Urban Local Bodies

Urban local bodies, also termed ULBs, are small local bodies that rule the town or the city with a medium population. The state government assigns many tasks to the urban local bodies to meet the public needs. There are several types of urban local bodies, including municipal corporations, municipalities, notified area committees, urban area committees, special purpose agencies, townships, port trusts, cantonment boards, etc. 

Historical Background of Urban Local Bodies  

In India, the first-ever municipal corporation was formed in 1688 in Madras, soon before the British entered India. The second municipal corporation came into power in 1726 in Calcutta and Bombay. Lord Rippon, then Indian viceroy, issued the resolution of the local self-government in the year 1882. Later, he was named as the father of the local self government in India. 

District Municipalities Act of 1920 and Municipal Act of 1919 in Madras gave councils the power for electing their chairmen and framing budgets. In 1924, another act was passed, which made the city municipalities elective in cities with more than 1 lakh. Mahatma Gandhi was a strong supporter of Gram Swaraj. Therefore, he requested to transfer the rights to the masses in the rural areas.  

Purpose of Urban Local Bodies 

The purposes of purpose of Urban local bodies are as follows – 

• Urban local bodies were established for providing urban services effectively, efficiently, and quatibily. 
• ULBs also plan several social and economic developments. 
• ULBs regulate the building constructions and usage of land. 
• Urban local bodies regulate the water supply for industrial, commercial, and domestic purposes.
• They maintain sanitation conservation, solid waste management and public health. 
• They formed several rules and regulations. 
• Several plans and policies were implemented at basic levels. 
• Taking measures to reduce poverty in the country. 

Compositions of Municipalities 

On 2nd October 1952, the Community Development Programme started. In 1953, the National Extension Scheme was launched, as an experiment. However, it failed. Several committees, such as Ashok Mehta Committee in 1977, Balwant Mehta Committee in 1957, L.M. Singhvi Committee in 1986 and GVK Rao Committee in 1985, were established to look after the issues regarding democratic decentralisation in India. 

The 64th Amendment Bill was passed based on the report released, which also failed to provide the necessary support. Later in 1990, one more attempt was made to pass the bill, but even that was proven unsuccessful as the parliament dissolved. Finally, in 1992, the bill was given as the 73rd and 74th Amendment Act, 1992. During this time, P.V. Narasimha Rao was the prime minister of India.

Every municipality gets to complete five years and is given several reasonable opportunities to bring improvements before their dissolution. The next municipality elections should be done before the completion of five years. If there is a dissolution of the municipality, elections need to take place within six months of dissolution. 

According to Clause 234K, every state needs to have self-government institutions called municipalities. Further, municipalities are classified into three different types. These include- 

• Nagar Panchayat in areas transforming from rural to urban 
• Municipal Corporation for developed urban areas 
• Municipal Council for underdeveloped or developing urban areas. 

Urban Governments Types 

There are mainly eight different types of urban government in India. These are as follows – 

• Notified Area Committee
• Special Purpose Agency
• Town Area Committee 
• Municipal corporation
• Cantonment Board
• Municipality
• Township
• Port Trust

Municipal Personnel 

In India, there are three types of municipal personnel. These include – 

• Separate Personnel System
• Integrated Personnel System
• Unified Personnel System

Municipal Revenue

The Urban local bodies earn from these five sources – 

• Non-Tax Revenue
• Tax Revenue
• Devolution 
• Grants
• Loans

Conclusion 

The future of our country majorly lies in rural areas; the local government is taking adequate steps to meet the needs of their people. With this, we come to the end of our study material on urban local bodies. ULBs are small local bodies that rule the town or the city with a medium population. The state government assigns many tasks to the urban local bodies to meet the public needs.