Where was the mayor?
There was a very good reason for Rudolph Giuliani to run for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2008 – the formidable reputation in crisis management that the former New York mayor had gained after the 9/11 attacks struck the city. He was photographed at Ground Zero immediately after the planes mowed into the Twin Towers, and was a prominent presence on the airwaves in the days after. He came through as decisive and in complete charge of the city’s response to the terrorist attack; in fact, criticism later converged on whether his presence influenced decisions too much, rather than not enough.
But in Mumbai after 26/11, all we received from our mayor was deafening silence.
The lack of comment or reaction was probably expected. I doubt many in Mumbai even know who the mayor of the city is – it’s a largely ceremonial post. There was no powerful official representing Mumbai’s city administration simply because the administration has no power to speak of. The responses in the immediate aftermath of the attacks – orders to the police and military, evacuation operations – flowed from the state and central governments. It was the state, central and defence officials who seemed to be in charge. An entire tier of government at the local level appeared non-existent.
This had huge repercussions in the speed and efficiency with which Mumbai responded to the attacks. The city’s police were ill-equipped for any sort of rapid response. The NSG commandos who cleared the hotels had to be flown in from Delhi – and after their arrival in Mumbai, had to wait for hours to be transported from the airport.
In a crisis, the city was thus left helpless, its institutions frozen in place. The power of city administrations has in fact, been deliberately hollowed out since independence, as state governments superseded city authority and co-opted its power. The decline of the Indian city took a decisive turn after the battle over Bombay in the 1950s, when states were being formed according to linguistic boundaries. Bombay presented a puzzle to the Indian government – while it lay in the heart of Maharashtra, it had Gujarati as well as Marathi residents, and vast numbers of other language communities. Nehru proposed at a point that Bombay become a separate, bilingual area, but the rioting and protests that ensued forced him to back down, and the city became an unequivocal part of Maharashtra. Since then, our cities have been passive and subordinate to the state governments. The bulk of city taxes are collected by the state and central governments and administration is dominated by state run agencies. And with local authorities powerless and unaccountable to citizens, city infrastructure has neared collapse.
The disadvantages of weak and ineffectual city governance become most stark in these times of disaster. The Mumbai floods in 2005 saw civilians far more present in rescue and rehabilitation operations than civic agencies. When calamity hits, the lack of local power and the authority to respond instantly, means that such events are far more catastrophic than they need to be. The twin challenges of climate change and terror are therefore only going to get exacerbated.
The Indian city has long been exiled from our collective imagination. The romance of the ‘village republic’ for India’s politicians and the strong association of the city with the British Imperial Raj doomed the city in Independent India. Gandhi said, ‘I regard the growth of cities as an evil thing’ and for Nehru the city of New Delhi was ‘un-Indian’. Cities were barely mentioned in the Indian Constitution, and were constitutional orphans for over four decades, passed over in favour of state and central government. It was only in 1992, that the Narasimha Rao government passed the 73rd and 74th amendments, which mandated more power to local bodies in cities and villages. Even these amendments were meant to fulfil Rajiv Gandhi’s dream of the Panchayat Raj and village power - city governments were an afterthought.
But these changes, and the powers that the amendments offer, have largely remained on paper – states have been reluctant to cede powers of taxation and control over their cities. The possibility of competition from the grassroots has made state political parties wary of an ‘hour glass’ effect, of being squeezed in the middle between a strong centre and powerful cities. And no state Chief Minister wants to let go the money and patronage that comes from controlling urban land.
But there is some pressure for change. In the years since independence, it was easy for Indian governments at both the state and the centre to dismiss urban India as somehow ‘inauthentic’, and not as legitimate or representative as the rural country. Even today the former CM of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy justifies protests about Bangalore’s school children reaching home 5 hours late due to his party rally as the outpouring of an ‘effete’ IT/BPO crowd, and the BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Naqvi dismisses ‘women with lipstick’ as somehow not eligible to protest. But as the spontaneous outpourings in our cities over the terror tragedy has shown, there is change in the air. As India’s urban population steadily grows they will demand more local empowerment. And the implementation of the Delimitation Commission’s recommendations will increase urban representatives in the state legislature reversed this marginalising of urban India. But these are small steps, and crises like the one we just witnessed shows how urgent empowering our city governments has become.
