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Thursday, January 29, 2026
TopicUrban local bodies

Topic: Urban local bodies

Municipal bonds exist. India still won’t let cities use them

Only 19 out of 269 municipal corporations have issued bonds since SEBI guidelines were released in 2015. This represents less than 1% of total outstanding public-sector debt.

India’s climate war is missing its first responders—urban local bodies

The private sector stays out of climate resilience funding because projects lack revenue models, bankability, and local data. But empowered Urban Local Bodies can unlock that.

Who is really running Nagpur & Mumbai? Influencers, proxy corporators, not civic council

Over 60% of Indian cities are left ‘orphaned’ without elected urban governments. Citizen groups, civic influencers, and informal ‘nagarsevaks’ are filling the gaps in Mumbai and Nagpur.

Kerala’s local self-governance app K-SMART set to go rural. Now, ‘know your land’, file mass petition

The upgraded version of the portal will be launched in over 1,000 local bodies of state. It was initially launched last year in 93 urban local bodies.

Over 30 yrs after 74th Amendment, CAG flags ‘weak compliance’ with law empowering urban local bodies

CAG found while 17 of 18 functions were devolved to urban local bodies by 74th Amendment, just 4 were ‘effectively devolved with complete autonomy’.

Rajasthan BJP may not be ready for a contest yet. ‘1 state, 1 election’ push to delay local polls

Following general election setback & several challenges, BJP govt needs to buy time to show its work before facing polls, say party functionaries.

Only 10% of PPP projects in India are in urban areas. Blame poor planning & low tax collections

According to India Infrastructure Report 2023, Gujarat ranks 1st with 33 Public Private Partnership projects in urban areas, followed by Uttar Pradesh & Maharashtra.

Municipal bonds not a hit among urban local bodies, low creditworthiness a big hurdle — infra report

Other factors include easy availability of govt funds, lack of political will to improve service delivery & systemic absence of timely audits, says India Infrastructure Report 2023

How Centre’s ‘Aaina’ portal could help 4,700+ urban local bodies take long, hard look in the mirror

Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs is crafting a single portal to aggregate data from ULBs, spanning domains like planning, finance, & citizen services, to improve their functioning.

Lesson from the pandemic: Empowering local bodies is a priority to improve public health

The 74th CAA needs to be overhauled so that it is not rendered ineffective by state municipal acts. Empowering Urban Local Bodies can save many lives.

On Camera

Congress calls India’s GDP numbers ‘suspect’, alleges manipulation by Modi govt

In AICC report ‘Real State of the Economy 2026’, Congress flags ‘central contradiction’ in economy, calls for data review pointing to jobs, FDI, manufacturing slump & inequality.

Indian Army ties up with US drone company that made its name in the Ukraine conflict

Shield AI will provide V-BAT vertical takeoff & landing drones along with licences for software, which will be integrated into aircraft and made available to select Indian partners.

Non-alignment is coming back in a new avatar: Trump-peedit alliance

No nation other than China can negotiate one-on-one with Trump on an equal footing. That’s why the middle powers who so far formed the core of multilateral bodies now feel orphaned.