British started 1st Municipal Corporation in Madras in 1687-88!
Q. Where was the first Municipal Corporation set up in India?- Published on 10 Mar 17a. Bombay
b. Calcutta
c. Madras
d. Surat
ANSWER: Madras
- ‘Urban Local Government’ in India means the governance of a specific urban area, demarcated for this purpose by the state government, by the people through their elected representatives.
- There are 8 types of urban local governments in India.
- 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 constitutionalised the system of urban government.
At the Central level, ‘urban local government’ is dealt by -
1. Ministry of Urban Development (created as a separate ministry in 1985).
2. Ministry of Defense (in the case of cantonment boards).
3. Ministry of Home Affairs (in the case of Union Territories).
Evolution of urban local bodies -
- It was during the British rule that the institutions of urban local government originated and developed in modern India.
- 1687-88 - First municipal corporation in India was set up at Madras.
- 1726 - Municipal corporations were set up in Bombay and Calcutta.
- 1870 - Lord Mayo’s Resolution of 1870 on ‘financial decentralization’ envisaged development of local self-government institutions.
- 1882 - Lord Ripon’s Resolution of 1882 was hailed as the ‘Magna Carta’ of local self-government.
- He is called as the father of local-self-government in India.
- 1907 - The Royal Commission on decentralization was appointed in 1907.
- It submitted its report in 1909. Its chairman was Hob house.
- 1919 - Under the dyarchical scheme introduced in Provinces by the Government of India Act of 1919, local self-government became a transferred subject under the charge of a responsible Indian minister.
- 1924 - The Cantonments Act was passed by the Central Legislature.
- 1935 - Government of India Act of 1935 introduced provincial autonomy scheme. The local self-government was declared a provincial subject.
- 1989 - In August 1989, the Rajiv Gandhi government introduced the 65th Constitutional Amendment Bill (i.e., Nagarpalika Bill) in the Lok Sabha but it was defeated in Rajya Sabha.
- 1990 - The National Front Government under V P Singh introduced the bill but it lapsed due to the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
- 1991 - P. V. Narasimha Rao’s Government introduced the modified Municipalities Bill in the Lok Sabha in 1991.
- It finally came out as the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992.
- It came into force on 1 June 1993.
Significance of the 74th Amendment Act of 1992 -
- This Act added a new Part 9-A to the Constitution of India entitled ‘The Municipalities’ giving constitutional status to municipalities.
- It has provisions from Articles 243-P to 243-ZG.
- It also added a new Twelfth Schedule to the Constitution containing 18 functional items of municipalities.
- 12th Schedule deals with Article 243-W.
- It made them justiciable part of the Constitution.
- The act wanted to revitalize and strengthen the urban governments and make them function effectively as units of local government.
