Urban Governance in Aizawl: Challenges before Urban Local Bodies towards Development

Abstract

Majority of the world’s population, i.e. 54 per cent now lives in the urban area today and the trend continues to increase. Urbanization will concentrate more in developing countries. So far as the situation in the Indian state of Mizoram is concerned, due to various pull factors, such as the outbreak of insurgency and the consequent grouping of villages which has shattered the village economy, people started settling in Aizawl, the capital city. Therefore, it is emerging as a very busy and congested urban centre despite being located in a hilly area. In the place of only the traditional local government institutions, i.e. Village Councils which now have been replaced by Local Councils, there is also a development oriented Constitutional urban local body known as Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) ready to handle the various issues and challenges of urban governance. The paper studies the status of urban governance since the inception of urban local body, assessing the challenges on the way along with the effectiveness of this body.