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Bharti Mishra Nath

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Bharti Mishra Nath is a journalist of over 17 years who has worked in leading English dailies including The Times of India , The New Indian Express and Deccan Herald . As a Public Policy Scholar in The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy  from August to November 2014, Bharti studied the devolution of powers to the urban local government as envisaged in the 74th Constitutional Amendment.

Policy Report No10resized
Crisis of Urban Governance in India

India’s urbanisation process has laid bare the crisis, or rather absence of urban governance. This report explains how India’s urban local bodies, which are democratic institutions conceived to be closest to the citizens, have been rendered inefficient by the governments at the Centre and the States. The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act meant to devolve power to urban local bodies was merely a cosmetic exercise which did not bring about any changes in the way our municipalities were governed. States continue to have overriding powers and accountability structures in urban areas are weak. Devoid of power — legal, financial and administrative — urban local bodies merely remain a tool of party politics at the grass-root level.In the light of rapid urbanisation, the report states that it is pertinent to go beyond the existing laws and enact mandatory provisions that would give real powers to urban local bodies, with the conviction of making the country a genuine democracy. At a practical level, the report suggests that the policy makers have to think of what is doable if revolutionary changes are not possible.[PDF 17.4 MB]

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'I am trying to learn the art and craft of politics' − Ram Madhav

Former national spokesperson of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Ram Madhav, recently inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a genera