Going beyond Bengaluru's 243 wards

On paper, 243 wards might look like a big number. But can 243 corporators really represent the grassroots of the city?

Delayed by another three months, the grand plan to increase the number of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) wards from the current 198 to 243 is aptly defined ‘delimitation.’ But is it ‘decentralisation’ of governance in the true sense?

On paper, 243 wards might look like a big number. But can 243 corporators really represent the grassroots of a city with a whopping population exceeding an estimated 1.5 crore? Hardly, because each one of them would be expected to be the voice of about 60,000 people.

Chaired by the BBMP Chief Commissioner, the delimitation committee now has time till January 2022 to complete an exercise, originally scheduled to end in July 2021. Pinned down by the pandemic, the committee had met only once since it was formed.

Proposed 400 wards

So, how many wards will make Bengaluru’s governance truly decentralised? Four hundred, reminds urbanist V Ravichander. He was part of the BBMP Restructuring Committee that had recommended 400 wards, ensuring that every corporator represents only about 30,000 citizens.

“More wards mean more decentralisation,” Ravichander explains. “The proposed 243 is just an addition of 45, an increase of about 25%. If you look at the city’s decadal growth from 2011 to 2021, a conservative estimate shows the population grew by 24%. This implies the 243 is just a bare correction of that decadal growth.”

By sticking to a proportional increase relative to the population, the government has chosen the status quo, he notes. “It only means you haven’t really embraced the idea of decentralisation. Since the government is in love with a single city corporation, more wards should have been the way forward.”

Smaller units

Deep decentralisation mandates more, smaller wards. It also implies more ward committees, more meetings and members who are better connected. Since ward panels are further decentralised to area sabhas, more Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) could be part of the governance system.

Delimitation, as Vikram Rai from the Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF) points out, has a critical role: To address the huge gaps in infrastructure on the outer city wards. “The way the city has evolved, wards on the outskirts have seen much higher growth in population without proportionate growth in infrastructure,” he explains.

Doubling the number of wards to 400 could be ideal, but do we have the capacity, he wonders. “When we are already lagging behind, 243 seems like only an incremental step.”

Scientific methodology

The delimitation process itself, he feels, should be done scientifically and not politically. “I don’t know whether even 400 is adequate or not, but the delimitation exercise should repeat, say, every five years in a defined manner. It should be a methodical and periodical process.”

Built into the ‘delimitation equals decentralisation’ narrative is the concept of subsidiarity, as Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) Cofounder Tara Krishnaswamy points out. “With the increase in the size of the city and number of wards, we continue to have even more marginalised elected accountability. While we understand the concept of decentralisation, we ignore subsidiarity, without which no amount of representation can help,” she notes.

The lowest unit of government that can solve a given problem should be responsible for it.

“Instead, we have, not just the state government, but the union government building local side streets (Smart City) and local toilets (Swachch Bharat).”

The functions and powers to be devolved to BBMP, Tara reminds, “have even been usurped by Delhi, so much so, that if Commercial Street leaks, my lowest elected accountability is with Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri!”

Under represented

On decentralisation, she agrees that Bengalureans are under represented in more ways than we think. “While rural voters are entitled to Grama, Taluk and Zilla level elected representatives to handle services that naturally map at those jurisdictions (like water at a district level and streets at a village level,) Bengaluru has all of the city government (BBMP) and nothing beyond.”

The delimitation exercise is also expected to bring many Grama Panchayats (GP) just outside the city’s periphery into the BBMP fold. Among the GPs proposed to be included are Somashettihalli, Chikkabanavara, Konappana Agrahara, Doddadasanapura, Shikaripalya, Doddatoguru, Chikkanayakanahalli, Mallooru, Kachamaranahalli, Kannamangala, Soolikere, Kumbalagodu and Ramohalli.