Poll battle over, time to arm them with knowledge of their new role

The definition of public service or social service is vast and subject to interpretation. And the politicians claim to operate in public sphere. But are the new corporators equipped to take decisions going to affect our lives? Post-elections, this is the worry of the citizens.  

Corporators too have their worries as questions keep haunting them. How should they play their role in civic governance? How much time should they spend in office? What if they are unable to cope with the pressure? To answer these questions, is there any training available for them?

Unfortunately, the 198 corporators, who would be the umbilical cord between citizens and municipal governance for the next five years, have no avenue to learn their duties and rights.

There have been no efforts in the past to acquaint them with the functioning of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike. Thus, the articulation of people’s needs and aspirations is a matter of instinct and vested interest.

Civic leaders, legislators and citizens’ forums have demanded that the corporators, majority of who are greenhorns in civic politics and administration, be given a ‘break the colt’ training to make them effective grassroots leaders. This is more imperative now as the new Bangalore Governance Bill will be empowering councillors in better ways.

The corporation, on its part, will give a few days of orientation training to the corporators after the council is formed, says D Mallu, additional commissioner for human resource and public grievance. “They will also be given a copy of rules of procedure.”

But will a few days of crash course help them function as the eyes and ears of one crore-plus population, leaders wonder. Former mayor PR Ramesh underscores the need for making people’s representatives effective with working knowledge. He says many institutions have the capability to impart training to legislators and corporators but the government initiative is lacking.

Some institutions and organisations which can help train corporators are Urban Research Centre, Mysore, Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transport and Urban Planning, Centre for Public Policy, IIM, Public Affairs Centre, CIVIC Bangalore, and Janagraha.

 “Rules apart, it is essential to know the BBMP administrative set-up so that a corporator gets promptly connected with the right authority,” he says.

To make the BBMP governance and councillors more effective, he seeks autonomy for Palike, a metro planning committee, recast of the governance structure, and additional powers to wards and councillors.

Except Kolkata Municipal Corporation, none of the other local bodies in India have been given autonomy.

According to civic expert and trustee of CIVIC Bangalore, Kathyayini Chamaraj, there is crying need to empower corporators with basic knowledge of civic needs and civic governance. There are more than one governmental institution and several private organisations that can do the job, she says. State Institute for Urban Development in Mysore, for instance, has the know-how and capability.

Kathyayini says CIVIC, on its part, will be conducting a short course for corporators on the 74th amendment (which gave recognition to the municipalities with the overall objective of decentralisation and devolution of powers to the local bodies) to the Constitution.

Civic analyst and member of RWA Federation, N Mukund, says an uninformed corporator does more harm than good. A seminar or a crash course is not going to help many, he adds.

R Suresh, director of Public Affairs Centre (PAC), says his centre is willing to take up the task if the government evinces interest. “We are willing to provide our expertise to corporators.”

Derrick Fullinfaw, MLA, goes a step further. “Why novice, even an old hand needs help,” he says. Derrick suggests setting up a permanent mechanism like a council centre at the legislature and corporation to help members in their democratic duties.