Unit 25

Local Self Government and the Emergence of

Voluntary Organisation
Contents
25.1 Introduction
25.2 Local Government: Few Definitions
25.3 Distinction Between Local Government and Local Self-government
25.4 Evolution of Urban Local Government in India
25.5 Nagarpalika Bill, 1989
25.6 Functions of the Municipalities
25.7 Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC)
25.8 Suggestions for Improvement in the Functioning of Local Administration
25.9 Emergence of the Voluntary Organisations
25.10 Conclusion
25.11 Further Reading

Learning Objectives
A study of this unit will enable you to:
• define the institution of local government
• distinguish between local government and local self-government
• discuss the evolution of urban local government in India
• describe the Nagarpalika Bill, 1989
• explain the different functions of the municipalities
• describe the Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC)
• discuss the suggestions the improvement in functioning of Local Administration; and
• describe the emergence of the voluntary Organisations in India.

25.1 Introduction
The present unit focusses on the concept of local self government particularly the urban
local self government. It also throws light on the emergence and function of the voluntary
organisation in the context of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. The importance of
the urban local governments in India has considerably increased in post independent era
with the inauguration of the Constitution embodying the principle of democracy and a
welfare state and emphasizing upon the governments in urban areas to promote social and
economic development. In this unit a brief sketch of the emergence of the urban local
bodies (ULBs) is being traced, taking into account the pre-independence period and the
post independence developments in this field. There is also a brief explanation of the
Nagarpalika bill and the new approaches to the local self governments in India in the
period of rapid urbanisation. The types of urban local bodies have been discussed in
details and their significance and mode of functioning has been discussed in this unit. At
the end of the discussion some important suggestions have been put forth for the
improvement of the local bodies in the changed circumstances.

The voluntary organisations take part in the new initiatives in the field of the
development and progress in the field of civil society. They play an important role in this
regard.their role does not end with the creation of awareness among the people and
capacity building in them but is redefined in order to pass on institutional learning both
inter group and intra-group,thus becoming a core of learning for newer groups. Thus this
unit concludes with the fact that the local government and the role of vountary
organisations are closely linked with each other.

25.2 Local Government: Few Definitions

Local governments have been defined in numerious ways. According to the Encyclopedia
Britanicca “an authority to determine and execute measures within a restricted area inside
and smaller than the whole state. The variant local-self government is important for its
emphasis on the freedom to decide the act.” According to P.Stones “local government is
that part of the government of a country which deals with the people in a particular
locality.” According to L.Golding “local government is the management of their own
affairs by the people of a locality”. A more appropriate definition of local government
has been given by K. Venkatarangaiya. To him, “local government is the administration
of a locality-a village, a city or any other area smaller than the state-by a body
representing the local inhabitants, possessing a fairly large amount of autonomy, raising
at least a part of its revenue through local taxation and spending its income on services
which are regarded as local and therefore distinct from state and central services.
Professor W.A Robson opines that the local government may be said to involve the
conception of a territorial, non-sovereign community possessing the legal rights and the
necessary organization to regulate its own affairs. Thus the essential characteristics of a
local government are:
i) Local area
It is a well defined area which is fixed by the respective state government.this area
can be termed as a city, town, or a village.
ii) Local authority
The administration of a particular locality is run by an authority or body of persons
who are elected directly by the people in that particular area.
iii) Civic amenities for local inhabitants
The primary objective of the local government is to provide certain civic amenities to
the people at their door step. These services are specifically meant for those
inhabitants who are living in that restricted area for which the local government unit
has been created.
iv) Local finance
Normally the local governments raise their finances locally and through several
grants given by central and the respective state governments. The local government
raises the finance by tax which is being paid by the residents of that particular area.
v) Local autonomy
Local autonomy means the freedom of the local bodies in discharge of their duties. It
implies the legal rights of the inhabitants of a local area to choose their
representatives to govern the particular area,according to legal laws framed by the
local council, and to adopt the budget subject to law. But it should be clear that the
authorities which have been given the responsibility to run the local government are
neither soverign nor self created entities and they will have to depend upon the higher
level of government for their creation, rank, powers and functions.
vi) Local participation
The local government should encourage the local people to participate in the local
developmental programmes. The local participation is a must for the success of any
development programme or policies.
vii) Local leadership
A strong leadership is a prerequisite for a local government success. This leadership
is provided to the people from the local area in the shape of elected representatives
and elected office bearers of the elected councils in regard to the policies and
programmes of the government.
viii) Local accountability.
Local government units are directly accountable to the local people. The citizen of the
local area keeps a close watch on the local authorities to ensure effective performance
in their functions.
ix) Local development.
Local government is concerned with the overall development of the people living in a
particular area or the area itself. Every activity of local government unit is an
approach to development.

25.3 Distinction Between Local Government and Local- Self

Government
Local government and local self government are interchangeably used. The term local
self government is used in those countries which were under the colonial rule. After
India got independence, it used only the local government instead of local self
government because the entire country is ruled by the people not only local
government. That is why the term local government instead of local self government
is used in Entry 5 of list II of the seventh schedule of our Constitution. Despite this
distinction, both the terms continue to be in vogue in our country. The term signifies a
government, representative of local inhabitants, more or less autonomous in
character, instituted under state legislation, in a village, a district, a city or in urban
areas to administer services as distinguished from state and central services.
 The urban local government is that part of the local government which deals
exclusively with the urban affairs. The urban scenario in India is very complex and
complicated one. And this complexity poses enormous challenges to the
administrative system involved in managing regulatory as well as developmental
affairs in urban areas. The scope of urban local governments extends to the study of
the phenomenon of urbanisation and its problems, urban planning, structure of urban
governments and their classifications, municipal legislation, personnel management,
financial administration, special purpose agencies and organisation and functions of
union ministry of urban development and its sub-ordinate and attached offices etc.
The significance of urban local government lies in the numerous benefits that it
bestows upon the inhabitants of the area it operates in. It functions as a school for
democracy wherein citizens are imparted political and popular education regarding
issues of local and national importance. It develops qualities of initiative, tolerance
and compromise- so essential for the working of a democracy. The importance of the
urban local governments in India has considerably increased in post independent era
with the framing of the Constitution embodying the principle of democracy and a
welfare state and emphasizing upon the governments in urban areas to promote social
and economic development.

Reflection and Action 25.1

Visit the local administrative office in your city/ town/ village. Interview at best two
officers of this administration about the structure and functioning of this office. What
roles it performs and how far are they able to serve the people in general.

Write a note on “The Administration Process in my City (Ward or municipal office

etc.)/ town/ village” in about two pages. Share your note with other learners at your
study center.

25.4 Evolution of Urban Local Government in India

British phase
The first sign of urban local government can be traced to 1687, with the establishment
of Madras Municipal Corporation. Later the Royal charter of 1720 established a
Mayor’s court in each of the three presidencies Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. In
1850, an act was passed for the whole of British India permitting the formation of
local committees to make better provisions for public health. Lord Mayo’s resolution
of 1870 made arrangements for strengthening the municipal institutions and
increasing the associations of Indians in these bodies. But it was the resolution of
Lord Ripon of 18th May 1882 that was hailed as the Magna Carta of local
government and he suggested reforms for instilling life into the local bodies. He can
be termed as the father of the urban local self government in India. But one thing was
clear that the development of the local self government was done to primarily serve
the British interests rather than to promote self-governing bodies in the country; that
local government institutions were dominated by the British and most of the Indian
population remained deprived of the participation in their functioning; that the
dominant motive behind the institution of local government in India was to give relief
to the imperial finances.

A significant development since Ripon’s resolution came up in 1907 when the rising
discontent among the Indian masses led to the appointment of the Royal commission
on decentralisation, to enquire into the financial and administrative relations of the
government of India and the provincial governments and the authorities subordinate
to them. In order to increase the devolution of power and gradual democratisation of
the local bodies the commission had recommended that the chairman should be
elective non-official and the majority of the members should be elected non-officials.
The other recommendations were that the municipalities should be given more
powers of taxation and control over their budgets. Apart from these the large
municipalities should be endowed with greater power and required to appoint
qualified health officials along with the executive officials.

The act provided for the reduction of official control over municipal bodies; the
provincial governments could introduce the election system in any municipalities and
permit the election of non-official chairman. The government of India act 1919
introduced the system of diarchy and the local self government became a transferred
subject under the charge of a popular minister of the provincial legislature. The act
increased the taxation powers of the local bodies, lowered the franchise, reduced the
nominated elements and extended the communal electorate to a large number of
municipalities. Lastly, the government of India act 1935, which emphasized
provincial autonomy, again declared local government as a provincial subject. The act
earmarked no taxes for local bodies. The municipal institutions were to be revitalized
with the introduction of popular ministries. However due to the outbreak of World
War II, little progress could be made in this direction. The act of 1935 abolished the
system of diarchy and introduced popular governments in the provinces. The British
left in 1947 without firmly establishing a self-reliant, vibrant, healthy and efficient
system of municipal government.
The post independent period
After independence, on 26 January the constitution of India came into force. In
reference to urban self government Entry 5 of the list II of the seventh schedule, viz.
the state list says, local government, that is to say, the Constitution and powers of
municipal corporations, improvement trusts, District boards, mining settlements
authorities and other local authorities for the purpose of local self-government or
village administration. Entry 20 of the concurrent list reads “economic and social
planning.”

The most important landmark in the evolution of urban local government in the post-
independent India is the setting up of Ministry of Urban Development in 1985. Earlier
the urban local government was the responsibility of the ministry of health as local
government had its begennning in its urge to improve sanitary conditions as
recommended by the Royal Army Sanitation Commission (1863). The ministry of
health looked after both rural and urban government until 1958 when the former was
seperated from it and put under the charge of Ministry of Community Development.
In 1966, a part of local government namely urban development was made the
responsibility of the Ministry of Works and Housing which was renamed the Ministry
of Works, Housing and Urban Development. In 1967, the subject of Urban
Development was transferred to the Ministry of Health, which was designated as
Ministry of Health, Family Planning, Works, Housing and Urban Development. In
1985 on realizing the magnitude of urban problems resulting from urbanization taking
place at alarming pace in the country that the Government of India decided to set up a
separate ministry of Urban Development and entrusted it the responsibility of broad
policy formulation and monitoring programmes in the areas of housing, urban
development, urban poverty alleviation, urban water supply, and urban transport in
addition to construction and maintenance of central government buildings and
management of central government land and property.

In August 1988, the Government set up the National Commission on Urbanization

(NCU), it subsequently recommended the following measures:
i) The ministry of Urban development to be restructured to make it the nodal
ministry to deal with urbanisation.
ii) A national urbanisation council (NUC) is set up to formulate urbanisation
policies and monitor and evaluate the implementation of the policies.
iii) An Indian Council for Citizens Action (ICCA) be created to encourage
citizens through organised voluntary efforts.
iv) Every town, with a population of more than 50,000, be provided with an urban
community department, through which development programmes be
implemented.

