Municipal councils work hard to respond promptly to their residents’ needs. But despite their best intentions, rules and requirements often slow down processes and restrict the pace of their response.
Municipal councils were once established to register births and deaths, provide street lighting and street sweeping. But today there is hardly any activity left for which local residents are not dependent on the municipal council. The municipal council or its mayor, chairperson, corporator or councillor is perceived as solutions to challenges or cause of every problem.
Even for floods, cyclones, disasters, traffic problems, and waste etc. they are accountable to local people.
Despite restrictions on their autonomy, the image of municipal councils is always at the forefront of corrupt administrations even after providing services. That means municipal councils are still very much dependent on the state government to manage their own functions. Therefore, today there is a need to analyse the autonomy of municipal councils.
Amid this backdrop, urban local bodies in Odisha observed local Self-Government Day on August 31. The question is, what autonomy they are celebrating on 31st August. Neither the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA), nor Rajiv Gandhi’s decentralisation of power, or Lord Ripon’s establishment of the municipal council in Madras or transfer of powers to municipal councils in the state was done on this date. Yet, municipal councils and the state government have been observing this day.
The Madras Municipal Council was established in 1687. It was India’s first municipal corporation — oldest municipal body in the Commonwealth outside Great Britain, and second oldest in the world. However, in 1882, British Viceroy Lord Ripon formally introduced Local Self-Government and paved the way for the formation of Municipal Council in British India. By the time the 20th century arrived, most parts of India had municipal councils with Indian mayors as the Local Self-Government Act was further democratised by Sir Surendranath Banerjee in Calcutta Municipal Corporation Act 1923.
Today, nearly 10,000 municipal councils are managing India’s cities. But even today municipal councils are often ignored by controlling authorities as state governments are often reluctant to decentralise power. Though on paper, powers have been given to municipal councils, even today they remain financially dependent on the state government.
Another example of decentralisation of power is that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said that if he was sending Rs 1 from the Centre for poverty alleviation or developmental work etc. to improve the lives of people living at the lower levels of society, only 15 paise was reaching the local level.
That forced the government to realise that problems of people cannot be solved by seating in the National capital or state capital. For this, panchayats or municipalities have to serve as local administration. This was the first time in independent India the Centre realised that another level of governance had to be created after National and state government.
After this, the three-tier system of governance began, that is, Panchayati Raj system in rural areas and Municipal Administration in urban areas according to the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment, respectively. Despite panchayats and municipal councils receiving constitutional recognition, many municipal councils in India are still searching for their own existence.
According to 74th Constitutional Amendment, state governments need to provide municipal councils with financial assistance and autonomy along with responsibilities for managing cities. Yet, despite Constitutional powers, municipal councils struggle to make cities better places to live in.
There is a need for a strong relationship between Union and state with the local government. Therefore, rules and regulations also need to be simplified. As a result, while rules will be strengthened, \the efficiency of cities will become visible in the economies of the state and Government of India. Even the local mayors can bring financial transparency to municipal councils and, through the exchange of good practices among cities and friendly competition, can set a high standard for cities.
Cities are going to play a major role in the economic progress of state, as well as in building a developed Odisha. This means that all institutions managing the city should come under the municipal council and the state government needs to give more and more autonomy to municipal councils. As a result, municipal councils will go beyond merely cleaning garbage and will prepare projects for the city related to introducing innovation, creativity and new ideas, and move forward in implementing ideas into realities.
For example, the tourism resources are abundant but largely neglected. The main reason for this is that tourism is still under the state government. If we take examples from the tourist destinations in cities around the world, we will see that their management responsibility lies under the local municipal council. Therefore, in order to harness potential tourism destinations, there is a need to create a connection between tourism and cities, rather than the state. Just as Paris, Kuala Lumpur, London etc. have an identity of their own, rather than being known by their country or state.
Similarly, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Konark have created their own distinct identities on the world map. That means on the current new geopolitical map, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Konark are known in the world more than Odisha and India. The respective municipal councils can avail the benefits of this new order of governance.
There is no doubt that the urbanisation of Bhubaneswar and Odisha will play a decisive role in making a developed Odisha in the future. Therefore, these cities will need advanced knowledge and technology to overcome various obstacles in the coming days.
However, despite limited power, the opportunity of urbanisation should not be abandoned, rather there is a need to provide autonomy to municipal councils. As a result, Bhubaneswar should develop as a planned, environmentally balanced and inclusive city which will be an example for other cities.
For this, municipal council and its mayor need to have autonomy to make decisions about the future of Bhubaneswar — whether metro or tram will run in Bhubaneswar; whether Bhubaneswar needs more eight-lane highways, cycling and pedestrian paths or flyovers; will it bid to host Olympics or host state-level sports. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation should make these decisions instead of the state government.
One of the future concerns of municipal council is that many governments still approach AI primarily as a procurement issue rather than an organisational transformation challenge.
Technology alone will not modernise government. Cities have to rethink workflows, management structures, workforce training, labour relationships, and service design. Otherwise, they risk layering AI onto outdated bureaucracy. And governments need to address public anxiety directly. Residents need confidence that AI is being used to expose bias and improve responsiveness, not entrench unfairness or expand unchecked surveillance.
The municipal council that was once known for corruption involved in registering births and deaths has undergone a complete transformation. Today, a citizen does not have to go to the municipal council to register a birth or death. Municipal institutions have not only improved their efficiency but are also using information technology to provide citizens with the convenience of birth and death registration services free of cost through mobile phones.
This indicates that they have completely eliminated the stain of corruption that had been attached to them and are moving forward to provide services for building cities of the future by also using artificial intelligence. Therefore, for the benefits of urbanisation, municipal councils and their chairpersons, whether mayor or corporator, need the necessary autonomy and decentralisation of power municipal councils and their chairpersons, whether mayor or corporator, need the necessary autonomy and decentralisation of power to make their city and neighbourhood a better place to live in.
