance is a concept comprising of complex mechanisms, processes, institutions and relationships through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their rights and mediate their differences. It is a more expansive term than government because it encompasses the activities of a wide range of groups as well as their relationships in the polity and society. In most of the developing world, the debate about governance is taking place within the context of rapid urbanisation, combined with political and economic changes. These changes typically involve structural adjustment, deregulation of the economy and privatisation of public assets. The Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) was aimed at downsizing the role of the state in planned development in order to promote competitive market economies. Those who stood to lose from structural adjustment often included bureaucracy (with the downsizing of civil service accompanied by loss of power and perks), public sector workers (through privatisation and job losses) and political party bosses (due to loss of influence and power base). In the new dispensation, the poor majority also lost a great deal because of the ensuring sharp increases in the prices of basic commodities along with escalating medical and educational costs.

2011

2014

Global Journal of Human Social Sciences , 2019

This paper analyzed the trio of governance, local institutions and local governance from conceptual perspectives. It specified the analytic features of governance and local institutions, as well as their conceptual reflections on local governance. Specifically, this paper provides a set of instructions and the ordering of governance, local institutions as well as local governance in social sciences debates. In general, the granularity of these concepts is governed by the needs of the writers/researchers. However, this conceptual analysis has specified them in such a degree of details that displays the interconnections and differences between them. Nonetheless, it does not formalize them in a conceptual framework; rather it simply states the set of instructions for using them as concepts and the kind of problem motivating their applications, as well as a well-known piece of philosophical research. Abstract-This paper analyzed the trio of governance, local institutions and local governance from conceptual perspectives. It specified the analytic features of governance and local institutions, as well as their conceptual reflections on local governance. Specifically, this paper provides a set of instructions and the ordering of governance, local institutions as well as local governance in social sciences debates. In general, the granularity of these concepts is governed by the needs of the writers/researchers. However, this conceptual analysis has specified them in such a degree of details that displays the interconnections and differences between them. Nonetheless, it does not formalize them in a conceptual framework; rather it simply states the set of instructions for using them as concepts and the kind of problem motivating their applications, as well as a well-known piece of philosophical research.

The Post, 2014

2004

Abstract We begin with William Walters' interrogation of the concept of governance. Walters notes that this concept has replaced that of" government" in many political arenas: we speak of" global governance" when discussing international organizations and relations;" multilevel governance" regarding the EU, and" urban governance" to describe political relations at the local level.

This article analyses how urban governance in India has changed since the 1990s as a result of the interplay of three interlinked forces. The liberalization of the economy in 1991, the good governance discourse together with the decentralization program officially pronounced under the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 and the more recent urban reforms envisaged in the 2000s and institutionalized with launch of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in 2005, affected urban governance in significant ways. Based on recent empirical observations in the city of Mumbai, this paper argues that the involvement of multiple players, namely parastatals, local contractors, private developers, non-government organizations (NGOs), citizen groups and community based organizations across sectors of urban governance since the 1990s, has led to contesting claims by different groups to the city's spaces and resources, articulating conflicting discourses and competing practices. These in turn have serious implications on the questions of accountability and inclusion in evolving urban governance policy and practice in contemporary India.

2007

Governance in general and urban governance is the flavor of the season. In this piece we take the view that it has to do with the strategies that deal with identification of the lacunae and to make operational (including the ability to do so from economic/ financial point of view) the policy initiatives to be undertaken given the objectives of the government. The framework of policy regimen is constructed through principles of governance. The focus of this article is on Mumbai (MCGM). We argue that what is required is a massive capacity building exercise requiring a change in mindsets, creation of a feeling on the part of all the agents of being real stakeholders with the end-result of improved governance. Further, we argue that the governance process has to be Simple, Transparent, Accountable, Responsive, and Technology enabled. What