Maharashtra has emerged to become the second best state in the Urban Governance Index (UGI) report card published by NGO Praja Foundation.
The NGO conducted the study for three years in 40 cities and 29 states and union territories (UTs). The states were marked between 0-100 based on the themes -elected representatives and legislative structure, empowered city administration, empowered citizens and fiscal empowerment.
The first theme is based on the premise and performance of the city governments, which mainly includes the mayor and municipal corporators. The second theme entails the city government's ability in human resource management and proper usage of resources. The third theme highlights the awareness of the citizens in terms of exercising their rights and the final theme is based on assessing the financial powers of the city governments.
Out of 100, Maharashtra scored 55.15 per cent and Odissa topped the chart with a score of 56.86 per cent. Filling the next three spots were Chhattisgarh at 49.68 per cent, Kerala at 48.77 per cent and Madhya Pradesh at 45.94 per cent.
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In the theme-wise score sheet, Maharashtra emerged in the first spot in fiscal empowerment, second spot in both city administration and empowered citizens and was in the eleventh spot in the evaluation of elected representatives and legislative structure.
"The ranking in the index is a relative ranking. However, if we look at the absolute score, none of the top 5 states have scored more than 57 per cent. This shows that there is a need for urban governance reforms and empowerment of city governments across India," said Milind Mhaske, director, Praja Foundation.
In the survey, Mumbai also emerged as one of the few cities, where the city government has the independent authority to revise tax rates and charges and has an established open data portal. The survey also stated that the post of mayor in the state of Maharashtra doesn't hold independent authority to appoint the chairperson of standing and subject committees.
"Inadequate infrastructure and service delivery issues continue to impede cities across India from achieving its true economic potential. To change this, we must develop grassroots democracy in cities through the democratic empowerment and accountability of city governments and through citizen engagement," stated Nitai Mehta, founder and managing trustee of the NGO.
The survey further stated that Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland are the bottom five states with scores less than 20 each.