We cannot keep our cities – the centres of our economic growth, innovation and where we are most able to move beyond our caste and our past – weakened and marginal in our politics. This imbalance has led to the decline we can see in every Indian city, the apathy made concrete in our crumbling roads, massive encroachments, and our chaotic, unplanned growth. Without local governments that answer directly to their citizens, urban India will face the threat of being mauled again when the next crisis hits.
Tags: 9/11, governance, India's cities, local government, Mumbai mayor, mumbai terror attacks, Rudolph Giuliani, urbanization
December 14th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Nandan, you make an excellent point that more local control of cities is essential for rapidly responding to crisis. The broader point that you bring up about economic growth and urbanization also as urgent as it is important.
I have been exploring the idea that urbanization and economic growth are conjoined twins on my blog for a while. See, for example, Urbanization and Development.
Aside from the shift of power from the state (and central) to local, there is another power shift that needs to occur: that from the political and bureaucratic to the people and institutions that actually create wealth and contribute to economic and social welfare.
I see that power shift occurring. A very visible sign of that shift is your book and blog. Thanks.
December 14th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
[...] visiting! You may want to subscribe to RSS feed or by EmailNandan Nilekani asks on his blog, “Where was the Mayor?” referring to the recent attack on Mumbai. He makes a case for urban governance and points [...]
December 14th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
A metropolis like Mumbai should not be governed by the state government at all - since the pressures of the rural and the urban are quite different. The model of Delhi as a city-state has been so successful, that its the model that we perhaps need to emulate in all the other big cities in the country - so that they have an set of elected officials whose sole job is to work for the betterment of the metropolis. As long as there is a distinct separation of responsibility, it will be difficult to see progress since the politicians will play lip service to the rural areas, make money off the urban areas, while doing nothing good for the country.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:09 am
[...] A Study In Contrasts In India, Uncategorized on December 15, 2008 at 12:09 am Nandan Nilekani makes the case that city government in India needs to be made effective. [...]
December 15th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Hi Nandan,
I believe the root cause of it all seems to be corruption and the general acceptance of it by even the educated masses. I have been amazed at the level of acceptance of blatant corruption even by those whom you would expect to not tolerate this at all such as IT professionals, entrepreneurs, and folks with global education and/or work experience.
Having spent the last 20+ years in the U.S. and now in India for the last several months, I have watched a few different issues very closely including the terrorist attacks. The more I think about it, the more I feel, the “common man” has to stand up rather than put up with all non-sense stuff as “system” issues. Maybe not everyone can do what Naseeruddin Shah did in “A Wednesday” but I do sincerely believe that each one of us could do a whole lot more than we do right now. If the more endowed “common man” does not take up issues like corruption, who would help kill this beast. Even the best and the most honest of politicians and government officials (and they too maybe a scarce commodity as well) will need help from the masses in rooting out corruption. The change has to come to India from a grassroots level, in our thinking, in our actions, and more importantly by not “putting up” with non-sense.
Are we ready?
Punita
December 15th, 2008 at 3:24 am
[...] Imagining India » Blog Archive » Where was the mayor? [...]
December 15th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
[...] Imagining India » Blog Archive » Where was the mayor? The power of city administrations has in fact, been deliberately hollowed out since independence, as state governments superseded city authority and co-opted its power. The decline of the Indian city took a decisive turn after the battle over Bombay in the 1950s, when states were being formed according to linguistic boundaries…Since then, our cities have been passive and subordinate to the state governments. The bulk of city taxes are collected by the state and central governments and administration is dominated by state run agencies. And with local authorities powerless and unaccountable to citizens, city infrastructure has neared collapse. The disadvantages of weak and ineffectual city governance become most stark in these times of disaster… The Indian city has long been exiled from our collective imagination. The romance of the ‘village republic’ for India’s politicians and the strong association of the city with the British Imperial Raj doomed the city in Independent India. (tags: politics india cities nilekani) [...]
