| Authors | Lokesha M K |
|---|---|
| Article Type | Research Article |
| Language | English |
| Journal | North Asian International Research Journal of Social Science & Humanities |
| ISSN | 2454-9827 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Publication Year | 2025 |
| Publication Date | October 01, 2025 |
| DOI URL | https://doiglobal.org/10.2025/NAIRJCSSH.004 |
Urban India is undergoing a profound demographic, economic and political transformation. Cities increasingly shape national growth, employment, infrastructure demand and everyday citizenship, yet the institutions responsible for governing them often remain administratively fragmented and fiscally constrained. The Constitution (Seventy-Fourth Amendment) Act, 1992 sought to address this democratic deficit by giving constitutional recognition to municipalities, mandating regular elections, creating representative structures and envisioning urban local bodies as institutions of self-government. More than three decades later, however, the degree of effective decentralization varies substantially across States. This paper examines the promise and performance of the 74th Constitutional Amendment through a Political Science perspective. It focuses on the '3F' problem of functions, finances and functionaries; the relationship between elected municipal governments and State-controlled parastatal agencies; mayoral leadership; municipal finance; metropolitan governance; citizen participation; inclusion; digital governance; and the emerging challenge of governing rapidly urbanizing settlements. The paper adopts a qualitative, analytical methodology based on constitutional provisions, institutional reports and contemporary scholarship. Recent research continues to identify incomplete functional and fiscal devolution, while new empirical work suggests that statutory urban local governance can improve the provision of important public goods. The paper argues that India's urban governance challenge is no longer primarily the absence of constitutional recognition, but the incomplete translation of constitutional design into autonomous, accountable and capable city government. It concludes that a second generation of urban decentralization is necessary—one that strengthens elected leadership, clarifies institutional responsibility, expands own-source revenue, professionalizes municipal administration, improves metropolitan coordination and deepens citizen participation.
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DOI: 10.2025/NAIRJCSSH.004
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North Asian International Research Journal of Social Science & Humanities
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