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Wednesday, May 20, 2026
TopicUrban local bodies

Topic: Urban local bodies

What ails governance in India’s cities? Heart of problem lies in mayor’s office, says NITI Aayog

In its report, NITI Aayog calls for directly elected mayors, unified control over services, and stronger finances to fix the struggling city governments.

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.

On Camera

Norway’s Modi cartoon was not satire. Just colonial laziness

Political satire is indispensable to democracy, racial caricature isn’t. If Europe’s liberal press still cannot tell difference, then decolonisation never happened in their imagination.

Waiver or no waiver, Russian crude remains centrepiece of India’s oil imports strategy

With Washington issuing a third 30-day waiver for Russian crude cargoes at sea, India signals continuity in import strategy while ramping up purchases from Venezuela and other suppliers.

Dragon’s armour: How Xi reshaped China’s military with theatre commands a decade before India’s push

While India yet to set in motion theaterisation of armed forces, China's military reforms combined China’s Army, Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force aimed at regional dominance & tight political control.

Pakistan is tactically brilliant, strategically disastrous. It’s primed for repeated blunders

Pakistan has ended up losing every war against India but that hasn’t prevented it from claiming victory. We will go over the evidence to anticipate what to expect next.