Two local governments and undertake a Comparative Analysis of their work with community
The two local governments chosen for the comparison that will be carried out in the report are Kolkata and New York City. The two cities are from two very different parts of the world, with radically different geographic, demographic and socioeconomic make ups. This would help in analyzing how local governments work in different (or similar ways) to satisfy different audiences with varying amount of resources at their disposal.
- Kolkata
Kolkata (called Calcutta until 2001) is the capital city of the West Bengal, an Indian state. It is governed by several government bodies, with responsibilities often overlapping. It is the seventh most populous city of India, with a total combined population (included population from the suburban area legally falling on the boundary of Kolkata) of 5.1 million residents (citation needed).
The existence of multiple governments is primarily due to urban sprawl that has taken place in Kolkata in the last few decades. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is the main organization in charge of the city. The entire area under the control consists of 15 smaller sub-units called boroughs, which are further divided into smaller sub-units called wards. The city is divided in a total of 144 wards with each ward electing its own councilor, usually belonging to a political party (although independent candidates can also run) (“Official Website of Kolkata Municipal Corporation”, 2020). The councilors then collectively through an internal voting process elects a mayor-in-council, consisting of a mayor, a deputy mayor, and ten other members, who are also elected. The mayor-in-council is responsible for carrying out projects and other duties that effect multiple boroughs. While each borough has a committee, which comprises of the elected councilors from the wards falling in its jurisdictions.
1.1 Financial Situation
The KMC is one of the largest employers in the state of West Bengal, with total no. of employees standing at 20,463 (“Official Website of Kolkata Municipal Corporation”, 2020). The total money earned by the KMC is through four sources: tax revenue, non-tax revenue, public private partnership and funding from the state government. The total money earned by the government stood at INR 32.90 billion (US $450 million) in 2018-19, an increase from INR 25.99 billion (US $350 million) in 2017-18 (Kolkata Municipal Corporation 2019). Even with enormous revenue coming in, the KMC unable to meet its expenditures with this revenue and was in a debt of INR 1.83 billion (US $25 million) in the 2018-19 budget, while its cumulative debt stands at INR 10.30 billion (US $140 million). Compared to other cities in OECD, the total local bodies revenue for Indian cities (and Kolkata) stands at 1 percent of the GDP on average, which is drastically less than Germany, Mexico and Spain, where the ratio stands at 8.1,% 2.2% and 6.4% respectively (Bandyopadhyay & Sharma 2020).
KMC has an enormous budget and workforce primarily because of the range of and the extent of tasks that fall under it is held responsible for. These tasks include supply of drinking water to the entire city, cleaning up the city (including solid waste disposal), maintaining and developing public roads and streets, provision and maintenance of lighting, drainage and sewerage management, providing healthcare (including establishment and management of public hospitals), and provision of housing accommodation.
1.2 Functions & projects
KMC is responsible for initiating and handling numerous projects related to public service delivery. One such project is the ongoing drinking water project under which KMC recently completed the construction of four semi-underground reservoirs which will help in solving the drinking water crisis, that the parts of the city of Kolkata are facing (Navaskar 2020). As the election for local councils were approaching, the KMC accelerated its efforts of completing projects underway. The mayor, Firhad Karim stressed on completing the projects before the deadline of 30th March, showing how the public pressure, expressed through the electoral process, forces the government to deliver public services (Navaskar 2020).
1.3 Connection with the public
Important policy issues of central importance are often the prerogative of the central government and since the local government in Kolkata is a political opponent of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it often partakes in protests against the central government’s policies. In this manner, it makes sure that it keeps connected with its supporters. Alongside this, it reaches out to its supporters through its councillors and local politicians. However, it faced fierce opposition from the residents of Kolkata, during the recent cyclone. The protests were against the suspension of water and power supply due to cyclone Amphan. Mayor Firhad Hakim tried to pacify the protestors by promising that he would ask Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) to hire more people to restore electricity supply as soon as possible. The state under the recommendation of, and in accordance with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), deployed 235,200 personnel for the rescue operation (Indian Express 2020).
1.4 Clientelism
As said earlier, the local governments (Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in the case of Kolkata) are responsible for public service delivery, including water supply and drainage services. Decentralisation of these services also often leads to clientelism. In their paper, De and Nag (2018), posited that high level of political competition at the ward level, lower the quality of the water service, and more susceptible it becomes to political clientelism. Similarly, in wards, where councillors do not belong to the majority party (the party that is in the government), the water quality and quantity is low. Similarly, the local government public service provision is often plagued by numerous inefficiencies. The social and religious identity of the councillor and the socio-religious makeup of the ward often determines the quality of service it is provided with. Areas populated by less developed castes and Muslims often receive poor quality of services (De & Nag 2018). In some sense, it can be said that the government is not bureaucratic, rational and scientific as governments usually are in developed countries.
It could be said that people belonging to slums and those on the margins of the society, due to economic, caste-related, or religious reasons, have a transactional relationship with the local government. In this situation, a local leader belonging to the local community pledges support of the community to a certain political party candidate (usually the one who is likely to win) in return of public service delivery, which is still of poor quality.
- New York
The New York city government is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York city hall. It has a total population of 8.3 million, making it the most populous city in United States. It had an estimated Gross Metropolitan Product of $2.0 trillion in 2019 (US Census Bureau 2020).
2.1 Structure (Council & Mayor’s office)
There are two branches of the local government that work simultaneously. The mayor of the New York City is the head of the executive branch of the government. For local elections, the city is divided in 51 electoral districts. The New York City Council, which is the legislative body of the city, consists of 51 members, each from an electoral district. The New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which had its own legislative and governing body before they were joined to form one unified city government in 1898 (Cuomo 1998). The New York City Council elects the Speaker of the Council, which is considered the second most powerful post in the city after the Mayor. The Council passes a law by a simple majority but it does not come into effect unless signed by the Mayor, the Mayor can veto a bill, which can then only be passed by the legislative council through a two-third majority vote within 30 days (Cuomo 1998).
The mayor’s office employs 325,000 people and has an annual budget of US $92 billion (Mayor of New York City 2020). While, the mayor is vested with executive authority, the New York City Council is the legislative body. The Mayor is elected through direct elections and by popular vote for a four-year long term. The annual budget, although drafted by the New York City’s Office of Management and Budget, requires the approval of the Council through a simple majority vote. In some sense, it would not be wrong to say that the local government body setup in New York City reflects the national level system in place in the United States.
2.1 Functions & Power
The mayor of the New York City has around 50 city departments working under it. Some of the major departments controlled by it include the Department for the Aging (DFTA), Department of Buildings, Department of City Planning, Department of Consumer and Workforce Protection, Department of Education, Department of Finance, Department of Law, and Department of Transportation. New York’s city’s mayor is also often referred to as the “city’s CEO,” which is not a coincidental title as it shows the position of the Mayor who is seen less as a politician and more often as an administrator. This is considerably different from Kolkata, India, where the elected mayor is usually someone with political experience, while the position of the mayor in the New York City is often occupied by someone with minimal experience in politics.