December 15th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
WHERE IS THE QUESTION, MR. NILEKANI?
I just read Nandan Nilekani’s article Where Was the Mayor? on his blog, I am getting angrier with each passing minute and second, on whom ON MYSELF, ON YOU, ON ALL OUR FELLOW CITIZENS.
I am jotting down what I am thinking so that all this exercise does not go to waste:
1. He asks, Where Was the Mayor? And then answers it himself, the lack of comment or reaction was probably expected.
Saw what India’s one of the most successful software entrepreneurs and the co-founder of Infosys has to say, IT WAS EXPECTED. The Real Question is why? Because we were sleeping in our [expletive deleted] homes comfortably when criminals and thieves were taking control of our political system. And we slept, slept over the problems by writing theses on what went wrong, who was responsible, blah blah blah. MR. NILEKANI ASK WHY I WAS SLEEPING TILL NOW? WHY YOU WERE SLEEPING TILL NOW? WHY WE ALL WERE SLEEPING TILL NOW?
2. He writes, I doubt many in Mumbai even know who the mayor of the city is – it’s a largely ceremonial post. Read it, ask this where the [expletive deleted] you all go on the voting day, if you don’t give a damn, nobody else does. Why are we gathering these CEREMONIAL POSTS in our country, have we got so much money to pay for keeping such people idle, I read some time back, the printing/publishing of photographs of The President of India for official use got delayed because she could not get the ‘Palloo’ right. MR. NILEKANI ASK WHY AM I PAYING THE TAXES?
3. He writes, There was no powerful official representing Mumbai’s city administration simply because the administration has no power to speak of. The favourite game of politicians and administration, Passing the Buck, even if the cycle gets completed and we reach the end of the buck-chain no one gets punished. MR. NILEKANI ASK WHO’S RESPONSIBLE? WHO’S ACCOUNTABLE?
4. He writes, An entire tier of government at the local level appeared non-existent. . . The disadvantages of weak and ineffectual city governance become most stark in these times of disaster. The Mumbai floods in 2005 saw civilians far more present in rescue and rehabilitation operations than civic agencies. The most important part of a project, (you will know better) is the question what I want to solve, when we knew the question, the real question is WHY DID WE FAIL TO SOLVE IT? AND SOLVE IT WHEN WE HAD THE SOLUTION IN FRONT OF US? THE QUESTION IS ARE WE SUFFERING FROM FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS?
5. He writes, The Indian city has long been exiled from our collective imagination. . . these amendments were meant to fulfil Rajiv Gandhi’s dream of the Panchayat Raj and village power - city governments were an afterthought. But these changes, and the powers that the amendments offer, have largely remained on paper –. . . And no state Chief Minister wants to let go the money and patronage that comes from controlling urban land. SIR A QUESTION FROM MY SIDE, WHY DID YOU WASTE YOUR TIME WRITING THESE TWO PARAGRAPHS? YOU COULD HAVE SAID OUR URBAN GOVERNANCE & INFRASTRUCTURE IS ALL [EXPLETIVE DELETED] –UP, IT IS LADEN WITH CORRUPTION AND INEFFICIENCY AND WE WOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD, WE ALL SUFFER IT DAILY.
6. He writes, But there is some pressure for change. Why some pressure, why not great pressure, if 30% of India’s population that moves beyond its caste and its past and makes our cities centers of economic growth and innovation, cannot exert pressure on its government, its politicians, its administration then just think of the influence that the rest 70% of our population can exert on our polity. JUST IMAGINE MR. NILEKANI.