25.5 Nagarpalika Bill, 1989

The government has introduced the nagarpalika bill in august, 1989 with a view to
give power to the people and to strenghthen, revamp and rejuvenate urban local
governments. Its main provision were the constitution of Nagar Panchayats for areas
in transition from rural to urban areas, ward committees in nagarpalikas and zonal
committees in maha nagarpalikas, reservations for scheduled castes/scheduled tribes
and women, finance commission to recommend the principles to ensure soundness of
local bodies finances, conduct of elections by central election commission, audit of
accounts by the comptroller and auditor general of India and above all, the grant of
constitutional status to local bodies. In this bill, mainly three types of nagarpalikas
were envisaged; (i) nagar panchayat for a population of 10,000-20,000, (ii) municipal
council for urban areas with a population between 20,000-3,00,000 and (iii)
municipal corporation for urban areas with a population exceeding 3,00,000. The bill
was passed by Lok Sabha but it was defeated in the Rajya Sabha by a narrow margin
of three votes.

Again in 1991, when congress ministry came into power, it introduced the bill with
slight modifications. It was passed by birth of the houses of Parliament in December;
1992. Later on it came into existence as the constitution 74th amendment act, 1992.
The act introduces a new part, namely, part IX A, in the Constitution. This part deals
with issues relating to municipalities such as their structure and composition,
reservation of seats, elections, powers and functions, finances, and some
miscellaneous provisions. The 74th Amendment thus gives a constitutional status to
the municipalities.
To conclude It may be observed that the evolution of urban local government in the
post independent India has been chracterised by the inertia on the part of the central
governments and the state governments as is evidenced by the sporadic and piecemeal
efforts made by them in realising and recognising the significance of the city
governments and taking half hearted measures in improving their organisation and
functioning. It was only during 1980s that the central government took decision of
setting-up of the Ministry of Urban Development, appointment of national
commission of urbanisation and introducing nagarpalika bill in 1989 and 1991 to
rejuvenate the urban self government institutions in the country.
The following types of urban bodies are constituted for the urban administration in
India.
i) Minicipal Corporation
ii) Municipal Council/Committee/Municipality.
iii) Notified area Committee.
iv) Town Area Committee.
v) Township.
vi) Cantonment Board and Special Purpose Agency/Authority.
Municipal corporations are set-up in big and large cities. The council of the
corporation is headed by a Mayor and its standing committees constitute the
deliberative wing which takes decisions. The Municipal Commissioner the executive
authority, responsible for enforcing these decisions. Collectively, headed by the
Mayor, the standing committees and the Municipal Commissioner make up the
corporation. The council of the corporation consists of councillors who function for a
period of five years. The Municipal Commissioner of corporation is at the apex of the
municipal hierarchy and is the key officer controlling the administrative machinery of
the corporation. He is appointed by the state government. Generally officers
belonging to the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) are appointed to this post. The
traditional civic functions are performed by the municipal bodies.

The municipal council is a statutory body created by an act of the state legislature and
the criteria of setting it up varies from state to state. A municipal council consists of
elected, coopted and associate members. The council elects from amongest its
members,a president for a period of five years. He/She can be removed by the council
as well as the state government. The council also elects one or two vice-presidents.
The president is the administrative head and he normally presides over the meeting of
the council, guides the deliberations and gets the decisions implemented. The state
government also appoints the executive officer in the municipal council for the
conduct of the general administrative works. He exercises general control and
supervision over the municipal office, can transfer clerical employees, prepare the
municipal budgets, keeps an eye on the expenditure, is responsible for the collection
of the taxes and fees and takes measures for recovering the arrears and dues. He can
be removed by the council or by the state government. Normally the functions of the
council are similar to those of the municipal corporations.

The notified area committee is set up in those areas which are not yet ready for
declaring themselves as the municipalities. It is normally created in the areas which
are rapidly growing with large and heavy industrialisation. The state government
constitutes a committee called as Notified Area Committee. This committee
administers this area. Except three members who are elected, all the members are
normally appointed by the state government. The chairman is also appointed by the
state government.

Town area committee can be termed as the semi-municipal authority. They are
constituted for the smaller towns. The town area committee is constituted by an act of
state legislature and its composition and functions are specified in it. The committee
may be partly nominated or partly elected or wholly elected or wholly nominated.

When, in an area, large public enterprises are set-up, several residential colonies also
come into exiatence. For example, the steel plants of Rourkela, Bhilai, and
Jamshedpur etc. consequently to administer such a township the municipal council or
the corporations in which these areas falls appoint a Town Administrator, who is
assisted by a few engineers and technicians. The townships are well planned and
contains several facilities like water, electricity, roads, drainage etc. The expenditure
on these services are shared by the industries concerned.

Cantonment Boards are the only bodies which are controlled by the Central
government by the Defense Ministry. These are set-up when a military station is
established in a new area. With the establishment of the contonment area several
civilian areas like shops and market and the inhabitants of these markets constitute a
sizable population. The officer commanding the station is the president of the board.
An elected member holds office for the period of three years, while the nominated
members continue as long as they hold the office in that station.

Apart from the municipalities and corporations there are other single purpose
agencies which are set-up as statutory bodies under separate acts of the respective
state governments. The single purpose agencies are housing boards and improvement
trusts. To deal with the problem of housing the housing boards are set-up in almost
every state. At the central level, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation
(HUDCO) plays a crucial role. It has promoted numerous houses in the country. Most
of them are for the members of the lower income groups people. The housing boards
receive the funds from central and the state government for the promotion of different
housing schemes. These boards generally analyse the problem of housing and they
usually give advice to the government regarding the improvement of the housing
problems. They also create the planned neighbourhood with the construction of the
houses at reasonable cost. However, the housing boards are not exclusively for poor
income groups rather they also plan for the housing of the higher income group, yet
their most important contribution has been in serving the middle income groups.
Besides, a number of well integrated colonies have been developed by the housing
boards.

To promote the development of a city the improvement trusts are constituted. They
are the statutory bodies. Normally, it is the new areas of a city which falls under the
improvement trusts. The power and functions of the improvement trusts are specified
in the act by which they are created. Hence there are inter-state variation in the
composition and functioning of the improvement trusts. Generally, an improvement
trust is headed by a chairman, who is a nominee of the state government. An
improvement trust is a multi-functional development agency, which performs an
important coordinative role by bringing the representatives of a large number of
government agencies engaged in the process of development under one roof. An
example of the improvement trust is Delhi Development Agency (DDA), which was
set up in 1957.

25.6 Functions of the Municipalities

The List of Functions that has been laid down in the twelfth schedule is as follows:
i) urban planning, including town planning
ii) Regulation of land use and construction of buildings.
iii) Planning for economic and social development.
iv) Roads and bridges.
v) Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes.
vi) Public health, sanitation, conservancy and solid waste management.
vii) Fire services.
viii) Urban forestry, protection of the environment and promotion of ecological
aspects.
ix) Safeguarding the interests of weaker sections of society, including the
handicapped and mentally retarded.
x) Slum improvement and up gradation.
xi) Urban poverty alleviation.
xii) Provision of urban amenities and facilities such as parks, gardens and
playgrounds.
xiii) Promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects.
xiv) Burial and burial grounds and electric crematoriums.
xv) Cattle ponds, prevention of cruelty to animals.
xvi) Vital statistics including registration of births and deaths.
xvii) Public amenities, including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and public
conveniences.
xviii) Regulation of slaughter houses and tanneries.

25.7 Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC)

The Metropolitan Planning Committee came into existence with the introduction of
the 74th constitutional amendment which provides that in every metropolitan area, a
Metropolitan Planning Committee should be constituted for preparing a draft
development plan for the metropolitan area as a whole. It also laid down that in this
sort of committee not less than two third of its members shall be elected by and from
amongst the elected members of the municipalities of that particular area. While
preparing the draft development plan the following factors will be taken into account

i) The plans will be prepared by the municipalities and the panchayats in the
metropolitan area.
ii) Matters of common interest between the two.
iii) Sharing of water and other physical and natural resources.
iv) Integrated development of infrastructure and environmental conservation.
v) Overall objectives and priorities set-up by the government of India and the
state government.
vi) Other available resources, financial and otherwise.

However, despite a rapid growth of urban local bodies after the attainment of
independence general impression is that the urban local bodies in India have failed to
come up to the people’s expectations. The importance of urban local bodies is very
crucial in our democratic set-up. Local urban bodies form a substantial step towards
centralization of power and promotion of democratic values. The local bodies are the
instruments of cultural and social change in India. They are more effective
instruments of social change because they inculcate the civic sense and the
neighbourhood consciousness among the urbanites. Despite there has been an
imbalance between the peoples aspirations and needs on the one hand and the actual
conduct of the municipal administration on the other hand. The shortage of finances
added to the gravity of the problem. Non utilization of available resources properly
also made things worse. Rapid urbanization and the emergence of developmental
tasks necessitated high degree of administrative and technical skills. There is a great
need for larger financial devolution to urban authorities. The system of municipal
finance suffers from serious flaws. The system of accounting, as prescribed by the
state government is not followed strictly, leading to embezzlement, leakages and
under assessment. In various municipalities, audit objections remain pending for
many years and in some municipalities audit is not even conducted on a regular basis.

Due to excessive control over the urban local bodies, their performance suffers. To
ensure proper performance of their functions, the state government exercise
legislative, administrative, financial and judicial control. These controls, instead of
providing guidance and support, the control turns out to be negative, restricting the
functioning of these bodies. Apart from the control another reason for the failure of
the urban local bodies is due to the postponement of the elections of the local bodies
like municipalities etc. The state government feel it safer and easier to deal with
bureaucracy placed at the helm of the civic administration than with the popularly
elected councilors and corporators. The shifting of the large rural masses to the urban
areas for jobs led to several problems such as the unplanned growth of towns and
cities. In the absence of the proper planning, judicious use of land is not being made,
colonies are set-up without proper facilities such as schools, parks and hospitals, the
growth of slums is not checked, there is shortage of houses, traffic congestion is
rampant and hardly any effective steps are taken to check urban poverty and
unemployment.

Due to the lack of awareness in public, public participation in urban bodies has been
negligible. The population of the cities consists of heterogeneous groups and they are
alienated from one another. Most of the city population was once rural and even now,
it looks at the city merely as a place to earn a livelihood, and has little attachment
with it. While one understands the reason behind the low participation of the rural
population in the management of their politico-administrative institutions, it is
difficult to appreciate a similar, if not identical, phenomenon in the urban areas. The
urban leadership also fails to inspire any confidence among the people and once
elected they hardly visit their wards to learn about the gravity of the problems of their
constituency.
25.8 Suggestions for Improvement in the Functioning
of Local Administration

In the decision making process the people participation is a must. Although the local
bodies are democratic but most of the essential decisions are done by the bureucrats
and other government officials. The representation of people is a very essential
ingredient for the developmental programme to be successful. Side by side the local
administration should have the coordination between the municipal government and
other public agencies for the successful implementation of the developmental plans
and policies. The local administration should also have the political support to obtain
funds and access to other resources required for the execution of urban development
plans and programmes. The organizational performance must be efficient in the
location of the programmes, the timing of activities, the impact of programmes on
individual target groups on which projects are to be focussed and the use of resources
and requiring more effective programming in individual cases. The organizational
structure should also provide for continuity in administration and have the capacity to
overcome major political difficulties associated with the change in the government at
the national level affecting inter-governmental relationships. It should be adaptable to
shift in priorities and the unforeseeable events in the process of urban development.
There is a need for making provisions in the system for monitoring and evaluation of
progress and consistent improvements in performance.

