Local Self-Government — Urban

At least 75 per cent of its population is engaged in non-agricultural pursuits.

Alderman

Wards

Panchayat: small urban area

5 years

Municipal Board

Provision of housing for all.

IAS

Municipal Corporation

Legislative Assembly

The Mayor

The term 'Urban Area' refers to a town or city with minimum population of 5000 and at least 75% of its population should be engaged in non-agricultural pursuits.

Two salient features of the Constitution (74th Amendment Act), 1992 are:

1. The Act gives constitutional status to urban local bodies.
2. The Act provides for direct election to all the local self-government bodies.

A Municipal Corporation comprises the following:

1. General Council
2. The Mayor
3. The Standing Committees
4. A Municipal Commissioner

The wards are areas in which a Municipal area is divided to hold elections of Municipal Corporation. A Ward in a Municipal Area is comparable to Constituency of Legislative Assembly.

The Mayor is the chief of Municipal corporation. The Councillors together with Alderman elect among themselves the Mayor.

Mayor is considered as the 'First Citizen' and he represents the city at various ceremonies and receives foreign guests coming to visit the city. This is considered his most important duty.

The Mayor is known as the 'First Citizen' of the city because he is the one who represents the city at various ceremonies and receives foreign guests coming to visit the city.

1. Compulsory function — Provision of electricity, water, sewage disposal.
2. Optional function — Public housing through housing boards.

Municipal Corporation has a fixed tenure of five years. However, it can be dissolved even before the completion of its tenure by the Governor of the state on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

Municipal Committee is a local self government body that is set up for smaller towns. They are smaller than Municipal Corporation and have three wings — General body, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer.

The Chairman/President is the head of the Municipal Committee.

The Chief Executive Officer of a Municipal Committee is an appointee of the State government who looks after the administrative wing of the Municipal Committee. He usually belongs to the State Civil Services.

(a) A Municipal Corporation comprises the following:

1. General Council — The General Council is formed of elected members known as Municipal Councillors. These members are elected directly on the basis of Universal Adult Franchise through secret ballot.
2. The Mayor — The councillors together with Aldermen elect among themselves the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor for a period of one year.
3. Standing committee — The members of the General council form different Standing Committees to deal with subjects like finance, health, engineering, taxation, etc.
4. Municipal Commissioner — He is appointed by the Governor usually for a term of 5 years.

(b) Three functions of the Mayor are:

1. He presides over the meetings of the Corporation.
2. He conducts and regulates business of the Corporation.
3. He fixes the agenda for consideration at meetings of Corporation.

(c) Four functions of the Corporation are:

1. Provision of electricity, water and sewage disposal.
2. Provision of public health services like hospitals, dispensaries, family welfare centres.
3. Provisions of public conveniences and utilities like roads, buildings, bus-shelters, demolition of dangerous structures, plantation of trees, provision of public urinals and toilets.
4. Maintenance of records of births and deaths and maintenance and upkeep of cremation and burial grounds.

(a) The General Council of the Corporation plans the project for welfare work. It appoints many other officials except the Municipal Commissioner.

(b) The members of the General Council are represented on Standing Committees through elections. There are different Standing Committees to deal with different subjects like finance, health, engineering, taxation and welfare schemes.

(c) The role of Municipal Commissioner are:

1. To carry on and control the administration of the Corporation
2. To implement the projects and programmes as laid down by the General Council.
3. To maintain and safeguard all municipal properties, records etc.
4. To prepare financial budgets and perform other related functions.
5. To participate in the meetings of the Council and keep records of the minutes and proceedings of the meetings.

(a) Three examples distinguishing compulsory functions from optional functions are:

(b) A Municipal Corporation comprises of General Council, The Mayor, The Standing Committees and A Municipal Commissioner. The General Council plans the projects and programmes for the city and the Standing Committees work to implement those plans. Different Standing committees deal with different subjects like finance, health, engineering, taxation and welfare schemes. The Municipal Commissioner prepares the financial budgets, takes care of the property and records of corporation and implements all the projects. The Mayor presides over the meetings and regulates the business of the corporation.

(c) The Municipal Commissioner is the Chief Executive of the corporation. He is appointed by the Governor for the term of 5 years.

(a) The differences between Municipal Corporation and Municipal Committee are:

(b) The three wings of the Municipal Committee are:

1. General Body of the Municipal Committee — The members of the General Body of the Municipal Committee are called Councillors. They are elected from Municipal wards for the term of 5 years. The number of members depends on the population of the city.
2. Chairman/President — A Chairperson and a Vice-Chairperson are elected indirectly by the members from among themselves. The Chairperson has powers similar to the Mayor.
3. Chief Executive Officer — He is an appointee of the State government and usually belongs to the State Civil Services. He looks after the administrative wing of the Municipal Committee.

(c) Following are the roles of Deputy Commissioner at District level:

1. Collection of Revenue.
2. Maintenance and Updating of land record.
3. Law and Order.
4. Supervision and execution of all plans of the Union and State governments.
5. Provision of civic amenities and execution of public works.
6. Implementation of policies and programmes in respect of Panchayati Raj institutions.
7. Supersession, dissolution, holding of election, etc., in respect of Panchayati Raj institutions.

The basic functions of the urban local bodies are public health and welfare, regulatory functions, public safety and public infrastructure etc. These services are effectively performed by the urban local bodies in our city but there is always some scope for improvement. Their was a recent failure in the public health department as there was spread of Dengue in my city. Such loopholes are often seen under different departments like public safety and infrastructure. Most of the times the road conditions are not good and there are many potholes which lead to accidents specially during the rainy season.

If I were made the Councillor of my area, I would have taken following steps to ensure the effective working of the Municipality in my area:

1. I would have participated in all the developmental works of my ward.
2. I would have taken care of laying of roads in my ward.
3. Cleanliness and waste management are the two most important things on which I would like to work as it is directly related to health of the people.
4. I would promote activities related to promotion of education and road safety.
5. I would also solve local development issues.