Ground-Up Governance In Action

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The power of citizen-led initiatives in smaller cities has recently gained significant attention. Citizens are driving change: be it Mohali's residents fighting for overdue maintenance works, or Chitlapakkam's community resolving last-mile connectivity through persistent efforts. However, challenges like bureaucratic hurdles, political influences, and resource limitations still persist. Will local communities overcome these barriers to influence lasting change in their cities?

Image: Residents of Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Limited, Sector 114 | The Tribune

The power and relevance of citizen-led initiatives in smaller cities have been demonstrated on multiple occasions recently. The residents of the Ansal housing society in Sector 114 in Mohali have been protesting since July 26, 2023, demanding overdue maintenance works. Bhupender Yadav, the president of Ansal Resident Welfare Association (RWA), says, “The issues have been raised multiple times, but the management has not taken any actions to resolve the issues.”

Similarly in Tamil Nadu’s Chitlapakkam, community efforts successfully reinstated minibuses, solving last-mile connectivity issues through persistent protests and complaints in December last year.

On March 28, 2023, more than 20 RWAs representing FONRWA (Federation of Noida Residents Welfare Associations) sectors engaged with Noida Authority officials to address pending civic matters, such as drain levelling, encroachment problems, insects on trees, a lack of green belts, the installation of new swings in parks, and so on.

These RWAs, established under the Societies Registration Act, operate within a defined legal framework in line with India’s constitution. They wield substantial influence and potential in city transformation and effectively prompt local governments to prioritise the welfare of residents.

Residents protesting in Greater Noida as pipe bursts leave water supply cut for 14 hours | Source: Times of India

Mission Badlav, an NGO based in Gumla, Jharkhand works in the field of developmental justice of under-represented citizen groups. | Source: Hindustan

Yet, within this framework, the housing societies and RWAs face a multitude of challenges while also creating some themselves. Issues such as bureaucratic hurdles, conflicting interests, lack of resources, and inability to ensure sustained engagement have been a few of the issues faced by them. On the other hand, some such entities have been found to be exclusive of marginalised groups, concentrating power on a few individuals and sometimes running into political influences. They tend to also neglect larger citywide issues over their immediate concerns.

However, RWAs and various other diverse citizen groups, such as elected local leaderships, community leaders and ward committees, hold the potential to advocate for residents’ well-being, enhanced living conditions and enable good governance in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. For instance, the ward committees of Mangalore, composed of all residents of a ward, have been able to discuss micro plans within the wards. Mission Badlav, a citizen-led group in Jharkhand, led a signature campaign to alert the local government about the water woes of residents of Gumla.

Who is representing your voice in your neighbourhood?