The existing urban local government and the development legislation is not only
inadequate in the faces of the enormity of task of urban development but far more
narrow than the ranges of the legislations considered adequate for the implementation
of our urban policy. The current urban legislation is grouped around the land use
patterns, development control building codes and by laws, property taxation,
environmental control and industrial location legislations. The existing institutional
and juridical structures relating to the application of the legislation, requires
improvement in administrative procedures, particularly in respect of delays in
reviews, development permission, buildings codes and by - laws, land acquisition,
land tenure, industrial location, permission for guiding urban development. Since the
crux of the urban growth is the change in demographic, social and economic
structures, the task of urban local bodies in the field of urban development is to cope
with the emerging problems more efficiently with suitable development strategies and
minimum of institutional organizational changes in the distribution of assets,
including level of education, health and related services. These are prerequisites to
bring about changes in the level of income and consumption, where urban poverty is
compounded by shortage and scarcity and also by high cost of basic necessities
including services. So we can say that the prospects for an effective representative
local government are yet to be seen despite the fact that political process and urban
development administration are closely related and generally for most of the time
dominated by state/or national political system.
25.9 Emergence of the Voluntary Organisation
The problems of urban local government are varied in nature. Some of the urban
problems like housing problems, infrastructural facilities, problem of safe drinking
water, unemployment, poverty, rise in crime rate, social isolation, old age problems
and the neglect of aged population in a city, beggary, individualism and low social
cohesion and cooperation between the individuals are glaring. To solve these
problems the need of voluntary organization arises. For some years, the voluntary
organizations have emerged as an important option for the popular activities, in spite
of their limited reach and impact of their programmes. The role of voluntary
organization should represent a form of social and economic investment towards
achieving equity, social justice and the full democratization of the society. In the
context of the above problems in urban areas the role of Non Government
Organisations is very crucial.

The voluntary organisations can sensitive the local populace about the existing
problems in their respective cities and towns. They can form associations and other
smaller groups. Normally the NGOs can act as the sources of various information
through various processes to each components of the society. The process of making
the people aware and sensitive of their rights and duties is essential for the suitability
and transparency of any planning process. The voluntary organisations can impart
training to the people of the locality for the solution of various problems which can be
solved with the active participation of the people of the concerned locality. Training
should provide groups the power to negotiate and formulate plans for their own
localities, along with a common knowledge of its effects at a larger level. They can
assists in playing an advocacy and pioneering role in the planning and information,
education and service delivery or a complementary and supplementary role in policy
and programmes.

As our society is getting more and more democratized and the administration is more
and more decentralized, the role of voluntary organisations is increasing day by day.
To achieve the role of development in this scenario, the voluntary organisations are
expanding their activities, strategic access and use of media and communication as
more effective, along with negotiations. The voluntary organisations take a proactive
role in implementation of various programmes of urban problem. They advocate with
the state and other voluntary organisations to ensure that the committements are
transformed into reality. As an immediate follow-up the strategic plans should be
translated into local language and documents disseminated widely to policy-makers,
government and other NGOs, the media and the public. It is also essential that the
voluntary organisations document the institutional learnings for the use of the
interested groups.

The voluntary organizations take part in the new initiatives in the field of the
development and other progresses in the field of civil society. They play an important
role in this regard. Their role does not end with the creation of awareness among the
people and capacity building in them but is redefined in order to pass on institutional
learning both inter-group and intra-group, thus becoming a core of learning for newer
groups. They advocate for the rights of the marginalized groups of society like poor
sections of the lower castes and the handicapped section of the urban areas. They act
as the consultant for these groups and they fight for the right cause of these
marginalized groups of urban areas. They also complement the lack of technical
know how of this section of the society by providing necessary support and
explaining the different processes involved if any. They spread the documents on
experiences and institutional learning nationally and even globally for easy
replication elsewhere. These documents can be used to identify and overcome the
problems and also as a base for dealing with governments.

Reflection and Action 25.2

Visit a local NGO in your neighbourhood. Find out about its activities and
participation of people in them. Write a note of two pages on the “Native and
Activities of an NGO” Compare your note with other students at your study center.
It is very important to develop mechanisms for consultation, negotiation, multilateral
accords and coordination among various agents involved, within an institutional
framework that respect integral policies, plans and programmes. If these practices are
to be legitimized, the validity and representation of the spokespersons of popular
organisations must be recognized and their dynamics should be respected. Institutions
must be adapted and public servants educated so that they have an open mind to
recognise the importance of processes present within the popular neighborhoods of
our cities. Citizens and their groups are the stake holders in the urban areas.

Voluntary organisations have emerged as a force in the process of urban

development. There is a need to build their own capacities as well as government
capacity to perform the roles well and ultimately to learn in the process. The NGO
also need to evolve and strengthen the emerging new partnership to make the
enabling role of the government in the human settlement sectors a reality in the
coming years. Thus the urban locality should be planned in such a way which cares
for the marginalised and the vulnerable with compassion and respect for the rights for
all. The voluntary organisations thus emerged to promote and encourage the political
participation of all the people in the city and conducting its affairs in a transparent
and accountable manner. They also emerged due to the social need of the people in an
urbanised society.

25.8 Conclusion
The scope of the urban local government is very wide which includes the phenomena
of urbanisation itself, urban planning, municipal legislation, personnel management,
finances of the urban local bodies and other agencies. The urban local government
operates in towns and cities. The chief characteristics of the urban local governments
are: that its jurisdiction is limited to the specific area and its functions relate to the
provision of civic amenities to the population living in that local areas, it has the
power to raise finances by taxation in the areas under its jurisdiction and they act
under the general supervision of the particular state and central governments. The
urban local governments act as a school to teach democracy to the citizens of the
locality. In other words we can say that the local urban bodies act as the custodians of
our democratic culture and ethos. It provides facilities for minimum basic needs of
the people. The importance of the urban local government has increased considerably
after the independence with the introduction of the notion of the welfare state in our
Constitution. Similarly, the Non-government Organisations or NGOs have also
emerged to fulfil the needs of the citizens. Through adversary and training the NGOs
spread awareness of various kinds in society, in general and urban areas in specific.

25.9 Further Reading

Maheswari, S.R.Local Government in India, Laksmi Narayan Aggrawal, Agra, 1984.

Venkatarangiya and Pattabhiram (eds) Local Government in India: Selected

Readings, Allied Publishers, Bombay, 1969.
Reference

Maheswari, S.R.Local Government in India, Laksmi Narayan Aggrawal, Agra, 1984.

Venkatarangiya and Pattabhiram (eds) Local Government in India: Selected
Readings, Allied Publishers, Bombay, 1969.
Mohit Bhattacharya, Urbanisation and Urban Problems in India: Some Policy Issues,
Nagarlok, volume vii, no. 4, october-Dec. 1975.
National Institute of Urban Affairs, Status of India’s Urbanisation, 1986.
R.K.Bhardwaj, The Problems of Urban Development in Indiain S.K.Sharma(eds)
Dynamics of Development,Concept Publications,Delhi,1978.
Report of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, 1990-1991.
Sundram, K.V., Urban and Regional planning in India, Vikas Publishing House, New
Delhi, 1977.
Annual Report of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, 1990-
91.
Khanna, R.L. Municipal Government and Administration in India, Mohindra Capital
Publishers, Chandigarh.
Sacdeva, D.R. Local Government Services in India, Raj Publishers, Jalandhar, 1974.
Unit 26
Urban Planning
Contents
26.1 Introduction
26.2 Urban Planning: Nature and Scope
26.3 Historical Evolution of Urban Planning
26.4 Main Concerns of Urban Planning
26.5 New Approach to Urban Planning
26.6 Main Objectives of the National Urbanization Policy
26.7 Conclusion
26.8 Further Reading

Learning Objectives
After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• explain the nature and scope of urban planning
• describe the historical evolution of urban planning
• discuss the main concerns of urban planning and
• outline the main objectives of the National Urbanization Policy

26.1 Introduction
The phenomena of urban growth has resulted in an unplanned, haphazard and ugly urban
settlements. Planning is therefore necessary to combat the menace of urbanisation and its
resultant problems. An important function of planning in purely physical terms is the
judicious use of land- a scarce commodity in most urban areas, and its rational and timely
reservation for future use. Land planning is thus a very essential need. The state
governments have therefore to legalise upon planning and to ensure its implementation
which is ultimately the responsibility of the urban governments. The state governments
have set-up departments of town and country planning for this purpose. In this unit you
will learn all about the process of planning for a better future; especially in the urban
areas.
26.2 Urban Planning: Nature and Scope
Planning is a preparation for future action. It is a conscious process of selecting and
developing the best course of action to accomplish a definite objective. Urban planning is
a process by which the use of land is controlled and its development is regulated in public
interest. It involves both engineering and architectural problems. The urban planning is a
technique and method of development that contribute to the organisation, development
and evolution of urban areas. It contributes to their urbanizing environs, based on
economic, legal and aesthetic concepts and conditions in order to promote the welfare of
the public and the quality of the enviornment. It deals with the spatial incidence of socio-
economic development over an urban space. As Lewis Mumford defines:
“City planning involves the consideration of human activities in time and space, on the
basis of the known facts about place ,work and people. It involves the modification and
relocation of various elements of the total environment for the purpose of increasing their
services to the community, and it calls for the building of appropriate structure,
dwellings, industrial plants, markets, water works, dams, bridges, villages, cities to house
the activities of a community, to assist the performance of all its needful functions in a
timely and orderly fashion.”

Planning has both social and economic aims; socially successful planning tends to make
people’s life happier, facilitates social intercourse, and has visual attractiveness. A proper
spatial relationship between the communities in a region and the constituent parts of a
town, compactness of development and an efficient arrangement of communication
routes-all results in human activities being carried out on more efficiently and less
wastefully and thus create wealth.

In a town or city there are large numbers of activities going on whether somebody directs
them or not. Houses are constructed, shops are opened, markets flourish, schools and
hospitals are built, and roads are widened or new roads opened. All these activities will
go on whether we have town planning or not. If there is no planning what may happen is
that before roads are built houses may be constructed and houses may be occupied before
water supply and drainage facilities are provided. Urban planning and town planning
considers each one of these improvements and relates them to the community and the city
as a whole, to see what is likely to happen not only in the immediate future but over a
reasonably long period of time.

Actually the urban planning is concerned with the wide range of issues and problems
such as the problem of providing the adequate housing facilities, employment, schools,
parks and playgrounds, good transportation facilities and utilities and services for the
increasing urban population in the large number of towns and cities which exists today
and are likely to come up in the future. These problems require constant and continuous
planning instead of piecemeal planning at different level.

The urban planning cannot be seen in isolation, rather the problem of urban planning is
related with the entire region, and thus there is a need for a regional approach to urban
planning. It is equally important to coordinate the growth of rural areas with the future
development of towns and cities to form an integral part of a balanced region. Regional
approach should attempt to reduce the socio-economic imbalance between the urban and
the rural areas and between different parts of the country. This requires taking up of
regional development plans along with the preparation of the master plans for towns and
cities. Regional and urban planning therefore is closely related with each other. Regional
planning basically deals with the physical planning of towns and cities and the
countryside. It may be used with reference to an extension of town planning. It may
include the general planning of resources.

