ASICS Report 2023

ASICS Report 2023

News: Recently, the sixth edition of the Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS) 2023 report has been released by Janaagraha.

What is ASICS?
• The Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS) is a comprehensive evaluation of the quality of governance in Indian cities.
• It was published after a gap of five years. The ASICS report this time focused on the state as a unit instead of ranking cities as they did in the past.

Key Findings:
• 39% of India’s capital cities lack an active master plan.
• Mayors and councillors have a limited role in key municipal functions.
• 17% of cities have a mayoral tenure of less than five years, making the position of the mayor largely 'ceremonial and inconsequential'.
• Nearly half of Indian states/union territories lack accessible urban legislation in the public domain.
• Highly urbanized and large states perform better in urban planning.
• Outlays to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs have increased significantly, but urbanization is outpacing reform efforts, leading to persistent quality-of-life challenges.
• Only about 20% of municipal expenditure is covered by property tax, suggesting the need for revenue optimization and efficiency measures.
• Adequate revenue sources are lacking, and only one state has devolved essential tax powers to municipal corporations.
• Only 42% of the 74th CAA has been implemented by states, and the law should be updated to reflect modern urban realities and empower mayors and enhance governance functions.

Key Recommendations of Report:
• The report suggests ten “instruments of change” for urban reform, including constitutional amendments, metropolitan governance, empowered mayor-in-council, and participatory governance.
• Indian cities must reform their institutional and financial capacities to benefit from central government investments in urban infrastructure and services.
• Urbanization should be estimated using data on mobility, labour markets, density, built-up forms, and night-time data, rather than relying solely on statutory town definitions.
• The responsibility for implementing urban governance reform lies with state governments, with the union government providing support through constitutional amendments and leadership.

Other recommendations to enhance performance of Urban Local Bodies:
• Fiscal decentralization is crucial for the financial independence of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
• Enhance citizen participation in Urban local bodies through ward committees, area sabhas.
• Maintenance and audit of accounts at the local level are essential for accessing performance grants. Both the 13th and the 14th Finance Commissions included better data availability as a conditionality for accessing performance grants.

India’s Urbanization initiatives:
• Smart Cities Mission: This is an urban development programme with the mission to develop 100 cities across the country, making them citizen-friendly and sustainable.
• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT): This project aims to harness the agglomeration economies of urban centres and make cities engines of growth. It envisages convergence across various initiatives such as AMRUT, Smart Cities, Hriday, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and Swachh Bharat.
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) or Housing for All by 2022 Mission: This initiative aims to provide affordable housing with credit-linked subsidy.
• Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY): This initiative focuses on holistic development of heritage cities.
• Urban Transportation Initiatives: These include promoting mass public transport systems, non-polluting modes, promoting pedestrian safety, and cycling to achieve safer and healthy cities.
• Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM): This mission aims to clean up the streets, roads, and infrastructure of India’s cities and towns.