Speakers
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Dr. Mercy SamuelSr. Associate Professor, CEPT UniversityDr. Mercy Samuel is currently working as Senior Associate Professor with the Faculty of Management at Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT University), in a one-of-a-kind program that talks about urban management, and managing human settlements around the built environment. It is something that our country badly needs at this point in time, looking at the urbanization figures. Her research work orients at the intersection of municipal finance, waste management and climate financing for creating better-governed cities. Dr. Samuel is also passionate about the behavioral aspects of citizens and engages by way of human-centered design thinking, using insights from marketing and psychology to design better engagement strategies for transformation.
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Sarthak PradhanPublic Finance Researcher, Takshashila InstitutionSarthak Pradhan is an Assistant Professor at the Takshashila Institution. He teaches economic reasoning, researches public finance and conducts tutorials on government budgets. He has a PGP in Public Policy from the Takshashila Institution. He holds a dual degree from BITS Pilani.
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Srinivas AlavilliFellow, World Resources Institute (WRI)Srinivas is a Fellow in WRI India where he works on creating sustainable transport solutions and improving road safety. Srinivas drives the #Personal2Public, a nudge campaign to get people to switch to public transport from personal vehicles at least twice a week. Working with government agencies, civil society groups and corporates, Srinivas and team are trying to address the integration challenges and last mile gaps to make public transport reliable, affordable and safer.
Srinivas was a software engineer with over two decades of experience working on enterprise software product design and development with Sun Microsystems and Oracle in California and in Bengaluru. Srinivas was actively involved in various citizen movements and local governance after moving to Bengaluru. As a co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru, Srinivas was instrumental in creating public awareness and policy changes via various campaigns #SteelFlyoverBeda #ChukuBukuBeku #BusBhagyaBeku that promoted sustainable mobility in the city of Bengaluru. As a strong advocate of empowered local government and citizen participation, Srinivas worked on reviving Ward Committees in Bengaluru.
Srinivas was Head of Civic Participation, Civic Technology in Janaagraha. During his stint with Janaagraha, Srinivas worked on Jaga Mission in Odisha, a slum transformation initiative that formalized slum dweller participation in local governance via the SDA (Slum Dweller Association) and helped create Ward Samiti Balaga, a coalition of citizens across Karnataka and led the Swachhata tech platform as part of Swachh Bharat Mission of Government of India.
Srinivas has a Master’s in Computer Science from Utah State University, USA and a B.Tech in Computer Science from Andhra University.
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Vikram KapurIAS Officer | Director at Anna Administrative Staff College, Chennai and Director General, TrainingA 1988 batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service, he graduated in Physics (Honours) from St. Stephens College, Delhi and did his post graduation in Public Policy and Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, New York.
During his service he has worked in various capacities, including that of District Collector, Dindigul, Executive Director, Tea Board, Government of India, MD & CEO, Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund, Member Secretary, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, Chairman, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and Principal Secretary, Industries Department, Government of Tamil Nadu. He served as Principal Secretary and Commissioner, Corporation of Chennai. He specializes in the area of urban affairs and infrastructure finance and his interests include books, sports and travel.
Local Time
- Timezone: America/New_York
- Date: Aug 06 2024
- Time: 8:30 am
Strengthening Municipal Finances in India: Institutional Design to Streamline Municipal Finances (Part 03)
In India, municipal revenue and expenditure are not only low, hovering around 1% of GDP (as against 7.4% in Brazil and 6% in South Africa), but they have also remained stagnant over time. There is a gross mismatch between the functions and finances of the urban local bodies. The current levels of own taxes and non-taxes are insufficient to fund the expenditure demands of urban areas adequately. Consequently, urban local bodies have increasingly relied on funding from the Union and state governments, placing them in a vulnerable position over time.
The poor finances of the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) have detrimental effects on urban infrastructure and service delivery, ultimately lowering living standards. Moreover, these financial constraints serve as a barrier to the continued expansion of cities, impeding national economic growth. Considering the substantial contribution of cities to India’s GDP (>60%), it is imperative to prioritise their development and advancement. An essential step towards achieving this goal is addressing and improving municipal finances.
In our endeavour to strengthen municipal finances, we are hosting a three-session webinar series on municipal revenue, expenditure and institutional design. The sessions will have leading economists, policy practitioners, public finance scholars, urban planners, etc., to discuss various municipal finances. The goal of these webinars is to generate actionable suggestions for policymakers. Thus, the discussion will focus primarily on exploring potential solutions, with limited discussion on the problem’s context, nature, and extent.
Key Questions to be addressed:
How can we ensure that States effectively promote fiscal decentralisation to Urban Local Bodies? What strategies can be employed to enhance the functioning of State Finance Commissions? What measures are necessary to guarantee fiscal autonomy for municipal bodies?