Patrick Geddes and Lewis Mumford have written about regional planning and
development as a prerequisite to any social planning or town planning. The term region
applies to an area with certain characteristics, often mere size, by virtue of which it is
adopted as a suitable unit for some particular purpose of business and administration. It is
also an area which is homogenous with respect to some particular set of associated
conditions, whether of the land or of the people such as industry, farming, distribution of
population, commerce or the general sphere of influence of a city. A region in general
terms is envisaged as a natural unit in contrast to the artificial unit created for
administrative purposes.

A town planner should be an expert in the area of land use planning. He should utilise the
minimum extent of land required for expansion of towns and thus preserve valuable land
for some other purposes. Here again, a regional study would help the planner regarding
his limitations in planning for the development of any town or city in the region. The
present day town planner, faced with the problem of expanding our cities for locating
additional houses, industries, public buildings and recreational facilities, is at the same
time facing problems like shortage of farm land, ill effects of deforestations, ribbon
development along highways, imbalance in rural and urban life and so on. He has to
approach the problem at the regional basis before going to the expansion of any existing
town or city, or building any town in that particular region. Urban planning thus is a very
broad concept and includes not only planning of streets, houses and a few civic buildings
but if town planning to be effective and creative, has to start from the village and cover
the entire country. At the city level the town planner seeks to serve the interest of not
only one community or one town but several communities, individually as well as in
relation to one another, and utilises the resources of the city to the best advantage of land
optimum utilisation by all the communities of that area.

Urban planning takes place within a national framework. Planning gains its power
through its embodiment in the legislation and regulations which forms part of the legal
apparatus which can vary from country to country. Secondly, the implementation of
planning occurs through the administrative system which again varies considerably
across different different countries of the world. Urban planning should be not only
politically and socio-culturally feasible but it should be environmentally, economically,
technologically, physically, fiscally and infrastructure-wise also feasible. Since the city
and its environs cannot grow as fast as the growth of the urban population and human
activity, urban planning is a must. Congestion and overcrowding of homes, the poverty
and unemployment, the high incidence of deviant social behaviour, the growth of sub-
standard settlements and squatter colonies, the shortage of housing, lack of community
facilities and public utilities are some of the symptoms of faulty planning in urban areas.

26.3 Historical Evolution of Urban Planning

Human beings have been living on this earth for more than a million years but we trace
the history of the cities only since the 5000 or 6000 years ago in the great river valleys of
Euphrates, the Indus and the Nile. From the historical facts it is a well known truth that
the cities were always planned with a definite purpose in mind. It may be due to self
glorification, protection, trade etc, and the development of the city was always done as a
separate agency.

In ancient India particularly during the Mauryas and Gupta periods separate urban
planning and development agencies existed. The work of urban planning was performed
by city council and town council along with the other functions of the state. The city
council was modelled upon that of a village panchayat and it may be assumed that it was
an elected body, though certain works were reserved for the control of the imperial
officers. During the Gupta period, we have found evidence of the existence of town
councils and the public was also very vigilant about proper development of the city.

There are quite a number of books written by the ancient authors about town planning in
India. They are known as ‘Vastu Sastra.’ Earliest examples of Vedic town plannnning
available are Madurai, Srirangam and Kanchipuram, build with the temple as the focal
point and concentric square streets all around at some length. One who refers to
Manasara Silpa Sastra (Architecture by Manasara) and Kautilya Artha Shastra
(Economics by Kautilya) can appreciate the scientific approach to town and village
planning in ancient India.

Manasara Shilpa Shastra is a treatise on town planning and architecture and consists of
seventy-five adhyayas or chapters. Apart from dealing with details of Vastu-shilpa, many
of the chapters describe particulars such as design of various parts of the buildings,
towers, pillars, chariots trimphals arches, jewellary, idols of gods and ceremonies
connected with the commissioning of the finished structures.
The fourth chapter describes the investigation of the nature of different types of soils by
means of several tastes, such as their colour, form, smell, and touch. The seventh chapter
deals with the planning of the village according to their suitability for the location of
temples, palaces, houses, roads and other depending upon the location of the presiding
deity within the village. The ninth chapter describes in detail the different types of village
plans according to their parts of the village for temples, schools, public halls and
residential houses for different classes of people. The eleventh chapter deals with the
formation of the cities, town and fortresses. The characteristics of the cities fit for the
habitation of kings, merchants, Brahmins and other classes of people. The following are
the different types of town plans evolved and practised according to Manasara.
1. Dandaka
2. Sarvathobhadra
3. Nandyavarta
4. Padmaka
5. Swastika
6. Prastara
7. Karmuka
8. Chaturmukha

Dandaka type of town plan provides for two main entrance gates and is generally
adopted for the formation of small towns and villages. The village offices were
generally located in the east. The female deity of the village or the Gandevata will
generally be located outside the village and the male deities in the northern portion. In
the second type of town plan the whole town should be fully occupied by houses of
various descriptions and inhabited by all classes of people. The temple dominates the
village. In the third type of town planning i.e. Nandyvarta the planning was meant for
the construction of towns and not for the villages. It is generally adopted for the sites
either circular or square in shape, with not less than thousand houses but not more
than four thousand. The streets run parallel to the central adjoining streets with the
temple of the presiding deity in the centre of the town. Nandyavarta is the name of a
flower.
 Padmaka type of plan was practised for building of the towns with fortress all round.
The pattern of the plan resembles the petals of lotus radiating outwards from the
centre. The city used to be practically an island surrounded by water, having no scope
for expansion. Swastika type of plan contemplates some diagonal streets dividing the
site into certain triangular plots. The site need not be marked out into a square or
rectangle and it may be of any shape. The town is surrounded by a rampart wall,with
most of its foot filled with water. Two main streets cross each other at the centre,
running south to north and west to east. The characteristic feature of Prastara plan is
that the site may be either square or rectangular but not triangular or circular. The
sites are set apart for the poor, the middle class, the rich and the very rich. The size of
the sites increases according to the capacity of each to purchase or build upon. The
main roads are much wider compared to those of other patterns. The town may or
may not be surrounded by a fort.

Karmuka plan is suitable for the place where the sites of the town is in the form of a
bow or semi-circular or parabolic and mostly applied for towns located on the sea
shore or the river banks. The main streets of the town runs from north to south or east
to west and cross streets run at right angles to them, dividing the whole area into
blocks. The presiding deity, commonly a female deity, is installed in the temple built,
in any convenient place.

Chaturmukha type of plan is applicable to all towns starting from the largest towns to
the smallest village. The site may be either square or rectangular having four faces.
The town is laid out east to west lengthwise, with four main streets. The temple of the
presiding deity will be always at the centre of the town.

The urban planning during the Moughal period florished in leaps and bounds. Many cities
like Fatehpur Sikri, Ajmer, Ujjain, Bharatpur, Benaras, Delhi, Agra etc. clearly bears the
influence of Muslim architecture and culture. However, as you know, Ujjain is a city of
Ancient India dating back to the 6th century B.C. It also evident from the history that a
separate department existed for the construction and development works. This
department was headed by the emperor himself, but it had many eminent architects,
engineers and ministers as its members. In the regime of Akbar, a public works
department was established for the planning and development of construction work. All
the Muslim rulers had a separate department of urban planning and development. Like
Romans the Moughals too wanted to show their power and pomp by constructing
monumental structures for the use of the royal families at the cost of other citizens. The
city of Jaipur built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II during 1720s is one of the best
examples of the revival of the Vedic principles of settlement planning on a grid pattern
with strict architectural and land use controls on the main streets, residential areas
planned with spatial hierarchy of chowks (public squares) being and interjection of main
roads through a gateway leading to the main markets of the city.

During the British phase the main emphasis of urban planning was based on their
strategic linkages to port towns for the purposes of trade and commerce including
defence. Besides these other economic and climatic factors were also taken into account.
The evolution of urban planning techniques and solutions initiated at the beginning of the
20th century to tackle the problems of urbanisation, were aimed towards town
improvement. Functionally they did not visualize the problem of urban planning beyond
the municipal approach to development. In modern India the first urban improvement
authority was constituted as far back as 175 years ago in Calcutta under the statute of
1794 with only limited powers. In the light of the experiences of the working of this
improvement authority, in 1803 a town improvement committee consisting of 30
nominated leading citizens of Calcutta was constituted. In 1857, this committee was
reorganized in the form of a board. This board had 7 commissioners, 3 nominated by the
government and 4 selected by the tax payers. In 1864, on the example of Calcutta, and on
the advice and insistence of the Royal sanitary commission, the sanitary commissions
were set up in Bombay and Madras presidencies to give advice and assistance in all
matters relating to public health, sanitation etc.
In the year of 1915, the famous town planner and administrator visited Madras
presidency and he advised the government of India on this front. As a consequence,
Bombay and Madras states enacted Town Planning acts on the line of the British Housing
and Town planning Acts, 1909 and Mr. H. V. Lanchester was appointed as town planning
advisor to the imperial government of India. Although a large number of town planning
acts were enacted in different parts of the country since then, the progress made under
these enactments were very tardy.

Reflection and Action 26.1

Study the plan of your city/town/village. Prepare a map of all the basic organizations and
official buildings related with planning and development of infrastructure of that area.
Compare your pap of facilities with those of others at your study center.

After the independence a fresh impetus on the front of urban planning and development
took place. The model act prepared by the Town and Country planning organization got
the approval of the minister of the local self government in charge of town planning in
1962. The model act has been supplemented further by two legislations providing for the:
i) land acqiusition for development and planning
ii) For the creation of development authorities to undertake large scale
development of the city and the works relating to the provisions of the life-
support system of amenities and services for a more humane urban
enviornment.
The town planning legislations in the stream of directional plannning made the
provisions for the preparation of the master plans for cities in terms of physical
development of urban space for the provisions of infrastructural services. These
legislations did not anticipate planning for supra-urban space extending the
boundaries of the city to the peripheral areas and their elevation to the regional
constellation of the city and its sub-systems.

The existing urban planning legislation in force in India suffers from many
deficiencies. A study undertaken by Balachandran and R.N.Haldipur on this subject
indicates the following shortcomings:
i) multiplicity of legal and juridical structures and organisations exist without
establising proper linkages among them,
 ii) overlapping of functions and jurisdictions in the absence of suitable provisions
for the coordination of their activities,
iii) emphasis on plan preparation and not implementation and execution,
iv) inadequacy of effective land acquisition provisions under the Land
Acquisition act of 1894 which has become outdated,
v) legal inadequacy for checking haphazard development, peripheral growth and
ribbon development control,
vi) lack of provisions for organizational set-up for plan implementation and ,
vii) lack of public participation in real sense of their involvement.

