A constant increase is observed in the number of people living in urban areas of India. Due to urbanisation, many problems are being experienced. Prominent among these are the rising social and economic inequalities and the severe infrastructure and service deficiencies. In view of the current trends and complexities in urban life, the role of governing institutions assumes immense significance. 

This book provides information on innovative urban policy measures and governance practices designed and introduced by the Indian government at local government level to address contemporary urban challenges. Municipal laws, capacity building, e-Governance and municipal finance are four important areas of reform analysed in detail. 

The study shows that while the reform measures have the ability to bring about marked improvements in the functioning of municipal institutions, there has been a failure in plumbing their full potential. Such problems have occurred due to weak governance strategies and careless implementation and monitoring of various reforms. The study observes that the essence of democracy at local government level is yet to be achieved, as citizen’s participation in urban governance is extremely limited.

Realistic policy directions for achieving better governance are explained in the book.