India’s cities deserve real power

In August 2025, parts of Mumbai recorded exceptionally heavy 24-hour rainfall — several western-suburb gauges measured roughly 300–370 mm, paralysing suburban trains and roads. In late September, Kolkata experienced a severe cloudburst that brought record single-day rain and widespread waterlogging. Across India’s metros, intense downpours continue to expose the same governance fault lines: fragmented planning, weak coordination, and overstretched civic capacity. Bengaluru’s southern districts also faced serious flooding after record rainfall in July, with underpasses and IT corridors submerged. The pattern is clear: heavier rains are meeting weaker urban systems.

India is urbanising faster than ever. About 37 per cent of Indians now live in cities (World Bank, 2025), and that share could approach 50 per cent by 2047 (KPMG, 2024). Urban areas already account for a large share of national output — around 60–70 per cent of GDP (World Bank/NITI Aayog, 2024). Yet institutionally, cities remain weak — governed more as administrative sub-units than as self-determining democracies.

This mismatch between economic dynamism and civic disempowerment shows up in daily life. Citizens in some of the world’s fastest-growing metros continue to grapple with irregular waste collection, transport bottlenecks, and chronic water stress. In Delhi, for instance, multiple agencies — often numbering ten or more depending on the service — share responsibility for drains, roads, and transport, diffusing accountability and slowing decisions (Centre for Policy Research, 2024).

The 74th Constitutional Amendment of 1992 sought to empower city governments with clear authority over “funds, functions, and functionaries.” Three decades later, much of that promise remains unfulfilled. Studies commissioned for the 15th Finance Commission and subsequent analyses show that municipal own revenues make up only a very small fraction of GDP — well below one per cent in many assessments (Finance Commission Background Studies; ICRIER, 2024). This fiscal weakness leaves cities heavily dependent on state transfers, which are often delayed or tied to state-level priorities.

In Pune, property-tax collections fund barely a quarter of total spending; in Lucknow, many sanitation workers are still employed by state boards rather than municipal corporations. As a result, local representatives are frequently unable to act on citizen grievances even when they wish to. Cities thus function less as autonomous governments and more as administrative outposts of their states. Parastatal bodies — development authorities, water boards, and transport corporations — operate with overlapping mandates, little coordination, and limited accountability to elected city councils.

Local democracy itself has struggled to take root. In several states, municipal elections have been postponed or replaced by administrator-led control. Even where elections are held, mayors often serve one-year ceremonial terms, leaving little time or power to influence policy. In large metros such as Mumbai and Delhi, city leaders cannot independently frame budgets or direct key departments. This centralised structure undermines responsiveness. When residents of East Delhi protested uncollected garbage earlier this year, local councillors blamed private contractors hired by the state government; the state, in turn, blamed the municipal corporation (Hindustan Times, April 2025). The result is predictable: frustrated citizens navigating a maze of institutions without clear lines of accountability.

Yet there are encouraging examples of cities that have found ways to collaborate more effectively. Pune and the neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) have long practised participatory budgeting. In 2025, PCMC again invited citizen proposals and earmarked over Rs 130 crore for resident-driven works (Indian Express, August 2025). Similarly, Surat’s municipal health-surveillance platform allows residents to report mosquito-breeding sites through mobile tools, helping officials respond quickly and reducing vector-borne diseases (Surat Municipal Corporation, 2025). These examples show that when citizens are empowered to co-design solutions, governance becomes more responsive and effective. The challenge, then, is not urbanisation itself but the absence of meaningful decentralisation to match it.

For cities to deliver basic services, their revenues must expand from well under one per cent of GDP to several times that share over the next decade. Updating property valuations, allowing fair user charges, and issuing well-regulated municipal bonds will help. Central and state transfers should reward transparency and performance — cities that publish audited accounts and meet service benchmarks deserve predictable support.

Responsibilities for housing, water, transport, and land use should rest clearly with elected councils rather than overlapping agencies. A directly elected mayor with a fixed term and defined executive authority could bring both leadership and accountability. The 74th Amendment’s provisions for ward committees and area sabhas must move from paper to practice. These local bodies should have modest, flexible budgets for neighbourhood projects, while digital grievance dashboards complement — not replace — in-person engagement.

The Smart Cities Mission has improved digital infrastructure in many towns but has often prioritised hardware over participation. The next phase must focus on open data, citizen feedback, and outcome-based monitoring. True “smartness” lies in functional drainage, clean streets, and responsive local governments — not in dashboards alone. 

By 2047, half of all Indians will live in cities. Their experience of democracy will depend not on slogans but on daily governance — whether buses run on time, drains work, and local voices shape decisions. India’s urban story will not be defined only by skyscrapers or flyovers, but by institutions that listen and deliver. To sustain its growth story, India must empower its cities — not just as engines of the economy but as pillars of democracy. Urban citizens deserve more than distant representation in Parliament; they deserve a say in how their neighbourhoods are governed. Strengthening local governments is not merely administrative reform — it is the next chapter in India’s democratic journey.