7. He writes, Without local governments that answer directly to their citizens, urban India will face the threat of being mauled again when the next crisis hits. WHAT, IS THE CRISIS LIMITED JUST TO URBAN AREAS, OR ARE WE BEING SELFISH ON THE ISSUE, IF YOU WANT TO ASK, ASK OUR PRIME MINISTER WHAT WILL BE HIS POA (PLAN OF ACTION) WHEN A ‘MISGUIDED & UNKNOWN’ NUCLEAR MISSILE SHOT FROM NEFA/PAK-AFGAN BORDER LANDS ON BHOPAL, ( NOT DELHI, NOT MUMBAI, NOT KOLKATA, NOT CHENNAI, GOD WILL NOT BE THAT HARSH TO THOSE LIVING THERE, THEY WILL NOT HAVE THEIR LUCK SO BAD). ASK HIM ALL, WHO WILL RESIGN, WHAT OUR AGENCIES WOULD DO, HOW DRAFT WILL WRITTEN BY THE SP TO THE CAMMANDO HQ, WHO WILL UNDERSIGN IT, WHICH WIRELESS SETS WILL BE ON, WHICH WILL BE OFF, WHERE WILL BE OUR INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES, ASK ALL OF THAT.
PLEASE ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS MR. NILEKANI BECAUSE PEOPLE LISTEN TO YOU, PEOPLE WANT ADVICE AND GUIDANCE FROM PEOPLE LIKE YOU IN SUCH SITUATIONS.
PLEASE ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS MR. NILEKANI BECAUSE THE CAMERA IS ON YOU,
PLEASE ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS MR. NILEKANI BECAUSE WE NOW NEED PEOPLE WITH ANSWERS, QUESTIONS WE ALL HAVE IN PLENTY,
IF ALL YOU WANTED TO SAY WAS THAT OUR GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED US, OUR INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES HAVE FAILED US, OUR POLITICIANS HAVE FAILED US, WE OURSELVES HAVE FAILED US, YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE THAT,
OR WRITTEN A DETAILED PLAN OF HOW WE ARE TO TREAD THE TESTING ROADS OF FUTURE.
JAI HIND !
[P.S. The person who has written this article seems to be mentally deranged, he has watched Nana Patekar’s movies from his childhood, lived a live dreaming of doing something for his country yet flowing in the comforts of a middle-class life, now he is onto yet another utopian idea of reforming his country’s polity and making it a happy and safe place, where we all could once again SLEEP comfortably. He has a habit of unnecessarily bothering famous people and a tendency of using their fame for getting famous. All these have sky-rocketed after the recent Mumbai Terror Attacks.]
December 16th, 2008 at 3:34 am
[...] Nandan Nilekani (yes, THE man) argues on his blog about providing more self-governance to the cities in India: In a crisis, the city was thus left helpless, its institutions frozen in place. The power of city administrations has in fact, been deliberately hollowed out since independence, as state governments superseded city authority and co-opted its power. The decline of the Indian city took a decisive turn after the battle over Bombay in the 1950s, when states were being formed according to linguistic boundaries. Bombay presented a puzzle to the Indian government – while it lay in the heart of Maharashtra, it had Gujarati as well as Marathi residents, and vast numbers of other language communities. Nehru proposed at a point that Bombay become a separate, bilingual area, but the rioting and protests that ensued forced him to back down, and the city became an unequivocal part of Maharashtra. Since then, our cities have been passive and subordinate to the state governments. The bulk of city taxes are collected by the state and central governments and administration is dominated by state run agencies. And with local authorities powerless and unaccountable to citizens, city infrastructure has neared collapse. Linked by sudipta. Join Blogbharti facebook group. [...]
December 16th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I had just left Mumbai on Dec 24. I was staying at the JW Marriott and noticed that they had some security checks… nothing big, but they did check the car and in the backpacks we were carrying. Two days later, I saw on bbcnews.com a raging fire on India’s iconic Taj Hotel. Terrorists had attacked Mumbai, again. For the next 3 days, there were ‘exclusives’ on all the networks. Media trying to make the best of what was a colossal tragedy. I was in NY when 9/11 happened, and witnessed first-hand how the crisis was handled. Here are some of the thoughts that came to my mind as I saw things unfold on the numerous media outlets:
1) I am with Nandan on the fact that cities and their heads (or mayors) need to have enough power to manage crisis (and other things a city of the size and stature of Mumbai needs). HOWEVER, empowering governing officials (ceremonial or otherwise) in India has proven to be dangerous. We need to know who we are empowering. Our politicians are probably the worst educated, proven criminals, self-centered, and worst humans. Education, to me, can serve much for masses to elect good ambassodors for their constituencies. Instead, we end up giving our votes for 5kg of rice and sugar.
