Janaagraha Centre For Citizenship And Democracy

The MyCityMyBudget (MCMB) initiative, in partnership with Bengaluru's city Government, BBMP, is an annual city-wide campaign that facilitates citizen engagement in the budgeting process. It brings first-mile democracy by incorporating citizens' voices and infrastructure priorities into the budget, ensuring allocations align with the city's needs and its residents' requirements.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the Government of India, Janaagraha introduced the Swachhata Technology Platform. This initiative empowers citizens, sanitation engineers, and city administrators to play an active role in the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), working towards attaining nationwide universal sanitation coverage. The platform facilitates their participation and engagement in the mission's objectives.

This programme endeavours to establish a coalition of diverse stakeholders committed to fostering civic leadership. This inclusive public forum convenes politicians, bureaucrats, activists, civil society organisations, subject-matter experts, and citizens to engage in dialogue on topics such as urban governance, decentralization, and citizen participation.

Janaagraha collaborates with union, state, and city Governments to enhance city revenues through a holistic transformation of the property tax lifecycle, while also focusing on improving fees and user charges. These efforts have resulted in 11 states qualifying for additional borrowing eligibility of INR 16,000 crore. In Coimbatore, the Municipal Performance Linked Incentive (MPL) led to an 11.1% year-on-year revenue increase of Rs. 32.9 crores, reaching Rs. 329.4 crores in FY 21-22. Similarly, Odisha saw a substantial 35% increase in property tax, creating a fiscal headroom of Rs. 37 crores within two years.

Janaagraha strives to enhance public finance systems by promoting efficient fund allocation, timely and complete fund utilization, and frictionless expenditure. The organisation is actively engaged in re-engineering the processes of public finance systems to achieve these goals. Furthermore, Janaagraha is dedicated to developing a robust data ecosystem that enhances reporting, transparency, and accountability, ultimately leading to improved service delivery.

The Annual Survey of India's City-Systems (ASICS) assesses the quality of laws, policies, institutions, and processes that influence urban life in India. States are rated on a scale of 0 to 10, indicating the strength of urban laws. ASICS has been influential in inspiring the Municipal Performance Index by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), resulting in parliamentary questions. It also led to a private member bill proposing amendments to the 74th Constitution Amendment Act, granting greater powers to councils and mayors, and the inclusion of a dedicated chapter on cities in the Economic Survey of India.