26.4 Main Concerns of Urban Planning

Some of the main concerns of urban planning are:
i) to rationalise the distribution of goods and services including economic
activities compatible with population redistribution which functions both as an
agent of production as well as consumption to minimise the friction of space.
ii) To improve the level of living and condition of human environment in view of
the low level of per-capita income.
iii) To absorb urban labour supply with increased income of the urban poor in the
wake of stagnant economy suffering from unemployment/underemployment.
iv) The issues of what are the sizes of the towns and cities which would be most
advantageous from economic and social viewpoint.
v) What should be the ratio of rural to urban population to release the pressure on
rural land and maintain economic and social balance over the space?
vi) To suggest the most rational pattern of land use for economic base of the city.
vii) To achieve an optimum and functionally integrated spatial structure of human
settlement pattern to realise the overall goal of the society.
The national plans since their first inception i.e. the first plan (1951-56) laid emphasis
on rehabilitation of refugees by augmenting the stock of housing supply and linking
housing problems on the sound footings of town and country planning. In the second
plan (1956-61) although the task of rehabilitation was considered merely as a problem
in itself, but as a part of a wider spectrum of planning of urban areas and the regions
of their location. The second plan recommended that the following three problems
should be studied:
i) Methods of securing planned development in urban areas.
ii) Expansion of housing facilities.
iii) Development of civic administration.
The third plan (1961-66) specifically provided for undertaking the preparation of 72
master plans for practically all the major cities, and their surrounding areas including
industrial areas and also some of the rapidly growing regions. The central government
in this plan period suggested minimum directions for action which were as follows:
i) Control of urban land values through public acquisition of land and
appropriate fiscal policies.
ii) Physical planning of the use of land.
iii) Defining tolerable minimum and maximum standard for housing and other
services.
iv) Strengthening of municipal administration for undertaking the development
responsibilities.
The fourth plan gave more emphasis to the need for a national urban land policy. It
laid emphasis on the following points:
i) Urban water supply and the sanitation.
ii) Land acquisition and development.
iii) Preparation of master plans for the selected towns and regions.
The fifth plan (1974-79) gave the slogan of removal of poverty and on the attainment
of self reliance. The following were the major points of urban planning and urban
development in this plan.
i) To augment civic services in urban centres as far as possible and to make
them fit for a reasonable level of living.
ii) To make efforts to tackle the problems of metropolitan cities on a more
comprehensive and regional basis.
iii) To promote the development of smaller towns and new urban centres to ease
the pressure of increasing urbanisation.
 iv) To assist in the implementation of projects of national importance such as
those related to metropolitan cities or inter-state projects.
v) To provide necessary support for the enlargement of the scope and functions
of the industrial townships undertaken by the central governemnt undertakins
so as to make them self-contained.
The draft sixth five year plan (1978-83) gave more emphasis on the infrastructural
problems and the plight of the urban poor in the urban areas. The document also
recognizes the problem of water and air pollution and the serious threats being
imposed by urban dairy to the degradation of human environment.

The new urban planning policy aims at three major objectives:

i) Revising the growth pattern so that the smallest towns grow fastest, and the
largest ones either grow at the slowest or at a slow pace.
ii) Decongesting the overpopulated areas of large cities so as to create a more
balanced and rational relationship between residential and work place like
shops, schools etc.
iii) To see that small and medium towns and new cities develop in a way that the
problems of the past are not repeated.

But all these enactments were in the nature of the directional planning aimed at preparing
improvement schemes for specific areas. The improvement trusts besides preparing and
implementing individual schemes of city improvement or its expansions incorporated the
provision of land acquisition and its development and disposal. Although their functions
were limited compared to municipal authorities, their jurisdiction was not confined to
municipal boundaries alone but was extended to include the peripheral areas also without
any comprehensive development plan or perspective of growth and its extension to the
regional context. Most of the town planning activities were performed by the
improvement trusts but some of the trusts faced difficulties due to their merger either
with the corporations or with the newly created authorities like development boards or
development authorities.
Gradually with the emergence of new developmental agencies like housing boards,
cooperative housing societies, the functioning of improvement trusts was discouraged.
Moreover the similarity of functions of both the Development Boards/Authorities and the
improvement trusts also created conflict between the two, as the latter took the schemes
of more remunerative nature, such as, the development of new areas but neglecting the
improvement and redevelopment of older areas of the city. The unplanned consequence
of such an urban growth of slums and squatters, misuse of land, and mushrooming
colonies in the periphery of the city adding to more burden to the maintenance cost of
municipal administration.

In an urbanising society, the urbanisation of people is meaningless without urbanisation

of space. The lack of urbanisation policy under the plans and its comprehension by the
master plan bears no relation to the social and economic development plan. Under the
traditional approach of urban planning there was the concept of master plan. Since the
master plans are basically land use plans, their subject and object of interest being the
development and use of the space. They are mainly concerned with the programming of
intra-urban space. The gradual emergence of this technique of master planning as a
control over land use of cities to ensure adequate standard of housing and its transition
from housing to neighborhood, to city and its further prolongation to region is not
adequately represented by the traditional approach of master planning which is restricted
to land use planning alone. The master plans developed to comprehend the process of
urbanisation have generally failed to take account of quick changes in population and its
related social and economic trends. They are neither comprehensive nor rigid frameworks
for the execution of works but signify only broad outlines of a future development plan.
As a spectrum of various coordinated land use patterns, master plan is generally
undertaken when the actual development has proceeded much ahead of the operational
planning. The master plans approach to development as they exist today is designed to
accentuate the tide of urbanisation rather than comprehending the social and economic
forces of urbanisation.
26.5 New Approach to Urban Planning
The traditional approaches to master plans have many limitations which can be overcome
and can be geared for development only if
i) its scope is wider than the city region.
ii) the elaboration of master plans for land use is to be effected within the context
of regional development plan
iii) its focus is on policy statements rather than on mapped relationships in terms
of a full scale urban and regional development policy.
iv) its process provides for different mixes of regulations (local, regional and
national) and public investments in areas at different stages of urbanisation.
v) its operational content is a changing sequence of different sectors over
functional and geographical units of space.
vi) its coverage is wider enough to comprehend the development sequences of a
system of geographical and spatial units (of villages, of towns, of cities, of
regions, and of the nation as a whole).

26.6 Main Objectives of the National Urbanisation Policy

To promote the welfare of the society in general and of urban areas in particular, there
is a dire need of designing a national urbanisation policy to serve as a guide for
making specific decisions affecting the pattern of urban growth. An urban policy
demands enactment of an Act by parliament on national urbanisation policy and
plannnning Act for a more comprehension of social and economic forces for a wider
spread of the benefits of urbanisation over the space, which should have among others
the following objectives:
i) Convergence of inter-regional income and growth differentials i.e. controlling
city growth in rich regions and expanding urban centres in lagging ones;
ii) Achieving national economic growth which has its implications in terms of
structure and spacing of a hierarchy as a whole to the importance of leading
cities as generic forces of economic growth and diffusion of innovation;
iii) Gradual elimination of differential in life style in terms of productivity and
welfare both in urban and rural areas providing the minimum levels of
services for improving the quality of life.
iv) Favour a pattern of urbanisation and economic development which offers
wide range of alternative locations and encourages a balanced use of natural
and human resources.
v) Equating the private and social cost of urban development since divergence
between social and private costs leads to excessive growth of cities.

Reflection and Action 26.2

Visit your local library and read a book on urban planning in India. Write an essay on
“Urban Planning in India” in about two pages on the basis of the account given in
your book.
Discuss your essay with other learners at your study center and your Academic
counselor.

26.7 Conclusion
The increasing growth pressure on the cities and towns and lots of problems out of it
poses new challenges to the urban planners and administrators in present time. Urban
planning should be politically and socio-culturally acceptable as well as
environmentally, economically, technologically, physically, fiscally and
infrastructure-wise feasible. The increasing pressure of population growth on urban
land, its use and reuse, the amenities and services and the large number of low
income groups in urban areas are some of the important factors contributing to the
problems of the urban health hazards, law and order cannot be managed within
traditional role performance of the government. For this the role of the urban
community is of utmost importance. The entire urban community should take part in
urban planning. In other words the planning system should be as democratic as
possible in the present time. The basic weaknesses in the urban planning has been that
it did not foresee the problems of the informal sector growth within the urban
economy, and the locational focus did not spell out the implications of the sectoral
 programmes in relation to population distribution catering to the needs of both urban
and rural settlements.

26.8 Further Reading

Lewis, Mumford: The culture of cities, 1938.
R.K.Viswakarma: Urban and Regional Planning in India.
Reference
Benjamin Rowland: The Art and Architecture of India. Penguin books, Great Britain,
1954.
Town Planning in India. Town and Country Planning Organisation, New Delhi, 1962.
Lewis, Mumford: The culture of cities, 1938.
Hooja, Rakesh: Planning, interlocked markets and Rural Development, Rawat
Publications, Jaipur, 1990.
Pardeep Sachdeva: Urban Local Government and Administration in India, Kitab Mahal,
Allahabad, 1993.
R.K.Viswakarma: Urban and Regional Planning in India.
Lioyd Rodwin: Urban Planning in Developing Countries, Washington, D.C., 1975.
Mishra, R.P. Million Cities in India, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1978.
Bhardwaj, R.K. The Problems of Urban Development in India in S.K.Sharma(eds)
Dynemics of Development,Concept Publications,1978.
Unit 27
Media and Urban Governance
Contents
27.1 Introduction
27.2 Media Governance Interface
27.3 Media in Contemporary Urban Governance
27.4 Nature of Mass Media
27.5 Roles and Responsibility of Media
27.6 Conclusion
27.7 Further Reading

Learning Objectives
A careful study of this unit will enable you to
• describe the interface between media and governance
• explain the media in contemporary urban governance
• discuss the nature of mass media
• analyze the roles and responsibility of media, and
• the proactive concerns of media

27.1 Introduction
This paper attempts to address the issue of urban governance and more specifically, the role of
mass media in promoting good governance in the urban areas. It examines the interface between
media and governance and the role it plays in contemporary urban governance.

In the recent years, urban areas, specially, the cities are enhancing their standard to compete in
the global markets to attract investments to be a part of global economy (Friedman 1993).
Although, on the one hand cities in India it attempt to join any other global city of the world, on
the other it does not address the growing inequality and polarization within social groups and
classes in the city. One of the resultant changes in the transformation is the organization of
labour process and a shift from manufacturing economy to service economy. While a detailed
analysis of the impact of services on the income structure in the urban area is much in the offing,
however, some of the studies undertaken in other parts of the world ( Sassen,Saskia,2000), show

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that the service industries have a significant effect on the growth of unemployment, paying
below poverty level wages and so on. This results in a tendency towards increased economic
polarization that affect the use of land, organization of labour markets, housing, and consumption
structure. What it refers to, is an economy which is undergoing transition whereby growth
contributes to inequality among the existing groups in the city. Indeed, today there is a growing
disparity, social inequality and poverty in the urban areas. It is equally alarming that inspite of
growing poverty and inequality at the urban centers, the growth of urban population in India is
less likely to recede. What is peculiar is the growth of the urban population at the cost of urban
centers and decline of service provisions to attend the new migrants in the city. Although, urban
India contributes to 70% of GDP, at the same time it faces enormous challenges. Most cities are
lacking basic infrastructure, urban utility services and governance mechanism. The urban poor
lack today adequate housing and social infrastructure, access to clean, regular supply of water,
adequate sanitation facilities, comprehensive solid and liquid waste management systems,
problems faced by slum settlements. Iniquitous distribution of resources and lack of access to
basic services to socially and economically disadvantaged groups and finally, lack of information
regarding citizen’s needs and grievances.

