A study conducted in 2021 found that 77% of elected women representatives believed they were unable to easily bring about change in their constituencies due to the challenges they face in society. This is also related to the decade of research that was conducted on female counselors in India, wherein the phenomenon of “parshad pati” was repeatedly documented.
Usually, when urban crisis is referred to, we talk about the poor infrastructure, fiscal deficits, and weak municipal capacity. These are quite often the familiar culprits that one reaches for, not that they are not real, but they are symptoms of a political disease of power and people who are served by those in power.
Urban Governance in India today is beyond administrative machinery, and to understand it, we must examine how caste, class, and gender do not operate as separate disadvantages but compound each other in determining who shapes Indian cities.
The 74th Amendment’s Broken Promise
The 74th Constitutional Amendment of 1992 was a legislative step to introduce participatory and decentralised urban local governance. It envisioned elected ward committees, urban bodies taking care of their own functions, and compulsory reservation for women and marginalised communities. But in practice, it has been largely hollowed out.
A 2021 NITI Aayog report on urban planning capacity acknowledged that most states have failed to devolve funds, functions, and functionaries to ULBs. Ward committees that were meant to be a direct mechanism for citizen participation largely remain unformed or toothless across all major cities. States largely comply with the provisions of reserving seats, but ward committees and the Metropolitan Planning Committee have remained on paper in most states.
Gender representation, while having numbers as not translated into substantive political power in urban governance. The idea of ‘proxy-councillors’- women made to contest for reserved seats but effectively governed by male relatives, is a well-documented study in the Indian municipal politics. Such a reservation without any power for structural change produces representation without agency.
Who Actually Governs the Indian Cities?
Elected urban bodies that are weak in their operations have real power held by state politicians, who assume cities as their patronage machines. Most administrative officers, such as the Magistrate and Collector, hold administrative authority over the ULBs. In such cities, urban development is largely driven by real estate capital, which dictates land-use patterns, alongside technocratic agencies that operate with significant insulation from democratic accountability.
The Smart Cities Mission of 2015 solidifies the last tendency. Research on Smart City governance confirms that governance in these cities was largely delegated to Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that function as semi-autonomous entities alongside municipal corporations, thereby lacking transparency, local accountability, and dedicated machinery and manpower, resulting in major dependence on third-party consulting. A peer-reviewed study identified that participatory processes across 21 Smart Cities were mainly a tokenistic approach, revealing a significant democratic deficit. CPR India’s analysis of the project points out how SPVs have changed the power dynamics between and within the administrative, political, and civil society spheres, with accountability based on tracking the financial expenditure rather than positive outcomes for residents.
The Intersectional Blind Spot: Caste, Class, and Gender
Urban governance in India is not just gendered or only caste-stratified, but it is simultaneously shaped by both caste and gender, in ways that multiply the disadvantage.
Indian urban planning models are largely rooted in colonial administrative machinery, which systematically criminalises the livelihood of those in the informal sector, which largely constitutes Dalits, Lower-OBCs, Muslims, and women, who disproportionately have a high share in this vulnerable workforce.
Women belonging to the lower caste in urban areas are largely employed in street vending, domestic work, waste-picking, home-based garment work, etc. SEWA, along with WIEGO1 documented the impact of the 2014 Street Vendors Act, wherein the women vendors were systemically sidelined due to the dominance of male vendors and municipal officials in the Town Vending Committees. PMAY- Urban tried making a shift by making the women the title holders, but it lacks security of tenure and has zero grievance mechanism. Such ownership offers limited impact due to a lack of accompanying infrastructure.
Women's safety in urban public spaces also tells a similar story. Typical urban safety strategies rely more on surveillance rather than addressing structural inequalities. Furthermore, the lack of adequate public restrooms for women in lower-income neighbourhoods is not just a policy lapse but a governance decision signalling which groups the city is designed to accommodate.
What Reimagined Governance Requires
Niti Aayog (April 2026), in its report, ‘Moving Towards Effective City Government: A Framework for Million-Plus Cities’, acknowledged the critical governance failure, including restricted fiscal power, fragmented accountability, and weak leadership. The report recommends empowering elected mayors and integrating parastatals with the city government oversight. These are some necessary starting steps, but they do not go far enough without a dedicated caste and gender perspective.
Structural reform is essential for progress, and to achieve meaningful change, Ward committees must be empowered with actual jurisdiction over local planning and budgetary choices; Smart Cities SPVs should be made subject to elected democratic oversight; Mandate caste and gender impact assessments for urban planning, and prioritize the active participation of marginalized communities over mere tokenism. Informal worker groups, such as SEWA, must be recognized and resourced as formal governance partners that provide vital data, dispute resolution, and essential services.
India is urbanizing at an unprecedented pace, and the governance choices made today will decide what kind of cities emerge and who they serve. A city designed to serve the most marginalised will, by necessity, work for everyone. This standard is not idealistic but an authentic measure of successful urban systems.
References
1. Kumar, S. (2024, January 31). Elected Women Representatives in local rural governments in India: Assessing the impact and challenges. orfonline.org. https://www.orfonline.org/research/elected-women-representatives-in-local-rural-government s-in-india-assessing-the-impact-and-challenges
2. Committee reports. (n.d.). PRS Legislative Research. https://prsindia.org/policy/report-summaries/reforms-in-urban-planning-capacity-in-india
3. Impri, & Vithita. (2023, July 3). Reforming urban governance in India: Issues and way forward - IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute. IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute. https://www.impriindia.com/insights/urban-governance-in-india/
4. Praharaj, S. (2025). An appraisal of the 100 Smart Cities’ Mission in India: Lessons for the Post-Pandemic Urban Future. Journal of Urban Technology, 32(5), 115–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2025.2549672
5. NITI Aayog. (2026, April). MOVING TOWARDS EFFECTIVE CITY GOVERNMENT - A FRAMEWORK FOR MILLION-PLUS CITIES. NITI Aayog.https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2026-04/Moving-Towards-Effective-City-Govern ment-a-Framework-for-Million-Plus-Cities.pdf
6. Waghmare, M., University of New South Wales, CEPT University, NIUA, & TERI School of Advanced Studies. (2024). Democratic participation and smart city citizenship in emerging economies–case of smart cities in India [Research]. Elsevier.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275124001240
7. Team, W., & Wiego. (2025, March 7). Statistics as a catalyst for making women workers visible.WIEGO.https://www.wiego.org/blog/statistics-catalyst-making-women-workers-visibl e/
8. Bhattacharya, R., Institute for Social and Economic Change, & Rao, V. K. R. V. (2022). Ward Committees as “Invited Space”: Is it successful? A literature review of Urban India. In M. Balasubramanian (Ed.), Working Paper Series (No. 546). Institute for Social and Economic Change. https://www.isec.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/WP-546-Riya-Bhattacharya-Final.pdf
