Hello Everyone,
Here is a roundup of Janaagraha’s latest media engagements and public conversations across reimagining urban governance, citizen participation and better urban services, and municipal finance.
How Do We Reimagine Governance for Million-Plus Cities? I On Sansad TV
Anand Iyer, Chief Policy and Insights Officer at Janaagraha, joined Anna Roy, Principal Economic Adviser, NITI Aayog, and Dr Charru Malhotra, Professor, ICT and e-Governance, on Sansad TV, on 27 April 2026, for a discussion on NITI Aayog’s report, Moving Towards Effective City Government: A Framework for Million-Plus Cities.
As India advances towards its goal of becoming a developed nation, cities are expected to drive economic growth, generate employment, and anchor innovation. Yet, this potential remains constrained by structural challenges such as fragmented institutional arrangements, limited financial autonomy, and gaps in accountability.
The conversation examined the report’s recommendations for strengthening city governments, including clearer leadership structures, better alignment of authority and responsibility, stronger municipal finances, and improved inter-agency coordination.
It also explored what these reforms could mean for India’s next phase of urbanisation, and the practical questions of implementation, state-level feasibility, and long-term systems change in urban governance.
Watch the full discussion here: Link
Read NITI Aayog’s full Report here : Link
Who Controls Bengaluru’s Money? Transparency and the Case for Accountable City Finance I On ET Now
Transparent public finance is central to accountable and responsive city governance.
Krishnan S., Director – Strategy and Partnerships at Janaagraha, spoke to ET Now, 13 April 2026, on Bengaluru’s public finance landscape and the governance questions it raises.
A recent Janaagraha analysis found that nearly ₹38,455 crore is spent annually across Bengaluru. However, there is no single consolidated financial account that tracks this expenditure. The data had to be compiled from more than 70 documents across 13 government agencies, with only about one-third of the information publicly available.
The discussion highlighted how fragmented financial reporting and spending outside the direct control of elected city government make it difficult for citizens to understand how public money is allocated, spent, and linked to service delivery outcomes.
The issue points to a deeper urban governance challenge: without transparent, accessible, and consolidated city finances, it becomes harder to strengthen accountability, build public trust, and drive systems change in how cities are governed. As Krishnan notes, the solution lies in a virtuous loop: empowering the elected local governments, paired with a high standard of transparency, which in turn fosters citizen participation. Together, these elements can help address some of the most persistent governance challenges facing our cities.
Watch the full media feature here: Link
Blog: Keeping Citizens at the Centre of Public Finance: Reflections from Inside the Finance Room
In the second article from Inside the Finance Room, Merin Sunny, Senior Associate, Public Finance Management, reflects on her journey into public finance and urban governance through Janaagraha’s Women in Public Finance Fellowship.
Drawing on her work on city finance, fiscal devolution, and Bengaluru’s public spending, she explores a fundamental question: who are public systems ultimately meant to serve?
The piece highlights why technical work on budgets, accounting, and government finance must remain rooted in citizens’ everyday realities. It also reflects on the importance of making public finance more transparent, accessible, and accountable so that residents can better understand how money moves through cities and whether it is translating into better services and outcomes.
At its core, the article is a reminder that the “public” in public policy and public finance is not incidental; it is the purpose of the work.
**Read the full Blog: Link**
Commentary: Better urban services depend not only on infrastructure, but also on meaningful citizen participation in governance.
In a commentary for Mongabay India, Katie Pyle, Director, Research and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning, and Neha Malhotra Singh, Associate Director, Research and MEL at Janaagraha, examine how weak citizen engagement systems contribute to persistent service delivery gaps in Indian cities.
Drawing on Janaagraha’s study of 14,000 citizens across seven cities, the authors highlight that participation levels remain low, especially among residents of low-income settlements, who are often most affected by gaps in water, sanitation, roads, drainage, and other basic services.
The piece argues that mechanisms such as ward committees and area sabhas, provided for under the 74th Constitutional Amendment, need to be fully implemented and activated. Strengthening these platforms, alongside timely municipal elections and empowered elected councillors, is essential to building more accountable, inclusive, and responsive city-systems.
At its core, the commentary calls for deeper institutionalisation of citizen voice as a pathway to better services, stronger local democracy, and long-term systems change.
Link to the full article: Link
Unsafe drinking water in Indian cities is not an isolated incident, but a systemic governance issue I Feature in The Wire
In a recent piece for The Wire, Karthik Seshan, Associate Director, State Programmes, Janaagraha, and Surjyatapa Ray Choudhury, Associate Manager, Urban Policy, Jana Urban Space Foundation, examine how incidents of contaminated drinking water point to deeper structural gaps in urban governance.
Drawing on examples from Indore, Delhi, Pune, and peri-urban Chennai, the authors highlight how intermittent water supply, ageing pipelines, fragmented infrastructure planning, and weak coordination across water, sewerage, and stormwater systems create predictable risks of contamination.
The piece argues that technical solutions already exist such as continuous, pressurised water supply, physical separation of water and sewage infrastructure, stronger monitoring, and clearer institutional accountability. What is needed is the political and administrative will to treat safe drinking water as a non-negotiable public responsibility.
At its core, the article calls for a shift from reactive responses to long-term systems change in how cities plan, manage, and govern essential services.
Link to the full article: Link