In urban life, resident associations need to assert their presence and be recognized for what they are – vital grassroot bodies. They can be important for individuals as well as for community to reclaim democratic space that is increasingly being eroded as cities grow and become more and more centralized.

A community-based waste management programme is democracy in action. People come together, decide, share responsibility and tangibly regain control over a vital aspect of their lives. This is a catalyst for locals to then address other issues that affect them.  A waste management program lubricates the social machinery and enables lofty policy ideas to become local benefits. This is usually achieved through the local resident association. A resident association is the smallest unit of self-governance. It is, in effect, an Urban Panchayat – without the mandate and barely recognized as an entity.

Resident Associations must be at the center of all planning and implementation in urban life. They can collaborate with the local municipal body, city development authorities, corporates and other institutions. They must be the node for public-private-corporate programmes.

Rural panchayats are free to choose their development priorities, allot funds and set time limits for programme implementation. Urban resident associations are not. Both generate internal resources, but while public money is transferred to panchayats, a resident association does not access public funds. Panchayats are able to remove structures, maintain sanitation, drainage, water works and sources of water. Panchayats can levy taxes on commercial activity, collect market fees from those operating inside panchayat territory and impose registration fee on public transport. They have also been empowered to levy encroachment penalty. Resident Associations remain toothless bodies that celebrate festivals.

It is vital that mechanisms be put in place to encourage resident associations to turn proactive and be more involved. Municipal bodies will benefit the most even as they resist such transfer of authority and finances to resident associations. A web of urban resident associations managing responsibility in partnership with the municipal body can establish a relationship based on a healthy sharing of power. This can revitalize democratic debate in urban life and create space for decentralized decision making.

We’ll need to shepherd a working model of bottom-up community governance that sets the pace for the evolution of a resident association into an urban panchayat. We will have to explore mechanisms that bring all urban stakeholders together to manage this decentralization of a large and unwieldy urban body. We must navigate and connect with all stakeholders – local and state governments, communities, corporations, and the media and with issues – economic, political and social.  Strong community governance will in turn strengthen urban governance and effectively restore the space of the local community in cities where they truly belong - in the middle of it all.

With our focus on making the resident association the node for all governmental interface for citizens, we can help shape the idea of community governance in urban India. The challenge is in exploring ways to build confidence and capacity in these local bodies on the one hand and exploring ways to stem the rise in unilateral planning and decision-making by those in places of authority on the other.