Governance Action Lab

An interactive workshop that helps participants understand how urban governance actually works in Indian cities. Moving beyond the formal provisions of the 74th Constitutional Amendment, the session explores municipal structures, devolution of functions, funds and functionaries, the role of state agencies, and the gaps in publicly available city-level information. Using participants’ lived experience of their own cities, the workshop builds a comparative, practical understanding of who holds power, who delivers services, and where decisions actually get made. Participants leave with a method for reading the governance structure of any Indian city and a clearer understanding of their own city’s institutional landscape.