Rarely, Mass Media helps in bringing to attention the plight of the poor to the larger society or to
the governments of the day. Today Urban poor has landed up in a no entry zone where the
privileges of past welfare policies are withdrawn and suddenly they are faced post welfare
economy without any support to fall back upon. This is also a move from government to
Governance where by other stakeholders are being asked to come to the rescue of the Urban
poor. Today, the urban centers are becoming more diverse at the same time they are becoming
more connected. Media reach once bounded by the city are more segmented by taste, identity,
and ideology, and more geographically unbounded. Media serves as the connective tissue
between the urban poor and the government, but changes in the media system have threatened
the bonds between media, people, and governments. These changes include consolidated
ownership, looser definition of public service obligations for broadcasters, and a variety of
Internet-related changes in the way both the people and governments function. The new media
prompt people to explore the potential for revitalization of governance structures. Amidst these
social transformations, the media – new and old, big and small – are both part of the process and

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interpreters of the process. But for a better urban governance, there is a need of developing a
complex mechanisms, processes, and institutions through which citizens and groups can
articulate their interests, mediate their differences, and exercise their legal rights and obligations.
Governance includes the state, but transcends it by taking in the private sector and civil society.
The state creates a conducive political and legal environment. The private sector generates jobs
and income opportunities and the civil society facilitates political and social interaction –
mobilizing urban marginal groups to participate in economic, social and political activities. The
present unit focuses on these issues and exemplifies the role of mass media in the process of
urban governance.

27.2 Media-Governance Interface

The relationship between mass media and society are inextricably interlinked. Mass media helps
in empowering people as well as creating awareness regarding age old oppression, rights of the
citizenry and the need for freedom of speech and expression. Freedom of expression and
association are both the cause and effect of institution building for a better governance. These
freedoms are crucial to human creativity and dignity. Social groups cannot organise or act to
achieve any group interest unless they can communicate properly and overcome the difficulties
of collective action. But Mass media may not be effective if the information is unevenly
distributed in society. For instance, if media infrastructures are not uniformly distributed among
class, caste, gender, religion and region than it would affect and constrain the ability of the
media to penetrate and inform the people uniformly in society. As a result, it might weaken the
notion of citizenship and make them ill informed about their rights. Thus, Mass Media have an
important role to play in generating both trust and distrust of citizens upon governing
institutions. Mass Media also plays an important role in creating civic education regarding
human rights, election campaigns, voters education, election monitoring, observing code of
conduct, exposing corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and business persons and educating the
people. It can also expose nepotism, corruption at high offices, citizens' grievances and
highlight the role of the government's opponents to erode public trust on governance.
Sensational and negative reporting might increase the sale of news papers and increase
readership in the short-run but it weakens their credibility in promoting social cohesiveness and
cooperation in the long run. Partisan media have often encouraged a cynical corrosion of trust

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of people in the governance process and induced a generalised distrust on political leaders, civil
servants and other institutions of the state. They do not manufacture public opinion. They
generate a ‘crisis of trust’ between the government and the people and disable the regulatory
institutions in combating social fragmentation and violent conflicts.
There is a need to create a democratic public and influence the public institutions to be
responsive to people. Sustained deliberation is essential to make those in power stick to
responsible and legitimate action in their public life. The media often monitors political
authority and style because it is on this basis that the multi actors of governance- the state, the
market, the civil society and the international regime, conduct public affairs. Governance in
essence is the process of steering, coordinating and communicating human efforts towards the
attainment of certain goals (Deutsch, 1963:124) such as security, rule of law, identity and
channels of participation and social welfare (Zurn, 1999:5-6). Media effectiveness is, therefore,
essential to democratic governance, a form of governance that is concerned with making,
applying and monitoring day to day progress. Governance also presupposes a partnership of
institutions and processes, this partnership empowers the marginals to pool information,
knowledge and capacities to develop shared policies and practices on issues of public concern.
Mass media can play an important role in guiding and affecting the conduct of governance
actors by shaping a sense of shared experience and political community. They are linked to the
systems of society and situations under which a society operates. Without effective channels of
communication among the members of a community, no system of governance can exist.
Mass media can help sustain human relationships- dialogue, engagement and compromise and
reveal the mutuality of interests in governance matters. Media helps governance by structuring
institutional relations of the society and by shaping the choices of people in public policy.
Governance is epitomized by predictable, open and enlightened policy making; a bureaucracy
imbued with a professional ethos; an executive arm of government accountable for its actions; a
strong civil society participating in public affairs; and all behaving under the rule of law (World
Bank, 1994). The interface of media and governance can be captured by a number of variables
such as the level of freedom of expression and organization, freedom from discrimination,
freedom from want and fear, opportunity for consultation and involvement in public policy,
transparency and accountability guarantees, etc. enforcing and monitoring the rules of the
political game.

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Mass Media can help citizens by raising their voice and participation in its institutions and
encouraging to press their demands publicly within the framework of the law and the
constitution. It can equally help in identifying public service ineffectiveness or abuses of
executive power or malfeasance on the part of ministers or civil servants, and thus directly
contribute towards a higher level of public accountability of the executive branch of
government" (Watson, 1999: 4). Imperfections of information in the public sector create
disparities between the "actions of those governing and those that they are supposed to serve"
(Stiglitz, 1999: 6) and create incentives for secrecy. However, sometimes close relationship
with power and the media fall prey to its designs rather than be a part in shaping those designs
for public good. Hence, the worldview of most of the media is often biased, false and very
ideologically filtered discouraging the growth of collective action among the different castes,
classes, gender and regions.

If mass media policies are constantly shaped by the corporate and Industrial houses, then they
generate what Karl Marx calls a "false consciousness", confusing people about their own
interests and those of the magnates. To both Karl Marx and Karl Mannheim, ideology is the
symbolical expression of economic interests, the fusion of class and politics (Bell, 1990:41). The
instrumental reasons springing from the logic of commercial advertising leads people towards
their de-politicisation where people as consumers are influenced more by techniques of the
media and the consumer culture it fosters. In countries where the levers of power are in the hands
of a state bureaucracy, the monopolistic control over the media, often supplemented by official
censorship, makes it clear that the media serve the ends of a dominant elite." transcend the
ideological underpinnings of their position and reconcile the fragmentation of separate
constituencies and belief systems and still inform the public adequately of what is good and what
is bad in public and private lives? This requires courageous and successful intervention on the
part of the public and the liberation of journalists from the shackles of the system.

Overt and covert influence of private economic and corporate power on the media, concealed
from public accountability, does not help keep a constitutional democratic government amply
just and clean. Traditional bureaucratic governance cannot keep pace with the fast changing
modern society, which is moving with the speed of the digital revolution and e-commerce. New
governance patterns require speedy decision-making, de-bureaucratisation, flexible

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organisational formats and complex management capabilities. Effectiveness of media and
communications is paramount to sustain these processes.

If journalists, like economists and lawyers, reflect the institutional biases of their employer, they
weaken the power of the public. In the globalized context, sovereignty in the domain of
government decision-making and action has been related to territorial and constitutional
dimensions. Governance decision-making has become de-territorialized and complex,
trespassing also the boundary of the Constitutional state. As internal power is fragmented, the
government is compelled to pursue policies through negotiations on shared interests. This means
that the government does not have monopoly over decision-making, conflict resolution,
communication and collective action. However, It has to share the ‘space’ with the market, the
civil society and the international regime. Each actor produces its own system of knowledge,
institutions and communication, own theory of symbolization and symbolic representation and
seeks its own ideal form of society asserting its own validity claims on the representation of
truth.

Reflection and Action 27.1

Read a news item related with any major issue which has been reported in the Newspapers of the
day. Read and critically analyse the way the same news item has been reported in at least three
Newspapers.

Do you perceive any bias or tilt towards any ideology in all of them or one of them? Write a
report on “Newspaper Reporting and Ideological Bias” in about two pages. Discuss the topic
with others in your family or students at your study center.

27.3 Media in Contemporary Urban Governance

In the present Indian context, media plays an important role in the exertion of power and
distribution of values. Media affects the overall quality of public life and also shapes people’s
engagement in the specific policy decisions in the Indian democracy. To make greater impact
within the broad socio-political context, media needs to create a ‘space’ to effectively carry out
its functions. In Urban India, communication and information flows are highly concentrated.

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Today, Indian cities look like a ‘wired society’ or a ‘network society’ but this does not ensure a
proportional representation among its inhabitants. It follows a logic of ‘pay per society’ where by
receiving of media messages are measured by minutes and hours and affordability by its
consumer. The face of Indian media has been fast changing with the growth of the Internet, the
phenomenal rise of satellite and cable networks, the continuing growth of language press, despite
various challenges and the blurring of lines between news and entertainment. There is a sort of
‘crisis’ in the present media due to processes of commercialization and commodification. Who
so ever can afford to procure the media acquisitions can have access to media and the messages.
Although these media provide the occasion to link vertically across the world, horizontally, they
do not ensure communications among groups, communities and gender. However, it helps in
reinstating existing power constellations and the extent of their influence. Such a system limits
the proportional distribution of information, making it inaccessible to a large section of the
society. In other words, the existing gaps between the information haves and have-nots are
widened with new additions like the digital divide.

One may loosely distinguish thee types of media in India governed by their own doctrinal
system. One group, mainly officially owned and beneficiary of government patronage, is
conformist which blindly endorses the policies and activities of the political circuit of the
system constituted by the party-parliament- government axis. This group is directly related to
the systems of power and authority and represents the interests and ideology of the incumbent
political class. Due to over control of the government and risk-averse tendencies of journalists
in objective reporting, reviewing and analysing of news and views, they are less concerned with
the restructuring of life-worlds. The second group, that one can call reformist, is privately
owned and shares the fundamental values of the democratic system but puts critical eyes and
ears on the policies and activities of the government and, therefore, seeks moderate reviews and
reforms in the style of governance. This group is a powerful defender of modernity and
rationality for interpreting and reforming the conditions of public life in India. The third
category is radical which advocates fundamental change in the basic rules and styles of
governance. At the same time, the radical group is also concerned about developing new forms
of knowledge. Each group has its own constituency, shapes its own motives and tries to attract
people to its products. The preferred role for journalists would be not to form what Michael

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Foucault calls an "ideological chorus line" but serve as "interlocutors in a discussion about how
to govern" (Gordon, 1991:7). Nothing could be more apt in describing the Indian Media.

