State Institute of Urban Development (SIUD)

  Context  

The Urban sector in India is growing to an unprecedented scale. In case of Maharashtra, nearly half the population (45%) is already concentrated in the urban areas. The current rates of transfer of populations from rural to urban settlements suggest that sooner or later. Maharashtra will emerge as predominantly urban State. Urban Governance is therefore posing as one of the foremost challenges of Development Administration in Maharashtra.

This scenario necessitates undertaking on a war footing, a multi-disciplinary training and capacity-building of the urban administrators and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) as a key catalyst for bringing imperative changes in the quality of civic services being provided. YASHADA, being the Apex Training Institute for Government for the Maharashtra, has an obligation to meet this demand. With this backdrop, a State Institute of Urban Development (SIUD) has been established within YASHADA for imparting training and providing policy research support to the urban governance sector in the State

  Mission  

To support the cause of Urban Sector Reform and Empowerment of ULBs through training, capacity building, research, policy advocacy, networking of urban stakeholders, and such other avenues.

Key Objectives

·        To impart training to the elected representatives and officers of ULBs.

·        To undertake action-research, policy-research and evaluation research to support Urban Policy Reform.

·        To support the 'Change Management' through targeted training interventions.

·        To document and disseminate the Best Practices in Urban Governance.

·        To facilitate a meaningful dialogue and negotiations among Urban Stakeholders.

  Collaborative Initiatives

HUDCO Chair: Objective of this collaboration is to undertake training and capacity building of ULBs for infrastructure development and management, and action research in the field of housing, urban developmentand related areas.

MoU with National Institute of Urban Affair (NIUA): The collaboration is aimed at supporting the Urban Sector Reform Agenda. NIUA has provided financial assistance for technical research, training and faculty development at the SIUD.

MoU with TERI: The Energy Research Institute (TERI), New Delhi has a MoU with YASHADA for jointly undertaking various projects such as USAID-FIRE Project, preparation of formats for Annual Subsidy Reports (ASRs), Ford Foundation Project on applied urban research and documentation of best practices in the urban governance.

 Current Activities

·        Computerization of ULBs: SIUD has carried out the evaluation study of e-governance applications in two municipal corporations, with a view to provide inputs to the UDD regarding a replicable model of computerization of ULBs. Furtherto this report, the SIUD is involved in preparation of a project report for computerization of ULBs in Maharashtra, and subsequently in actual implementation of the project.

·        Draft Legislation for Property Tax Reforms: SIUD, in consultation with the UDD, is preparingthe draft legislation for introduction of an alternative system for property tax in Municipal Corporations, governed by the BPMC Act, 1 949. This is in pursuance of the provision in the MoU between Gol and GoM for Urban Reforms Incentives Fund, in which GoM is committed to bring in property tax reforms, for obtaining fund from GoI.

·        Municipal Accounting Reforms: SIUD is involved in the process of changing over the municipal accounting system from single entry cash basis to double entry accrual basis. SIUD is introducing massive training interventions for this purpose. The efforts made by SIUD have been recognized by the GoM as well as Gol. The later is seriously considering the possibility of commissioning the task of preparation of a model training manual on this subject at the national level to YASHADA.

·        Draft Rules for introduction of entry cess in "A" Class municipal councils: In continuation of the amendment in Municipal Councils Act, 1965 by the State Government which provides taxation powers regarding entry cess to "A" class municipal councils, SIUD is preparing the draft rules under the amendment.

·        Maharashtra Health Systems Project: Besides specific activities related to urban sector, SUD has also participated in the Maharashtra Health Systems Project (a World Bank assisted project of the Health Department), which involves training of nearly 155 doctors about hospital management.

Futute Directions

In pursuance of its mission and objectives, SIUD has planned major urban initiatives in future. SIUD will undertake intensive training and capacity building in various sectors of urban development, which will bring about significant reforms in urban administration. A major emphasis of training will be on improving coordination between the elected representatives and administrators of ULBs for achieving a truly people-centric form of urban governance.

SIUD will also facilitate effective implementation of Citizen's Charter and help in setting up Public Facilitation Centres for enhancing people's participation in urban management. A major initiative on urban e-governance will be launched to bring in greater transparency in urban administration. Similarly, implementation of 'Double Entry Accrual Based Accounting System' across municipal corporations will help in enhancing the financial accountability of ULBs. These reforms will in turn help in promoting public-private partnership for development of urban infrastructure and improvement of civic services.

SIUD will extend support to municipal infrastructure corporations for implementing a rational, buoyant and revenue-positive system of taxation. Development of. revenue-mobilization models will provide a stronger financial footing to the ULBs.

Finally, issues in urban sustainability will be addressed through calculating ecological footprint of urban entities, analyzing push-and-pull relationship between the urban and non-urban entities, strengthening of urban-nonurban interface/etc.

Personnel

SIUD is headed by a senior Professor occupying the HUDCO Chair instituted through an MoU between YASHADA and HUDCO. He is assisted by a qualified, experienced and competent team consisting of an Associate Professor, a Assistant Professor, a Research and Documentation Officer and Research Assistants and Course Assistants.

Nagar Ninad - A Quarterly Journal