Multiple, competing and contrasting ideas and forces seem to govern the state of urban local governance. This chapter discusses the changing ideas of urban local governance in India from the colonial years to the contemporary. Aijaz traces the trajectory of urban local governance in India through colonial history and the evolution of municipal institutions since the 1870s. The local state carries the responsibility of economic development and enabling global capital to access requisite infrastructure, labour, services and culture. The colonial legacy of cities is divided along lines of citizenship and governance, and of institutions that were structured to pay minimal attention to the non-tax payers, and whose performance rested upon directions from the bureaucracy. Postcolonial developments have added to the levels of distress in urban local governance. Urban development schemes that have followed the 74th Constitutional Amendment have converted the same into conditionalities or reforms that state governments would be compelled to undertake prior to availing of any scheme funds.