Rémi De Bercegol: The emergence of local authorities. An analysis of how the redistribution of powers resulting from decentralisation has affected governance in small towns in Uttar Pradesh

By examining basic public services, this thesis explores the reorganisation of political and technical powers following the implementation of decentralisation reforms. In India, this issue has already been the subject of several case studies in rural areas and metropolitan cities. The aim of this work is to supplement this body of research by situating it within the distinct context of small Indian towns. These have so far attracted little attention from researchers and planners.

This lack of interest reflects a bias in the way Indian urbanisation is conceived, where the term ‘city’ refers primarily to metropolitan areas, regarded as the drivers of economic growth, at the expense of the rest of urban India. Yet a significant proportion of the urban population now lives in this type of town and is therefore just as affected by the changes introduced by the new urban policies resulting from decentralisation. As part of this doctoral research, a survey was conducted across four small towns of 20,000 inhabitants selected in eastern Uttar Pradesh, interviewing politicians, engineers and residents. The empirical research analysed the formation of local governments from a multi-level perspective to understand the institutional transformations since the reform. The study’s findings provide an insight into the process of municipal emergence in small towns.