27.4 Nature of Mass Media

Media in India are tightly compartmentalised into divergent interest groups, which displease
one another in the process of "manufacturing consent," thereby intending to reduce the scope of
human freedom and critical thinking. The main challenge before the Indian media is how to
overcome the contradictions paralysing them and satisfactorily resolve a collective action
situation? This is the reason why despite the age of information revolution the majority of
Indian people are terribly ill-informed. The media are powerful means for state authorities,
political parties and leaders to exhort the citizens to actively support their policies. These
policies are derived from a set of political beliefs, strong ideas and certain doctrinal systems
called ideologies. India has generally a free press, with its publications in circulation in every
urban node where modern amenities are available. They reflect every political point of view and
determine which events are newsworthy on a left-center-right horizontal ideological sphere,
rather than on a vertical future-past dividing line.
Most of the media in India are privately owned but they do not operate independent of
government rules and regulations on content, ownership and techno- infrastructure policies. It is
only through media freedom that various viewpoints can be articulated in the realm of opinion
formation and judgment. This is how people are informed and are enabled to participate in the
democratic process. A sound democratic process achieves greater common good for the present
and the next generation. As interest groups and political parties dominate the media in India,
their political culture is accordingly fragmented. This fragmentation arises from the varied
socialisation experiences of the various groups and sub-groups and which result into a one-sided
and biased fixation on the primacy of their own interests. "The control over the media of
communication by political parties and interest groups means that the audience for political
communication is fragmented" (Almond, 1971:46) producing often disharmonious modes of
political socialisation and fragmented action. Empowerment of the people produces media
visibility while marginality produces their invisibility in policy attention.

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As the media in India have become concentrated in the hands of a few powerful interest groups
in key urban areas, their contributions in freeing the political society and providing equal
opportunity to all is minimal. As a result, it has widened the knowledge divide between the core
and the periphery and the rich and the poor even further. In no way do the media constitute a
vibrant ‘public sphere’ in Urban India. The relationship between media and governance is
fraught with tensions and meaningful possibilities. It cannot be denied that both media and
governance in India suffer from serious problems, which at times even feed into each other.
Suspension of civil liberties, excessive militarization, communal assertions, and homogenizing
tendencies have too often spelled doom for Indian democracy. In this context it is imperative that
media becomes more sensitive on issues of democratic governance, people’s struggles against
social injustice and inequality and so on. Its commitment towards democratic norms and values
in its own governance system, structure and function is a must. Further, the role of people’s
organizations, social movements, voluntary organizations and other civil society formations in
monitoring the functioning of media and making it more people centred is another critical issue.
The role of civil society organization is important especially in the light of the fact that
autonomous organizations within media like those of journalists and workers, have not only
become weak but they also severely lack in their ability to raise critical issues pertaining to
media governance and its functioning.

Reflection and Action 27.2

What do you think about the role of Indian media in the context of governance? Write your
opinion in about five pages and discuss the topic with your Academic Counsellor, learners at
your study center or any friend of yours who is aware about the problem.

On the other hand, state control over television and radio, the role of multinationals and big
corporate houses and bourgeois monopoly over print media has meant that media has often
remained inaccessible to the vast majority of the urban poor and the marginalized.
Overwhelming commercial interests and monopolies of a few affluent individuals and business
houses are not good for democracy. The media, under monopoly conditions, does not provide a
wide range of interpretive frameworks that are important for the well being of democracies. The
carving up of media markets inter-nationally as well as nationally by mega, transnational

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corporations has led to a catastrophic effect on the diversity of opinion, the nature of access and
participation in the media spectrum and people’s right to communicate. Real access to and
participation in media appears to be for the few and not for the many. Simultaneously, the state
has time and again tried to curb the voice of the media, to prosecute and harass those who have
come out openly against repressive practices.

Over the years the corporate sector has developed its own press and channels. The political
parties have their own newspapers. The voluntary organizations, groups engaged in movements,
associations of the oppressed castes and the citizens engaged in promoting alternative politics
have grown in terms of its sheer number and the area of operation. However they have not been
able to develop their own press or television channels with a mass reach and sound credentials. It
may be noted that different civil society formations have developed and are running their own
medium of communications, like small magazines or newsletters. But these do not have an
impact on a macro level and have not been able to develop a professional form. The challenge to
develop a Community Radio and Cmmunity Television or at least a magazine is before all those
who are engaged in various ways to promote and support alternative movements, alternative
social groups and alternative models of development.

Therefore, a major challenge for Urban India is the enlargement of internal institutional
structures of the media reflecting the broader society to be able to defend the interests of the
politically weak population. A media community that does not acknowledge a larger
responsibility to society is less likely to engage in self-correction, in terms of how it educates the
public and what opportunities it offers to them for the future. But good Urban governance
requires an effective media to promote participation and concern regarding public goods. Only
those media pursuing the public interest can play their roles effectively. "The modern
economics of information emphasises that once knowledge is made public, it becomes a public
good that cannot be made private again" (Stiglitz,1999:4). Without a free flow of information,
socialising interactions and collective action cannot be effective. Information flow has a
positive correlation between communication and awareness of people about their political
knowledge and between learning and involvement in problem solving.

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27.5 Roles and Responsibilities of Media

If we want to define various developments in the particular context of governance, and

governance that means something for a majority of the poor, the struggling people, then we must
first realize that the media, in all its varied forms, has opened up the potential for new forms of
participation. People are discovering ways to think about themselves and to participate in
governance that would have perhaps been unthinkable a generation before. Their access to
information and accessibility of information has both increased.

Although different forms of media are growing rapidly, and people are interested to learn more
about contemporary issues, the media is behaving like a market product. It attempts to satisfy
people’s thirst for ‘news’ but basically keeps in focus its profitability and market sentiments. It is
clear that in the contemporary context the media cannot become a mission towards the goal of
social transformation on a large scale. It is doubtful whether it can even become a leading agent
in the process of establishing a people based governance. The media, particularly the
newspapers, have managed to create conditions for a liberal democracy, a ‘public sphere’, where
the public can widely share its ideas.

In order for the public to renew their stake in media, it is essential that media ownership and
control be regulated so as to prevent existing media monopolies from increasing their stake in the
media industry. The government should increase its commitment for Community Radio and
television at district and local levels. Citizens’ movements that are committed towards reforms in
the media industry should be encouraged. It is a fact that the press, television channels and the
entire media could be a business. But the journalists per se are not for trade or business.
Journalism is a social responsibility. It is a struggle to gain public space within the private
sphere. One common weakness of Indian journalists is that they report news and views on the
basis of the "power hierarchy of persons" rather than rationality of their views. The priority of
news accorded to powerful persons obscures the very purpose of the media to speak truth to
power and give voice to the voiceless. Such a media culture erodes the very philosophy of
public interest and common good. In the long run, such a trend rationalises the culture of power
and victimises the powerless sections of the society.

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What one sees now in India is that the government often chooses policies to serve partisan
interests, not the general interest of the public. On the other hand, the globalisation process has
de-coupled the national society from the nation state and continues to disconnect citizenship
from nationality. As globalization processes demand national consistency in laws, institutions,
processes and behavioural patterns with the rest of the world, many actors in the Indian sub-
system have been independently articulating to their counterparts abroad. This incongruence of
social and political space places the Indian media in a dilemma: Should they be driven by self-
interest like the other actors or propel themselves towards public interest orientations? Many of
them have even been deviating from norms and rules that are constitutive of governance.
Obviously, in the Indian multi-party polity, the elite did alter the basic principles of politics but
not the style of governance they inherited from the ancient regime. Yet, it is also the media that
have brought participatory rights of the people into the public sphere. The decisions of political
power have thus been bound and popular sovereignty linked to universal human rights.
Achieving governance goals requires the development of three critical processes:
"accountability, which denotes the effectiveness with which the governed can exercise influence
over those that govern; legitimacy, which is concerned with the rights of the state to exercise
power over its citizens, and the extent to which those powers are perceived to be rightly
exercised; and transparency, which is founded on the existence of mechanisms for ensuring
public access to decision making" (Robinson, 1996:347). These attributes are central in
upholding the national integrity system of governance. One can also add one more process to it
- equity- given the state of underdevelopment in the Urban area and in general in the Indian
society and its media in particular. The communications policy of the Indian government aims
to expand radio, television and internet services proportionately in order to make them
comprehensive. At the same time, the government also seems cautious enough to make them
competitive by enabling them to adjust with the obligations arising out of the nation's pending
membership of the WTO and GATT treaty. For the goal to be met successfully, synergy from
the complementarity of public-private partnership is necessary in both business as well as in the
media.

As human beings are social beings, not atomised individuals, real freedom can exist only in a
cooperative society in which a modicum of social justice is attained and people can form groups

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for the aggregation, articulation and communication of their interest upon the governance
structures. Indian media, in general, have a profound influence upon the educational response to
social disadvantages of people and the problems of social inequality, marginalisation and
discrimination. Media discourses and research on bonded labour, Dalit, child labour, women, etc
have been exemplary in articulating perspective transformation and re-socialisation. This is
helping gender and child socialisation towards freedom, equality and identity and nourishing the
potential for change in the dominant cultural values, including the prevailing masculine
dynamics, political structure and political culture. Indeed, the Indian media are also helping to
transform people into public by means of provoking discussions even in public spaces and the
private rooms. Indian media have exposed the criminal negligence of decision-makers.
Newspapers report widespread hunger, injustice and corruption in day to day life. Journalists
have been calling for interventions from the government, civil society and international
community to reduce the amount of intolerable poverty, inequality, exclusion, ignorance and
marginalisation. Indian media have thus been evoking an image of the watchdog of the society
promising to liberate politics from pre-political and anti- political impulses. The attempt by civil
society organizations to assert the importance of issues like, ‘governance for the people’ vis-à-vis
media is an attempt to search for its own public space and its own means. There must exist a
relevant political consciousness so that a democratic impact is possible. Media to be effective
must form part of an ideological and political context – of attitude, feeling, hope and critical
democratic values and practice. Urban poor, specially, the dalits, women and other marginalized
sections of the society are also using the media to make their voices heard. Media in India
depends on the central impulses and aspirations of democratic governance.

