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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 4

Publication Date: April 25, 2021

DOI:10.14738/assrj.84.9955. Sodhi, I. S., & Jha, A. (2021). Inclusive Development Through Municipal Governance: Issues and Prospects. Advances in Social

Sciences Research Journal, 8(4). 77-83.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Inclusive Development Through Municipal Governance: Issues and

Prospects

Inderjeet Singh Sodhi

Department of Local Governance

Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur, India

Ashish Jha

Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur, India

ABSTRACT

Since decades the debate is going on about development where social, economic,

cultural political etc. In recent years, there has been a growing call for “inclusive

development” to meet contemporary development needs and challenges. It is argued

that although economic growth is necessary, but it is not sufficient on its own in

improving the welfare of a population. The time demands for such a development

approach which can ensure that benefits of growth are shared equitably across all

parts of society, particularly large groups of vulnerable poor populations. In Indian

context inclusion and exclusion have multiple dimensions as the country has lot of

heterogeneity and diversity in terms of many things it may culture, language, beliefs,

geographical location, educational status, caste, religion, creed, races etc. So, it is very

common that the level or depth of inclusion and exclusion also differs in larger sense

for example a large portion of Indian population living in rural areas and rest living

in urban areas and apart from that there are some areas comes under union

territories, autonomous council, tribal areas etc. Keeping in view, of this dynamics,

each area people has different needs and concerns and their visualization and

expectation of inclusion and exclusion also differs. Therefore, each area has different

system of governance structure at local level as it has very important role to cater the

needs and concerns of people. In this context, the research study explores the role

and efficacy of municipal governments in ensuring inclusive development. The paper

also highlights the major issues in the process and put forward suggestions.

Keywords: municipal governance, inclusive development, urban local government,

performance, development.

INTRODUCTION

Today, 55% of the world's population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to

increase to 68% by 2050 (UN). According to 2001 and 2011 census 28.53 % and 31.16% of Indian

population was residing in urban areas respectively. On 2018, the World Bank estimates that 34

.03% Indian population living in urban areas. UN State of the World Population report (2007)

projected that by 2030, 40.76% of country's population is expected to reside in urban areas. So,

a large no of people is already living in urban areas and all the projections are showing that near

future more people will migrate towards urban areas. In the present context, if we look into the

city infrastructure we can see that metro cities are highly dense and overloaded with people so

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Sodhi, I. S., & Jha, A. (2021). Inclusive Development Through Municipal Governance: Issues and Prospects. Advances in Social Sciences Research

Journal, 8(4). 77-83.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.84.9955

basic facilities like clean water, 24x7 electricity, toilet and housing are majorly available for well

off and middle class people but migrant people, slum dwellers are really vulnerable in this

context. In small cities situation are worse as lack of basic facilities and infrastructure are the

main issues. According to census 2011, 92.67 per cent of the households in urban areas use

electricity as the main source of lighting, nearly one in every six urban Indian resident’s lives in

unsanitary slums. The census report (2011) identified 13.8 million households — about 64

million people — located in city slums nationwide. That's 17.4 per cent of all urban households,

which account for roughly one-third of India's 1.2 billion people. World Bank data (2014) shows

that 24% urban population living in urban slums. 28% people in urban India lives in rented house

(economic survey 2017-2018). Apart from that every sections of the society has huge differences

in terms of basic standard of living one side some portion of people have more resources than

need and one side people are living in slums without basic sanitation facilities and this can be

easily proven if anybody travel in local train of the any Indian cities. So, still after 7 decades of

independence we have not achieved basic sanitation facilities in Indian cities so it is matter of

great concern and it is clear that high level of exclusion exists in urban areas of the country. Now,

the question arises how and who will address this issues in a logical and sustainable ways. In this

direction, role of urban local governance came into a relevant part of the discussion as local level

of governance will only able to work according to people needs and concerns in a sustainable

manner. The main purpose of the study is to document all the ongoing inclusive initiatives of the

identified study areas and to understand that how to make those programs more inclusive. There

are many issues which creates barriers for inclusion of many communities, or sections in the

society mainstream. So, this research study has put on a light into it. The study has resulted into

this report with sufficient field based information about the inclusive approaches and

dimensions of the Municipal Governance with special reference to the study area. It is an honest

attempt to understand the process of inclusion in concerned local bodies of study areas. The

findings of the study can be used for planning of further strategies of inclusive development.

