ABSTRACT
Given the importance of governance and since many problems of urban service delivery are attributed to governance, this chapter summarizes the current governance problems of urban development in Bengaluru. Based on large scale primary surveys of households, we examined various channels such as Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and ward councilors, who are approached by the residents in order to address their local civic and developmental issues. The study also sought suggestions from the residents to improve local governance. Our study demonstrates that improvements in basic services are positively correlated with local government involvement in their provision. Summarizing the findings on the state of local governance, we find that the households rely on various channels of collective conglomerations like RWAs or neighborhood associations to address their daily grievances. It is clear that the majority of respondents were not aware of the existence of RWA in their neighborhood. Possibly due to this, many visit ward-level offices to redress their civic problems. While a majority of residents did not know about the work of their ward councilor, among those who did, the residents of both central and peripheral wards were satisfied with the work of their councilors. However, the demand for improvement in the local government’s performance came primarily from the residents of peripheral wards.