27.6 Proactive Concerns of Media

In keeping with this understanding of democratic ideals, Indian mainstream media also place
great emphasis on the creative role of new social movements espousing the values of peace,
ecological preservation, democracy, human rights etc in democratic life. For the conception of
politics to be adequate, it should involve the creation of a righteous space for the citizens to
communicate and resolve issues of their concern. In this space, citizens can exercise their
democratic rights and freedoms as well as include a variety of perspectives to deliberate on
questions and seek answers. Politics is nothing but the processes involved in the execution of

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these public duties. Politics is essentially public in the sense that the political sphere is shared
equally by every member of the polity regardless of gender, wealth, class or caste position or
political power. It is not essentially a manipulative vocation. And, to the extent that it appears to
be so, it is only those selfish politicians who make it a dirty game. When their numbers rise,
politics gets mired in crisis. In India, such a crisis has already led to the declaration of a state of
emergency in the country and the suspension of fundamental rights and freedom of Indian
citizens. It is a crisis whose roots lie in the malfunction of politics. If politics exclusively serves
the private interest and exhibits apathy towards those who are not in politics but who do make
up the public sphere, it cannot become a matter of public or collective concern or, by
implication, political. In no way does such politics treasure a common ground for citizens and
leaders of all hues. To use the public trust for private goals is just as serious a crime against the
public as any seizure of public property for private gain. Anti-public politics, therefore,
becomes anti-political. Democratic politics intends to widen the public sphere as it is
deliberative, participatory, public, inclusive, and transparent. Anti-politics, by contrast, is
essentially individualist, exclusive, private, non-public, and opaque. Anti-political trends
become contagious if institutional mechanisms are not geared to correct them.
The public-private-donor deliberations have offered space for societal feedback, information
sharing and coordination and have also enabled citizen groups to have wider access to
knowledge and information. "Greater political activism means greater access, influence and
control of the political system" (Patterson, 1999: 196) which broadens people's participation in
public affairs. In an information- driven society, political power is increasingly defined in terms
o f the distribution of information. And, the media have become the central arena in the contest
for power, resource and identity. The power of the media to control political thinking has been
enormous. Transparency guarantees can play an instrumental role in "preventing corruption,
financial irresponsibility and underhand dealings" (Sen, 2000:40). Technology can play a part
here. In India, computerised networking of local private offices, government ministries and
departments is gradually introducing transparency in their activities and operations and creating
a bridge between the state and society. This process is expected to build a culture of trust. In
other words, technology has a key role in governance. India has identified three areas of
importance in formulating its information technology (IT) strategy- universal access to
information and communication technology (ICT), education and training necessary for IT and

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identification and adoption of IT applications. Public knowledge and access to information tools
are essential not only to access government information but also to avail themselves of the
social services and industry and business services. Those tools empower citizens to make
important choices. Apart from the greater degree of transparency that government activities are
infused with, these tools also induce media competitiveness to respond to the diverse challenges
that emerge. One positive attribute of Indian polity is that it encourages open public debate on
crucial matters affecting the life of citizens. Another positive aspect is the search for public
rationale for every action of the government. This means information has become a core of the
governing process.

The constitutional provision of the right to information (RTI) is expected to broaden the rights
of citizens and access in the decision making of the government, provide meaningful control
over the political processes and serve as an important tool of effective public oversight. But, the
right to seek, receive and impart information is neither cost-free nor without responsibility.
Nevertheless, the right to information and guaranteed rights are the two vital means of
achieving democratic goals. A free and responsible press, an independent judiciary and proper
government data information systems are perceived to be keys to good governance.It depends
on the ability of journalists to a) access, gather, process, verify, and accurately furnish the
information; and b) reach out to the diverse people, link them to an attentive public, policy
community or decision makers. Information alone is of trivial value unless there are proper
devices for using the knowledge obtained to influence government conduct in the executive
sphere, especially in enhancing personal and national security, making and implementing of
political decisions.

In the legislative sphere, giving people a voice means a higher level of political participation in
the very centre of the policy making process. A greater level of media access is the first
important step in facilitating public discussion on major policy shifts, representation and
reflection of public preferences in policy making and articulating even the poor and
marginalized citizen's interests in public policy matters. In the sphere of adjudication, the media
can articulate equal access to entitlements, fundamental rights and social justice for the people
as well as aim to establish a system of governmental accountability and due process of law. The

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system of justice essentially constitutes collective goods. Indian planners and policy makers
have also realised the intrinsic correlation between sovereignty of the people and media
freedom and regularly organize programmes on stakeholder "consultation," "participation" and
"ownership" on important public matters. India's government and its development partners have
provided voice and participation to the media in legislative debates, preparation of Country
Cooperation Frameworks and the India Development Forum. It is only "through voice- through
informed discussion of the policies being pursued -that effective governance can be exercised"
(Stiglitz, 1999:6). Greater information and transparency are vital instruments for informed
public debate and for increasing popular trust and confidence in the institutions of governance.
Governance today requires embeddedness of policy making in the consultative process, which
involves the participation of all the stakeholders of society including the media. Media
education supports the creation of an informed media public, a public that is able to critically
judge between good and bad media content. Simultaneously however, for a true democracy, we
also have to ensure that there is a strong stream of media free of any government control, with
free speech and free press.

A free and responsible media is an important tool to make government accountable to its actions
and make it responsive to the diverse needs of society. Freedom of communication is indeed a
necessary but by no means a sufficient condition for its appropriate democratic performance
(Meyer, 2000: 15). The public purpose of the media is to articulate the societal purpose to the
institutions of governance. Though the government has a provision for spokespersons in each
ministry and important departments in India and that it organises meet- the-press to facilitate
the flow of information to the citizens, the exchanges between the government and media
persons have not been satisfactory. The main problem appears to be a lack of experience with
dealing with the media by the spokespersons. In fact, both sides are constrained by shortages of
experts, resources and information base as well as a culture of listening and learning. Self-
censorship or ethical codes of conduct of the media are an oft-advertised mode of self-
regulation. But they are meaningless terminologies if they are not checked by other institutions
of governance, such as an attentive public, effective judiciary and legislative means and even a
responsive executive that does what it promises. Fair competition in the marketplace also helps
ensure a free press. Indian press is free but not strong enough to facilitate inter-ethnic, inter-

16
regional and inter-religious communication aiming to contribute to the nation-building process.
Media discourse in India is, therefore, weakly institutionalised and poorly sustained. Indian
media often conduct on-the-spot interviews with the man on the street to help bring pressing
societal problems to light. But such interviews are largely conducted in urban areas, mostly in
the metros, where 60 per cent of all the publications are concentrated. By educating the public,
the mass media can affect policy debates and policy choice thus connecting people to the
institutions of governance. A broader spread of education and information and the growing
pluralism of the society are certainly new pressures on public authorities to respond.
One should not also forget that newspapers are confined to small elites in urban areas and are
quite unimportant in the overall process of communication since they do not reach a sizeable
public in rural areas. This means that there could be a serious problem of urban biasness in
governance institutions if corrective measures are no t taken. This is the imperative to expand
media reach to the farthest corners of the country. Indeed, decision-makers must be freed from a
syndrome of listening only to the loudest voice.
There is also a reverse causality truth between the media and governance: Good governance
also promotes media professionalism. Demand and supply of information go together. One
cannot be included at the exclusion of the other. The media are powerful proxies of governance.
What is still important is that new forms of information systems require new skills for
journalists to be able to use the instruments to participate in innovation and market creation.
Since governance is a purposive process striving to achieve societal goals, the media of
communication serve as bridges linking the bottom with top social groups. It is hightime that
the Indian journalists need to focus on the to better address the needs of the disenfranchised
groups at the margins of India's society, economy and polity and help them project the truth
independent of government influence and control. They should provide them greater
representation in the mainstream. The solution to this problem lies in diversifying the ownership
and control of media. It is equally important to make people aware of the main provisions of the
Constitution, including their fundamental rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of
information and making people active in public life, being players, not spectators. The help of
the media themselves can be sought here.
Another aspect of a proper information flow is in the ownership structure of the media houses.
When the government was the sole owner of the largest media houses, the criticisms were

17
simple to understand -that the government should not be the one to disseminate information
about itself. But now the private sector is the more powerful counterpart in the news business.
In the private sector also, it is the larger business houses that have been dominating the show.
Known businessmen have owned the large publication houses, FM stations and even TV
stations. This has led to criticisms regarding partisan reporting, which is alleged to be worse
than the government media reporting as they have been protecting their business turfs through
misinformation rather than seeking to fulfill the public's right to information.
There have even been cases where two large publications have been battling out in the pages
with one writing exactly the opposite of what the other writes. This has nothing to do with
trying to fulfill the public interest but rather about domestic private interest groups taking up the
available tools (this time the media outlets) to lash out at each other. This shows that
accountability of the newspapers is to the powers that be and the interests that own them rather
than the people.
The ownership structure debate is a real one in India as it transcends other boundaries that
South
Asian media houses have yet to cross. In spite of objections by the majority of media houses to
foreign involvement in the sensitive information dissemination business, media control by
foreigners is not a big problem in India. To make matters worse, a domestic TV channel is
fighting it out with a government minister who has allegedly prevented it from satellite
broadcasting its programmes. It is forced to uplink from another country. Although ugh one
may have bureaucratic reasons for these discrepancies, one cannot ignore the fact that the Indian
public arena is being used to promote the private interests of not only the local interest groups
but also foreign ones.

It is widely accepted that a free and investigative press is an important mechanism for ensuring
the accountability of elected officials and bureaucracies to ordinary citizens. It is also well
accepted that this mechanism is not working as well as it could be. Indian newspapers assign
only 4% of their coverage to social reporting. The low priority accorded to social reporting is
partly due to a perception among media professionals (publishers, editors, journalists, etc.) of a
lack of public interest in news coverage of urban poverty and development issues. An important
consequence of this is that major social issues facing hundreds of millions of people – such as

18
the lack of adequate basic services for the urban poor – receive almost no coverage in the
mainstream South Asian media.
A number of other aspects of the relationships between local officials, the news media and
citizens (particularly poor citizens) are not working well. A phenomenon closely related to the
limited interest in social issues among journalists is the weakness of consumer culture among the
urban poor. The urban poor tend not to see themselves as having the right or the capacity to exact
a minimum standard of public service delivery from local officials. Furthermore, there is a
tendency for the media to aggressively challenge and criticize the government as a matter of
course. While independent, investigative journalism is an essential component of well-
functioning democracies, an aggressively antagonistic relationship with the press can lead to a
culture of withdrawal and secrecy among government officials. The result of this is a loss of
confidence in government, inadequate understanding of complex social issues by citizens and
journalists, and no improvement in the government’s delivery of services.
The inclusion of the media would help civil-society organizations representing the urban poor to
disrupt the ‘vicious circle’ of local government inattention to service delivery issues. The close
presence of journalists, we reasoned, would encourage accountability in local government,
transparency in decision-making, and ensure that the ‘voice’ of the urban poor was heard in
service delivery issues which affect them. This, in turn, was expected to encourage the urban
poor to have greater expectations and make greater demands of their local government.

27.7 Conclusion
Modern societies are gauged by the level of media involvement in monitoring the exercise of
political sovereignty and affecting the conduct of governance. The policy question is: Do media
promote good governance? Yes, they do. The effectiveness of many functions of governance
actors depends on the media. Independent journalists report, analyse and criticise social evils
and denounce injustice and oppression wherever they occur. At the same time they create
incentives by positive coverage of the social ideals. In India, the relationship between the mass
media and the performance of governance actors has to yield more. Mass media forms the basic
cells of public and private life in India. Owing to their key roles, media professionals in India
are invoking the principles o f integrity and accountability of the private and public sectors and
seeking rationale of every action of the government. One can also notice parameter shifts in

19
media freedom in India with the level and intensity of the democratisation process. Media
regulation, media professionalism and responsibility and the state of governance go hand in
hand.

27.8 Further Reading

Bell, Bernard; Brower,Jan; Biswajit Das; Parthasarathi,Vibodh& Poitevin, Guy 2005 Media and
Mediation, Sage Publication, New Delhi.
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Appadurai, A., Breckenridge, C and Merol, A. (eds), 1995 Consuming Modernity: Public
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Batley, R. (1996) ‘Public-Private Relationships and Performance in Service Provision’.

In Urban Studies, 33(4/5), pp.723-752.
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Bell, Daniel. 1990. "The End of Ideology," New Times, July 3-7.

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21
Department, University of Birmingham.
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Transparency in Public Life," Oxford, UK, January 27.

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