Urban Governance Index 2020 published by Praja Foundation
Bhubaneswar (Kalinga Voice) : Yet Odisha bagged another accolade and received laurel for leading the country in outstanding Urban Governance. Odisha has emerged to become the best state in the Urban Governance Index (UGI) report card published by NGO Praja Foundation. In a detailed study and ranking done by Praja Foundation in 40 cities across 28 states and NCT Delhi Odisha has been ranked 1 in Urban Governance.
Empowered City Elected Representatives and Legislative Structure, Empowered City Administration; Empowered Citizens; and Fiscal Empowerment are the core themes of the Urban Governance Index Ranking 2020.
These themes act as bedrocks to achieving empowered urban governance. They are significant to enable the functioning of democratic and empowered urban governance.
Urban Governance has always been a complex affair and the Urban Team under the guidance of Hon’ble Chief Minister, Shri Naveen Patnaik has always been committed to bring transformation in this area. The transformative principle of the Government, 5T (Technology, Transparency, Teamwork, Time and Transformation) and Mo Sarkar has been an important instrument in bringing such transformation. The recent amendments in its Municipal Acts, bringing Government services at the door steps of the citizens, obtaining feedback on transparency and hassle-free services from citizens are some of the key initiatives which have resulted in this.
There are many global and national level indices that map performance of cities. However, majority of the schemes and indices have focused predominantly on the aspect of mapping the performance/delivery of urban services, followed by trying to fix the gaps in the same. It is important to recognise that delivery of urban services as an ‘output’, and any achievement through this approach will only lead to mere visible changes. But what we require are changes in the ‘enabler’ i.e., core reforms in structure of City Governments and long-term management of our cities. Therefore, the approach should be aimed towards achieving sustainable and incremental reforms towards changes in the structure and powers of City Governments leading to better quality of urban life. The above-mentioned premise forms the principle over which the Urban Governance Index has been built. The index will help in mapping and monitoring the implementations of the urban governance reforms which looks at Democratic Empowerment and Accountability in urban governance across states in the country.-Nitai Mehta, Managing Trustee, Praja Foundation said.
The NGO conducted the study for three years in 40 cities and 29 states and union territories (UTs). The states were marked between 0-100 based on the themes -elected representatives and legislative structure, empowered city administration, empowered citizens and fiscal empowerment. The first theme is based on the premise and performance of the city governments, which mainly includes the mayor and municipal corporators. The second theme entails the city government’s ability in human resource management and proper usage of resources. The third theme highlights the awareness of the citizens in terms of exercising their rights and the final theme is based on assessing the financial powers of the city governments.
Out of 100, Maharashtra scored 55.15 per cent and Odissa topped the chart with a score of 56.86 per cent. Filling the next three spots were Chhattisgarh at 49.68 per cent, Kerala at 48.77 per cent and Madhya Pradesh at 45.94 per cent.
Odisha will continue its Transformative Journey in all its sectors viz Urban Sanitation spectrum, Slum Upgradation and Denotification, Waste Management, Urban Mobility, Livelihood, eGovernance, Augmentation of Resources, et all and will always be committed towards achieving major Urban Governance Reforms for bringing Citizen Centric Services.
