The state of Odisha proudly occupies top place in the Urban Governance Index followed by the states of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. UGI 2020 is released by Praja foundation, in the rankings Delhi occupies 13th position while Nagaland and Manipur occupy the bottom place.
These rankings are based on urban governance reforms study, UGI ranking is given to show case the position of each state when it comes to empowering local self-government. The report mentions that not even a single state has been successful in delegating all the functions to municipalities.
There are a total number of 18 functions that are to be delegated to municipal bodies which include. Planning for economic and social development, regulation of land-use, urban planning, and urban forestry, promotion of ecological aspects and protection of the environment etc. The main purpose behind these functions is to empower local urban bodies financially and functionally.
Milind Mhaske, director of Praja Foundation said “The idea behind building the UGI is to understand the level of decentralization of urban governance. He also stated The ranking in the Index is a relative ranking, but if we look at the absolute score, none of the top five states have achieved the lowest scores across indicators This shows that there is a need for urban governance reforms and empowerment of city governments across India.”
Figures show that none of the states could manage to score 60 out of 100. This survey was conducted across 28 states and 40 cities in India. The top five states for urban governance Index are as follows Odisha, Maharashtra, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