2) The media, which I have always believed to be the middleman between polity and people did not do anything constructive. Journalists are supposed to be objective. Instead, leading journalists, including the apparently famous Dutt were acting like illiterate idiots under the hat of journalists. The point of quality journalism is to bring news in an objective fashion in times of crisis; not search for ‘exclusives’. I saw Ms Dutt turning into an annoyance instead of a news-bearer where she was blaring through the speakers showing thumbs-up to the commandos. In face, at the Nariman House and Taj, they were showing commandos being dropped from their copters. Being a security and risk professional, I thought that was just plainly stupid to show that as the more sophisticated terrorists (compared to Indian police and servicemen) were probably able to see exactly where their counter-attackers were positioned.
3) For a country with an economic growth of 8-9%, one would imagine there is a basic crisis management plan and supporting infrastructure. It was shocking to see that there was no perimeter put in place at each of the targets keeping onlookers at bay. While the attacks were unprecedented, I think the targets were definitively known and it would have helped to put a perimeter in place to confine the situation. Onlookers were onsite, on the roof and taking commuter trains to areas of attacks to ‘picnic’ and see how the commandos were attacking the terrrorists. I am not even sure if the people coming out of the hotel were even taken for a minimal investigation because a terrorist could have easily just run out with the hostages and no one would have known! Police forces were given batons (lathis) to defend the city from sophisticated arms-bearing, nothing-to-lose attackers. Where do the tax monies go if its not for arming our guards and protecting the citizens? My heart goes out to the Mr Kharkare’s famimly, but even a top notch serviceman such as him had to jump into action by borrowing vests from his staff. While he led by example, I think, had there been a solid infrastructure and support staff available, he would have been able lead and direct his counter-attack force from behind.
Economic growth cannot be measured based purely on financials, but also on how the quality of life improves in reality. We are country of a billion plus, and there is a lot we can do to make her safer, smarter, powerful and welcoming. I would hope that the youth of the country realizes this, and leverages all the strength it can from their global partners to fight for education, fight against corrupt politicians, and encourage smarter diplomacy in the service of India’s people. Key focus areas include, education, awareness, inclusiveness and infrastructure - in no particular order.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Sir,
I agree but I feel, compared to the position in U.S. the mayor in India (Mumbai) has a very insignificant role in governance of Mumbai. Secondly i am surprised no one has asked ” Where was the defense minister?” It was an attack / infiltration across the border. The navy commandos did an excellent job. At least a pat on back? don’t you think? In any other state state government is never in picture or under media scrutiny when cross border infiltration takes place, whether it is punjab/ rajasthan/J&K/ North east or west bengal. It is army / BSF. How come only Maharashtra police became responsible for defense of India’s border? Are the rules different for land and sea? What is the demarkation line that lays down the end of responsibility of Military (Army, Navy Air force) and start of state Police?
If as reported in media the IB and RAW had information regarding the attack, why Defence ministry / Navy HQ and PMO not informed? They informed Mumbai Police may be they had more confidence in Mumbai police and were proved right.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:16 am
I really do not see the point made in this article. Mr Nilekani did not care to explain how a stronger local government would be better equipped to handle a crisis like the one in Mumbai. There is only one thing an Indian leader, at any level, does best with power, MISUSE IT. The only times when people with some power did any good was when they were arrogant roguish mavericks (T N Seshan and a few municipal commisioners like Khairnar).
And when have we, as a country, ever been known for preparedness to any calamity, natural or man-made? Floods and cyclones kill every year, while crores are “allocated” and “spent” for tackling them. And oh….how many weather satellites have we sent up there?
One of the responses to this article mentioned New Delhi’s example as a city state…well….is it any safer than Mumbai?