METHODOLOGY

Descriptive Methods has been adopted for the research Study. Secondary data had been collected

from various sources and directly from the Municipal Corporation as it will be used to address

research objectives. In addition, researcher met with the community, conducted surveys in

various pockets of the Municipal Corporation and various committees of the corporation. A

structure interview schedule has been prepared for collecting necessary information from

elected representative of the Municipal Corporation.

FINDINGS

I. In order to gauge the level of awareness among people about their elected representative

in Municipal Corporation, we inquired whether they knew their respective ward

members. In Jaipur Municipal Corporation, 74% of respondents knew their ward

members, while in Jodhpur Municipal Corporation, only 22% were aware of their ward

members. In Punjab, 100% respondents of Amritsar Municipal Corporation said that they

knew their ward member, however in Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, only 25% of

respondents answered in Yes. Inclusive development needs people’s participation. People

must be actively engaged in the process of development. When people don’t even know

their ward members, then thinking of inclusive development is just a dream. The data

shows that Amritsar Municipal Corporation has been successful in engaging with people,

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 8, Issue 4, April-2021

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

and Jaipur Municipal Corporation is also in better position, but Ludhiana and Jodhpur

Municipal Corporations need to focus more on increasing interaction of their members

with people.

II. As Inclusive Development calls for special attention to the disadvantaged section of

society, it is imperative that Municipal Corporations should run special welfare

programmes for them. People should be aware about such programmes and should avail

the benefits. We tried to understand the level of awareness among people regarding

available welfare programmes for different sections of society. The results are discussed

below:

a) Welfare Programmes for Senior Citizens: In every Municipal Corporations

under the study, officials and elected members informed us that there are various

welfare programmes for senior citizens in their respective municipal corporations.

However, the data of respondents from people gives a different picture al together.

In Punjab, 19% respondents of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation were aware of

such schemes. The situation was comparatively better in Amritsar Municipal

Corporation, where 34% of the total respondents said that they knew any such

welfare programme. However, they said that they know some senior citizen

welfare programme like Pension scheme, but that are from the State Government.

When we talk about Rajasthan, 52% respondents of Jaipur Municipal Corporation

were aware of such programmes, while in Jodhpur Municipal Corporation, such

respondents were only 12%. These data once again show critically low level of

awareness among people.

b) Scheme for Slum Dwellers: True inclusive development policy makers must

focus on Slum dwellers. It is necessary to ensure proper housing for them, at the

same time ensuring proper water and electricity supply and sanitation in slums.

Once again, all officials and elected members in all the four municipal corporations

said that they have been running various schemes and providing services for slum

dwellers. It was important to understand the people’s perspective on the same. In

Punjab, only 12% of respondents in Ludhiana Municipal Corporation agreed that

they were aware of schemes and services for Slum areas, while in Amritsar

Municipal Corporation, 16% respondents were aware of such special schemes.

Again, they said they are getting water and electricity but not through municipal

corporation but from various departments. In Rajasthan, only 14% of total

respondents in Jodhpur Municipal Corporation agreed that their corporation

offers special services and schemes for slums, while 56% of respondents in Jaipur

Municipal Corporation were aware of such schemes.

c) Special Scheme for Differently Abled People: Differently Abled People or

Divyang Jan need special attention to be given. Inclusive development means

inclusion of every sections of society with special focus to the disadvantaged group.

The officials and elected members of each municipal corporation informed us that

they have special schemes for differently abled people, like- distribution of free

tricycle, allotment of shops for their livelihood, pension etc. We also got to know

about people’s perception on the same. In Rajasthan, 35% of respondents from