CONTENTS
1.Understanding the Changing Urban Space in India 1
1.1Small Towns in the Shadow of Large Cities 3
The Small Town in India, an Overlooked Area
of Study 3
The Difficulty of Taking the "Small Town"
in India into Account 7
1.2 Enriching the Debate on Urban Decentralisation 9
Is Decentralisation the Panacea? 9
Available Literature Contains Inadequate Assessments
of Indian Decentralisation 12
Examining Urban Decentralisation by Looking
Beyond the Local Level 15
Understanding the Town Through Its Technical/Public
Services 17
1.3 An Analysis of Small Municipality Governance 20
A Comparative Approach 20
"Firsthand" Field Research in Uttar Pradesh 22
The Analysis Matrix Used for the Surveys 24
Structure of This Publication 26
References 28
2.From Theory to Practice: Field Research in Four Small
Municipalities in Eastern Uttar Pradesh 35
2.1 In Deepest Uttar Pradesh 37
2.2 The Selection of the Region for Analysis 43
Political and Institutional Context 44
Towns and Cities in a Poor State: Urban Imbalances
and Poor Services 52
2.3Overview of the Four Small Towns 62
Chandauli Nagar Panchayat: A Small Town
that is Now the District Capital 64
Phulpur Nagar Panchayat: An Industrial Town
with a Large Muslim Population 67
Siddarthnagar Palika Parishad: A Town
with Privileged Status in a Poor Region 71
Kushinagar Nagar Panchayat: A Tourist Town
with Great Development Potential 75
2.4Conclusion 80
References 81
3.From Local to Regional Challenges, the Political Profile
of the Small Towns' Municipal Councils 85
3.1Towards a Renewal of Local Powers? 86
Institutions Within the Local Representation System 86
The Representativity of the Municipal Council 91
The Paradoxes and Limitations of Positive
Discrimination 95
3.2The Local Redeployment of Regional Parties 101
The Political Set-up 102
The Incursion of Politicians into Municipal
Administration 106
3.3 The Creation of an Entrepreneurial Oligarchy 108
A Municipal Management Method that Favours
the Mayor 109
The Indirect Impacts of Decentralisation 118
3.4 Conclusion 128
References 129
4.Between Urban Imbalances and Technical Constraints:
The Challenges of Managing Local Public Services 133
4.1An Overview of the Poor Roads Service 134
Overview of the Roads Service 135
The Roads Department, an Illustration
of the Challenges Involved in Reorganising Authority .... 149
The Reflection of a Multi-Level, Poorly Coordinated
and Uncooperative Governance Structure 158
4.2Focus on the Municipal Water Supply Service 161
Laborious Decentralisation 161
The Service Provided Through the Network
Is Inadequate 167
The Myth and Reality of Service Decentralisation 175
4.3 Conclusion 181
References 182
5. From Dependence to Artificial Autonomy: Low Financial
Resources of Small Municipalities 185
5.1 Accounting Within the Small Municipalities: Purpose,
Accessing Documents and Analysis Methodology 186
Small Municipalities' Accounts are an Unknown
Quantity 187
Accounting Practices in the Small Towns Studied 190
"Firsthand" Original Material 193
Terminology: "Decoding" the Financial Data Obtained. . . . 195
The Typology of the Municipalities' Expenditure
Structure 196
5.2 Small Towns Dependent on Outside Funds 197
"Fiscal Populism": The Impact of Democracy
on Local Taxation 199
The Implementation of a "Grant System" 206
5.3 Budgetary Imbalances and Basic Services 218
A Budgetary Capacity that is Much Improved
but Remains Insufficient 218
The Specific Features of Each Municipality's
Budget Choices 221
Analysis: How Much Budgetary Devolution
is There in the Small Towns? 226
5.4 Conclusion 232
References 233
6.Building the Town of Tomorrow: The Difficult Development
of Small Municipalities 235
6.1 A Democratic Challenge 236
The Development of Political and Economic
Entrepreneurship 236
A Citizenship that is Specific to Small Towns? 238
6.2 A Technical Challenge 239
A Lack of Financial Autonomy 239
A Significant Lack of Human Resources 240
Municipalities have Limited Powers 241
6.3 Conclusion 243
References 246
Appendix 247