One of the many issues raised in the aftermath of Mumbai tragedy was that the terrorists have superior technology. I strongly think this is where people like Mr Nilekani should focus their energies. It is nice to have our own media call us the as a frontier nation in IT, but where’s the advantage to the country when it needs it the most. Why can we not develop technology to trace/track the phone calls or emails sent by terrorists. We can blame the politicians, the police, the defence ministry and a thousand more people. But technology is a sector where we probably can DO something. Maybe we can start there….at least.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Shubha Raul is Mumbai mayor for those who want
to know the name!!
Last time she was in the news when she had created facilities for eco-friendly Ganesh Visarjan in Mayor’s Bungalow. So many Mumbaikars (like me) were expecting her to act visibly on 26/11; at least on civic issues which fell in her domain. Neither she appeared voluntarily to speak and raise peoples’ morals nor media chased her. She did not even take opportunity to raise her voice for more powers. [Thing which politicians generally do in an the event of big failure.]
In this age of media , lot depends on’personality’ in office. Mrs.Raul fell to create that aura. Chagan Bhujbal, post 26/11 new home minister, ironically ..once upon a time was dashing mayor of mumbai whom we went to watch as kids when he took morning walk in shivaji park. Now he has changed himself into some OBC leader.(Even our CM
was lame-duck in last few months, may be because he was sure to loose the post even before 26/11.)
In My experience, Mumbai civic politics is active and civic elections are definitely not non-event.
Before CM Deshmukh’s “Nagar Vikas Dept” started dominating the development in recent years - builder lobby created nexus with mayor and his policy influence decided their fate. Mumbaikars are into the local political activity with keen interest. There is Thackeray stamp (Right or wrong) on whole thing. After Shiv Sena became established party, Thackerays have always liked non-entity leaders in Shivaji Park Mayor’s Bunglows in name of choosing them from common man, like former bus conductor was given the post once -he hardly had any knowledge of organizing or governance, experienced politicians are many times kept out of power thesedays. High-command structure of political parties has always been a problem all over India, we often fail to give rise to right leaders and right personalities because it is difficult to control the competition if they are more successful. Before this government.. Shiv Sena, whose success is measured by Mumbai performance was in power at state level and after next elections they are likely to be in Mantralaya again. So Mumbai matters for Maharashtra.
We do not need 26/11 to be issue of political division between cities and villages. The business community has on most occasions wanted Mumbai separated from Maharashtra to avoid controls of rural political thugs , but in last 10 years Mumbai has produced its own version of rascals ruling at state level..which is not bad at all for the city. The last thing we want is separation of cities from states, we will increase rural-urban divide. Mumbai is integral part of Maharashtra ..language and the movement for ’samyukta maharashtra’ was historic and not yet the history. Mumbai stands inspiration to Pune and Nashik, as well as rural Maharashtra who is busy to shape its own version of Globalization..
The cities needs empowered civic administration .. like we can discuss “Mayor should have all powers of state home minister in case of emergency”. The management should be controlled by modern brains and not babus, The knowledge gap between Center and Mumbai governance should be zero, intelligence grid should be created. The political leaders of metros should create smart lobbies to snatch all the investments for these projects from states as well as center We should learn from private sector how to make ur social life enterprizing and create financial interests for social leadership to practically arise and build cooperation with that sector.. there is so much to do and so much to struggle for!
December 19th, 2008 at 7:30 am
[...] read an excerpt of Nandan Nilekeni’s post on Blogbharti. I was quite sure that if I read the entire post, there would be more than a rant against local governance; the beloved India shining chief would [...]
December 21st, 2008 at 10:26 am
India has a political system that does not depend on leaders elected by popular vote, rather on leaders selected by political parties. When looking for leadership in our system, we have to look towards the parties and not people. US has a different system where it requires people to come and lead. So, the question of Mayor or a Governor or a President becomes relevant. Not in India.
January 4th, 2009 at 5:54 am
[...] Nilekani writes on his blog Imagining India - …our cities have been passive and subordinate to the state governments. The bulk of city taxes [...]
January 8th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Nilekani in his latest blog post “Where was the mayor?” proposes the [...]