Articles by K C Sivaramakrishnan

While the outcomes of the Lok Sabha and the state assembly elections have been well documented and analysed, little is known about the electoral geography in urban areas. In discussing the conflicting interests of local politics and urban development, this article places the definition and understanding of what is "urban" in the context of the 74th constitutional amendment, and also looks at the expectations from and the progress on the reforms agenda of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Further, the article addresses the high economic stakes and challenges involved in metro governance, while arguing that these cannot be dealt with under the general rubric of Union-State-Municipality. International experience is relevant in this regard not for the structural models followed, but because unlike in India, the subject of urban governance in most cities around the world has been a matter of serious debate and action.

The 91st Constitution Amendment Bill paves the way for ending the freeze on the delimitation of constituencies of the parliament and state legislatures. It is to be hoped that in preparing and considering the new law on delimitation, the government and parliament will keep an open mind and afford opportunities for eliciting the views of a wide spectrum of people to correct the flaws in the bill as it now stands.

Any electoral system based on adult franchise and territorial constituencies needs to include a process of adjusting boundaries of such constituencies from time to time. This is the essence of delimitation. And the political leadership's fear of any attempt to change the political geography is due as much to ignorance of the issues as to apprehensions about the changing contour of political power it will bring about.